NGD: Ibanez JS1200

[AlbertA]

I've been checking Reverb for about a year for a JS1200 (I used to have a JS1000) and finally found one in great condition at a reasonable price. It got here today.

It's was well setup with fresh strings - I just adjusted the relief between 0.005-.006" inches like I like it - action on the 12th fret is around 1.65mm and 1.5mm on the treble side - I may lower it to my preferred 1.5mmbass/1.25mm treble after I let it settle a bit. About 3-4 high spots here and there in the frets but nothing major.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Hell yeah, congrats!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Love it! Red looks killer!

 

[DrewJD82]

Hell yeah! “Mystical Potato Head Thing” clips stat!!!

 

[Eagle]

I really like those. I had a JS one in the other day for a refret.

 

[hemmelight]

Awesome, congrats!

I’ve always wanted to try one of those because I hear the neck is pretty Strat-like. More of a classic C shape?

 

[Stone]

Wow Awesome!! I love The JS
Congrats

 

[HomespunEffects]

I always thought the body on those were the most comfortable. As if they were actually made for a human person, no matter how alien, to use. HNGD!!

Great playing, my dude.

 

[paisleywookiee]

JS's rule.

 

[AlbertA]

Awesome, congrats!

I’ve always wanted to try one of those because I hear the neck is pretty Strat-like. More of a classic C shape?

Yeah I think more towards modern C shape.

 

[AlbertA]

Neck coil split sounds pretty good too:

 

[Deleted member 472]

How the hell did I miss this thread? Happy new JS day!

 

[Deleted member 472]

JS's rule.

View attachment 42979

Indeed!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Saw a couple on Tuesday

 

[AlbertA]

It was time for a string change - I used a D'Addario's NYXL 9-42 set.

The tremolo arm pain is chipping off, enough I end up with little flakes on my thumb/index. Also the bushings are completely worn. So I ordered a new one from some shop at Reverb.


There was about 10 or so high fret spots through out the neck - so I went ahead and took care of that, leveled them, crowned and polished.




I didn't really need to change the tuners - but I did anyway.
I replaced the factory Gotoh tuners with locking version (Gotoh SG381 MG-T) which just drop right in. I got them at 20% off from Stew-mac


The relief was still at .005" from when I first adjusted it when I received it - so I just adjusted the bridge height to reach my action preference - 1.5mm with open string at 12-fret on the bass side, 1.25mm on the treble side.


And if I measure the last fret, open string - it matches the Suhr factory spec action standard of 1/16" (4/64")




Its plays great now.

Now I need to intonate the thing.

 

[AlbertA]

New tremolo arm is here

 

[Blix]

You should try the carbon fiber arm they sell, expensive as fuck, but feels fantastic!

 

[AlbertA]

You should try the carbon fiber arm they sell, expensive as fuck, but feels fantastic!

I didn't even know that was a thing!

The bushings on this new arm are so new that I struggled getting the arm in - I had to compress the top bushing a little bit manually - I also used a bit of gunstock wax so the arm wasn't as stiff.

 

[AlbertA]

I ended up getting one of these to adjust the intonation. Works pretty well - way way way way easier to adjust the intonation with this tool.

 

[DrewJD82]

I didn't even know that was a thing!

The bushings on this new arm are so new that I struggled getting the arm in - I had to compress the top bushing a little bit manually - I also used a bit of gunstock wax so the arm wasn't as stiff.

Dude, when I picked up my JEM and we were driving back to Staten Island from Manny’s I had the case opened in my lap in the backseat and I was trying to get the bar in, having never even pushed a bar into a LoPro before, never mind a new one. I was so frustrated and thinking it was broken my dad was practically yelling at me from the front seat to calm down and wait until we got home.

I want to try one of the carbon fiber bars but can’t bring myself to drop $100 on one. As for the bushings, you probably already know this but you can hold a lighter up to them and get them to warp a little and get a few more months out of them. I went about a decade doing that with the same two bushings and then eventually I just started wrapping some teflon tape around the whole section where the bushings are and it’s good to go for quite a while.