Ibanez electric guitar?

[evon]

I'm not sure if the OP was looking for a more rock oriented guitar or not but the Ibanez Artcore series are fantastic for the money.

+1
There are so many different ways to use a guitar..just wondering what beats me had in mind.
Rock,Reggae.Lead, Rythm?

[beats me]

I'm looking for a general jack of all trades type of guitar, from metal to acoustic. Something decent but obviously if I'm not going to drop mad loot then I wouldn't expect it to be perfection on all styles and tones.

[nuxnamon]

may I suggest Gelb Music in Redwood City.. they more than beat all of the online offers every time I've bought from them which is why I always go to them first.. if they don't have it, then i'll have them order it or I go online.. but yeah, talk to David and tell him Rommel sent you.. i don't know how much juice my name has but give it a try.. hopefully he remembers me.. lol..

[aqua_tek]

hai guise.

So, guess what... I'm looking at getting a guitar too...


In my search around a variety of sites, I found a few used Ibanez RG's for a bit under 400 bucks. These had already intrigued me before even checking this thread. So, as beats asked, is a 400 dollar used Ibanez RG a bad guitar? I'm not clear on this.

So guess what dude... I was in the same mood this weekend and decided to head over to my friendly neighborhood GC in search of a good bargain used guitar to fire up the inspirational juices. So out of the corner of my eye I spot this sleek lookin' pearl-blue beauty. When I picked it up it darn near played itself! The neck is the fastest I have ever felt. The axe was pretty filthy and didn't even have the proper strings on it. So I hesitated and left the store. That was Fri.

Then on Sat. I woke up and I couldn't get her out of my mind. I instinctively knew that I had passed up on a gem so I hauled ass back to GC again praying that it was still there. When I got there I headed straight over to it and it was still there. This time I plugged it in and played it for well over one hour and discovered it's secrets.

Guitar Center had it for $495 but had reduced it to $199 on clearance for the Labor Day "event". I snatched it up along with a Dunlop guitar restoration kit and the tremelo bar that was missing. Well I found out that I had picked up one of the most coveted axes in Ibanez history... the Roadstar II RG 440. After I cleaned it up and restrung it with some proper 9's she wails like a porn star. You can read more about this feature-rich classic at Harmony Central. You can see this guitar in action here.

If you can find one of these at any price, do not hesitate!



This is not my guitar but just shown for illustration. The clear coat on mine has apparently yellowed a bit over it's 23 year life-span but that imparts an eerie, greenish, iridescent hue that makes it look studlier than the original, girlie, baby blue.

Wow. that's quite a bargain. And that's a gorgeous guitar. Congrats!

The one I found was an Ibanez RG470... it's a little under 400 bucks and looks pretty much impeccable.
Also came across another Ibanez... a 1989 S540 LTD DY on ebay. It's gorgeous. 600 bucks buy it now, and 430 starting bid. If I could get this at close to the 430 starting bid price, I'd probably be all over it. Keeping a close watch on it. Still has 2 days to go.

[Tone Deft]

Anubis - that's a great story.

There are so many different ways to use a guitar..just wondering what beats me had in mind. Rock,Reggae.Lead, Rythm?

doesn't matter, you can play anything on any guitar. strange question.


just get something that turns you on when you look at it, give a luthier $100 to tune it up and never put it in its case.

get a Line 6 Pocket Pod for $100 and play with headphones. as you're learning you can play like shit and not know your roommate and ALL your neighbors can hear you learning.

[Anubis]

Anubis - that's a great story.

There are so many different ways to use a guitar..just wondering what beats me had in mind. Rock,Reggae.Lead, Rythm?

doesn't matter, you can play anything on any guitar. strange question.


just get something that turns you on when you look at it...

