Ibanez RG550

I'm not sure of the year, I'd guess early 1990's. 24 huge frets, Wizard neck, hum-sing-hum configuration, V7(neck), V8(bridge),S2(??middle), maple neck/fingerboard, purple-ish/pink metallic finish with purple mirror pickguard, Edge Lo Pro tremolo. I got a gig bag with it but I carry it to gigs in an SKB case I have.

I have an Ibanez Universe and I've always wanted one of the RG style 6 strings. I play pop rock. I use a 50 watt Marshall JMP head and Marshall 1960A 4X12. Rat distortion. The V8 bridge pick-up is somewhat noisy which has been my experience with alnico magnets but it's managable. The guitar itself, acoustically is very bright and thin. That doesn't translate through the amp, though. It actually has a bit more low end than I like because I get a sort of low "whoooo" feedback sometimes. I can get all the sounds I need like leads : bridge or neck; jangly rhythm : bridge and middle; cleaner sounds : middle. I guess I'm not in love with the bridge pick-up (V8) but it's not as bad as I've heard. I was expecting to immediately go out and buy a DiMarzio but now I'm putting that off until I play with it some more. The middle and neck pick-ups are fine.

I bought this used and it was in sorry shape. Missing 2 clamps at the nut, no knobs, trem jacked way up, bent switch, bridge saddles all forward. It looked worse than it was, so I bought it and within a day of fiddling it rocked. The startling difference between it and all other guitars I own is the thin neck. My Strat feels like a baseball bat when I pick it up after playing this. It has a lot of chips and dings in the finish but from a distance you can't tell. I wanted this as a stage guitar I can beat on. It's visually striking with the purple mirror pickguard and the finish which seems to change color depending on the lighting. It at various times looks purple, hot pink, or maroon. I love the way it plays.

Like I said, I bought it to be my main live guitar. I always have a back-up guitar just in case I break a string.

I've been playing about 21 years. I've got a Universe, Warmoth "Strat", Fender Stratocaster, Ripley custom, Gibson Flying V, and couple of Marshalls. I think I got a killer deal on this guitar, I'm glad I bought it. I'm looking for more of them, (used) or JEM's. What I like the best is the neck. That's the only thing I prefer about it compared to my other guiatrs. 24 frets are fine but if I'm up near the top my fingers get so cramped together I can't really play cleanly.

usual ibanez design
mettalic blue
maple fretboard

i use boss gx700 marshall 9000 poweramp with jcm 4x4 cab
powerful trem pickup - good sustain
bridge is waste of time
great if you want to 'SHRED' dude- with lots of distortion to hide the tone
clean - on trem is loud , scratchy and hard
on bridge is shit sounds dead and ugly
it was my first fairly pricey guitar
and i was happy with it for a few years
dont really like it now
gonna give it to my brother for a few bob
got a patrick eggle berlin pro now
which pisses on it for tone
lets be honest these type of guitars have had their day ay they
no one in england really wants to be steve vai anymore

action was very good
minimum freat buzz
volume and tone knobs are plastic crap

good for live playing
gave it a good kicking
played a gig in the park and dropped it on the concrete in the bandstand which kind of messed it up
dont break many strings which is more than i can say
for my little eggle

never found out really

if your buying a first guitar
dont bother just get a strat
they shit on these
and you look a kok playing one
ok if your in korn or limp bisket or summut like that

This RG550 is pretty rare in that it is a YellowGreen (more green than yellow) Color with a gold undercoat and has snakes painted in the Maple neck. It has a gold pickguard. I yanked out the Ibanez Pickup and Stuck EMG 81's in the bridge and neck. I left the single coil in the middle but I disabled it. It has the LoPro Bridge. I use only a volume control and a 3 way switch. The wizard neck on this is awesome.

I have modified the guitar to suit my needs which range from thrash to ambient jazzy stuff. I sounds killer. I can get the clean tones and the death grind easily. The chords ring out with great definition. You can hear all the notes in a chord even at high gain levels. The maple neck adds to the brightness of the tone.

Most of the guitar stores have that one guy who thinks they know how to set up a trem system like the LoPro, but they always get it wrong. I set mine up so that is the bottom of the trem is just parallel to the body so if you turn the guitar on it's side you can see that it is flat and even from the front of the trem to the back in relationship to the body of the guitar. Over all when I bought the guitar it was New. I was looking for one and happened to come by this one. My only gripe is that either the paint cracks at the heel joint of the guitar or the wood. Not sure unless I strip the paint. It seems consistent with most Ibanez Guitars. The overall construction is great. Which is why it plays so well.

Live this guitar rules. I have even loaned it to a few shredders for thier gigs. Onstage I have never had a problem with it. It never breaks strings and as hard as I play it holds up well. I have used this guitar without a back up for years. I now have 2 7 strings so this one stays in the studio. Extremely Dependable guitar

never needed em.

