Ibanez RG470

Pawnshop special. I was looking for an inexpensive but good starter electric guitar, and I think I got one (with a few caveats).
Made in Japan (1992).Humbucker/single-coil/humbucker pickups (V7/S1/V8), with 5-way switch. Floyd Rose-type tremolo. Locking tuners at neck. Dual cutaway body. Gotoh tuners. One volume knob, one tone knob. Passive electronics. Basswood body, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 24 frets with dot inlays. Neck is very comfortable. Had an experienced guitar-playing friend (but with no Ibanez axes) try it out before purchasing. He was favorably impressed with the features and playability.

I wanted a clean sound. My daughter has an Ibanez RG270DX that sounds and feels great. I especially like the smooth "jazz" tone it has with the neck pickup. So I naively thought, "Hey, this RG470 will be even better! Its a more expensive model (new), and it has better "vintage" pickups (V7/V8)." I got it home, cleaned it up, wiped dust from it, oiled the screws, attempted to tune it. I got the local luthier to change strings, check the setup, etc. I couldn't get it tuned afterwards, so I took it back to him, and he installed a fourth tremolo spring. I took it home to play, and was sorely disappointed by the tones. Yeah, I know this is a "hard-rock/heavy-metal" guitar (which is NOT what I want to play, or to listen to), but I thought it was versatile enough to give me a smooth sound from the neck pickup, like the RG270 does. I think it would have been great for rock-lead, or distorted sounds, but that is not what I wanted. I did some research, then had the luthier replace the neck humbucker with a Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup, and the single-coil with an Alnico Pro 2. Now it has the the sound I want. Smooth melodies from the neck pickup, nice rhythm/blues tones from the middle pickup (or combined pickups), and rock tones from the bridge pickup. Like other reviewers, I figured new pickups are justifiable, since the price of the guitar was so low. The bridge pickup is very loud compared to the Seymour Duncans, especially the single-coil. Maybe adjusting the pickups' heights can normalize their volumes. Turning the tone knob "down" makes the tones "muddy" or muffled, in my opinion. I expected to get a dark, but still resonant sound. No dice. That's the only serious complaint I have with the sound now. I just keep the tone knob turned toward the "bright" end.

I don't know what this guitar has been doing for the last 8 years. It seems very sound, but in need of some TLC. It has a couple of nicks in the headpiece, so I touched up the paint job with black fingernail polish. The pickups did not seem adjusted correctly, but they are now replaced. The metallic blue finish is missing three small chips along the edges; I'll use touch-up paint on the light-colored wood, once I find a near-match, to make it easy to ignore. All the metal hardware seems sound. I replaced the lock-down screws (on the nut), since their heads were getting stripped. Bottom line: I believe the original fit/action was good, since it still is; the chipped shell on the body makes me think that it was not such good quality. The tremolo, which plugs-in, flops loosely. Until I find way to tighten it, I'll leave it off. With the back plates off, it is evident that an additional grounding wire was soldered on, so it probably had a hum problem at one time.

I expect the reliability/durability to be good. Only time will tell. Strap buttons are solid.

Purchased used. No warranty.

I have not been playing very long. My previous guitar playing was limited to acoustics (steel-string and classical), and I've been away from it for a few years. This is my first foray into electrics. I chose it because I liked the body style, and it felt and sounded good, and was inexpensive (the dealer had a higher price marked, but accepted my offer). Since I didn't have much money to spend, it was either a pawn shop special, or a beginner electric guitar at the music store. I'm very fond of this guitar, after setup and new pickups. Since I intentionally bought it as a cheap-but-good learning guitar, I'm satisfied. I've already gained a lot of experience and knowledge, and I enjoy playing it. I've been told that Ibanez guitars are very good values on the used market (for the buyer), since they don't tend to hold their resale value as well as many other brands (that's obviously not true for their high-end models). That worked to my advantage this time, as long as I don't wish to sell it. Now that I'm wiser (I hope), I intend to be much more discriminating in the future. When that time comes, this puppy can be my backup guitar. If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably replace it with a jazz-style or a nice acoustic/electric, since I've found that my playing interests lie mainly in the jazz/blues/folk directions. I'm also not crazy about the Floyd Rose-style tremolo, or the lock-down nut. I'll look for other styles next time, or do without tremolo. I recently purchased a gorgeous korean-made semi-hollow-body guitar (ES335 style), so, along with my old steel-string acoustic, I've got an excellent and economical selection of instruments.

