Ibanez RG-550 20th Anniversary

[MrMunky]

Oh yea.

This is a fun one.






CLIP:
http://www.inrerocknroll.com/tunes/RGWaltz.mp3

[Disco Scottie]

Nice pics! Diggin' that shallow DOF. How much are these selling for?

[MrMunky]

Thanks guys.

These things strike me as a pretty good deal. MIJ guitars are often quite a bit more.

I'm really impressed. I wish thin necks and flat fingerboards were more common on all types of guitars.

[Wally1]

MrMunky,
The Road flair Red Rg 550 was my first guitar in 1987. I still miss it! Yours looks great! I'm more of a PRS/Les Paul player these days but I've been thinking about picking one of these up to remind me of my youth. It's been over ten years since I've had anything with a floyd and I cant wait!

[7String Thing]

I Just Want The Black One With The Maple Fretboard! Why Wont They Make It That Way!?

[iaresee]

My first non-polish-department-store-plywood guitar was a white RG550 with a maple board. I was stoked about the reissues and then I saw the price! $900 USD! Are you kidding me? I think I paid $500 CAD for that RG from Steve's when I was 14.

[MrMunky]

I don't think the maple fingerboard was available on the black ones in 1987, and they were trying to be true to the originals. I agree that black with maple would rock.

The price strikes me as a good one. 20 years ago gas was 85 cents a gallon or so, you could see movies in the theater for a dollar, and buy a single family home for 60k. Nowadays it is quite difficult to find a new Japanese made guitar for less than a thousand dollars.

Of course there are used original 550s around for 500 or less, but almost every one I've seen is thoroghly beat, cracked, and/or worn out. This thing was pretty well perfect right out of the box.

[Mike Duncan]

I played the yellow one a couple of hours ago at GC in Falls Church, VA. I've never owned a shredder guitar...and loved it!!

[MrMunky]

More pics here:

http://fuzz.inrerocknroll.com/guitars.html

[fusionid]

so was the paint poly??? it looks awesome. I think the red one was a good choice.

[Shredcow]

Don't the frets look like... they've been clipped off?

[T.Wesley]

Yeah baby!!


Picked mine up last week with the ol' tax refund (well... my share of the ol' tax refund!). Bought one new in 1989 for $550, they're selling now for about $800 depending on where you go. Funny thing though - seen them on eBay for $1100! Don't these guys pay attention? Crazy.

Anyway, it's been fun having a thin-necked, wide-fingerboard guitar again, and it's been so long since I had a Floyd Rose on a guitar I'd forgotten how much fun those are as well (til it's time to change strings anyway).

The pickups sound a lot better than I remember, and the two in-between switching points that are 1 coil of the 'bucker + the single coil are surprisingly useful.

I'm glad Ibanez is helping me reconnect with my youth. Now if they'd just reissue the RG540PII I'd sell off all my other guitars and just play Ibanez again

OK not really.

--chiba

[A440]

geez, I didn't know there was still a big market for these. funny, how things come back around

I had a frankenstein 550. I think the orig color was five alarm red. a loud orangy red color, but I stripped it down and did a tung oil finish

[MrMunky]

Originally Posted by Chiba

Yeah baby!!


Picked mine up last week with the ol' tax refund (well... my share of the ol' tax refund!). Bought one new in 1989 for $550, they're selling now for about $800 depending on where you go. Funny thing though - seen them on eBay for $1100! Don't these guys pay attention? Crazy.

Anyway, it's been fun having a thin-necked, wide-fingerboard guitar again, and it's been so long since I had a Floyd Rose on a guitar I'd forgotten how much fun those are as well (til it's time to change strings anyway).

The pickups sound a lot better than I remember, and the two in-between switching points that are 1 coil of the 'bucker + the single coil are surprisingly useful.

I'm glad Ibanez is helping me reconnect with my youth. Now if they'd just reissue the RG540PII I'd sell off all my other guitars and just play Ibanez again

OK not really.

--chiba

Beautiful. I can't remember the last time I was so favorably impressed by an off-the-shelf mass-production guitar.

I agree about the pickups, they sound pretty outstanding. I remember liking humbuckers in this type of body design, but recently I played and owned some very high end strat-type guitars with bridge and neck humbuckers, and I thought they really lacked low end and clarity. I kind of figured my ears had gotten older or something, but the 550 sounds great in the neck and bridge positions - better than I remember.

And nothing about it feels cheap. The neck appears to be quartersawn maple, the finish is nice and even, and the tremolo action is outstanding.

Part of me expected to get this guitar, play around with it for an afternoon, and be bored with it. But I think I'll be using it quite a bit.

[Road Runner]

Still have my 90's black with maple neck RG550 I bought new back then. I came close to selling it a few times, very glad I didn't. Was glad that these are still made in Japan like the originals. Beatiful axe, congrats.

Later, Jim