CHIN HON'S CUSTOM AGENTS

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Author Message Captainibanez Username: Captainibanez Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Monday, July 03, 2006 - 9:49 am:    Tomorrow all shall be reveiled? Stay tuned for the pictures and the story behind how to re-build your Custom Agent properly. The pictures and story will be reveiled....for those who are truly interested ! Captain Ibanez Johns Username: Johns Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Monday, July 03, 2006 - 9:58 am:    Cappy: I for one, have been patiently waiting. Looking forward to seeing the restoration! Lespaul Username: Lespaul Registered: 10-2004 Posted on Monday, July 03, 2006 - 1:08 pm:    Can't wait to see them. Now first ship the guitars to Dave and me before you get back here with the pics. Paul Dave_g Username: Dave_g Registered: 01-2002 Posted on Monday, July 03, 2006 - 1:38 pm:    Captainibanez Username: Captainibanez Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 7:09 am:    Ok, lets go my eager young space cadets ! What you are about to see in pictures is 12 months worth of work to restore two Custom Agents that were bought to ya Ol'Cappy for full restoration by Chin Hon from Singapore. These 2 guitars had the usual problem of the laminate lifting off the headstocks, lovely green hardware, paint missing etc. So I called on my good mate Craig Upfold of The Guitar Hosptial / Craig Upfold Guitars. Craig is located nearly 2 hours drive north of Sydney and is a absolute master luthier. Craig has been responsible for all Ibanez major repairs for Australis Music for the last 17 years,his work is fantastic. So I arrange for Chin Hon to bring Custom Agents to Sydney for me to give to Craig and load up each case with the new parts to make these axes rock on again. There have been some minor hitches with the restoration , as Craig was searching the world for the right type of laminate that was as original as the old stuff, this took 8 months to track it down. Now the guitars are a week or so away from completion, however, even though Australia has been in drought for so long, the rain we are now getting is holding up the final clear coats etc, so it won't be long now. If anyone has any questions, I will answer them for you rather than typing a heap of commentary under each picture. Enjoy the masters work ! Captainibanez Username: Captainibanez Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 7:21 am:    Hey Gang, Craig will send me some more pics of the completed guitars very soon.....Stay Tuned ! Captain Ibanez Dave_g Username: Dave_g Registered: 01-2002 Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 9:47 am:    WOW ! Very cool series of picts ! Interesting that the "cloud" pc is not directly centered on the body, especially when it looks like it will overhang the inlay...Looks like it will be crooked when installed ? Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 9:50 am:    Beautiful work! When the Ibanez brand name will be inlaid into the headstock overlay? Or is the brand name a decall? Ginger Ale Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 10:57 am:    Hi Dave, Drooling at the very same moment as I am! Now you're bringing up the "cloud" pc we discussed before, I'm taking a second look at the guitar and at the centre of body inlay and it appears to be a little eccentric. This is the only way to screw a cloud pc centrically without drilling the MOP. Though you convinced me already, now we have proof that the guitar was prepared for the "cloud" pc. Just measure the lady from hip to hip to determin the centre. As I see it in these pictures, the middle screw hole is centre of the guitar, and the inlay centre is not. But now I'm assuming that the body is symmetric, if it's not, I should draw the central axis through the fretboard and see where it passes through. But I'm talking from the picture here. You have the actual wood! Cappy, Perhaps you can show us a picture with the measuring rule from hip to hip through the middle cloud pc screw hole. Hypothesis: It is als possible that it's the other way 'round: that the "cloud" pc was used to cover up an expensive inlay mistake on the 2675CA, namely that it's a few millimetres eccentric. If the milling cutter was wrongly set and milled out a whole series of half-finished products with a small deviation, a good businessman would try everything to save the expensive series. This would be something to ask decision makers and/or luthiers who were involved then, if they are still alive. Let's test this hypothesis! Oh man, this is such an interesting guitar! Please, let it be the REISSUE we are waiting for! Ginger Ale Johns Username: Johns Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 8:46 am:    Captain: Fantastic stuff. Hats off to Craig Upfold. I didn't remember that Chin Hon owned both of these. More, MORE! I want to see more pictures! Are we seeing pictures of both guitars being restored or just one at a time? Questions: How is the logo going to be handled? Why did he strip the body finish? Why leave some of the dark spots? Was all the binding totally shot? I can't tell, did he recreate the binding "tabs" at the ends of the frets? Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 9:59 pm:    Cappy, while in bits, an ideal time to take some dimensions for a possible reissue although I guess you already have six Johns Username: Johns Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 11:08 pm:    Six: My thoughts exactly! Cappy: Blueprint these puppies for next year's Vintage reissue. You already know where to get the tortoise shell material. Captainibanez Username: Captainibanez Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 6:43 pm:    What !!!!!!!!!!! We don't need to do that. In a dusty corner lies an old filing cabinet,carefully you open the middle draw slowly....a strange heavenly light appears from the draw...revealing the original blueprints for the Ibanez Proffesional Series....the holy grail of guitars has been found. I beleive that this info is still around at head office in Japan. John, yes the binding was stuffed on 1 of them and he re-did the tabs. The logos will be brand new laser cut Abolone, Craig got 24 of them for such future restorations. The bodies were stripped cause the were badly chiped and buckle marked etc. So, if your going to do it...do it properly These 2 guitars should be ready next week , so when I get the pics of the completed guitars I will post some Custom Agent Porn for you. "Hey Custom Agent ! Me so horny, me play you long time"! Captain Ibanez Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 7:59 pm:    Cappy Considering the body shape of original pro series guitars like the 2671, 2675, 2676, roughly being that of the Les Paul, do you think that Ibanez will reissue these guitars and risk getting in trouble all over again with Nashville? Personally I doubt it and that is why we are only going to see the original vintage designs reissued. six Captainibanez Username: Captainibanez Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 5:40 am:    Here are the pictures you all wanted to see The finished product. Thanks again Craig Upfold and Warren at the Guitar Hospital for their excellent work. Captain Ibanez Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 6:56 am:    Wow! We see two different bridge/ tailpiece ensembles here. It's no secret that I prefer to see the complete MOP inlay. But I'm getting to appreciate the cloud more and more, especially on solid paint. But what is the true history behind these two ensembles? Was the cloud used to cover up eccentric inlays? In what period was the tune-o-matic with stop bar used? And in what period was the Gibraltar (it is Gibraltar, isn't it) bridge with Quick Change and cloud used? Ginger Munch Username: Munch Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 4:31 am:    Hey Six, If you remember back to Michael Wright's article on the Gibson/Ibanez lawsuit, the court found that body shapes could not be copyrighted but ormanental features could. As such, Gibson's open book headstock was dropped by Ibanez however they continued with Les Paul body shapes for at least another 2-3 years. I believe that Ibanez stopped copying body shapes in '78 as they were fully geared up to launch a complete range of original designs by that time. With regard to reissuing the custom agent, I don't think the body shape is the problem. I think it may be the headstock. The mandolin scroll style headstock is a Gibson design I believe. If so, then using that headstock might breach Gibson's copyright. I say might, because the court's ruling may have applied to guitars only. Just a bit of speculation with no basis in irrefutable fact!!!! Cheers, Mark Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 9:52 pm:    Hi Mark, The mandolin scroll style headstock derived from the F-style mandolin. Almost all bluegrass mandolin manufacturers, like Weber, Washburn, Kentucky, have their own f-style mandolin, including this headstock shape, but they may not use the same MOP flowerpot inlay, as you see here: http://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/builders/f.html The inlay of a Custom Agent is totally different, so there is no problem. Besides, as far as I know, Gibson never used scroll headstocks on an electric guitar, which is a totally different product than a mandolin. Can GM/Cadillac sue Gretsch for their Cadillac tailpiece? The F-Style Mandolin (including the headstock) was a Lloyd Loar design. He worked only two years for Gibson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Loar Ginger Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 7:20 am:    Well, we shall see then but I still doubt it guys. six Cmangeot Username: Cmangeot Registered: 04-2005 Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 8:01 am:    PRS had to stop making the single cut because of the similarity to the Les Paul. So maybe Six is on the right track. Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 6:07 pm:    PRS won the appeal. Ginger Fox Username: Fox Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 6:31 pm:    Sorry, Ginger, but you are severely mislead, I have to correct your info.. Lloyd Allayre Loar, born January 9th 1886, worked more than FIVE years as an employee of Gibson (signed June 1919 and left December 1924) so stated in factory´s history. He designed the world-famous Master Models, L-5 guitar, F-5 mandolin, H-5 mandola, K-5 mandocello and Style 5 banjos..he also contributed in electric instruments with coil-wound pickups and designed (and constructed) a solid-body electric violin in 1923. Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 5:15 am:    I didn't take the time to get my books an check the Wikipedia. I should have: On September 4th 2006 someone in the Dutch Wikipedia had translated "environmentalist" as "dierenactivist" which means "animal activist". I wouldn't call zooligist and zoo owner Steve Irwin an animal activist. Fast info doesn't mean correct info. Thanks Fox. Ginger Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 5:26 am:    Cmangeot, Check this out: http://www.musicincmag.com/News/060613/060613_PRS_Gibson.html Finally justice was done. I think Gibson could better invest in quality control/ research and development than in lawyers. If you want to sell more, you should innovate and perform better. Ginger

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