NGD: Ibanez JBM100


The Ibanez JBM100 is the signature model of Jake Bowen in Periphery. Being released back in summer 2014, I long craved for this instrument. With the relatively high price point in mind I wanted to acquire it through some gear exchange website. Sometimes bargains don't have to be looked for, but they reach out for you intrinsically (metaphysical reaction for persistent desire? who knows heh).
However, got the Ibanez back in April and already gigged on it, so let's call it an NewishGD. First, let's disembowel this fine piece of gear from the bottom up.
Body-wise the guitar comes with a Mahogany body with a maple top, outlined by a wooden(!) maple inlay. Further a LoPro-Edge, 1 volume knob, Jake Bowen's signature DiMarzio Titan pickups with gold covers and black pins, a 5-way switch and Ibanez' well-established All Access Neck Joint (AANJ) are in the list of features. I usually don't like matte finishes on guitars as greasy stains are caused by standard playing position and associated palm rubbing on the top of the guitar. However, on this version of matte black paint this phenomenon is at least a bit inhibited (gigged on this guitar already with corpse paint on - this should serve as strong enough implication).
Coming from Ibanez as my preferred guitar manufacturer, the feel on this one is somewhat.. more comfortable. Concerning tremolos, I already tried out the Edge (Original and III), the Edge Pro, the Lo-Pro (on a Universe), the Edge Zero (I and II) and I frankly have to admit the Lo-Pro on the RGA-shaped body just fits and feels nicely. To my discomfort, the volume know is placed very distantly, which should be a matter of accustoming. Further, the RGA body is a bit thinner towards the than RGs, a plus on the usability score. One should but not expect this guitar to be light, as the mahogany contributes to the relative heaviness, being significantly higher than all basswood Ibanezes I've played so far. On the other side the heaviness is somehow pleasing, implying the high quality of wood used (this is but a mere assumption, no proof). 

 The neck features an ebony fretboard, jumbo frets and a pearlescent crescent inlay on the 12th fret. Further the maple binding continues on the edge of the neck. The neck is painted in the same manner as the body.
Thin like most Ibanez necks this guitar has an 18mm thickness at 1st and 20mm at 12th fret - super comfortable like most Ibanez guitars and perfect for shredding all around the fretboard.
On the headstock, the first deviation of Ibanez of its always-and-everywhere-the-same-tuners-policy can be documented. The Sperzel locking tuners may seem to be as exercise in futility as there is already a locking nut, tightening the strings down. However, string changes are way easier with the locking tuners. The downside is, of course, that due to the reduced necessity of winding the strings around the tuning peg, downtunings become a nuisance (IMHO: get a fixed bridge guitar for tuning flexibility, as readjusting a trem-bridged guitar with changed tuning is just a pain in the ass). Another pleasing feature is the inverted headstock - 80s all the way - also bound in maple!
Bonus: Output jack cavity!!! Why hasn't this already been implemented in ALL Ibanez stock models? I didn't even know this was featured on this guitar! Gaudeamus igitur!

 Overall impression: A beautifully and professionally crafted guitar for the minimalism-aesthetist with an above-average wallet (hah, I'm so rich). No seriously, if one can look ahead of the maple binding and the fantastically superb outraging output jack, a used RG550, an inverted headstock neck from ebay, a set of Titan pups and a set of Sperzel tuners have a waaay lower price point (if laziness for assembly is not part of the utility function, of course):

Alternative 1:
350€ Ibanez RG550 (avg price)
115€ Sperzel Tuners (list price)
150€ Reverted neck off ebay (exaggerated price)
300€ Dimarzio Titan set w/ gold covers (estimate)
915€ finished guitar with nearly the same design vs. 2490€ for a JBM100 (Thomann.de)

 Alternative 2:
Build your own JBM100 or contact the luthier of your liking for the repro-job.

 In my case, the desire for this specific guitar with the specific features out-weighted the feasible alternatives of getting a similar-looking model (1) or a build (2).

