more guitar brand/model questions

[razoredge]

anyone fimiliar with these older medium grade axes ?

early 90's Ibanez RG550 24 fret D-S-D pup configuration
early 90's Jackson PS4 22 fret D-S-D pup configuration
? 90's Yamaha RGX612S 24 fret S-S-D pups

 

[razoredge]

come on dont ignore me here, left handed guitar player that does'nt get to play/hear/feel other guitars. Anything anyone can add will be appreaciated.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I LOVE late 80's early 90's Ibanez RGs. The 550 is what the Ibanez Jem was modeled from. I personally prefer the 570 (no pick guard, solid body)They also have one of the thinnest necks you'll ever find (Wizard profile). Pickups seem to be a point of question, as I've swapped them out of EVERY late 80's Ibanez I've ever owned (except my departed jems). The early-mid 90's pickups seemed to be a bit better. PAF Pro's FTW! Their trems are, IMO, THE best, hands down, whether it's an original Edge, or a Lo-Pro.
Things to look for:

1) Neck joint cracks - MOST tilt joint RGs have them, and most of the time they are in the finish, and aren't in the wood. I stay away from guitars that have them any longer than 1/2 inch.

2) Cracks on the back of the neck where the 2 locking nut screws/bolts are - Stay away, or pay very little for these. An over zealous tech-wannabe has either over tightened them, or the guitar was dropped. I personally will NOT buy a guitar that has this kind of issue. There's a lot of stress at this point of the neck, the last thing you need there is to have cracks in the wood, further weakening it.

3) Make sure the whammy bar is the push in kind with bushings. The solid steel ones pretty much suck (IMO), and the collared screw on trems (like an original floyd rose, or schaller)suck just as bad if not worse. Ibanez did NOT do this style of trem very well. These are the TRS or Lo-TRS model trems. OFRs & Schaller make great trems in this style, and Ibanez should just not even bother trying.

Hope this helps...

 

[razoredge]

Thanks JD, so you mostly played Ibanez ? Did you ever sit and try out anything like these other two guitars or similiar ?

The thing with this Ibanez is 1. price $499, frankly if I was going to go that kind of money I think I'd do better to get one of the new neck thru Raven West guitars. I did read 550 reviews and they are good except for the pups which seems always common in lower end reviews. Some guys said they blocked the tremolos (pussys). I also got chills when I just discovered they are and in this case were using Basswood in guitar bodies...... I've knocked down plenty of basswoods in my day and thats nearly the fastest cutting wood there is. I did read about basswood researching tone woods though and they dont say much bad about it, somewhere between Alder, Maple and Ash for tone qualities and characteristics.... but still..... basswood? Maple fret board...eh, pickguard/lots of routering, a few things there Im unsure of.

I really want to know about this Yamaha, its little different from the Ibanez for shape and layout. Alder body, rosewood fretboard, floyd "licenced by", same pup complaints, same neck praise, far fewer reviews though. I really want a twin single setup too. I like the clean single sound, even for my picked metal parts. Price so far is a big pull, $180.

I'm just hoping whenever or whatever I buy its a bit better then my Kramer but if not, at least as good. Kramers frets are getting tired, having intonation problems between the 7th - 2nd frets on my D & G string mainly. Heavy wear around those areas.

The Jacksons not a bad price so far, nearly new condition, but bad color, unknown body wood, 22 fret, and humbucker at neck. I feel its a bit behind these other two for features and quality but might be wrong too.

I really dont like the routes I have to take to find guitars.

 

[Meedleyx10]

There's nothing wrong with basswood, a lot of high end guitars use it.

 

[razoredge]

There's nothing wrong with basswood, a lot of high end guitars use it.

gives me chills

seems to me most high end guitars and those praised for warm even tone, sustain and harmonics are set or neck thru all mahogany with a maple top for looks or mahogany w/set maple neck

my understanding is basswood is being used now because premium woods are getting scarcer and thus more expensive, too much so to use in high volumn low end guitars. The articals did not say it was bad but what they called less reflective of sound and somewhat deadend tone but well balanced throughout the range. Surprisingly they also said maple doesnt transfer as well as even Alder. However Mahagony gets all the praise, second only to Rosewood, which only gets used for acoustics anyhow

still.... I've slain many a basswood tree and thats some soft shit, nearly equal to white pine and aspen. just gives me the chills. Do I want my bridge anchored in mush ? ah..... not

 

[Meedleyx10]

If tone was something that could be quantified, then there would be a lot less variation in upper end instruments. When you read articles about tone wood, 90% of what you are reading are glorified opinions. Don't get caught up on what internet articles say...go out and play guitars instead and form your own opinions because they will be a lot more valid and relevant to you than what you read on the internet.


http://suhrguitars.com/wood.aspx

John's got a pretty solid assessment of various woods on that page. He's one of the world's premier boutique guitar builders and you can rest assured that if he's using basswood for a particular guitar, it's not to cut corners. EBMM uses basswood on a few models too (JP sig, Axis, Axis supersport) as per the choice of the artists they were made for.

