Rebel! – 2006 Ibanez SAS36FM – Korean – Upgraded Rail Humbuckers

We already introduced you to Rogue, who was hardly the sensible sibling. Unfortunately, she appears to have a sister.

And somehow, Rebel is the badly behaved one.

Built in Korea in 2006, Rebel is an Ibanez SAS36FM, a discontinued member of the SA family that combined Ibanez’s slim, sculpted design with considerably more elaborate construction.

Her mahogany body carries a beautifully figured flame-maple top surrounded by cream binding and shimmering abalone purfling. Rather than the bolt-on construction found on many SA models, Rebel has a slim 3-piece maple set-in neck, paired with a bound rosewood fingerboard, 22 medium frets and a 25.5-inch scale.

Then somebody got to the pickups.

The SAS36FM originally left Ibanez with single coils in its neck and middle positions alongside the unusual True Duo bridge humbucker. Rebel’s first two pickups have since been replaced with single-coil-sized rail humbuckers, adding considerably more output and thickness without requiring the body to be routed for full-size humbuckers.

The original Ibanez True Duo bridge pickup remains in place, leaving Rebel with what is effectively an HHH configuration hiding inside the original HSS layout.

Chrome hardware and an Ibanez SAT Pro tremolo complete a guitar that can move from relatively civilised sounds to considerably less responsible ones.

Rebel has received the full Stray Chord workshop treatment. Her frets have been levelled, individually recrowned and polished, her rosewood fingerboard thoroughly cleaned and conditioned, her electronics inspected and pickup heights adjusted. Neck relief, action and intonation have then been set before final play-testing.

Despite approaching twenty years old, she presents beautifully, with only light evidence of her previous life.

The result is an increasingly uncommon Korean Ibanez with striking looks, set-neck construction, genuinely useful pickup upgrades and considerably more attitude than the factory supplied.

Rogue behaved herself eventually.

We’re making no promises about her sister.

Rebel is ready for adoption.

The Stray Chord
Rescue • Restore • Rehome