White & grey

Ibanez did a wonderful thing this July by re-introducing the Genesis RG550 in white. It was done before not too long ago & was quickly snapped up. Those who are trawling the scalper's market for one can now get it for a reasonable retail price. (EDIT: The white version is not offered in China)

This is the other new finish in the lineup, a grey affair & would probably appeal to senior folks like me. 

Pics: Ibanez

Ibanez: Blue - Black

These two RG550 from the Genesis (Japan) Series are finally here. No change in prices compared to the previous batch of RG550 which was actually $200 more than the batch before. Finally because these blue & black version were released in August 2024 & they are only available about 5 months later. Have a feeling Ibanez had forgotten about its distributor in Singapore. Maybe we are of lesser importance compared to distributors in other countries. Maybe.

Pics: Ibanez

Ibanez: August '24

We begin August in the knowledge that Ibanez had decided to perpetuate the Genesis RG550 by adding a couple of new colours to the fold - black & electric blue.

Pic: Ibanez

Re-string Friday

Weekend is here! Time to get lost in gear indulgence once more. Of course, for someone like me with very little else to do, this is something to look forward to. The RG550 gets a re-string, GHS 9s this time round.

It also gets a new set set of string lock shafts. These are replaceable so it's something not to get too worked up over when they become rusty / corroded. 

Stopped

Despite being semi-butchered & brought back to life, this guitar never failed to inspire me in terms of riffing ideas. It's modded to be a simple tool; one pickup, one volume - go!

The latest internal surgery involves the installation of this little ditty; the Tremsetter (1). The industry also refers to it as Tremolo Stabilizer & Arming Adjuster, among others. The idea here is to set it up so that the whammy bridge returns to your preferred position. As such, it is functionally different from the Tremol-No where whammy applications are totally frozen; the bridge stops moving altogether. 

However, being me & having this guitar assigned for no whammy applications, I've decided to screw in the springs entirely as well (2). This effectively means, the bridge is a non-mover. This only works if you use a higher tension set of whammy springs. The absolute advantage - I no longer require the Edge bridge to be wedged during string change, it is now a fixed bridge. What's the point of buying a dual action whammy bridge only to stop it from being one? The point is that I have other guitars with a perfectly functional dual action whammy bridge for whammy applications. Since this one is a 'spare' of sorts, I don't mind it being different from its counterparts.

Aggression collective

Had been playing this combo since Friday. There's so much aggression in this pic:

• Ibanez RG550. Pretty much the utilitarian guitar for anything distortion inclined. The neck profile might please some & irk the rest, acquired taste for what's 'right' for you. 
• DiMarzio D Activator X. Often confused with the X2N with reference to the looks per se. One of the better pickups in my possession to supplement distortion, a little grizzly so needs some EQ tweaking at the amp end.
• DAW Shred line pick. I've grown accustomed to this pick profile over time as it caters to my playing quirk. Very rewarding for me as I kinda use my pick to kill string while playing. 

So, does an aggressive music set up require one to invest in pointy guitars, active pickups & an equally pointy pick? Of course not.

Ibanez: May update

Ibanez is re-highlighting the lefty RG550 this May (Genesis Series). Yes, re-highlighting because this was done back in 2018. This time, only the yellow version is offered. Keep in mind that the Genesis range is entirely removed from the Japanese market, the J-Line took over proceedings when it comes to Prestige-type credibility & affordability in mind.

Lately, Ibanez had been making their GIO models appealing. Maybe not so much of features, more of the looks. This GRX120 looks stunning in this blue with a pair of covered humbuckers.

Verdict: Fair. I would have deemed this May adventure boring save for the fact that the lefty RG provided considerations for the southpaws among us & the entry level Gio models are making themselves appealing for the money.

Pics: Ibanez International

Art

My RG550 took part in an art installation last night. Sublime moments. 😅

Re-string Thursday

Spent the last few days with the modded RG550. This is perhaps one of my better guitars when it comes to riffing ideas, most of the Mayhem & Emperor stuff were figured out using this one. The lone ranger pickup there is a DiMarzio D'Activator X. Sounds brutal with distortion & that's all that matters. You need a certain tool for a specific job & it is worth the time & effort to dedicate an instrument to fulfil that specific need. Gave it a re-string on the third day of playing, a set of Darco 9s. Darco strings are on sale now @ City Music's YES. 