made in korea i believe, 24 frets, one vol one tone h/s/h pickup config. pickups are v7/s1/emg81? floyd rose tremelo

well it took me a while to adjust my fender princetone chorus to sound good with this guitar but now that i've got it it's pretty solid. the emg sounds great with distortion but on clean it's not really to my liking. i plan on putting in a new neck humbucker because i just can't get the sound i like out of the stock one. sounds great for hard rock.

i got it used so i need to take it in to get adjusted cause i know nothing about floyd rose so i don't want to break it.

it has withstanded playing live and worked quite nicely i had no backup or anything and i had no problems

i got it used so i don't know

i've been playing for five years now and this has been my third electric and i must say i am quite satisfied with it. i've also had a strat and an epiphone sg and that guitar sucks never buy one. i really am used to the strat feel so this guitar fit me nicely. if it were stolen i think i'd save up and buy an american strat instead just because ilove the feel and sound of strats but i would miss this one. i love the colour on this guitar and have never seen one this colour so that makes it rise above your avereage rg470. it's a nice dark blue that i love. overall i'm satified for the low price.

The guitar is just total bad ass. The dimazio pick ups are a dream. The warm sound it gives off is excellent and so clean. The wizard neck is sooooooo easy to play as well. This guitar is truly awsome!

I play all sorts of music from funk to metal and my ibanez keeps up all the way. Also with the 24 frets it adds a little extra notes for solos etc. Notes are also clear as a bell at the top end of the guitar as well as at the bottom.

The action is just a dream. The pick ups are very powerful and deliever an excellent sound even through the worst of amps. The guitar come straight out of the box perfectly. I have owned it for 6 months now and have never had a problem with it.

I have giged this guitar and it lived up to the performance. This guitar could withstand an atom bomb. The strap buttons have to be removed by screw driver. No need for strap locks here baby.

Ever since i have picked up this guitar there has never been another guitar for me. My guitar is just un-touchable.

mine was made in 1999, ordered 2 of them from ibanez, brand new. black and violet. 24 frets, 5 way selector, h/s/h. basswood body, jumbo frets, perfect neck for me. i hate fat tree trunk necks and prefer the jackson feel of a really thin neck. this one is perfect! it's thin, and yet, enough to hold onto. it's so easy to play fast on this neck. i have owned a lot of guitars and this one is awesome! nothing really flashy about it. it just looks like your typical metal guitar, what a metal guitar should look like. body style is killer. nice shape.

sounds very good turned up loud with a good tube amp! very tight bottom end pickups. metallica or thrash metal sound is easy to get! not really noisy. very rich full sound with a punchy bottom end with the stock pickups. this is good for jazz, rock, but mainly metal. the only thing is that i wish the body was routed out a little more like a jem so pulling back on the bar wouldn't be such a hassle. a deeper routed cavity would have been nice.

guitar was setup ok at the factory. had to lower the strings a bit.

all i can say is that i have owned a lot of guitars and for me this guitar is perfect. it's like it was made for me. i loved it so much when i tried it out that i had to buy/order 2 of them right there. it's great for me. remember the most important thing; no guitar is perfect! and also, buy what is right for you. if you just love the feel of a $300 guitar when everyone else says you must buy a $5000 PRS...SCREW THAT! I have bought guitars that were $$$ cuz i thought they would sound cool or whatever and guess where they are now....someone else's house being played...all sold. buy what you love and what feels right.

ibanez is a mystery...they can't be contacted unless you're steve vai.

been playing 15 years now. own all ibanez and a jackson and a peavey guitar. have had jem guitars and now i'm down to one jem... the jem77dbk, which i highly highly highly recommend as well. this RG is awesome and i can play very well on it. it's just perfect for me.

2000 Japan made Rosewood board. Picked it up as a Blem model on line. In the mid 80's I had a Roadstar and loved that thing to death. SO I had to go back to an Ibanez for the neck and low locking floyd rose trem. I still Love the thin neck but after 4 months of play the trem droped or some thing and I'm getting som fret buzz.

