As a kid just getting into working on guitars, a mentor had a high end Ibanez Roadstar II. I loved it. My parents knew that, and I got one as a surprise Christmas gift.
It is---or at least was---an RS110 model. Almost as basic as it gets. Single bridge humbucker. No switches, just a push/push coil split on the volume pot. Not worth much even today, but actually quite rare, only made in 1985, according to the serial number. I honestly don't know, because they're not in any of the catalogs I've found.
Adult me says, that's awesome, rock it. Kid me was like yeahhh, I wouldn't have gone for that and I'm gonna change it. It became a learning platform. I borrowed a router, gave the body the swimming pool treatment, hacked up the original pickguard for a neck humbucker, and so it went. It had many, many phases. (I'm looking for pictures of all of them just for fun.)
Roughly a decade later, I sold it when I had a lot of debt and desperately needed help paying bills. Wasn't long before I regretted that, even though I didn't play it much anymore.
Fast forward to last week. That mentor, who I haven't talked to in years, reached out to me, wondering if I still had it. I started to say no, and explain why, but that I do keep an eye out for Roadstars now and then.
So I went to Reverb just out of curiosity. Nothing worth my money...except then WAIT WHAT there's my old guitar! Instantly recognizable because of the last mod I did to it. Shock.
I had wanted to do something different and bought a loaded pickguard assembly from an RS135, which was a short-lived Strat competitor. The pickups were red, so I tried spraying them black to match the body. Masking tape fell over onto the tops, and when I peeled it off, there you have it.
At the time I felt like, that's an appropriately 80s look, so I left it. Apparently everyone who's owned it since then did, too. Haven't decided what I'll do now. One thing is for sure, older me is not a fan of white/black/white 3-ply so I'll probably either make or buy a different pickguard. Or maybe try to get the original looking decent and go back to humbuckers. (I kept it, about to go look for it.)
Regardless, having it in my hands again is surreal. Sometimes things from your past find their way back to you and it's good. It'll never be worth much to anyone but me, but that makes it all the more valuable in a different way.
Best picture I could find of how it would've been originally (no pictures of my own from back then), compared to how it is now.
As I recall, from the factory it was routed only for the bridge pickup. I had no templates or anything else to do a proper route for a middle or neck pickup. I'm convinced the hole exposing the claw / springs wasn't my doing, but I can't find pictures to prove it. 
