Damage control (2)

I proceeded to advise the owner of this unfortunate guitar to just invest in a new pickguard & get the electronics looked into. The neck (Super Wizard) & bridge (Edge) are still in very good condition. In fact, there was no fret wear to be seen & the bridge is showing no signs of neglect either. The guitar might have been kept away for some time after the gouging episode. The owner asked me if I could handle this project considering my conditions. I told him it's possible but I will take my time & he has to agree to some limitations with regards to spares availability.

First thing -  purchased a single humbucking pickguard for a no-frills look. FYI, it wasn't a perfect fit for a Japanese Ibanez, three screw holes are totally off the mark. This pickguard was meant to fit an RG350 hence the misalignments (Japanese RG550 vs Indonesian RG350 specs). I have a DiMarzio D'Activator X in the house so that became the pickup of choice. 

The guitar received a thorough cleaning, frets were polished & all screws were replaced. The Edge bridge was dismantled for a good wipe down & the innards were surprisingly oily - no idea what took place. The battery enclosure you see above was left in tact to cover more gouging horror. The block heel indicates a recent RG550 iteration - the Genesis model. This was confirmed by the serial number on the headstock; it's a 2013 model, the first batch of the Genesis RGs.

Very happy with the neck, only needed to raise the string retainer to a more optimum level since it was screwed too much into the headstock. 

To be concluded...