Ibanez Destroyer II DT-50FR 1980

[caseyone1]

I saw this guitar in a store window as a kid at a guitar store in Park St in the Sydney CBD, it was cherry red and hanging in the window for months and I never bought it. I regret it and it is the one guitar I have always wanted.

So do me a solid?

[Simon Barden]

With a bit of work you could turn an EX kit into a Destroyer. May need some holes plugged and re-drilled, and maybe the odd bit of wood added (or maybe not) so you'd need to either do a solid colour or add some veneer on the top and back, but it's certainly do-able.

Mainly cutting stuff away, as they were a bit more compact than an Explorer. A bit more like the front part of the Explorer 2 shape but with extra pointy bits. I was interested in them too at the time.

[caseyone1]

Thanks Simon , I thought the same kind of thing in terms of design, I have a band saw, so I should be able to do it, I would just hate to botch it and ruin the lines. But I will look at the EX.
Thanks for the reply,

[Andy40]

With a bit of work you could turn an EX kit into a Destroyer.

I think Simon's on the money here. I would totally agree, especially if you have a bandsaw. Don't worry about muffing it....you'll have fun man, nothing a whole heap of sanding can't fix.

[YOK-MSP]

Honestly the idea of cutting into and taking away wood from a guitar to achieve a different shape leads me to believe you'll end up with something uglier than you anticipated.

Hey hey, my first post!

[Sonic Mountain]

Welcome aboard Yok. That's a fair assumption, however I have seen it done successfully a number of times. Half the fun of the kits is being able to mod it however you like.

[Simon Barden]

Obviously it needs some planning. You need to understand just where the control cavities are and where any internal wire-ways run before finalising your design. No point in drawing a design on the front only to find that you're cutting through a corner of a control rout.

Slightly thinning down a shape like an Explorer doesn't have that many issues, as the control cavity is quite small and compact and a reasonable distance from any edges.

[JimC]

How are you with vector graphics programs and so on? Ideally you want to have a plan ready to check out its all going to work. I've got a project in mind to make a Fender 66 shaped body, so I got the best photos I could for the shape, and then went hunting on a forum for someone who owned one to get a couple of key dimensions, and I'm now confident I have something very close to the Fender shape and size. And discovered it won't come out of a Strat body, I need a new piece of wood.
So in your place I'd research the best photos and things I could, and see about producing a full scale plan. You can probably find an Explorer drawing on line, and in any case there are surely folk here who would help. But it depends on how easily you can find good square on photos of the destroyer, and better yet an owner who'll give you numbers. Maybe an Ibanez forum? Presumably such things exist.