550's return

This must be the best news for the year- the Ibanez RG550 is making a come back in 2018. There are no official statements over at the Ibanez homepage (yet) but dealers are already conforming the delivery of these hotties by December 2017.

What I think:

1. It's a bout time. If you are a hardcore Ibanez fan, the RG550 is that landmark guitar after the manufacturer decided the JEM might be out of reach for many enthusiasts. This isn't a major comeback as the RG550 was re-introduced in the Prestige Genesis selections in 2013 (CLICK) & as an anniversary model in 2007. 
2. Really glad the headstock doesn't say Prestige. In any case, the current RG655 is indeed the RG550 with a Prestige label. This would effectively mean, the RG550 will displace the RG655 in its tier as they are both the same guitars with a slight difference in representation. However, the manufacturer might market the RG550 as a higher tier model despite the numerics. Let's see what changes will take place in the 2018 Ibanez catalog. 
3. Prices- let's take a look at the following:

These were the RG550 prices when they were offered as the Genesis re-intro models. A mind boggling sub-$1K price tag, yes? Do note the instruments did not come with a hard case. Can we expect such prices in 2018? A firm negative. They are already listing for USD1.5K so if the RG550 ends up here next year (highly likely), be prepared to pay double (may be more) what you see above.

On that note, if you are trying to clear yours (like the one above), regardless of the year of manufacture or status, you'd do well to make it happen ASAP. Come next year, we can very well get an off-the-shelf model, a crispy new RG550.