It dose not fit my musical style it is more a heavy guitar, sort of cold sound. Not the bright warm Psycadelic stuff i attempt to create. Because of the longer neck "24 frets" the lower e string gets alot of rumble when picked open and if playing a clean chanel is is realy anoying becuse it sustains more that the higher strings. I'm using it with a simple Pevey blazer. But when I add my big muff I do get a great smashing pumpkins sound from it. After playiung it for 4-5 monts without using the trem. I'm now getting alot of fret buzz also.

Out o fthe box it was tuned and good to go. since I did not use the Trem I did not have to adjust it at all for 2 months. I bought it as a blem so I got a good deal but it had a dent next to the guitar strap hook on the bottem.

I plan on keeping this guitar I think it would be a good live guitar for some more over driven music. It sems solid but I've added a few dings to it already. But I know that it will hold a tune. I think it would sound beter with 250 Ohm pots and a different campasitor bridging to the tone pot to cut down on the bass sound.

N/A

I've been Playing for 7-8 yesrs on and off and only resently got serious again and decided to buy a new guitar as I was geting sick of the HUge neck on the 60's silver tone holow body guitar I had. I previously had a roadstar and I remembered I liked it for the thin neck. I did not remember that most Ibanez RG / roadstar guitars are more metal driven set ups. I'ld problably not buy this guitar if it was stolen I'd take the Insurance cash and go shopping for something else.

It's 2000 Japan made modelwith 24 frets.
it has h/s/h pickup configuration(v7,s1,v8).
basswood body,body style is kinda pointy viking style strat very cool
actually.floyd rose and locking tuners are included.
I believe that these jumbo frets.I think that this is more than
enough.

Well, I listen to DIO,JUDAS PRIEST,BLACK SABBATH,BLIND GUARDIAN and I
play that stuff in a band. I can compare my lead style to van halen and randy rhoads and I think does pretty descent job.
I am using it thru Marshall JCM 2000 I'm not very happy with the sound of my amp
but it'll sound better when I get some effects. however clean tones are great, excellent for jazz,blues...
but in overall this is a metal lead guitar

The guitar was set properly only that I screwed it up when I replaced the strings. That floyd rose is really fucked up.
finish is shiny but the paint on nuts and tremolo keeps falling off that is my biggest dislike on this guitar.

I allready played three times with it and it generally stays in tune.
finish is ok but it really gets dirty very fast.
I dont need a backup for this guitar neither i have it.

never dealt them

I've been playing long enough to tell what's a good guitar and what's a bad guitar and trust me this is a very good guitar especially for the money. I owned before an Ibanez Blazer and comparing to RG470
it sounds like a peace of junk. I wish it had just a bit better pickups but you can always replace them it's no problem these days.

I bought it last year. It is black model, made in Korea, with
Infinity pickups.

It sounds fairly nice, but the pickups don't have enough definition.
That problem can be solved with new pickups. Changing pickup positions
can change the sound dramaticly. The 2nd and 4th postions are great strat imitations, cool if you want some nice clean sounds.

Action: excelent.

Finish: When I bought it, it looked amazing but after a warm
summer the finish on Floyd started to wear off. Now the screws on
Floyd are silver instead of black. I have no idea why. That is
really big fault because guitar looks like it's 3 years old.

Would go without backup.

I play guitar for 4 years now, and this is my second electic. The
first one was a cheap strat copy. RG470 is a 3 light years away from it. A excelent instrument for the money. Floyd is very stabile. But that problem with the finish is annoying, maybe it's because it is
made in Korea. The Japanese model is certanly better, but what the hell.

I bought it last year. It is black model, made in Korea, with
Infinity pickups.

It sounds fairly nice, but the pickups don't have enough definition.
That problem can be solved with new pickups. Changing pickup positions
can change the sound dramaticly. The 2nd and 4th postions are great strat imitations, cool if you want some nice clean sounds.

Action: excelent.

Finish: When I bought it, it looked amazing but after a warm
summer the finish on Floyd started to wear off. Now the screws on
Floyd are silver instead of black. I have no idea why. That is
really big fault because guitar looks like it's 3 years old.

