As I posted in a previous blog post, my Ibanez RG-550 is 25 years old this year (see picture in slider....I cropped the image to save my embarrassment) ! As I discussed in that post, I love a natural finish guitar and it was my always my dream to have one (and one which was similar to Nuno Bettencourt's Washburn N4 or those in the slider). So I attacked by beautiful white RG-550 with a wallpaper stripper, some glass and a sanding paper, with an amazing amount of help and patience from my fantastic granddad. We spent a lot of time working on it, but without the proper tools, it wasn't fantastic, the bodywork was a little uneven and as such we went with a dark stain to try and cover it up (and actually the stain was a little bit darken then it looked on the can).Anyway, the guitar was my first 'proper' guitar and was my main gigging guitar for years and years and years, and without doubt is probably my most treasured item. I always knew one day, I would get around to sorting out exactly how I had imagined all those years ago (i.e. get a professional in!). As a treat for the guitar, and myself, for my birthday this year, I finally decided to get the work done this year. The task was to remove the original stained finish (if possible) and then treat the wood, along side giving the guitar a much needed set up and tweak, although I am leaving the neck as is, because it looks road-worn and cool (which it is) and some people pay an absolute fortune to get a road-worn guitar, this is original!. I am leaving all the hardware as is too, although like on all my other guitars I am having the neck pickup coil tapped, as I prefer the H-S-S configuration.So, today I received an update from Steve at Guitar Repair Workshop to show me the progress being made, and wow (!!) I was blown away (see picture) it looks fantastic, I am dead chuffed at the awesome work he has done, and I really can't wait to see the finished.Excited!PeaceNeil