That's a very interesting comment Tone. I don't know about others but for me... a guitar has to first be visually appealing. Then I might go pick it up and play it. Here's a catalog pic of a very sexy red RG 440. Speaking to the versatility of this particular model... the tone knob doubles as a coil splitter for the bridge humbucker pup. So there are ten variations of pickup combinations that you can flip thru. That's what makes this guitar an incredible value even in the $400 range. The craftsmanship on these instruments was very refined for a so-called "budget" guitar. btw- I dusted off my vintage Peavy amp and vintage Digitech processor and put it thru it's paces today... what a fun and amazing guitar!

[aqua_tek]

^^ That is a sweet looking red devil of a guitar right there.

So... I'm torn between 4 guitars at the moment.

A gorgeous late 80's taxi yellow Westone Bendmaster Superstrat by St. Louis Music at $300


A tasty late 90's/early 2000's taxi yellow Ibanez RG-470, current bid at $360


A badass 1988 all-black Ibanez S470 going for $425


Another absolutely gorgeous 1989 bright yellow Ibanez S540 LTD with current price at $430... but still a day left. Could climb up to more.


Anyways I am JONESING for that 1989 s540 LTD. Sadly the buy it now price is set at $600... fuck that. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get any bids in the day it has left, so I can grab it for $430.

thoughts? Caveats? Recommendations? Anyone?


Oh and yes... I am strangely drawn to these yellow guitars for some reason. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. They just jumped out at me as I browsed around.

[LoopStationZebra]

does the mullet come standard with that first yellow one, or do you have to pay extra?

[aqua_tek]

Mullet is not included, sadly. Seller said he'd throw one in for a few extra bucks.

[evon]

Anubis - that's a great story.

There are so many different ways to use a guitar..just wondering what beats me had in mind. Rock,Reggae.Lead, Rythm?

doesn't matter, you can play anything on any guitar. strange question.


just get something that turns you on when you look at it, give a luthier $100 to tune it up and never put it in its case.

get a Line 6 Pocket Pod for $100 and play with headphones. as you're learning you can play like shit and not know your roommate and ALL your neighbors can hear you learning.

Surely, you can get whole guitar combos for $150.00. Tone, you should know better than that. Probably you would want to re-phrase that comment to say what you mean.

[Tone Deft]

no, I wrote what I meant. I kind of implied you'd pay the luthier to never put your guitar in its case but he very well should put it back into the case when he's done so you can carry it home.

[UKRuss]

My god...those are really four horrendous guitars bro....

But, your choice.

here's my 2c.

No to number 1, the reverse headstock is just a no-no. No-one can take it seriously nowadays, how he has the audacity to sell at that price is beyond me and in any case it's a Westone...avoid.

Check the serial no. on the RG470, to check if it has the V7/V8 pick ups from Japan with the decent trem system. If not it could be Korean and the trem bridge system is dodgy, if that is the case, avoid.

The S series are always a good staple really, I'd go for four or five myself...pref 4 as it is black.

[Bleep Blop Ima Robot]

ESP guitars imo, friend has a EC-1000 QM, soooo nice.

[aqua_tek]

^^ Older ESP's or newer ESP's? How about the more reasonably priced ESP LTD series? yay or nay?

My god...those are really four horrendous guitars bro....

But, your choice.

here's my 2c.

No to number 1, the reverse headstock is just a no-no. No-one can take it seriously nowadays, how he has the audacity to sell at that price is beyond me and in any case it's a Westone...avoid.

Check the serial no. on the RG470, to check if it has the V7/V8 pick ups from Japan with the decent trem system. If not it could be Korean and the trem bridge system is dodgy, if that is the case, avoid.

The S series are always a good staple really, I'd go for four or five myself...pref 4 as it is black.

Horrendous as in horrendous looking? I like the yellow, what can i say?

I'm probably going to go with #5 anyways... still waiting to see where that bid ends up. Hopefully it'll stay within the 400's. If not, I'll go with #4. Been reading up and it seems that the S series are the way to go.

[UKRuss]

Definitely. Try and get a play on one though if you can, the nez PUs aren't for everyone, as we've discussed before. I had an S series and I loved the neck, but the tone...it just never delivered. IMO though. YMMV and all that.