Bought an Ibanez RG550 for $70

[Deadlock]

This f*cked up old RG550 has been sitting in my local Guitar Center for 6 years. They had bought it for $300 and tried to sell it for $400. Well time went by and no one bought it because it had so many issues. Well I talked them down to $70. It's my new project guitar. My camera needs new batteries, but I'll post pics soon. The neck is amazing!

Here are the issues with the guitar:

-Volume pots are hanging out of the front because half of the the pickguard was somehow ripped off. (An aftermarket mirror pickguard...basically shattered)

-Terrible refinish job, strange red/copper color

-The locking nut is missing the 3 locks

-5 way pickup switch works about 50% of the time.

With a new pickguard, new paint, rewiring and a new nut...this guitar will be back in business. It plays really well...just everything else is messed up. :-)

$70....yay

Oh and the bridge pickup is a DiMarzio of some sort.

[fett]

How can you miss? fett knows.

[Bengal]

Not a bad deal. Hopefully you can do the refin youself or know someone who will do it cheap. That will help keep the cost down. But they way I figure it, by the time you get all that done, you could have bought a decent 550 that doesn't have all those issues...

Not to rain on your deal or anything. Nice to see someone trying to help out a down on it's luck RG...

One question, why in the HELL would GC pay $300 for that? Idiots...

[shobet]

Beat it up a bit more and you'll have a relic!

I have one that went for a swim in hurricane Floyd in 99 and that still played well and stayed in tune even though there are great big cracks in the body and the scarf joint in the neck was coming apart, weird. It was quite fun to play apart from the fucked electrics.

It amazes me sometimes what a guitar can go through and still be playable.

[Deadlock]

by the time you get all that done, you could have bought a decent 550 that doesn't have all those issues...

I have tons of spare parts laying around...so this will only cost me like $30
I'm cutting my own pickguard out of plexiglass too. I'm a cheap bastard.

I'm doing the refinish myself. I've done stripping/refinishing before...this time i'm just going to spray paint over the old finish and then put some clear coats on. Not a pro job...but it will look good enough for me.

[Bengal]

I have tons of spare parts laying around...so this will only cost me like $30
I'm cutting my own pickguard out of plexiglass too. I'm a cheap bastard.

I'm doing the refinish myself. I've done stripping/refinishing before...this time i'm just going to spray paint over the old finish and then put some clear coats on. Not a pro job...but it will look good enough for me.

There you go. It will be a nice deal then...

I still want to know why GC would pay $300 for it in the first place...

Oh wait... I know... They are idiots...

[toejam]

Cool deal. Congrats!

[Strat God]

Is this your first 550?

You may find it's one of your favorite guitars after awhile...

[Deadlock]

Is this your first 550?

You may find it's one of your favorite guitars after awhile...

Yes, my first 550. My first Ibanez actually. I normally hate Ibanez guitars, but this one has a very comfortable neck.




In the past, I bought a used BC Rich at Guitar Center for $90. I kept it for a year, then sold it back to Guitar Center for $100.

[kelly user]

dude, don't strip ibanez guitars. i have heard horror storys about the guitars falling apart afterwords. the trem post wobbled out, the lower horn cracked off and the guitar split in two.

[shobet]

dude, don't strip ibanez guitars. i have heard horror storys about the guitars falling apart afterwords. the trem post wobbled out, the lower horn cracked off and the guitar split in two.

Have you seen this for yourself or is it just hearsay?
I would oil the body to be on the safe side and to protect the wood. My Hamer was stripped to bare wood when I got her and she is ok.

[wicked_lester]

A Japanese RG with those issues for 70$!? Naaaaaccce!!!

[Bengal]

dude, don't strip ibanez guitars. i have heard horror storys about the guitars falling apart afterwords. the trem post wobbled out, the lower horn cracked off and the guitar split in two.

Sounds like BS to me. I've never heard of that happening...

I personally stripped 1 early 90's RG and nothing like that happened. I will never do it again though. Its insane how thick Ibanez sprays paint. Way too thick for me. Course I was sanding by hand. I suppose with a sander it would go easier/faster...

[kelly user]

i don't quite remember where i read it, although i think it was here, or on the project guitar forums.

[Bengal]

i don't quite remember where i read it, although i think it was here, or on the project guitar forums.

I suppose anything is possible. Maybe it was a "lesser" RG that did that. Maybe not. But my stripping expierence was fine, exhausting but fine...