porknchili
G.A.S.ITIS
For the past few months, I was obsessed with getting an RG570 that I saw at my somewhat local music store in like February. That day, I ended up buying an Ibanez RG550XH, though I was incredibly tempted to get the cheaper, used, "RG570" instead. This week, because I'm helping my dad out with filing medical charts/getting ready to enter them for a study, I was given the green light to get that RG570. However, I kept thinking that maybe it wasn't an RG570. The only things I actually remembered were that it had an Edge bridge, was blue, and had a 3 piece maple/bubinga neck. When I got there, I realized that I apparently suck with numbers, and it was actually an Ibanez RG520 (exact same aside from the pickup configuration and body woods).
Anyways, here are some pictures...
Thoughts:
1. The neck on this is amazing: There was an RG652K in the store as well as an RG920QM so I compared their neck profiles with the RG520's super wizard. Long story short, the RG520 feels thinner (until the 12th fret against the 652K where it feels just a TAD thicker) and more comfortable than the other two. Also, it feels a bit more solid than both, but I'd wager that's due to the big stripe of bubinga.
2. I have a pretty bad memory: I originally was going to buy this because I thought it was in really bad shape and had rust everywhere. Thought it has some dents and chips in the lacquer as well as some discoloration on the hardware, it's actually in pretty good shape. Still, I'll probably spend the rest of the week fixing all the dents and polishing all the hardware.
3. Upgrades: I checked out the electronics on this and, to be honest, they are cheap as hell. With that said, I'll be doing the following upgrades:
- Replace the tuners with Gotoh SGL510Z locking tuners
- Replace the pickups with a PAF Joe in the neck and an Evolution in the bridge (Richie Allan
)
- Dimarzio Cliplocks
- CLR 3 way lever switch
- 2 Bourns push-pull pots (going to wire it up to coil split for the North neck coil and South bridge coil)
4. It's really hard to see stuff: The top on this is pretty hard to see and the dark blue color they used doesn't help at all. However, the veneer is incredibly dull and I literally cannot tell if it is quilted maple or not. In terms of the body, the mahogany is pretty good quality from what I can tell.
Overall, I'm happy with this and I can see why people jump to buy old MiJ Ibanez guitars. While I'm less than excited to start repairing it and replacing the crap electronics, it's a small price to pay (in reality, all the upgrades are gonna be pretty expensive lol).
Anyways, here are some pictures...
Thoughts:
1. The neck on this is amazing: There was an RG652K in the store as well as an RG920QM so I compared their neck profiles with the RG520's super wizard. Long story short, the RG520 feels thinner (until the 12th fret against the 652K where it feels just a TAD thicker) and more comfortable than the other two. Also, it feels a bit more solid than both, but I'd wager that's due to the big stripe of bubinga.
2. I have a pretty bad memory: I originally was going to buy this because I thought it was in really bad shape and had rust everywhere. Thought it has some dents and chips in the lacquer as well as some discoloration on the hardware, it's actually in pretty good shape. Still, I'll probably spend the rest of the week fixing all the dents and polishing all the hardware.
3. Upgrades: I checked out the electronics on this and, to be honest, they are cheap as hell. With that said, I'll be doing the following upgrades:
- Replace the tuners with Gotoh SGL510Z locking tuners
- Replace the pickups with a PAF Joe in the neck and an Evolution in the bridge (Richie Allan
)- Dimarzio Cliplocks
- CLR 3 way lever switch
- 2 Bourns push-pull pots (going to wire it up to coil split for the North neck coil and South bridge coil)
4. It's really hard to see stuff: The top on this is pretty hard to see and the dark blue color they used doesn't help at all. However, the veneer is incredibly dull and I literally cannot tell if it is quilted maple or not. In terms of the body, the mahogany is pretty good quality from what I can tell.
Overall, I'm happy with this and I can see why people jump to buy old MiJ Ibanez guitars. While I'm less than excited to start repairing it and replacing the crap electronics, it's a small price to pay (in reality, all the upgrades are gonna be pretty expensive lol).
Congrats! Wish the figuring had some more contrast. How is the guitar? Is it heavy?
