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Hatsubai « Great looking and maple boarded »
Published on 10/22/11 at 14:09This is the upgraded model of the famous RG550. In reality, not much has changed between this model and the old school RG550s that everyone has come to know and love (or hate). The major difference is that these are made in the Prestige factory, and it has a slightly different trem. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a maple fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, dot inlays, an Edge Pro tremolo, HSH configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar's fretwork was great on this. The ends were perfectly rounded so they don't slice your hand every time you move up and down the neck, and the crowning on these was just right. I was able to get the perfect action with this guitar -- around 1/32'' @ the 12th fret. I noticed that there was a slight neck joint gap in this model, and it was disappointing, but it was nothing too major. I've seen worse before. The tremolo on this is very high quality, and once you add locking studs to it, it can rival just about any trem out there on the market. Intonating it is a bit of a pain due to the lack of a proper tool, but you just have to do it the old fashioned way.
SOUNDS
The guitar had DiMarzios swapped in it. It had two PAF Pros. The PAF Pro in the bridge is a very open and powerful sounding PAF kind of pickup. It has a fairly linear response with maybe a touch of high end to it, and it really lets the natural sound of the basswood come through. It's clear sounding, even through a ton of rack effects, and that was one of their main goals, I believe. I wish it were a bit more dynamic, but it's still very cool. The PAF Pro is somewhat bright sounding, but it can get one hell of a shred lead tone. You can do sweeps and arpeggios with this, but it seems to really be at home when it comes to alternate picking. You could hear every single note with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are generally very high quality, and if you're in the market for a good quality maple boarded RG, this is one of the ones you want to look at. You can generally get these fairly cheap, but they're a little harder to get than the RG550s. Either will be just what you're looking for, I'm sure.
UTILIZATION
The guitar's fretwork was great on this. The ends were perfectly rounded so they don't slice your hand every time you move up and down the neck, and the crowning on these was just right. I was able to get the perfect action with this guitar -- around 1/32'' @ the 12th fret. I noticed that there was a slight neck joint gap in this model, and it was disappointing, but it was nothing too major. I've seen worse before. The tremolo on this is very high quality, and once you add locking studs to it, it can rival just about any trem out there on the market. Intonating it is a bit of a pain due to the lack of a proper tool, but you just have to do it the old fashioned way.
SOUNDS
The guitar had DiMarzios swapped in it. It had two PAF Pros. The PAF Pro in the bridge is a very open and powerful sounding PAF kind of pickup. It has a fairly linear response with maybe a touch of high end to it, and it really lets the natural sound of the basswood come through. It's clear sounding, even through a ton of rack effects, and that was one of their main goals, I believe. I wish it were a bit more dynamic, but it's still very cool. The PAF Pro is somewhat bright sounding, but it can get one hell of a shred lead tone. You can do sweeps and arpeggios with this, but it seems to really be at home when it comes to alternate picking. You could hear every single note with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are generally very high quality, and if you're in the market for a good quality maple boarded RG, this is one of the ones you want to look at. You can generally get these fairly cheap, but they're a little harder to get than the RG550s. Either will be just what you're looking for, I'm sure.