Any ideas on how to repair this?

[tim]

My RG350 seems to be broke as hell by the bridge. Anyone have any ideas how (or even if?) I might be able to repair this?


I’m afraid that I already know the answer to this, but I needed to ask. This was my first “decent” guitar (my first guitar was….well…total shit ), so I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Chris]

I do believe that thing is proper fucked sir.

On the upside, replacement RG bodies are super easy to come by and swapping the neck and electronics is easy.

[Leah]

That's rough. You could probably glue plus clamp, assuming you could apply pressure right. But ultimately it may be as easy as a body swap with another rg350, or you could save the neck if you like it and try a bigger upgrade.

[Leon]

That's rough. You could probably glue plus clamp, assuming you could apply pressure right. But ultimately it may be as easy as a body swap with another rg350, or you could save the neck if you like it and try a bigger upgrade.

+1

Glue and clamp, or just get it nice and presentable, and put it up on the wall to admire, and grab an RG550DY

[Markus]

That's rough. You could probably glue plus clamp, assuming you could apply pressure right. But ultimately it may be as easy as a body swap with another rg350, or you could save the neck if you like it and try a bigger upgrade.

Yep, I'd assume a body from any AANJ 24 fret Ibanez should fit with the neck. If you want to keep the original RG350 trem, it's probably easiest to go for a body from a model with the same trem (or at least with a trem that has the same dimensions, post spacings etc.).

For a bigger upgrade, you can find all sorts of bodies for sale. Like this PGM30 body!

https://reverb.com/item/39408423-iba...dy-electronics

[Iron1]

Another vote for glue & clamp. If you do it right, that part will outlast the rest of the guitar. There's a luthier group on FB that would know what glue to buy, etc. Some guys in that group know all the things when it comes to this sort of stuff.

[James]

Gluing and clamping might get it playable, especially if you have access to a drill press. That way you could pull the studs, get the shifted bit of wood glued down, then once the glue's set drill out the stud holes some and dowel in some hardwood. Redrill the stud holes once that's done & dried and you'll have some stronger wood in there to help hold it on place.

Having said that, I'm in the camp that thinks swapping in a replacement body and hanging the original up as a trophy is much less work and a more sensible idea.

[The Snob]

A broken Ibanez? How can one break what's already trash?

[Mike]

A broken Ibanez? How can one break what's already trash?

[Darren]

Titebond Original + clamp

[lespauled]

Put the glue in before removing the trem posts. It looks like the trem posts were lowered too far, which caused the crack. Since it's keeping the crack open, use it as a means to get the glue into the crack easier before removing the posts and clamping. After it's all done, you might want to drill the trem post hole a little deeper to avoid this issue in the future. Make sure to mark the depth of the wood on the drill bit (use painters tape) so not to drill through. Just a little deeper to give you that extra room to sink the posts again.

[tim]

Thank you everyone for the responses. You guys rule

I'll need to think about this. The guitar was only about $400 to begin with, so I'm not sure how much time I want to put into resurrecting it. Also I just dropped $2K on a new guitar last year, so I don't know if I can justify replacing this right now.

I will add that I have a D-Sonic and an Air Norton in this, and no other guitar to put them in right now. Seems like a waste to have those and not be able to use them. Guess I should look at a replacement....

+1

Glue and clamp, or just get it nice and presentable, and put it up on the wall to admire, and grab an RG550DY

No shit, that was the very first guitar I thought of when thinking about replacing it. I'm not a fan of yellow, but something about that guitar just speaks to me.

A broken Ibanez? How can one break what's already trash?

I mean, it was a cheap guitar. But still....

[Markus]

There's a bunch of similar bodies for sale around $100 on Reverb, like RG5EX1s or RG370s (models originally with Edge3s if that's what was in yours). So going down that path isn't super expensive.

[beneharris]

Get that shit to Rocka, stat. He'll have it up and running before the glue dries.

[Dbwells]

Get that shit to Rocka, stat. He'll have it up and running before the glue dries.

I was just about to say where is Rocka?

[Megametal7]

that sucks, hope you can fix it soon.

[BigM555]

I’d say it certainly can be fixed. There is always a way. May not be economical though. Tiitbond and clamp might be worth a try and is dirt cheap. If it holds nostalgic value you could route out the bad wood and fit in a hard wood patch, but at that point a body swap is probably a lot cheaper and easier.

[Tony]

Titebond Original + clamp

Came to say this. Should be fixable relatively cheap