J Line: RG6

 

They unveiled this two days ago with a fair bit of hype over at their social media end. This is a Made in Japan RG6HSHFX in a very black finish. The bridge there is a fixed bridge Mono-rail version but the tuners are locking Gotoh MG-T models. Blank rosewood fretboard - yes!

Folks, the heel here is the block version so it's no different from the Genesis RG550. We wonder why the AANJ feature was omitted, it's like a step backwards but it's not a serious setback. The pickups are also the in-house V & S series, again, a very Genesis feature.

With that, the J Line series feature two offerings (Talman + RG) with a hint of more to come. I'm implying this because over at the Japanese listing, the Genesis models have been discontinued with the J Line seemingly taking over proceedings. The features discussed above also hinted at a cascading of Genesis model attributes with affordability in mind. So the J Line might bring in a deserving '90s nostalgia, appealing to cult followers of that era while converting new campers with non-extravagant features that might end up being modded anyway (eg. pickups). Looks like the business plan here is that of reclamation in light of the constricted financial outlook of buyers in the meantime. Hoping there's an S version with 22 frets next.

PICS: Ibanez Japan