 

[razoredge]

The artical I paid most attention to was written by a top knotch 30 year luthier for submitance in some guitar publication. Also wikipedia mostly said the same things. I think they get their info from a varity of sources. But this luthier really got into all the properties and it was quite interesting. From my small experience he nailed the tones too, just comparing my alder body/maple neck to my set maple neck w/maple center & koa wings body. He nailed the tonal characteristic differences and short comings. I'm not going to argue his words. Like I said no one bashed basswood and I was quite surprised. Its me, I personally dont want it in my guitar. If I spend the big bucks Im getting Mahogany. If not I want maple and alder.

Maybe I should buy some cheap basswood logs and wack out some bolt bodies down in my shop.......... to pay for a good mahogany guitar.

So how about Yamaha guitars ?

 

[razoredge]

he said pretty much everything in the suhr artical only more in depth. Without the sales pitch. Im sorry now I didnt bookmark the page.

 

[Meedleyx10]

Look, the fact of the matter is this: tone is subjective and the only way you are going to form a valid opinion on the subject as it pertains to you is to go out and play various guitars of various makes. Investing too much faith in a single source without forming opinions based on first hand experience (which I'm assuming you don't have since you are using the internet to try to answer these questions for you) is going to lead to nothing but skewed views on the matter.

 

[razoredge]

heres a new alder/sycamore with 5 piece neck thru that just sold for 355 on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/RAVEN-WST-elect...oryZ2384QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I havent found anything on Sycamore in tonewoods though. It is a member of the "plain tree" family of trees which maple also belongs to but that means nothing for tone wood.

Please remember I cant walk into any old where and play every guitar ever built. I pretty much cant try any but the classic 3 or 4, And comparing a Strat to a LesPaul or a Tele to a SG isnt going to give me much info either.

 

[razoredge]

Look, the fact of the matter is this: tone is subjective and the only way you are going to form a valid opinion on the subject as it pertains to you is to go out and play various guitars of various makes. Investing too much faith in a single source without forming opinions based on first hand experience (which I'm assuming you don't have since you are using the internet to try to answer these questions for you) is going to lead to nothing but skewed views on the matter.

Christ dude, give me some credit, I dont skew anything, and most sources even yours are in agreement on tone woods. I know what I dont like about the tones of my solid alder guitar and the other one I mentioned. So Im doing the only thing a lefty can do...... research and prod

 

[schenkadere]

There's nothing wrong with basswood, a lot of high end guitars use it.

Agreed...it's dense...kinda heavy, but there's nothing wrong with it. It all depends how the components compliment each other.

Get a price range...play it...like it...don't bother...love it?...buy it. It's pretty simple. You can read anything you like for guidance, but bottom line is your hand, your ear, the right amp and the instrument. Obviously you need to play an amp similar to your own, or you may be sorely disappointed once you get home.

 

[schenkadere]

heres a new alder/sycamore with 5 piece neck thru that just sold for 355 on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/RAVEN-WST-elect...oryZ2384QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I havent found anything on Sycamore in tonewoods though. It is a member of the "plain tree" family of trees which maple also belongs to but that means nothing for tone wood.

Please remember I cant walk into any old where and play every guitar ever built. I pretty much cant try any but the classic 3 or 4, And comparing a Strat to a LesPaul or a Tele to a SG isnt going to give me much info either.

Man, that's a gorgeous axe.

 

[razoredge]

yes, I like alot of their guitars but like has been said, which I'm well aware of is, you dont know if you'll be happy with something till you get it home and play it through your own set up. Cheaper guitars can come a long way for action in the hands of a good luthier too, tones another thing. High end builders hand pick their stock and have said no two pieces of wood from even the same species are necessarily equal. Thats alot of what is paid for with hand built axes.

you guys have no idea what its like to be me........ poor.... poor.....me..... ........

its like... yea... looks good.... has six strings... I guess I'll buy it. This was the case with both my Vantage & Kramer, their was'nt even any other lefties to compare them to other than the Fenders and Gibsons. Their decent axes though, I was and have been happy with them though. And they are day and night compared to each other, different neck radius, different nut width, different scale lenght and different tone characteristics, different balance on a strap, totally different look. Was fine with the Vantage but it looked very out of place with the heavy metal guitars the guys had in the band I was in, so I found the Kramer hanging in a store and bought it. Was my lucky day.

 

[schenkadere]

So, switch sides and don't be a lefty freak.

I'm just kidding...you're right...it can't be easy to find the right axe. You have my sympathy.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Thanks JD, so you mostly played Ibanez ? Did you ever sit and try out anything like these other two guitars or similiar ?

The only Jackson related guitar I've owned and played a lot on was my departed Charvel Model 4, now owned by Rick Pierpont. Completely different than what you're looking at. I've also owned a Les Paul, which had God-like tone, and Currently own one Caparison, which has turned my Ibanez guitars to dust collectors.

As far as the wood discussion goes, my favorite is mahogany, followed closely by basswood. The one alder bodied Jem I owned, I didn't care for too much, maybe it was the Evos in it, I dunno.

Currently, I have yet to find anything more growly tone-wise than my Caparison Aurora, which has a mahogany body and a PH-R pickup in it. Killer combo for rock/metal, cleans up ok too. Unfortunately, they don't make left handed guitars.

 

[razoredge]

holy crap! They bid that RG550 up to $730.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ibanez-RG550-RG...ryZ33043QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

they werent worth that much new were they ?