Korean IC300 Iceman - Initial Impress...

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Edit Profile

Author Message   Munch (Munch) Posted on Friday, April 25, 2003 - 10:02 pm:    G'day fellow Ibaneezers, I have had a hankering for an Iceman for many years, and have been holding out for a '70's Japanese model. My local market has not offered up even one of these, although there is plenty of '90's Korean examples around. I have resisted the temptation these Korean models represent - until now. I came across a great deal this week on a 94 model in very nice condition. Got for $235USD. Upon getting it home, it underwent the usual clean and polish, new strings and setup. After doing all this, the guitar looks a million dollars, and sounds only OK. this is the first Korean guitar I have owned, so maybe my expectations are a bit high. Firstly, when played acoustically it lacks the zing and sustain I am used to (I have a large collection of Japanese Ibanez, Fender and Gretsch guitars). I believe there are two probable causes. The body timber seems quite porous and soft on this guitar. Every IC300 I have seen has compression dings on the body - evidence of soft non-resonant timber. Also the headstock is attached with a scarf joint. I've never had a guitar where the headstock has not been part of the neck billet. Secondly, the neck has a high fret which needs to be filed, and the neck needs more back angle. I'll need to shim it to get a nice action in the higher register. The nut is also cut a bit low. I didn't like the sound of the AH1 and AH2 pickups - quite wooly and dull, so I've popped in a set Symour Duncan Jazz to try and brighten things up a bit. This has helped the guitar quite a bit. Overall, I don't know if I was expecting too much out of this guitar. What are your thoughts??? Thanks, Mark   Munch (Munch) Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2003 - 6:30 am:    A few hours later..... Well, I have come to like the sound of the guitar a lot more. Some fiddling with pickup heights and polepieces has made significant difference to the tonal response of the guitar. It is now clearer and more twangy - however the neck pickup is still a little wooly. The in-between position though is excellent very chimey and bell-like, and the bridge sounds great for a thick country Tele type twang. I would like to screw the stop tailpiece right down against the body to improve sustain, but due to the design of the bridge, no can do! The saddle adjustment screws foul the strings. I may be able to swap the bridge for something a bit different that has more clearance. Any suggestions?? Cheers, Mark   Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2003 - 5:31 pm:    Munch have you tried swinging the saddles around so that the screws now face the pickups rather than the tailpiece?.. What you need to do is to pull the whole bridge apart and put the saddles back in the other way and the put the bridge in backwards.. worked for me... Also if you need more sustain.. I would recommend replacing both bridge and saddle all together with the heavier Gotoh parts.. or the tailpiece with an Ibanez Quick Change II stop tailpiece.. I have these in stock if you need one..(chrome only)   Munch (Munch) Posted on Monday, April 28, 2003 - 7:30 am:    Hi Spiro, Have not seen you pop up here in quite a while. thanks for the advice on reversing the bridge. An obvious solution but sometimes I don't think laterally!! Spiro, I know you play an Iceman, what model is it? If its an IC300 like mine, how do you find the tone for clean and "on the edge of breakup" sounds. I do not use high gain (ie AC/DC is about twice as much gain as I would ever use). I use tones more like you would hear on a Hoodoo Gurus record or old rockabilly and surf. I like the idea of the quick-change tailpiece. More of a vintage vibe. Do they really have more sustain than the basic stop the guitar came with?? BTW, did you ever restore that Rocket Roll you had a couple of years ago? If you still need that pickguard tracing I would be happy to supply you with it. Cheers, Mark   Geoffb (Geoffb) Posted on Monday, April 28, 2003 - 8:41 am:    Mark, I'm in Sydney and I know where there is a Korina Iceman (early Japanese) that could be available if you're still interested. Give me a call on (02)8293 3630. Cheers Geoff   Ccs (Ccs) Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 12:11 am:    Hey Mark, I picked up a 94 last year and I had the exact same impressions.But after a overhaul I've been very happy with it but,like you mentioned,when you have a stable full of Japanese made,it's hard not to notice differences in quality.The frets were a mess,not all set well,edges not dressed well,etc...that was the most work.The rest was just a good set up and switch to a Tonezone and a PAF Pro.Still not the same "feel" as say a Destroyer or Rocket Roll but does well in it's own right.I got a call about a 81 Iceman II this weekend and hope to pick it up this week.I look forward to a side by side comparison. Chris   Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 5:15 pm:    I use a 1980 Paul Stanley and a 1996 Paul Stanley.. These are both Japanese Guitars and have a Mahogany/ Maple Body with one having a rosewood board and the other an ebony... These guitars have the original V2 Pickups in them.. I also have a korean Paul Stanley and this has had its pickups swapped out for a set of Duncans but cant remember which ones.. Completely different guitars... That Korina Iceman is in practically Mint condition but they want $1500 AUD for it No munch I have not yet finished that guitar it is still in its base coat in its case.. Will get around to it one day...   