Japs

Have been spending time with these two. Ibanez AZ2402 (pink) & RG550 (yellow), both Japanese but worlds apart.

RG550. I've been conditioned by the RG since the start, not this one but my RG560. The thin & flat neck profile stuck with me for a good while & everything else was just not my thing. Other neck profiles just make the instrument difficult to play for me. That happened for about 7 years or so till I bought my first Fender which was a Telecaster. It was a real change in terms of playing feel but I persevered.

AZ2402. This was something unexpected when it comes to Ibanez; that thick, round neck was it. It's the most non-Ibanez feel ever, a total departure. However, unlike Fender & it's other derivatives, Ibanez did something to the neck, a roasted treatment of sort so it gave the neck a very inviting feel despite moving away from its roots. Also, for a brand name with a steep inclinations for DiMarzio pickups, the Seymour Duncans were a very bold move. I was at Swee Lee to just test the guitar but it sort of grew on me. I did not buy the initial batch of AZs that came in but it happened much later. Pink was not priority, the instrument passed my inspection at the store & it clicked right from the start.

Sometimes we are deceived by familiarity; we tend to stick with what works & reject the rest. Any compromise & it brings us down in so many ways. Life has taught me to adapt. That triggered my purchase of other guitar brands which have no obligations to replicate the Ibanez profile in every way. Job experience also taught me to work out of my comfort zone to bring out my best performance & that translated to guitar playing. In my case, the other guitars prepared me to play my Ibanez better. Those times that I struggled with Fender & Gibson, when I returned to Ibanez, it makes playing a breeze. If it's within your means, do invest in guitars which are not your thing. These are the implements that will bring out the other side of your playing that might prove to be that refreshing change you are waiting for.

Yellow Saturday

Someone saw my yellow RG elsewhere & asked if it's the same butchered RG featured here: CLICK 

The answer lies in the picture above. These are two different guitars albeit the same model - RG550 (Genesis Series), which were both played this morning. It's an indoor Saturday for me as I stayed home to oversee some kitchen makeover. Also, my skin had been acting up since yesterday so home is the best place for some rest & healing. Why the sudden urge to play both? Just to hear DiMarzio (top) & Seymour Duncan (bottom) pickups in action. I made less mistakes with the DiMarzio fellow because there was no urge to switch pickups while playing. Also, I tend to play more riffs due to the single pickup offering. With the Duncans, I resorted to the neck pickup for solos (simply love the clarity there) & single coil for cleans. This isn't conclusive but true for most cases - the gear we play influences what we play. 

Pickups in the above guitars:

• TOP: DiMarzio D'Activator X
• BOTTOM: Seymour Duncan Distortion (n/b) + Quarter Pound Staggered (m)

Heavy mods

Spent some time with these two this morning. These are currently my Ibanez RGs that underwent severe makeovers & turned out likeable:

GRGR010

• Re-finished body, colour taken from a car paint catalog - copper + removed pickguard
• Replacement pickup - Seymour Duncan Custom Custom (SH-11) with plastic cover
• Low-friction volume knob
• Grpahtech String-Saver saddles (black)

RG550 Genesis

• After-market pickguard - single humbucker / volume knob only
• Replacement pickup - DiMArzio D'Activator X

The GRGR was bought for its single humbucker feature. I was still hesitant to own a single pickup guitar at that point in time so when this affordable Gio model was available at Swee Lee, it was a done deal. The intention was to make it a reference guitar for pickup testing since it's a single humbucking model. However, I chanced upon a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom & decided to try it in this guitar & it stayed put ever since. Simple reason - it's a deserving pickup in this guitar. The body was re-painted at a car workshop hence the 'car-coloured' finish you see there. The default string saddles were corroded / oxidized & the Graph Tech are simply wonderful replacements here. 