 Sound Test with a demo:

Visual shred: Arsis - Shattering the Spell

The opening riff has been haunting me ever since the album got released in 2008. I released a tab for this song as well on Ultimate Guitar - check it out if you have the guts (and Guitar Pro 5).

 To be honest, with exception of their debut album, this record is their best to date IMO. Although heavily criticized for the choice of their drummer, Darren Cesca provides some intricate and original content on battery which really adds special flavour to the technical and old school, "Necrophagist in the 80s", touch. The sound of James' and Ryan's guitars just add it all up - clear, crisp riffs with the Ibanez'ish maple-implied neck pickup sound whilst solos

 Enjoy! First video cover post, last cover video on my Youtube channel. Leave some comments or subscribe if you liked it! Thanks.

Fender Telecaster Mexico '14 Lefty - Shielding & DiMarzio Tone Zone T SC humbucker


First project on this blog and kinda excited to dive into it. My band's drummer recently purchased a Fender Telecaster and wasn't quite satisfied with the buzz from the pickups and the thin sound in general. In suspicion of electromagnetic distress I therefore recommended to shield the guitar and put a SC bridge humbucker into it. Without further hesitation my buddy instantly handed the guitar over to me. As this is my first 'real' blog entry, please don't mind wrong image scaling, poor display of English language and logic fallacies.

Problem statement:
  • - Telecaster exhibits enormous acoustic impact by electromagnetic/electrostatic radiation.
  • - Bridge pickup sounds thin
  • - Thicker strings are preferred
  • - General setup of guitar

 Problem description:
  • - For exemplary description of the difference between electromagnetic and electrostatic consult your local library or hey, there's this globally linked thing called the Interwebz.
    However, there's a good description on differencebetween. Typical emitters of electrostatic radiation are e.g. computer screens or cheap neon tubes.

    Unfortunately, some guitar manufacturers don't find it necessary to properly shield their guitars from outside radiation. As you can see below, only black conductive paint has been used to insulate the Tele. To get the delicate sound of single coils without receiving local radio stations' signals like in Spinal Tap (ok, in the movies it was the wireless guitar system) proper insulation is the way to go.

    This can either be reached by eliminating disruptive factors, twisted pair wiring, using hum-cancelling through humbuckers or shielding the guitars. To achieve an overall and sustainable effect on the guitar, I decided to shield the entire bowels of the guitar with copper tape.

  • - As my buddy mainly uses the bridge pickup and wants it to sound "fat", a humbucker seems to be the weapon of choice (I have heard single coils being used on death metal albums already - with proper tweaking - but in this case a fail-safe option seems to be sensible)

  • - Thicker strings - can do. D standard tuning and EB2215 should provide a firm grip on the low end and flexibility on the treble strings

Equipment used:
  • - DiMarzio Tone Zone T WH DP389 - 79€ at www.hieber-lindberg.de
  • - Copper Tape (18mm, 4 meters) from ebay - there are shielding kits, I decided to go full DIY
  • - Spare wires
  • - Ernie Ball EB2215 .052 - .010

  • - Phillips screw drivers 4 mm, 6 mm
  • - Flat screw driver 2 mm
  • - Allen keys 1,5 mm, 1/8"
  • - Pliers
  • - Soldering iron
  • - Multimeter
  • - PRS Guitar cleaner
  • - Micro fiber cloth
  • - Ballistol

Step 1: Unstringing the guitar and putting parts to be incorporated on it, hoping for parts to mix up and problems resolve themselves

Step 2: Disembowelment.
A useful tip is to always document the wiring when disconnecting parts for later stress relief. In times of smartphones no real obstacle. I disconnected the bridge pickup and witnessed some interesting grounding technique: connecting pickups' grounding with the conductive paint. After a short break of sardonic laughter I continued.

Step 3: Insulating the guitar cavities and covers with copper tape.
Note: there are shielding kits for Telecasters out there. I decided to try it with copper tape and actually was astonished with how seamlessly it could be integrated. Note the excess tape overlapping the edges of the cavities for continuity between copper-shielded cavities and pickguards/covers. This however is not possible along the long edges of the control cavity as the control plate barely covers it.
Recommendation at this point: applying pressure with your finger to apply the copper tape can be a nuisance in corners, therefore the rubber end of a pencil with a cloth wrapped around it worked fine for me.

