Selling: Ibanez RG3XXV (SOLD)

Second guitar to be put up for sale, my Ibanez RG3XXV in 9/10 condition. Virtually no fret wear as I don't bend strings much. In fact, I prefer doing a whammy rather than bending strings. Guitar had been re-strung & cleaned. Please understand that my price is final as every cent counts for me in the mean time. 

• Selling: Ibanez RG3XXV (25th Anniversary commemorative model), Gator bag included
• DiMarzio pickups (factory default): D Activator (b) / Air Norton (n)
• Mods: 1) 3-way pickup selector 2) Push - pull coil split knob (tone knob)
• Self-collect: CCK / Yew Tee mrt station
• No reservations / trades
• Queries: subversion@gmail.com 
• Price: $700 (FINAL, non-nego)

Fresher

The recent entry featuring death & decay of internal parts were from this guitar; my Ibanez RG3XXV. You can refer to those episodes here: CLICK 1, CLICK 2

Here's how the innards look like after an entire make-over. No Orange Drop cap in there but a Panasonic Gum Drop (arrow) this time. 

A quick bobbin facelift to match the body finish 😁

Last & certainly not least, thanks to Master Beez for overseeing this revival.

Screws issue... or is it? (RG3XXV)

In the midst of replacing my RG3XXV's default 5-way selector with a 3-way version, there was a problem screwing the new unit to the guitar. Upon probing into the rear cavity, it's discovered that the body surface at that area wasn't leveled accordingly; so one of the screws could very well fit into the cavity & into the switch's housing but the other couldn't due to excess wood there. The default selector screws were long enough so there wasn't such an issue until this mod took place. Beez had some replacement screws lying around so the matter was settled in no time.

Ibanez: RG3XXV... mods

Was at Beez's yesterday, had the push-pull coil split done in my Ibanez RG3XXV.

More importantly, Beez helped me re-organize the mess in the cavity & covered all bare wires. If you read in other forums, the down factor (in terms of QC) for this guitar is that the tech over at the factory left bare wires unattended to. I have no idea if doing so saved the manufacturer a significant amount of money at the end of it all *sigh*. Also had the orange cap installed, barely visible in the above pic.

Ibanez: RG3XXV (Part 3)

After playing the RG3XXV for some days now, I realized that the instrument is rather heavy. This prompted me to revisit my RG560 & discovered both instruments to be of about the same weight. I have no idea if this was deliberate on the part of the manufacturer- to re-create the instrument to specs- it's definitely a positive consideration. Due to how heavy it is (not excessive, of course) there's a stronger bass response & more sustain to be heard. This complements the D Activator bridge pickup for its prickly midrange.

Ask & you will be enlightened

It seems that I've been updating Ibanez models which are not available at Swee Lee... or is that really the case? There is a batch of new Ibanez models which shipped in very recently. They are not on display yet at Swee Lee's Bras Basah showroom due to space constraints, they will be up for perusal once the store make-over is in its completion phase. If you are interested in any of the recent Ibanez models (if you are a true-blue Ibanez fan, you'd know what they are) Swee Lee will do an availability check for you with price quotes so if you don't see what you want in store, simply make an inquiry. They did just that for me, hence my acquisition of 2 recent models: RG3XXV + RG331M. 

I'm definitely not Swee Lee or an employee by any means but it's interesting to note the number of queries I received pertaining to stock queries & prices, he he...

Here's wishing everyone a good week ahead :-)

Ibanez: RG3XXV (Part 2)

These are the default DiMarzio pickups in the Ibanez RG3XXV: D Activator (bridge)/ Air Norton S (neck). A quick character reference:

D Activator

It's a treble rich pickup, it was designed to be this way to manifest an accurate active pickup voicing. I'm not a treble fan but this pickup works for me when I turn down the treble over at the amp. It's a magnificent worker for distortion settings. In clean mode, it lacks warmth but gives off a great boom; not for the vintage aficionado, definitely.

Air Norton S

The ANS is a wonderful neck unit, it's one of those eccentric high output, ceramic-based performer that sounds different from what you'd expect it to be. EQ-wise, this pickup is migrange rich with lots of supporting bass response & a curbed treble response- one of the smoothest neck tone could be heard here. This is my kinda pickup, lots of midrange accentuation, lots of warmth, lots of punch without losing definition in any way.

Yes, I'm a Duncan fan through & through but I'm not averse to DiMarzios or any other pickup brands (even EMG, mind you). I just hear more usable tones from Duncans than any other brand names out there, I think it's purely coincidental; they have what I wanna hear. 

Coming back to the RG3XXV performance; I must say that these 2 are the deserving pickups in there. They bring out the best from a basswood unit coupled with a locking, dual-action whammy bridge with lots of potential to sound bad. But not this guitar. The bridge handles all out distortion while the neck gives you one of the best, contemporary neck tones out there.

Ibanez: RG3XXV

I just wanna say that I'm terribly glad I waited; the new resident here is my Ibanez RG3XXV. I nearly bought the RGR465 at Kuala Lumpur but the Edge III bridge was the final consideration. Had been playing it last evening, managed to catch the (Olympic 2012) Mexico - Senegal match while I was at it. Full report very soon.

Hmm... my last 3 guitars all sport maple fretboards: RG3XXV/ RG331M/ Les Paul Tribute 50s humbucker

Ibanez: RG3XXV (rehashed but worth it)

You've seen this guitar before (here, in this blog...), it was mentioned in 2010- it's Ibanez's limited run RGR465; the guitar that's available everywhere but here. Anyway, it's a spot production & it wasn't meant to last but here's the good news...

Ibanez had regurgitated this model as the Anniversary RG3XXV- a virtual carbon copy of the RGR465 but it's the EZ-II bridge now (not the Edge III model in the previous incarnation) so it's definitely a more desirable take. I'll update its probability of making it here- I'm definitely interested in this one.