The RG550 Genesis started out as someone else's mod project. It was acquired by the former owner with a horrible body routing to accommodate a kill switch. I undertook the make-over on the owner's behalf who became uninterested in owning the guitar citing the dual action Edge bridge not being his cup of tea. Guitar was sold for cheap to me. I really like its simple looks & the D'Activator X there sounds awesome in this one. 

These are examples of second rated guitars, in my personal assessments of course, turning out to be unexpected gems. I think for those of us who have been playing for a while, there is this subliminal calling for us to simply acquire a budget guitar & mod the heck out of it to see if some things work for us. It need not turn out well, more importantly, the learning process would have taught us something when it comes to gear perception & appreciation.

Wishing you a good midweek (whats left of it). 😎

Damage control (3)

So after seeing this damaged RG550 back to life, the owner asked me if I'm interested in the guitar. Two reasons for his disinterest: 1) He's working shifts, hardly has playing time  2) It's a first locking, dual action bridge for him, he's too used to his Strat & ES335, he's just not into it. 

I told him I'm in no position to buy, I have treatment bills to account for. At best, I would pay $200 for the neck & bridge as these are still in very good condition. He said $200 is above his expectations 😮 but at my end, I have to pay him in two instalments, I really cannot afford to spend on gear in the mean time; it's just out of the question. A few days ago, I managed to transact the final instalment but the guy refunded me saying he has to offset me for the pickguard, pickup & other electronics expenditure plus the fact that I needed Beez to wire it back to life. At the end of it all, I paid $100 for this Ibanez RG550. It's the last thing I would spend money on considering the body cavity misadventure (click HERE to understand the situation). It's a nice birthday consolation but today is not my birthday. To the nice guy who made my day, if you are reading this - salamat aking kaibigan! Take care, everyone. Have a good weekend ahead. 😎

PS: Goodbye, April.

550 Sunday

Spent time with my RGs. The 550s you see above are from the same Genesis family but different iterations. The DX has a granadillo fretboard & a set of Seymour Duncans (JB / Hot Strat / Jazz). The Road Flare version sports a maple fretboard & kept in its original form, no mods. 

Are there benefits from swapping out the default pickups to some other brand names? It really depends on the owner - are you happy with the default pickups? The in house Ibanez V/S pickups are alright. They are not bad in any way, still capable of pulling off good rock tones. However, I realize that if too much distortion is dialled into them, they sound honky / nasal. The Seymour Duncans, on the other hand, has more tolerance for distortion, maintaining clarity & note definition. 

We're into the final week of April. That's fast. 

Damage control (2)

I proceeded to advise the owner of this unfortunate guitar to just invest in a new pickguard & get the electronics looked into. The neck (Super Wizard) & bridge (Edge) are still in very good condition. In fact, there was no fret wear to be seen & the bridge is showing no signs of neglect either. The guitar might have been kept away for some time after the gouging episode. The owner asked me if I could handle this project considering my conditions. I told him it's possible but I will take my time & he has to agree to some limitations with regards to spares availability.

First thing -  purchased a single humbucking pickguard for a no-frills look. FYI, it wasn't a perfect fit for a Japanese Ibanez, three screw holes are totally off the mark. This pickguard was meant to fit an RG350 hence the misalignments (Japanese RG550 vs Indonesian RG350 specs). I have a DiMarzio D'Activator X in the house so that became the pickup of choice. 

The guitar received a thorough cleaning, frets were polished & all screws were replaced. The Edge bridge was dismantled for a good wipe down & the innards were surprisingly oily - no idea what took place. The battery enclosure you see above was left in tact to cover more gouging horror. The block heel indicates a recent RG550 iteration - the Genesis model. This was confirmed by the serial number on the headstock; it's a 2013 model, the first batch of the Genesis RGs.

Very happy with the neck, only needed to raise the string retainer to a more optimum level since it was screwed too much into the headstock. 

To be concluded...

Red re-string

Indoor Thursday, spent some time with the red RG550. It's the only one left in its original incarnation, no mods.

