Ibanez RG550+RG350 HELP!

[devreaux]

okay so i simply love this rg550, it's awesome, but i am also very poor.
so if i get this right:

RG550 1987 = the real deal
RG550 reissue = also the real deal but not from 1987
and then the RG350M YE = help? it goes for 381 euro, and thats cheap,

is this a bad guitar? what if i put dimarzios in it? does it differ alot from the rg550's?

[Mazrim]

If you have a 550 there isnt much point getting a 350. Its a pretty good budget/mid range guitar but an 87-93 RG550 kills it dead.
Its basically a pro guitar.

So no, for the money it would cost you to upgrade the pups and probably the bridge and a set up or whatever just find a second hand old RG550.
Then when you've saved a bit more, upgrade the pups in the 550 and you'll be very happy. Or stick with the stock pups as they're not too shabby at all. Some people love them.

[Rsmacker]

The 550 has got far better upper fret access, the 350 is more of a square body. An old 550 is probably less money than a new 350 (they are fetching peanuts) , so don't bother pissing about buying the 350 and changing things, you can't polish a turd.

[devreaux]

If you have a 550 there isnt much point getting a 350. Its a pretty good budget/mid range guitar but an 87-93 RG550 kills it dead.
Its basically a pro guitar.

So no, for the money it would cost you to upgrade the pups and probably the bridge and a set up or whatever just find a second hand old RG550.
Then when you've saved a bit more, upgrade the pups in the 550 and you'll be very happy. Or stick with the stock pups as they're not too shabby at all. Some people love them.

thing is i dont have an rg550, but i mean, what are the differences between the 550 reissue and a 350? then if i also change the pups and lock the bridge?

[BenoA]

The 550 has got far better upper fret access, the 350 is more of a square body. An old 550 is probably less money than a new 350, so don't bother pissing about buying the 350 and changing things, you can't polish a turd.

Better access on the 550 than the 350??? They both have the round neck joint. See my 350 pics here: http://picasaweb.google.ca/jbaubry/M...eat=directlink

As for quality??? I can't comment on the 550 but after a year of playing my 350, I can say I still have no issues, even the Edge III that everyone seems to hate on most forums, well the one on my 350 stays in tune very well and can endure dive bombs and squeals as the Edge7 on my RG7620. I replaced the knobs for strat looking ones, to give my 350 a 550 vibe. The stock PUs were OK but I had a good deal on a set of Dimarzios PUs ToneZone (bridge) + Evo (neck) and did the swap.

IMO, if you can't afford the real deal but want a decent copy, you can't go wrong with the RG350 YE.

Here is a old review I've done of it: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/946...=1#post1257380

[Rsmacker]

Better access on the 550 than the 350??? They both have the round neck joint.

I must be talking out of my arse then!
I'm fucking certain I had one of those 350's and certainly do have a 550, and they were definitely not the same round the back. (And my old 550 isn't the same as yours.....)

[devreaux]

I must be talking out of my arse then!
I'm fucking certain I had one of those 350's and certainly do have a 550, and they were definitely not the same round the back. (And my old 550 isn't the same as yours.....)

the 350 seems rounder than the 550 :S

[devreaux]

thing is i dont have an rg550, but i mean, what are the differences between the 550 reissue and a 350? then if i also change the pups and lock the bridge?

If you have a 550 there isnt much point getting a 350. Its a pretty good budget/mid range guitar but an 87-93 RG550 kills it dead.
Its basically a pro guitar.

So no, for the money it would cost you to upgrade the pups and probably the bridge and a set up or whatever just find a second hand old RG550.
Then when you've saved a bit more, upgrade the pups in the 550 and you'll be very happy. Or stick with the stock pups as they're not too shabby at all. Some people love them.

okay, but what if i put it like this: can you compare a rg550 from 87-91 with a soloist from the same years? and how about a jackson dk2 with the RG350?

[Rsmacker]

I was talking out of my arse, I've discovered it was an RG450 that I had, so ignore my input! (BTW, what I was going on about was the scoop out of the heel, the 450 doesn't have that, it is just square.) I don't think a soloist from the same era can be compared, the RG was a truly mass produced guitar, ie. no matter where you are in the world, if you go into a shop the guitar will be exactly the same as every other RG. (I think that was something Steve Vai said years ago, just before the first JEMs came out) It's a bit like comparing a Ford Mondeo and an Aston Martin DB7 - both great, but there are millions of Mondeos about, which one would you pick? Not the Aston if you have to go to work in it every day....

OK, erm, carry on!

[BenoA]

thing is i dont have an rg550, but i mean, what are the differences between the 550 reissue and a 350? then if i also change the pups and lock the bridge?

RG550: Edge bridge (very good bridge, same bridge that you can find on Ibanez JEM, for some it's even better than an original Floyd Rose) + V series PUs (according to some people, not very good) - Guitar made in Japan

RG350 YE: Edge III bridge (entry level version, IMHO, not as bad as most forums say) + INF series PUs (PUs you can find in low end Ibanez) - Guitar is made in Indonesia

If I remember well, also the neck contour is different, 550 got the wizard neck, the 350 the wizard II (not as thin as the other version but still not a baseball bat shape).

Back to what I said, it all depends to how much you want to spend. For me the 350 I own does the job real fine and I'm very happy with it. It's my main guitar (with my BC Rich Gunslinger) and had no issues with it for the year I've own it.

[devreaux]

I was talking out of my arse, I've discovered it was an RG450 that I had, so ignore my input! (BTW, what I was going on about was the scoop out of the heel, the 450 doesn't have that, it is just square.) I don't think a soloist from the same era can be compared, the RG was a truly mass produced guitar, ie. no matter where you are in the world, if you go into a shop the guitar will be exactly the same as every other RG. (I think that was something Steve Vai said years ago, just before the first JEMs came out) It's a bit like comparing a Ford Mondeo and an Aston Martin DB7 - both great, but there are millions of Mondeos about, which one would you pick? Not the Aston if you have to go to work in it every day....

OK, erm, carry on!

what about the dk2 and the 350 then? lets say that they produce as much rg's as dk2's

[Rsmacker]

Dunno mate, I can only speak from experience, and I have never rubbed my helmet around any DK2s. I'm sure someone will be along to help you at any moment, apart from BenOA, who is trying his hardest and actually knows what he is on about.

PS. Aston Martins are total fanny magnets.

[BenoA]

...and I have never rubbed my helmet around any DK2s.

Can't help on the "versus" thing... Can you go out and try both of them side by side?

Only thing I could say on the DK2: made in Japan, real Seymour Duncan PUs (if I remember well), Jackson bridge (probably similar to the EdgeIII in overall quality). DK2 offers choice of wood for fretboard depending on model you choose. No crazy Yellow color on the DK2!

[devreaux]

okay so i just found out that the guitar we're discussing has exactly the same specs as this guitar http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-RG350DX

my friend had one of these about a year ago and i remember that it played really good and the neck was really fast.

i remember that it felt almost like it was better than my jackson dinkys

i think that if i swap the pups and lock the bridge, im gonna have a really fast playing guitar with great sound, and the necks wont differ to much from the dinkys.

the rg550 has better bridge, thinner neck, and better stock pups, but it's made of the same wood, other than that it's the same guitar (?)

[Newc]

The 550 had the maple board and V7 neck and V8 bridge (with a single in the middle), right? I played one a few years ago through a Marshall Artist head and the pickups were definitely not shitty. I thought they sounded great.