NGD: If It's Good Enough For Paul Gilbert....

[IbanezDaemon]

I quite liked the look of these PGM50 models when they came out but never got around to grabbing one. Then I caught a MR Big gig a few months ago and got to see Paul playing one in the flesh...pretty cool and sounded great. So this one popped up for sale and I bought it.

Now the funny thing is the day I purchased this Paul Gilbert posted on Instagram that 4 of his guitars including this model had been stolen in Frankfurt.....damn....then you get thinking....nah it can't be can it??
Took the seller 4 days to ship.....gulp!! Getting a little antsy. Thankfully Paul posted the serials of his stolen ones and this wasn't it.....if it was I wouldn't be doing this NGD now......would have been returned to him.

Anyhoo....cool little guitar. Build quality is pretty good, finish is good and the fretwork is spot on...okay so it's not J Custom or Prestige level but still no complaints from me. The neck is def a beefier affair, I'd say thicker than the Ibanez Ultra profile which is on the thicker side of the Wizard necks. Still a nice profile. Holds tune well....the Gotoh locking tuners are a welcome addition. Only minor gripe is it's a 22 fret model....I prefer 24....not that I venture up to the 24th fret all that often but access to frets 20-22 is easier on a 2 octave neck for me. These only come with a padded Ibanez gig bag but I had a spare M300C case.

And with 2 of it's stablemates in the same livery:

 

[tedtan]

HNGD!

I wouldn’t want to play some of the guitars Paul played early on (the old Epiphone Olympic, the Vox and Danos, for example) but the PGMs are nice.

Also, how do you like the Reb Beach Model/Voyager? And how do you find the pick guard? Is it in the way?

 

[IbanezDaemon]

HNGD!

I wouldn’t want to play some of the guitars Paul played early on (the old Epiphone Olympic, the Vox and Danos, for example) but the PGMs are nice.

Also, how do you like the Reb Beach Model/Voyager? And how do you find the pick guard? Is it in the way?

Thanks. I remember Paul and Bruce playing those body styles around the time of Second Heat/Extreme Volume era....think the main one's were like the Olympic style bodies with Ibanez necks. Probably used them because of the crazy upper fret access on those body styles. Saw a few guys on the Racer X Forum replicate those builds.

On the Reb Beach: The pickguard doesn't get in my way. I anchor my picking hand bass side of bridge so it doesn't bother me. My problem would be volume knobs to close to the bridge humbucker. Ibanez used to jam the volume knob right under the bridge humbucker on some of the late 80's models.....erm.....RG560 was one of the main culprits so they relocated for like 1990 I think....even then it was hardly enough of a shift.

 

[budda]

looks great!

 

[Pingu]

Gratz! This is one of his best colorways imo!

 

[Rubbishplayer]

Sweet. HNGD!