I have been playing for 16 years. I have owned a few guitars (Kramer Baretta II's, Fender HM Strat, Gretch (24 fret weirdo)) other than Ibanez Brand but have ended up with having almost all Ibanez guitars two 7 strings, an RG550 and the acoustic GX-90. I really dig this guitar. The best thing is that I don't know anyone that has one and everyone that has tried it wants it. Imagine a fretless wonder Les Paul (has frets feels fretless) that seems like a strat but rages like a beast. I would like to hear from people who have this particular model with the snakes painted in the neck (just to see if more were made). If they made a new one like this (not korean) I would buy it over and over again.

I bought this new in 86, 24 frets made in Japan H/S/S Original edge trem ect ect. Used to be neon orange, I refinished it blue to avoid the headaches the neon caused me. Built very well, this was my main guitar for many moons

I used to me a pure metal guy so this guitar was perfect for me. I put in a Tone Zone and an Air Norton a few years back and liked the way those pickups sounded. It's got a bit of edge in its tone due to the maple neck/fingerboard and bolt on neck. Thanks to the 5 way switch (I replaced the Ibanez switch with a switchcraft one) it can do stratish tones and heavy humbucking tones. The Strat tones are not terribly convinving however....thenagain this is not a "clean" guitar. The Edge is a great vibraato arm, stays in tune incredible well.

it was ugly orange new now its beat to death and blue. no probs with action ect however I have had this thing apart so many times I've lost count.

this guitar has been around the block and cone out shining. I no longer use it, I've replaced it with Brian Moore C-series guitars (A C-90 and a C-55) It was good sounding tough stayed in tune and reliable. Ibanez make good guitars.

never had t contact them, I used to work at a store that dealt with Ibanez and their customer service was TERRIBLE. If you want good service go with boutique guitars

Was good for me when it was my main guitar, now I find it's tones one dimensional and feel....well it just doesn't feel proper anymore. The Brian Moores have changed me. Still I willnever say anything bad about Ibanez, they are VERY good and are (for the most part) affordable. Just for the record if you are looking high end Ibanez don't bother....get Music Man, Brian Moore Custom (not an iMoore) or PRS....you will be happier in the long run no matter what Steve vai says

It was japan made.And with 24 frets.The body is basswood and fingerboard is a great maple one.The finish is desert yellow.

I thing this one is for exactly ROCK,HARD-ROCK.Single coil is too much noisy.I thing bridge hb.is not very good too,but the neck hb is perfect for me

This guitars last forever!!

I've been playing this one for 5 years.I like the neck!!WONDERFUL!I have a music shop in Turkey for 2 years,I played lots of guitars here but RG550 have the best neck!I cannot imagine a neck better than this!It is impossible!Another thing y love is the lo-pro edge.This is the best tremolo ever made I thing!!I play blues and jazz,you may thing that this guitar is not avaible for this kinds of music,maybe you are right,but becouse of WONDERFUL neck and bridge I still use it.

This was made probably in the late '80's(it has old-style Edge trem,not lo-pro which convinces me of the age)and of course it's japanese.24 frets,solid-top,basswood body(thumbs down to that),pickups were some kinda trash,who cares about them,they're gone now haha,thin-ass neck and those glorious sexy JUMBO frets(Ibanez 550's have the BEST necks out of anything including high-end Jackson's),nice weathered-down maple neck/fretboard(rosewood bites),THE very best trem available on ANY guitar(I notice that Floyd Rose does not sell a Lo-Pro trem that is worth a shit even though they are "made in USA dude" so forget that)blah,blah,yak yak.

First off,this guitar kills but Basswood really bites weenie man! Choppy and percussive but no sustain.Oh well,who wants to sound like some old blues dork with a "58 Les Pual Goldtop I can't even let leave the house".The trem and neck on this is way way sexy.I traded this plus some cash with a Jackson Dinky Reverse and this guitar of course killed that one.I tuned it to B using GHS Low-Tunes and it's great for that.I can do those sick-ass whammy dives and pull-up's like Peter Tagtren(Hypocrisy)on Obsculum Obscenum.My style is progressive death metal(Pestilence,Nile,Death,Cynic,Cephalic Carnage) and NOT KORN?SLIPKOCK/LIMPDIK/TRASH PASSED OF AS METAL but real shit,this guitar plays way better than any other under a grand.With EMG's it's too brigh so I'm gonna stick in a Dimarzio X2N(Chuck Chuldiner of Death's pickup)and PAF-PRO setup and it will be much warmer.I can play jazz chords on this guitar(and do)and it sounds great for that also.You can get that Police-Andy-Summers-Tele sound perfect with these.Very versatile.I also painted this guitar in textured grey-stone color(looks craazy)becuase original paint was boring.Great guitar,just wish the body was either alder or swamp-ash.

