Tips for an Ibanez RG2228 service

[dougmurray85]

Hi Guys,

I'm giving an Ibanez RG2228A a much needed service and would like some help in some areas of guitar maintenance I have not yet attempted.

This poor guitar was rescued at a liquidation sale at about a quarter of its recommended retail. It sat on the wall of the local music shop for about 18 months straight out of the box, no set up. It has had countless grubby, sweaty hands all over it; according to the serial number it possibly hasn't even been serviced since leaving the factory in 2011. It

The frets have either started to corrode or the corrosion from the unchanged strings has transferred to them and they are VERY rough.



I have never done any fret maintenance before. I have gathered that I need to get my hands on some masking tape and 0000 steel wool to polish them up a bit, but what else is recommended? Leveling and filing tools are out of the budget at the moment.

The bridge, I have plenty of experience with similar designs, but here's a shot of the sorry state it's in. Never had a string change and you can even see the remnants of the price tag on the 1st e. The A and D fine tuners are jammed and all the string locking bolts are corroded on the playing side.



Finally I am a little concerned about the significant gaps in some of the fret slots. Its as if the fret wire was cut for a neck with binding. Should I use something to seal the gaps? A refret is definitely out at the moment. The fretboard is surprisingly not so dry.

[Mark G]

Hello there,

I can't see any images on this post but here's my two cents worth. Whenever I start these little projects I begin with a thorough clean - gently wiping away grime and then onto the more built up stuff. Before any major work I'd be cleaning up the frets with the 0000 steel wool you've mentioned. I'd probably then restring it and have a play to see if it's all good then go from there to correct any other issues - perhaps it needs fret's glues down at the ends, adjusting action at the nut and bridge, setting intonation etc. Really very dependent of the state of things. All the best cleaning it up.

[Nick]

Firstly welcome to the forum Doug!
First thing I'd be doing before even going near it with 'special' tools that you've stated you don't have (or the budget for at this stage, and don't need) is stripping it down and giving everything a good 'de-crudding'.
You didn't say if this guitar has a maple or rosewood(or any other dark, unfinished) fretboard. If it's the latter then it's ok to use a 0000 steel wool over the whole board (i.e, you don't need to mask the wood), that's usually only carried out for boards with some sort of paint finish or white wood. Unless it's had excessive playing whilst hanging in the shop, you shouldn't really need to be thinking of any fret leveling at this stage. Just check fret ends for any lifting (look for any gaps between the underside of the fret and the board that appear to be bigger on some than others), sometimes these just need a light tap to re-seat them. If they don't it will mean a bit more serious work but don't worry about that at this stage. The gaps in the fret slots you mention, I seem to remember (it's been awhile since I've worked on an Ibanez) that Ibanez usually left the tangs short and filled the slot with a bit of appropriately coloured filler, this may have just come out but it's unusual if it has. May just require a bit of refilling, tangs don't need to go all away to a board's edge to work correctly, it was just easier for production to leave them that way on an unbound board.
Remove the bridge and strip it down (usually only requires a phillips screw driver and an Allen key), hit the jammed fine tuners with a shot of CRC or WD40 and leave it soak in for a bit before trying to get them to move, maybe that you'll need to just work them backwards and forwards a little at a time until they free up. String locking bolts may require the same by the sounds of it. If everything is particularly bad you may need to soak the whole bridge in a jar or similar, once you've removed it from the body.
If you are unfamiliar with setting up intonation make sure you take a note of how far away from the front edge of the bridge each saddle is, before removing it so it can go back in the same place when you reassemble (that's providing the intonation is set correctly already!). Soak each part of the bridge in white spirit/shellite (available from Bunnings) and scrub each part with an old tooth brush....or a new one, just don't go brushing your teeth with it afterwards! Then re-assemble the bridge. Give the rest of the guitar a good cleaning and maybe even hit the pots with a bit of electra clean if they are at all abit scratchy (Electra clean is also good for loosening/cleaning any hard to move crud on any finished areas too, it doesn't harm the finish)
Once you've reassembled everything,this should bring it back to a good starting point to adjust things like neck relief, action e.t.c.
Good luck bringing your purchase back from the dead