Would go without backup.

I play guitar for 4 years now, and this is my second electic. The
first one was a cheap strat copy. RG470 is a 3 light years away from it. A excelent instrument for the money. Floyd is very stabile. But that problem with the finish is annoying, maybe it's because it is
made in Korea. The Japanese model is certanly better, but what the hell.

I bought it in new in 99' but it was made in 98 in korea. It came with inf pickups (stock) floyd rose fender styl bridges suck it is green every chick that has seen it fell in love. HSH pickup config, 5 way switch volume and tone.

I play the good stuff ozzy, motley crue yngwie malmsteen and steve vai. The stock pickups are good for what they are good overall tone. I dont dislike any thing about it except that its not a jackson. it is made of the same wood as any other high end guitar the only difference is the pickups. replace them with seymour duncans and you'll have a very very good guitar.

No guitar is well setup in the factory except custom shop guitars, but you cab lower the action close to the fretboard without buzz. My guitar contained no flaws. it is very tight.

I have had no problems with it, it can stand live playing it is a good quality guitar.

Never had to consult them. dont know about the warranty.

I have been playing for four years now, I play it through a marshall stack it can kick ass. if it were stolen I would buy a jackson, when i was shopping for a guitar I was originally looking for a jackson but this incredibly hot chick i was with loved she thought it was sexy thats why i bought it didnt get me laid but im glad i did.

This is the year 2000 model, born in japan and raised in the uk. Its a 24-fret, rosewood fretboard and maple necked guitar, strapped to a basswood body.

Mine is in black and came installed with a PAF Pro (neck) and Evolution (bridge) pickup. Anyway, since you are obviously interested in this guitar (otherwise you wouldnt be reading it, right?), im sure you know all this :o)

Personally, I think its the requirement for a metal guitar to have
a. 24 frets
b. a floyd rose trem (or tunomatic for riff guitars)
c. at least two humbuckers
d. decent pickups
e. A pointy body (to any extreme)

This guitar has all of the above, so top marks!

I bought this guitar so I could get some really smooth leads and rhythms, while having really sweet clean sounds. The PAF Pro and Evolution manage this VERY well. Im not a Steve Vai nut, but I know this sound is top class. The evolution provides very high end screaming solos and really coherant rhythms. Couple that with shimmering clean sounds and you're there.

The PAF Pro i use if I want dirtier rhythms, darker cleans or lower end solos (eg backround solos, or harmonies with a second guitarist).

The hardware is not noisy at all, but then again it is on 6 months old...

The single coil in the middle I rarely use as it is still stock. However as the sc is significantly lower output than the humbuckers, it gives interesting results when mixed! Although, some adjustment is requred on your amp volume as there is a sharp drop. All positions sound very good clean.

If anyone can reccommend a decent single coil to replace this with, i would really like to hear from you!

Gets a 9 for the pants single coil

NB: I cannot comment on the original humbuckers as i never even played them. They came straight out as soon as i got the guitar!

The finish seems quite rugged. Thats one thing about all ibanez i've found is that the finish doesnt come off easily.

The pickups were installed by me, but the single coil only had slight adjustments.

The tremolo came bang out of tune and the strings used were total shit! I basically ripped them off, reset the trem and slapped on some new ernie ball 9's. The truss rod needed no work and the trem stays in tune very well. It didnt need a total overhaul, but some attention to string height was required.

The trem, as i said, survives even the most vai'ist of maniac solos and still returns in tune!

A - 1

This guitar loves live playing. The tone pot is coming a little loose sometimes, but its no biggy! The hardware seems like it will stand the test of time and i actually see it still in use years down the line.

Strap button seem good, but I always fix straplock on to all my guitars - its just common sense. No use crying after the shocking meeting between guitar and hard stage.

Customer what?

This is the uk!

I've been playing for going on 10 years and I have owned many guitars. This is one of the best ive owned and used. Its your stereotypical metal guitar, and thats all it should be! If you hate strat shapes, then go away. If you wanna be like vai, trey azagthoth (i know for a _FACT_ he uses this setup on his rg) then try one of these babies out!

Have fun BYE