I got this at Squid's music in Tustin(great store)and it was setup tuned to E but he set it up real nice.When I set it up for B it took a while,but now it plays great,I'm gonna pick up 2 more of these(pawn shops have them for under $300 usually)and have one for backup,one tuned standard.These are industry standard but no one admits that(I've seen a lot of death metal guys using these).Great action,fit,all dat s#$t.

VERY reliable,becuase it's easy to replace! The trem never ever goes out of tune(not even tuned to B)and the neck is thin and easy on the hand.Finish I did myself so no rating there.Would use without backup if I was into embarrasment when my high-e breaks(always screwed with a trem)so any trem-equipped guitars should have backup.very roadworthy I'm sure.I've dropped it before.Still works.Neck is good.Everything alright man.

Don't have a clue about this.I can fix most things myself,so no rating(I hope I'm not "buttering my toast" here).

I have been playing for like 6 years and went through:Ibanez S-series mahogany-body-standard-trem guitar,Kramer Focus 2000,3000,Westone Strat-style w/Kahler trem,maple neck(also great guitar),Fender Strat w/Schaller-Floyd(sucky),Jackson Dinky Reverse(echh),Takamine electric and all kinds of other junk and this guitar is good enough.Ibanez has the best contours/thin-ass wizard necks and overall bang-for-buck of any other brand.If yer into metal/rock,these kill,if yer into blues;well,c'mon man you gonna keep singin' the same song by Albert King and have a REALLY bored bass-player or get some imagination? To each there own,but I play heavy junk and I need only what works(names like "Gibson" and "Marshall" don't mean shit to me),and this works.Wish body was made of better wood.Other than that,great guitar.

Ibanez, RG550, (USED) made in Japan, 24 1/2 frets, yellow body, made in 97. It came with dimarzio evolution bridge and dimarzio evolution neck. Body in basswood. Great pickups and guitar for the price i gave !!:)

basically playing metal, and progressive rock, but also blues and shit like that. these pickup configuration make this guitar suitable for almost any kind of sound. The bridge is bright and the neck is very warm and bassy :) very very very cool.

Perfect, for a used guitar it is perfect :)

well, like all other ibanez guitar, there's no more things to say :) I even didn't need to tune the harmonics, and the guitar wasn't in action from a year...

what ? i don't need that f*cking shit.

if you are a fast type guitar player, and plays roccccck this guitar is for u :)

h/s/h 24 frets maple fingerboard with BIG fretwire.of course the floyd-clone whammy.White with black pickguard.This guitar has the BEST neck ever!! just the best combination of width,thickness and fretwire size. The stock pickup (bridge) was a litte too tame for me so I replaced it with a Dimarzio megadrive.after that the guitar killed! Great high and low with no annoying mids.I kept the stock neck pickup it is quite smooth and is good for soloing.I do not use the single coil as ait is too noisy.I bought this guitar new in 1988 and have NOT purchased a new one untill this year (Ibanez rg7620)Through my ADA mp1 this guitar has super sustain and sounds wonderfull clean.The guitar is not super gizmofied but simple and effective.The edge whammy stays in tune no matter how hard I bash it.THIS GUITAR IS BULLETPROOF

Fantastic highs and lows either with distortion or clean.Has sustain to die for.The megadrive is a little too hot for clean playing but the stock neck pickup is nice and deep add a little delay and chorus and it sounds fantastic.The neck out of phase(#4position)IS super smooth with lower volume than straight neck pickup.The #2 position is awefull and i never use it it is very thin and too treblely volume is too low as well(was not nearly as bad with stock pickup in bridge sound I get with megadrive more than makes up for this)

After allmost 13 years of hard playing the white paint is turning a nice vintage cream color!!The black hardware is prone to discoloration I replaced all the pickgaurd screws 2 times and my bar on the edge is somewhat pitted.the neckplate has no finish left on it at all.THE paint job was ok alot of bubbles in the edge cavity(not that you can plainly see it)the paint is quite thin as well(I probably will have it repainted soon)NO GUITAR I HAVE EVER OWNED PLAYED ANYWHERE NEAR AS NICE AS THIS ONE!!it was set up nice and low in the store but after taking it home and fine adjusting it it playes PERFECTLY.All of my guitar students want to buy my guitar but I will NEVER sell it. One note of caution...The bar on the edge tremelo in hollow and if you get to crazy you can snap it in half!I did this several years ago and a replacement was 12$(unsure how much it would be now)

This guitar is a rock! I have giged and recorded with it for years and it plays and sounds as good as the day I first bought it. I did replace the strap buttons with a Dimarzio locking strap.Only problems I have ever had are dirty pots and 5 way switch easily fixed with contact cleaner

never have dealt with them however they need to update thier webpage

As I said this was the ONLY guitar for me until I played the RG7620 They both now are fighting for my attention!!If you play metal/hard rock/industrail hell anything but country of blues do youself a favour and pick this guitar up you will not be sorry!!

