NGD - Ibanez RG652AHMFX in Royal Purple - Finally a purple guitar!

[tbonesullivan]

Completing my journey towards a wannabe 1980s hard rock / metal guitarist, I had been thinking about getting an HH hardtail, and putting the very popular Dimarzio Tone Zone & Air Norton combo in it. Also thought about getting maybe a decked trem guitar and putting that in. These are the two pickups that Dimarzio says are "closest" to the EVH pickups that are currently used by EBMM in their Axis and Albert Lee HH guitars. Some really nice pickups, and the Andy Timmons pickup is also derived from the bridge pickup.

Anyway, then I remembered that Ibanez had started using that as pretty much their "stock" pickups in many guitars, like Hamer had used the JB / 59 combo. Well, I was thinking of the blue / green one, but then saw this and fell in love with the color. It's got an Ash body, Wizard neck with BEM fretboard, and a really nice hardtail bridge. It plays... well like any Ibanez Prestige should: pretty close to perfect out of the box. The factory set up is nice, though I may change to 9.5 strings from the stock 10s. Has locking tuners for quick string changes (as if I ever change strings LOL). It's a nice weight (7lbs 13oz), and I think it sounds great. The pickup switching also has position 2 as being the neck coils in parallel, which definitely gives some interesting tonal choices on the 5 way blade switch. I haven't gotten to REALLY blow up the house with it yet, and honestly I've been kinda avoiding it for the month since I got it just do to being so busy. Anywhere, here's the eye candy:

[scottcald]

Nice.  I love when companies do that bold color on the front and the back is natural.  Really makes the color pop out. 

[tbonesullivan]

15 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Nice.  I love when companies do that bold color on the front and the back is natural.  Really makes the color pop out. 

It really does look great. They got in 3 or 4, and I picked this one out of them. They are now back out of stock, as they really can't keep them in. Looking at the RG Prestige line, they actually have a good number of Hardtails now. This guitar comes in a hardtail and dual locking tremolo version, but I did not want to deal with that.

[Biz Prof]

That's probably the first pointy-horned Ibby I'd seriously consider owning.

[tbonesullivan]

1 hour ago, Biz Prof said:

That's probably the first pointy-horned Ibby I'd seriously consider owning.

They definitely have added some very interesting guitars to the RG line, and they also have some great guitars in the AZ line, for someone who wants a stratocaster but... better.

[LucSulla]

Awesome guitar, but damn, is that a model or VIN number? lol. 

[draelyc]

Love it!

I’ve recently reconnected with my old ‘92 RG470 — I joined a hair metal cover band, so I had no choice but to pull her back up, get her a good setup, and let ‘er rip, lol.

But now it’s got me thinking I should get another Ibby or two to go with my Hamers. 😳

Theyre fun axes, and yours is a beauty!

[tbonesullivan]

22 minutes ago, LucSulla said:

Awesome guitar, but damn, is that a model or VIN number? lol. 

I have no idea why they do it that way, then again Hamer model designations were kinda funny too. The RG652 line seems to be all guitars made from "non standard" woods like Limba or Ash, and for some reason "FX" means gilbraltar bridge. I don't get it.

16 minutes ago, draelyc said:

Love it!

I’ve recently reconnected with my old ‘92 RG470 — I joined a hair metal cover band, so I had no choice but to pull her back up, get her a good setup, and let ‘er rip, lol.

But now it’s got me thinking I should get another Ibby or two to go with my Hamers. 😳

Theyre fun axes, and yours is a beauty!

Well, there are always plenty of used Japanese RGs on the market.  I follow Nili Brosh, and she's been rocking a custom RG, but also uses one of the RG550 "Genesis collection" guitars as her daily driver. $995 new for a Japanese Ibanez based on the 80s guitars? I mean if you love Bright Yellow, Bright Red, or Purple neon in a no frills double locking platform, it's probably the best deal on the market.

[scottcald]

3 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

Well, there are always plenty of used Japanese RGs on the market.  I follow Nili Brosh, and she's been rocking a custom RG, but also uses one of the RG550 "Genesis collection" guitars as her daily driver. $995 new for a Japanese Ibanez based on the 80s guitars? I mean if you love Bright Yellow, Bright Red, or Purple neon in a no frills double locking platform, it's probably the best deal on the market.

And they have the original Edge, which was the best double locking trem I've ever used. 

[tbonesullivan]

22 minutes ago, scottcald said:

And they have the original Edge, which was the best double locking trem I've ever used. 

I know some people are big about the "locking studs" that the Lo-Pro Edge, which has locking studs I think, but it seems like the JEM and PIA guitars for Steve Vai have almost always had the Edge, not the Edge Pro or some other variety.

[Travis]

Oooh…. I really like that. If I got along with the Wizard neck I might seriously consider getting one of those. I’ve been thinking about picking up another prestige Ibanez at some point. I had a first year Rg1527 that was killer but the thin neck on a 7-string just did me in…

I should check out the rest of their line and see what they have with slightly bigger necks…

[draelyc]

12 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

I have no idea why they do it that way, then again Hamer model designations were kinda funny too. The RG652 line seems to be all guitars made from "non standard" woods like Limba or Ash, and for some reason "FX" means gilbraltar bridge. I don't get it.

Well, there are always plenty of used Japanese RGs on the market.  I follow Nili Brosh, and she's been rocking a custom RG, but also uses one of the RG550 "Genesis collection" guitars as her daily driver. $995 new for a Japanese Ibanez based on the 80s guitars? I mean if you love Bright Yellow, Bright Red, or Purple neon in a no frills double locking platform, it's probably the best deal on the market.

NGL, I have eyed those purple neon ones with more than a little guit-lust in my heart…. Too bad there’s no guit-cash in my pocket! 😓

[tbonesullivan]

13 hours ago, Travis said:

Oooh…. I really like that. If I got along with the Wizard neck I might seriously consider getting one of those. I’ve been thinking about picking up another prestige Ibanez at some point. I had a first year Rg1527 that was killer but the thin neck on a 7-string just did me in…

I should check out the rest of their line and see what they have with slightly bigger necks…

The AZ series necks are a bit narrower and also thicker than the RG wizard necks. More rounded and less flat. Spec wise they are pretty close to the current American Professional necks, and also have a 12 inch radius. They are definitely not aimed at the "Shredder" market, that's for sure. They also have some signature models like the Andy Timmons that have necks that are a bit thicker still.

[LucSulla]

14 hours ago, draelyc said:

NGL, I have eyed those purple neon ones with more than a little guit-lust in my heart…. Too bad there’s no guit-cash in my pocket! 😓

I had one of the purple 550s. They are great guitars as far as construction, but the neck profile is a bit different than the 80s wizard necks. They are a smidge thicker and rounder. That could be good or bad, depending on what you like, but they do feel a little different. 

[tbonesullivan]

On 6/20/2024 at 6:22 PM, LucSulla said:

I had one of the purple 550s. They are great guitars as far as construction, but the neck profile is a bit different than the 80s wizard necks. They are a smidge thicker and rounder. That could be good or bad, depending on what you like, but they do feel a little different. 

There are so many different "Wizard" necks that even the Ibanez fandom website can barely keep track of them. Just looking at specs there are definitely differences with necks that were called "Wizard", and the RG550s have a "Super Wizard".   I also don't know if they changed the profiles when they went from guitars with a scarf joint to the 5 piece necks with a volute.