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Hatsubai « Rosewood version of the RG550 »
Published on 05/12/11 at 18:15Ibanez has had tons of variations of the RG. The RG505 is basically an RG550 with a rosewood fretboard instead of a maple one. The guitar features a basswood body with a black pickguard, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, an Edge bridge, HSH configuration, one volume, one tone and a 5 way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is as good as any other RG, really. In fact, this guitar reminds me more of the RG570 than anything else. The quality is generally fairly good on the old Japanese RGs, and I find them to be a bit more resonant than the newer ones. The fretwork on these is usually pretty good, and the higher frets are very easy to access. The Edge bride is probably one of the best floyds out there in terms of both feel and stability.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this guitar are pretty bland sounding. Once you replace them, however, it really comes to life. DiMarzio makes tons of pickups that sound very good in basswood guitars. The HSH configuration also leads to the ability to get tons of tones. It can get that strat "quack" sound with the 2 and 4 positions. The middle position is great for clean passages. The neck and bridge humbuckers deliver full power brutality when you need it, and they can really overdrive an amp if you put the right pickups in it. I love basswood when it comes to fusion and shred style music.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a rosewood version of the RG550, you'll want to try to hunt one of these guitars down. They're a bit more rare than the RG550, so it might take awhile to hunt one down. Personally, I prefer a maple fretboard to the rosewood in terms of looks and tone. Basswood is generally fairly middy and somewhat dark sounding, so the maple fretboard helps brighten it up a tad to cut through the mix a bit better.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is as good as any other RG, really. In fact, this guitar reminds me more of the RG570 than anything else. The quality is generally fairly good on the old Japanese RGs, and I find them to be a bit more resonant than the newer ones. The fretwork on these is usually pretty good, and the higher frets are very easy to access. The Edge bride is probably one of the best floyds out there in terms of both feel and stability.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this guitar are pretty bland sounding. Once you replace them, however, it really comes to life. DiMarzio makes tons of pickups that sound very good in basswood guitars. The HSH configuration also leads to the ability to get tons of tones. It can get that strat "quack" sound with the 2 and 4 positions. The middle position is great for clean passages. The neck and bridge humbuckers deliver full power brutality when you need it, and they can really overdrive an amp if you put the right pickups in it. I love basswood when it comes to fusion and shred style music.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a rosewood version of the RG550, you'll want to try to hunt one of these guitars down. They're a bit more rare than the RG550, so it might take awhile to hunt one down. Personally, I prefer a maple fretboard to the rosewood in terms of looks and tone. Basswood is generally fairly middy and somewhat dark sounding, so the maple fretboard helps brighten it up a tad to cut through the mix a bit better.