This is an add-on i guess to my earlier review. The worst case scenario happened. My RG-550 (along with several other guitars) did get stolen. It got stolen along with a custom made Les Paul (not a les paul custom...one that was actually made for me) and an early 80's american strat (62 re-issue). While the other guitars may have been worth far more, I miss the ibanez the most. Of course i have replaced it, with two similar late 80's 550 model guitars. I think these guitars are some of the best guitars ever made! I had a white one, and now i have an orange one and a yellow one. Both new guitars are totally stock, except i had to replace the trem on both of them. I found them at a pawn shop for $75 each, and both were missing large amounts of hardware. But, with a little TLC, they are both rocking again!! I think one of the new ones (the yellow one) plays even better then my first one, and scroll down to read the rave reviews I gave to it!!!

Made in 1990 at the Fugin factory in Japan, Desert Sun Yellow, with 24 frets, H/S/H (Ibanez V1, S1, and V2) pickups with 5 way pickup selector with the original Edge tremolo (not the newer Lo-Pro). I'd give it a perfect 10 except for the fact that the V2 pickup on the bridge SUCKS.

The V1 and S1 pickups are GREAT, but the V2 bridge pickup was really crappy, so I quickly replaced it with a Dimarzio X2N - problem SOLVED. This guitar will give you ANY sound you can possibly imagine. I've always been a heavier player, primarily using the bridge pickup for thrash, but I can get amazing single coil tones by splitting the bridge humbucker and the middle single coil (which the 5 way pickup selecter will allow you to do). And the bluesy tone of the neck pickup is stunning!
The hard maple fretboard gives a great twang, making it ideal for rock, metal, and jazz. The untreated fingerboard has a great feel to it, but it stains easily. After 10 years of playing my fretboard is pretty mucked up, but hey, some people like that "vintage" look :)
This thing has been played through every amp and effect combination under the sun and ALWAYS sounds great! I can give it a 10 with the bridge pickup replaced, otherwise I'd have to rate it a 7. The natural tone is beautiful, it's just spoiled with those junky V2's. Put a quality pickup in the bridge and this guitar kicks ass!!!

I had only been playing for about 3 years when I got this guitar, and it was my first locking trem. I really had no idea of how a guitar should be set up, but within minutes of taking it out of the case and playing it for the first time I knew that it was the best playing instrument I'd ever had the pleasure to touch.
The action was lower than I had ever played, with NO buzzing anywhere on the neck! The tremolo was the original Edge, which NEVER goes out of tune, even when you put the bar to the body and let the strings flap around in the breeze. Or you can pull the bar up until the tail of the trem system touches the body and it STILL holds it's tune - PERFECTLY, and it NEVER breaks a string!
The Desert Sun Yellow finish was AMAZING, not a single flaw. This thing will STILL stand out on a stage! And the MATCHING yellow headstock was just the icing on the cake. To this day I can't stand the sight of an ibanez without a matching headstock - this was SO COOL, why did they quit doing it??? A custom shop will match a headstock for 40$, so it wouldn't add that much to the list price. Sigh...
I played on it for about 2 years before I finally had the need to take it in to get set up, so I would have to rate this as a 10, as the guitar arrived in absolutely PERFECT condition.

Over 10 years of heavy gigging, studio sessions, and endless rehearsals I have literally beat the snot out of this poor thing. It's been dropped, kicked, beaten, BURNED, and even stabbed. The only maintainence has been trivial; tightening the input jacks and volume pots, etc. I've never had a single problem with it. I played this as my primary guitar for 6 years and I even toured with it. And I never had a backup, and never needed one. The only time the strings ever break is when they're more than 4 weeks old. Seriously. This thing was built to last!

Never had to deal with Ibanez, although I hear it can be pretty hairy. They don't even list a contact number on their web page.

I've been playing guitar for 14 years (since I was 12). I own several Ibanez guitars (2 RG-7620s, an RG-270, an RG-550, a UV7MC, and a UV777BK). I bought this guitar brand new when I was 16. I bagged groceries at the local Food Lion for 8 months until I had enough money to buy the guitar, and then quit. It's been my soulmate and a huge source of inspiration to me for 10 years now.
I've since become a solid 7-stringer and this guitar has been retired from the stage, but I still use it in the studio for solos and I just can't look at it without having to play it (which is a lot since the desert sun yellow catches your eye the second you enter the room).
This is a tried and true music machine, built to withstand the test of time. I hear that the newer 550's aren't as good, which is a damn shame :(