Munch (Munch) Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 6:39 am:    Spiro, How much for the Quickchange tailpiece? Mark   Munch (Munch) Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - 6:50 am:    Hi Chris, Can you tell me a little about how you approached the fret work on the Iceman? My frets are a bit so-so, and would like to have a go at fret levelling/dressing. I've been thinking about customising this guitar in some way. I'm not sure just how yet. I was thinking about the cracked mirror effect, a refinish in silver sparkle, or a flame job - how about some suggestions?? Chris and Siro - tell me about your best tones with the Iceman and how you get them. Thanks, Mark   Munch (Munch) Posted on Friday, May 02, 2003 - 7:49 pm:    Hi Guys, I took my new Iceman to an open mike/jam night a couple of days ago. There are a number of regulars there who know me for my traditional tastes in guitars and retro taste in clothing. They all enjoy that fact that I usually bring a different guitar each time, and often try to guess whats in my case before I open it. Well no-one could guess what I had this time, and when I opened the case, the looks of confusion and pure disbelief were priceless!! I found it really odd myself that no-one at the jam had ever heard of an Iceman, let alone recognised it for its KISS connections. Anyway, when it was my turn to get up and play, the first number I did with the house band was a travis-picked "That's Alright Mama". Talk about incongruous!! Next was "Flip, Flop & Fly" and old swing number, "Money" - rocked up on the bridge pickup, "Day Tripper" and "Stray Cat Strut". The guitar handled itself well through all these songs, but to my ears lacked midrange prescence and sustain. I will definately turn the bridge around so as to screw the tailpiece right down, and may even change the pickups out again for a set of Super 58's I have spare. Overall, the guitar was fun to play, light as a feather and certainly attracted attention. Cheers, Mark   Paddy_F (Paddy_F) Posted on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 3:17 pm:    Next time you go, wear the kiss make up then pull a big jazz box out (Emberg of course), that should really blow a few minds, -- on a serious note (no pun intended) theres a few Aussie musos (Gwyn Ashton, Paul Emanuelle, Phil Manning, Chris Fosse), working the music circuit over here because your music venues in Aus are changing to gaming and gambling halls, with the new changes in the licensing laws. I can feel a rant coming on! I would reckon that the live music venues in the U.K. have halved in the last 15 years, which allows big names to really clean up simply because there is no choice. Our local council has spent several millions on an arena, and last week my better half and her mum went to see Tom (I cant shut my eyes because of my facelift) Jones, at a cost of £80. Allowing generously for exs I bet his pay packet was £200.000. which really pisses me off when I can go to the open jazz night, hear some of the best guys around, have a few beers, a kebab, and still have change from a tenner. lets hope theres an outbreak in good taste. Bitter and twisted rant over. Keep music live for the little guys. (and Alex harveys version of Delilah was far more entertaining). Bah! Humbug! Paddy. P.S. I would love to take an iceman to a jazz night, but I havent got the bottle, it could be classed as jusifiable homicide.   Munch (Munch) Posted on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 7:52 pm:    Hey Paddy, You're right about the loss of live venues to gambling, however, here in WA the laws are different - we don't have poker machines. It has kept the pub scene alive, but only just. There are only two or three jam venues in a city of 1.2 million people, and the pubs don't really support them that well. I think you should take an Iceman to a Jazz night. Those guys are so traditional and boring. They need a bit of shaking up. Cheers, Mark   Paddy_F (Paddy_F) Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 7:37 pm:    Ive found the ultimate guitar for the jazz open night, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2530459415&category=2384 Regards Paddy.   