This is my ever so amazing Ibanez PGM600 custom made guitar.
I started with this guitar somewhere in early 2005.
At first I had the idea to make a Paul Stanley (Kiss) Ibanez PS1 Iceman cracked-mirror guitar.
Once I found all the parts I to make an Ibanez PGM600, and put the Ibanez PS1 on hold and on my “to do/build” list.
I wanted to build this Ibanez PGM600 once I saw it on one of Paul Gilbert – Young Guitar instruction DVD’s called “Guitars from Mars”.
In that same time I was working on my new Ibanez PGM700wht custom guitar, so I ordered some extra wood to start to building process for this Ibanez Pgm600 guitar.

For this I used the F-spaced Dimarzio Super Distortions, which I also use on my Ibanez Pgm700wht custom guitar.
I love the sound of that heavy ’80 rock sound, so I was very happy to read that on the Original Ibanez Pgm600 was also the Dimarzio super distortions set up.
I contacted Dimarzio USA if they could help me with the wire diagram for this set with a Dimarzio 5way switch.

They handed me a very good usable diagram, but I only used it on my Ibanez Pgm700wht, because I wanted to use an Ibanez 5 way switch in my Ibanez PGM600 that also is used on al the originals Ibanez Jem guitars.

On the wire diagram list of Ibanez I found some diagram of a RG model that I could use for my Ibanez PGM600 guitar.
Still I needed to custom that diagram, because in its original setting there was a tone knob added.
And that was not used on my Ibanez PGM600.

Now you wonder why I wanted to use the Ibanez switch over the Dimarzio switch…..well.
The guitar was set up with orange F-hole decals on the body, so my switch cap needed to be in the same color.
The one I found, didn’t fit on the Dimarzio switch pin, but fit very well on the Ibanez switch pin.

The nice fact about this set up is, the switch is parallel wire internally, meaning; that if you select the second position on the neck pickup, the Humbucker will be spitted in two so you will get the twangy Double single coil sound which is one of a kind in this kind of pickup combination and I don’t think it is found on any other guitar out there.

The combination of the pickups and the wood I have on this body brings out a really good feel when I am playing this guitar.
I had to get used to it and the difference in pickup wiring, buy once I really know what work the best while recording, this dimarzio set sounds really amazing if you are looking for that real ‘ 80 sound of rock music.

For the body I used a 4 piece Maple, and a 2 piece Alder top layer.
The top layer was needed, because I left a lower routed out space for the cracked mirror pickguard which I first intended to use if I wanted to use this body to make the Ibanez PS1.
The binding was already routed and glued to the body, so I used a 2 piece Alder wood to route a layer to fit in between the binding on the body.

The same at the back of the body, I already routed the hole for the pickup switch in the body.
For this, I used the same liquid wood that I used on the Ibanez jem7paw guitar.
In this, I used a 4 layer of liquid wood, just to be sure that there would be no “air” in that whole.
So that once I had painted to body, this spot would crack down.
Once those 4 layers where dry, I took a piece of sandpaper to clear out everything.

Another part of the body that needed my attention was the neck join access spot.
Before I found the Original Ibanez IC300 neck, I re-shaped an Original Ibanez RBM10th neck into a Ibanez Iceman neck.
The screw hole where are a different spot from one another on the body.
So I also needed at the back of the guitar, to fill out the back end screw holes.
And re-drill some new hole for the Original Ibanez IC300 neck.
I did the same for this, like I did on the switch hole.
I used some liquid wood and sandpaper to fill and clean the whole body.
Once this was done, it was ready for a paint job.
This was done by “Meubelspuiterij Schalkwijk” in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Those people always deliver a great paint job.

I have done some guitars now, but this shielding was new to me.
There was some noise on two of my self build guitars, but I have no idea where the problem was.
Later I read something about the shielding that needed to be done, to kill al the “extra” buzzing noise that you electronics could pick up and send out to your jack.
I found out that the guitars where done with some kind of metal-spray paint, which contained little pieces of metal in the paint, which shields the cavity hole.

I have no idea where to get this kind of paint, and since I wasn’t painting the body my self I needed something else for shielding.
I used for this some Metal-tape, which I could fit in on the inside of the Cavity hole on the guitar.
What I did was, I started out with the cavity plate is self; I cut out a little part so it will fit on the plate.
Cleaned it up and that one was done, then I used the same plate to cut out again the same size, but this time I would fit it on the hole routed edge.
Cut out the middle, and glued it down onto the inside of the cavity hole.
From there I took a 4cm think piece to go around the inside and the last part was on the bottom.
I took a guitar pick, to remove all the air bubbles under the metal tape, once it was done I could fit in the volume pot and Ibanez switch into the body.

This guitar is set-up with a 0.09, 0.11, 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, 0.42 set of Dean Markley blue steal strings.
At first I wanted to try a 0.10 set, but for some reason it didn’t feel right, so I changed it back to a 0.09 set.
The strings are easy to change because of the quick change Classic Tail Piece.

The strings play very light on this thin neck, and the access work pretty well on all strings and the black Dimarzio Clip-lock strap.
The only thing that is missing is the signature of Paul Gilbert on the Cavity plate..