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Hatsubai « Indonesian/Korean RGT »
Published on 05/10/11 at 20:29The RGT-42 is part of the "budget" line that Ibanez has. They were originally made over in Korea, but they moved over to Indonesia later during the years. The guitar features a mahogany body, five piece maple/walnut neck, rosewood fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, sharkfin inlays, an Edge Pro II or Edge III bridge (depending on when it was made), two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is a well put together guitar. I found a few flaws in the few models that I played throughout the years such as sharp fret ends, but that's kinda to be expected for MIK and MII guitars. I'm also not a fan of the bridge they use. I find it feels cheap and doesn't flutter like I'd like it to. To make matters worse, I'm not sure if they're replaceable with other Edge models. You'll have to look that up yourself if you decide to ever replace the bridge. That said, the neck-thru construction is a bit rare in Ibanez guitars, so that's definitely a plus.
SOUNDS
The guitars seem to be fairly resonant from what I've heard. The mahogany really helps even everything out and gear this more towards a metal guitar. The low end and midrange helps push the amps into overdrive easier vs other woods. While there are two humbuckers, it's a fairly versatile setup with the five way switch and the tone knob. You can get tons of different tones with this thing. I highly recommend replacing the pickups in this guitar, though. The stock ones are absolutely horrible, and that applies to pretty much the entire Ibanez line.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a budget RGT, this is probably one of the models you'll look at. However, I recommend just picking up a Japanese RGT if you can afford it. I find the fretwork to be better on those models, and they tend to resonate a bit more for whatever reason. Whichever you get, be sure to replace the pickups immediately as the stock Ibanez pickups are pretty awful, in my opinion.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is a well put together guitar. I found a few flaws in the few models that I played throughout the years such as sharp fret ends, but that's kinda to be expected for MIK and MII guitars. I'm also not a fan of the bridge they use. I find it feels cheap and doesn't flutter like I'd like it to. To make matters worse, I'm not sure if they're replaceable with other Edge models. You'll have to look that up yourself if you decide to ever replace the bridge. That said, the neck-thru construction is a bit rare in Ibanez guitars, so that's definitely a plus.
SOUNDS
The guitars seem to be fairly resonant from what I've heard. The mahogany really helps even everything out and gear this more towards a metal guitar. The low end and midrange helps push the amps into overdrive easier vs other woods. While there are two humbuckers, it's a fairly versatile setup with the five way switch and the tone knob. You can get tons of different tones with this thing. I highly recommend replacing the pickups in this guitar, though. The stock ones are absolutely horrible, and that applies to pretty much the entire Ibanez line.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a budget RGT, this is probably one of the models you'll look at. However, I recommend just picking up a Japanese RGT if you can afford it. I find the fretwork to be better on those models, and they tend to resonate a bit more for whatever reason. Whichever you get, be sure to replace the pickups immediately as the stock Ibanez pickups are pretty awful, in my opinion.