With that said, I simply had to replace these pickguard screws. Folks, rusty screws are darn difficult to remove. You might round off the top while doing it & that makes it even harder for you. Also, super rusty screws might snap off in the midst of removal so some drilling is required to extract the broken bits. Rusty screws are easy & not costly to deal with so better safe than sorry. If you think leaving your guitar be in its hard case won't cause screws to rust - it doesn't work that way.

A set of D'Addario 9s for this one.  

Damage control

Well, well... what do we have here? Someone bought an Ibanez RG550 from the after-market. The initial owner told the buyer it was extensively modded to accommodate active electronics & a kill switch. The guitar was sold without pickups for a clearance price (whatever amount that was, I wasn't keen to find out). The buyer then asked me if I can help look into the matter & advise what's the next course of action. I agreed because I have some spare time at home.

The first thing I did was to remove the pickguard & saw this atrocity - the cavity was excessively gouged out to house whatever electronics that served the initial owner. The tech who handled this might have been Edward Scissorhands because it's rather obvious from the pic above that improper tools were used to get things done. The unblackened bits there - wood had been removed from the base layer of the cavity to make it deeper. Not a good thing to do because it leaves that area very vulnerable to breakage since it has the thinnest layer of wood to see things through. There were also multiple pickguard screw holes to imply the use of an ill-fitting after-market version.

This is a classic case of under-disclosure; the seller not being upfront in terms of expectations because the rot was not visible since it was hidden by the pickguard. It's totally OK to sell things as it is - just do your part to disclose the condition. If the buyer agrees to purchase then it would save you from a misrepresentation case which could be unpleasant in many ways.

To be continued...

Price watch (15)

Just days ago, I did an RG565 vs RG550 price comparison (click HERE to recap) citing how the former is $100 more than the latter without any significant upgrades / branded components inclusion. Note the recent development seen above - the RG550 is now sporting the same price as the RG565. Disclaimer: 1) I have no idea if this RG550 is part of the new shipment that costs more & that the new batch of RG550s indeed cost more this time round. This is largely confidential, only the distributors would know 2) Costs increase at the manufacturer's end so this is finally borne unto us.

Just sharing - The RG550 Genesis was $899 way back in 2017 so it's a $500 difference in the spate of about 5 years. Are prices going to go down in time to come? We kinda know the answer to this. Bummer.

Anyway, here's the consolation if you are keen in buying something in the likeness of the RG550 (do forgive the non-matching headstock-body finish) - the GRG250M (List: $419).

Pics: Swee Lee / MW Academy

550?

This Ibanez is listed in the after-market as an RG550R ($950). I have issues with it being a 550.

The guitar sports a Made-in-Japan serial number & at best, it's only validating the neck being a genuine article. The issue here lies with the body. Firstly, it sports a Lo-TRS bridge. The RG550 folks, since Day 1, is not equipped with a lower series bridge. Yes, there are indeed Japanese models sporting a lower series bridge but it's never the RG550. The other detail here is the bridge cavity. Let us assume that the original owner had swapped out the Edge / Lo-Pro Edge bridge for the Lo-TRS for some good money but take a closer look at the cavity outline (left pic). It is actually conforming to the Lo-TRS outline (that slanted flap edge). The original RG550 Edge is not designed as such (right pic). Implication - this is highly likely not an RG550 body.

If you know where this is listed, please do not confront the seller by any means. Flag him out if you have to (alert the host) but my take on this - the seller got this guitar as it is, used & the original owner did not fully disclose what actually happened to the guitar. I wouldn't pay $950 for this, a definite no.

Price watch (14)

So the new RG565 is $100 more than the RG550. I was expecting an equal affair. The 565 has one less pickup & no pickguard. Ideally, this should warrant some cost considerations back at the factory which would possibly translate into a lesser asking price than what it's listing for now. But we need to factor in inflation / exchange rates along the way as some would opine.

Elsewhere, it's an equal listing. One more time, I'm not here to tell distributors how much certain instruments should be selling for, they have their operational reasons to do so. Some of us are fond of keeping prices in check. In the mean time both the 565 & 550 are reasonably priced, no daylight robbery to report. 

Pics: Swee Lee / Thomann