Step 4: Connecting the new pickup with the rest of electronics and existing ground with the copper shields.

The copper surfaces act as a functional ground or antenna for electrostatic radiation. The more connected surface there is, the better! A lot of blogs point out the importance of continuity with shielding work and necessary soldering work if copper tape is used. Surprisingly, the copper tape I used does not entail the continuity-cancelling phenomenon of the adhesive film described and thus no additional work was necessary, can't argue with that.
Note the importance of serial and singular connections to avoid circular continuity cancelling (Source: Wikipedia):
  • - pickguard > neck pickup cavity > pote's case
  • - bridge plate > bridge pickup cavity > pote's case
  • - neck/bridge pickup > pote's case
  • - output jack > pote's case
  • - control cavity > pote's case
  • - pote's cases connecting each other
In the end with help of the multimeter, continuity should be evident between each cavity, potes and cover plates.

Step 5: Restringing the guitar and tuning, intonation, neck and action adjustment
In this step I gently applied a small amount of Ballistol to each point where the strings permanently touch the guitar's hardware. My experience has shown that this contributes significantly to the strings breaking due to fatigue at certain spots. Furthermore all hardware is checked for loose screws, standard procedure before tuning and intonation of the guitar.

Another thing, often left out of guitarists' consideration when changing strings, is to stretch them before usage. This is the most common mistake any player can make. Imagine lifting 50kg of iron in the gym without previous exercice. It works for a short period of time, but most certainly this won't work longer than a few times. ESPECIALLY with guitars with floating systems, the application of stress to the strings before doing divebombs or any sort of string whackery is crucial for the longevity and tuning stability of the guitar and mental sanity of the guitar player.
Steel is capable of stretching a LOT, thus my rule of thumb is taking every string with both palms and stretching them with the thumbs (imagine a second hand in the picture below - can't yet afford a hands-free GoPro helmet cam) all the way from the first fret to the bridge. I continue this on every string (caution with the D-string and the high E), retune and stretch again, until the string does perfectly return to the original pitch.

For intonation purposes I have just recently discovered the joy of a strobe tuner. The one I use is available for free at http://www.tbstrobetuner.com/. Go give it a try if you have an interface, otherwise the tuner of your choice may be fine.

Step 6: Cleaning the guitar from all the blood, sweat and tears (of joy).
As this guitar is practically in mint condition, I could save some time and didn't have to polish frets and/or the fretboard. Some PRS guitar cleaner and a micro fiber cloth sufficed in this case. Behold, the finished Tele below.

First post - welcome to c9gw

First post on this blog? This is where all the weird philosophy, motivation and vision stuff goes. Perfect opportunity to delve into the depths of guitar nerdism. As for myself, I'm guitar player in Austrian Black Metal band Asphagor and Death Metal band Azum. Also, I publish a guitar cover video every now and then - check out my Youtube channel. Fav. genres of music? All sorts of metal, classical music, jazz, not really not listening to anything unless it's an exertion of repetition as substitute for compository content.

 Motivation of fixing guitars? Rob Scallon perfectly describes the steps to any modification on the guitar for the lazy guitar player: https://goo.gl/mvlWsw 
Futile nuisance to others and Sisyphean endeavor to some, these challenges rather pose an opportunity of meditative sorts for myself - yeah, I'm weird haha. In my opinion, the underlying concept of being able to fix guitars is strongly influenced whether or not one has screwed up lot of guitars and tried to repair them afterwards. As in my case, I became the epitome of inertia and put laziness to a new level. I did not look after my gear until it was in hell of a condition. Even then I didn't know how to properly set up my instruments - surprising, not? This practice continued until I got my first real guitar - an Ibanez Prestige RG3250 - which was more expensive than all previous guitars combined.

 Long story short, behold the great ventures of guitar fixing on this blog, spiced up with occasional bits of music.
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