Bought an Ibanez

[PowerTube]

After my "adventure" with the fake JEM I posted about here, I began to explore Ibanez. So on Saturday, I found one in a pawn shop and grabbed it. It's an RG350DX and I got it out the door for $200.00 total. Not a high-end instrument by any means, but I made it a player. I polished the frets, cleaned and lemon-oiled the fretboard, replaced missing knobs and the bar (with a Fender/Squier screw-in type), restrung, and set intonation.

Down the road I might look at a higher-end Ibanez, like maybe a Premium or a J Custom.



It's sweet for what it is, but I wouldn't have paid any more for it.

*And yes, my camera sucks balls.

[straycat]

Looks pretty good for the money!

[CowboyFromHell]

RG's aren't too bad. I've had quite a few in my hands over the years and some of them can be quite surprising. HNGD!

[leftykingv2]

My buddy has an RG-350MDX. It's essentially the same guitar with a maple board and black shark tooth inlays. He loves it. You can't beat that guitar for that price either. I'll bet it plays like a dream too because my friends plays really well. Like I said bro I have 12 of them all Japanese high end models. They're definitely worth looking into! HNGD

[charvelsteen]

Thats great man. I love my ibanez'ez

[MetalHeadMat]

Every high school kid in this city owns one of those. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. I hope you got a good one! (Sorry for my negativity :P )

If you're looking at a good quality Ibanez, I'd recommend a lower end Prestige (like an RG1570, best guitar I own), or anything from the early 90's.

[PowerTube]

Every high school kid in this city owns one of those. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. I hope you got a good one! (Sorry for my negativity :P )

If you're looking at a good quality Ibanez, I'd recommend a lower end Prestige (like an RG1570, best guitar I own), or anything from the early 90's.

Hey, you're telling it like it is and I actually agree. I looked at a used Prestige in Guitar Center on Friday for $399.99. I didn't like the color, but I still almost got it. I love the "almost sharkfin" inlays on this one, while the Prestige had dots.

At some point, I'll stumble across a Prestige, Premium, J Custom, or something in that league, with a maple board and graphics.

[PowerTube]

I'll bet it plays like a dream too because my friends plays really well.

It plays like a dream now, after my setup. It didn't when i brought it home; the bridge was tilted way forward and the action was about 1/4 inch high at the 12 fret. I see this a lot on pawn shop guitars, where someone was clueless about Floyds and their derivatives.

The pickups sound great. They're DiMarzios of some description.

[Nightbat]

A buddy of mine just got himself an RG08LTD (08 being the year, not the amount of strings )
All in all a good looking guitar, but the cheap gold anodizing was showing it's less than stellar quality, p'ups were weak (IMO weaker than the Alnico II's in my epi)
Weird thing was the saddles were straight in line and it still was intonated correctly

It would've cost around €500 new back when, he got it for €225
The story was that it was only used for 8 lessons, then the daughter of the sellers put it in it's bag never to look at it again
and it showed
in that situation 225 was a good price, but new I wouldn't have plonked down that amount

[PowerTube]

A buddy of mine just got himself an RG08LTD (08 being the year, not the amount of strings )
All in all a good looking guitar, but the cheap gold anodizing was showing it's less than stellar quality, p'ups were weak (IMO weaker than the Alnico II's in my epi)
Weird thing was the saddles were straight in line and it still was intonated correctly

It would've cost around €500 new back when, he got it for €225
The story was that it was only used for 8 lessons, then the daughter of the sellers put it in it's bag never to look at it again
and it showed
in that situation 225 was a good price, but new I wouldn't have plonked down that amount

I've bought a lot more guitars used than new. It's not so much the price, per se, but I love to find a great deal and I also love getting them into shape with a good setup.

[charvelsteen]

At some point, I'll stumble across a Prestige, Premium, J Custom, or something in that league, with a maple board and graphics.

Don't forget the early radius, sabre and destroyer models.

[leftykingv2]

It plays like a dream now, after my setup. It didn't when i brought it home; the bridge was tilted way forward and the action was about 1/4 inch high at the 12 fret. I see this a lot on pawn shop guitars, where someone was clueless about Floyds and their derivatives.

The pickups sound great. They're DiMarzios of some description.

Yeah I noticed that the pickups had been upgraded because that guitar comes with the dreaded "INF" 3 and 4 I do believe.

[leftykingv2]

Every high school kid in this city owns one of those. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. I hope you got a good one! (Sorry for my negativity :P )

If you're looking at a good quality Ibanez, I'd recommend a lower end Prestige (like an RG1570, best guitar I own), or anything from the early 90's.

I have 12 different Ibanez guitars all Japanese made including a left handed RG 1570 and it is a really nice guitar for what I paid for it. I got it back in 2009 brand new for $1100 and some change. The "Prestige" models come with a very nice case as well in my opinion.

[Kisonen]

I had that same model briefly and sold as fast as i could. It looks nice but the quality is no there. Prestiges or earlier models from time when there wasn't any prestiges yet are the ones to look for. Japanese made Ibanez neck through RGT models are also very good. Ibanez American Masters are great guitars too but hard to find.

[PowerTube]

I had that same model briefly and sold as fast as i could. It looks nice but the quality is no there. Prestiges or earlier models from time when there wasn't any prestiges yet are the ones to look for. Japanese made Ibanez neck through RGT models are also very good. Ibanez American Masters are great guitars too but hard to find.

Yeah. I would equate this one with something like a DX10 in the Jackson line. It's not horrible, but it's not quality, either. I think it's just a step above the cheapest beginner models.

But I sort of wanted to take the plunge into Ibanez. I passed on several used ones before I decided to go ahead and grab this one. The neck is nice and it sounds great.