2008 Ibanez J-Custom

This is one of the first RG8470Zs off the Fujigen lines and it is in magnificent condition. A very prudent purchase by a keen talented young guitarist - a very good investment.

This particular guitar was originally sold in Japan and arrived in UK needing a little work to get it back to playing as it should. It had been very well looked after, and had received a decent fret-dress that would have satisfied most shredders. This chap needed a little more - he flies around the fretboard faster then my eyes can keep up with, but also wishes to bend the strings quite aggressively. These flat boards should take this treatment, but as the frets get more worn, there is a delicate balance to find between micro-action and fret buzzing. This one choked out on the upper frets unless the action was raised by nearly 1mm - sacrilege on an instrument like this. This is not unusual on this style of guitar at this age. As professional grade instruments, they have mostly been used intensively and it is usual to forgive them for aging gracefully. Here at Matsumoku, we have an attitude that declares if something can theoretically be done, we will do it, even if it is extremely difficult and carries a level of risk.

So we dared to hold a different view to everyone else and finally all reached agreement that there was theoretically enough meat left in the frets to get this guitar right for the owner for a few more years. Several hours in a quiet room, no disturbances and the finest touches achieved the improbable. Now re-united with a happy and relieved owner, this guitar will go another few years on its frets playing like the owner desires.

Additional work included renewing some wiring on the selector switch to make the potentiometers more accessible to service and clean - these pots had never been serviced properly in their life as Fuji doesn't put enough wire in to get them out without breaking. We now have silent pots - no scratching and dead spots. The output socket didn't quite hold the cable sufficiently, so this was replaced. The tremolo arm insert had given up giving that annoying wobble. That's sorted now.

This now looks and feels like a guitar a quarter of its age, and has taken the crown for the nicest Ibanez we have seen here.