Munch (Munch) Posted on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 8:18 am:    Hey Paddy, I hope the pickups on it are high output - you'd need it to get over the top of the howls of feedback from the audience! Seriously though - you'd have to be bonkers to bid on that guitar based on those less than revealing pictures. Cheers, Mark   Munch (Munch) Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 - 1:20 am:    To all interested parties, Regarding the lack of zing and sustain I mentioned in my first post, i am happy to report the situation has been remedied significantly. Firstly I took Spiro's advice and turned the bridge around so that the saddle screws face the bridge pickup. This did indeed allow sufficient clearance for maximum string angle coming off the back of the saddle to the stop tailpiece. A word of advice here is to make sure you don't just turn the saddles around in their slots, but actually transfer them accross to the other side of the bridge so that they stay mated with their correct strings. Secondly, I removed the neck to place a shim and was most surprised at what I found. the neck pocket was full of lumpy bumpy black overspray and rubbing compound. This would not do!! A tight perfectly mated neck pocket is crucial to good tone on a bolt neck guitar. Could I have found the real reason that my guitar sounded constricted?? Well I got to work with the sanding block and ten minutes later had a perfectly clean, flat pocket for the neck. Installed my shim and bolted it all back together. Tuned the strings (the same old ones) back up to pitch and voila!!! Zing and sustain. The guitar now sounds much better - more note and string definition, and much better sustain. From my process, I have deduced that the majority of sustain has been contributed by the bridge reversal, and all of the lively zing has come from cleaning the neck pocket out. Amazing what you can do for a guitar with a bit of fiddling. Who needs a luthier???? Oh yeah I do! I'm not up to rectifying uneven frets myself yet. Cheers, Mark   Ccs (Ccs) Posted on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 1:13 pm:    Mark, The three most important parts of fret work are patience,practice and the right tools.What I did was start by using some CA(superglue) to glue down any loose frets.Then,using a good straightedge,adjust the neck(in playing position)to get it as straight as possible.Mark the tops of the frets with a permenant marker,check the radius of the board,then using the proper radius sanding block and 220 or 320 grit sandpaper,level of the frets until the marker is gone.When they all look nice and even I clean up the fret ends with a 1/8" nut seating file then crown the frets with a diamond rounding file.There are other types of crowning files but I like these.Then some 400 and 600 sandpaper and 0000 steelwool should polish out any scratches.Re-adjust the relief and you should be good to go.Now this is my method,I don't know what Dan Erlewine would think but it works for me.The nice thing about this kind of job is that the shaping was done at the factory,you just have to even it all up.I hope this helps a little. Chris   Munch (Munch) Posted on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 8:00 pm:    Hi Chris, Thanks for the tips. A couple of questions: 1. When adjusting the neck to be as straight as possible, are you using a notched straightedge to check it? I believe the notches allow you to take your measurement off the fretboard itself, rather than the frets, which if uneven can make the neck appear straight when it isn't. 2. Glueing down frets - are you removing them first or getting the glue under them somehow and then clamping? I wish I could just go and ask my Dad to fix the frets, but unfortunately he is 2,500 Kms away in Adelaide. If I can find an old beater guitar to practice on, I'll try your method on that first. Cheers, Mark   Ccs (Ccs) Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 - 11:48 pm:    Mark, To be honest I don't have a notched one yet($100 for a 18" notched,ouch!) so I make do with a regular one.No problems yet but it's on my list. I left the frets in.Glue syringes or those little tube tips work great. Old beater is the way to go.I went out and picked up a bunch of basket case Hondo's,Memphis,etc...and practiced everything on them.It's funny though,you always run into something new your not ready for,nothing is textbook.Especially when your into older guitars,as I'm sure you know.It keeps it interesting. Chris   Kiehano (Kiehano) Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2003 - 4:45 pm:    Maybe it's just my personal preference speaking here but I have a Korean IC-350 (the abomination with the tremlo) and it's one of the best guitars I've ever played. I've had more than a few other people tell me this too. The only changes I've made to it are VERY heavy guage strings ( .11, .12, .17w, .32w, .48w, .60w) some minor truss rod and saddle adjustments, and 2 extrs springs on the tremlo to accomodate the extra string tension. Like the ones mentioned before mine collected a few dings pretty easily. The binding on the guitar is perfect except for one small spot on the bottom at the waist. Fretwork is outstanding and I love the AH pickups. My guess is that the heavier guage strings give it a little more snap, tightening the sound a little bit. Then again...maybe it's the (gasp) tremlo.

Add Your Message Here Post: -Color- Black Red Green Blue Yellow Purple Orange Cyan Gray White -Font- Arial Courier Symbol Times Verdana -Size- Smallest (-2) Small (-1) Normal Large (+1) Largest (+2) Enter Item number: Username: Posting Information: This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here. Password: Options: Enable HTML code in message Automatically activate URLs in message Action: