Ibanez RG550

I bought this used off of Ebay and I'm not sure exactly what year this model was made. It is definitely an older one, at least 10 years old.

-24 Fret Maple Neck
-Floyd Rose/Edge Tremolo
-H-S-H configuration
-5 way p/up selector
-One volume, one tone knob

I bought this so it could be my "beater guitar", but I got a little bit more than I thought I would for $300. The pickups are not Duncans or DiMarzios, there's no real sustain to speak of but for me they will do fine for now until I replace them. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference in sound between the bridge and neck pickups, they both sound pretty bright, maybe even harsh. Not bad though. I'm currently playing in a metal cover band, so this includes Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, Ozzy, etc...this guitar gets the job done! I like the split position with the neck/single coil for my clean tones, very sparkly and full.

I have a Duncan TB-4 neck p/up and a DiMarzio Evo single coil that I would like to install at some point, I will update my review when I do so. Once I get the good pickups in there this will be an awesome axe!

It was used but the setup was good for me - low, not buzzing, with the bridge floating just a bit so I can raise notes with the whammy bar as well as dive. The intonation is excellent all over the neck, and it stays in tune very well.

I am not a fan of the "pop in" whammy bar, however. I would like to replace that with one comparable to a Jackson Soloist for a more sensitive tremolo.

I liked the look of this guitar, even though it was beat up, which is why I bought it. The body is a light blue and it has a blue-ish mirror pickguard. I plan on replacing that and also the volume/tone knobs to get a little wild color-coordinating thing going on here. :) I'm thinking neon yellow or green...

I've only had it a couple months but it's seen several 2 hour nights at gigs and held up far better than I thought it would!

I am really surprised at the overall quality and playability of this guitar. It's no secret that the pickups aren't top of the line DiMarzios or something to that effect, but they aren't noisy and they have a pretty decent bite to them. Like I said, this was to be my beater guitar, but it's replaced my USA Jackson Soloist (SL2H!) as my MAIN guitar! Yeah!

I can't wait to customize it with the pickguard (maybe a nice swirl will do!), volume/tone knobs, good pickups and improve the tremolo system...it's going to be a killer axe! :)

01' Japanese RG550 by Ibanez
24 fret Maple Neck and Maple Finger Board.
Solid Basswood body
H-S-H Pickup config. (Five way Switch)
Black Finish with a three ply Black Pickgaurd.
Ibanez Edge Tremolo (The best around)

This is the best cheap guitar I have ever played, It very much rivals my expensive ESP.
I put a DiMarzio Evolution in the Bridge position. This guitar have so much attack that when you are playing fast every thing stays very clear and concise.

When do guitars ever come setup good from a factory?! Ha!

I had to do some tweeking, but there were no flaws.

I expect this guitar will last until I get bored with it in approx. 3 years.(I go through guitars like people go through shoes)

Ibanez has always been good to me, their support staff is very friendly.

I have been playing for 13 years. I prefer playing through Carvin Legacy Amps and JCM800's. I have a few other guitars: Fender Strat, ESP Mirage, Gibson Les Paul, Schecter Blackjack (that's getting returned today!).
The thing I hate most about this guitar is that Ibanez doesnt make it anymore. I want another one.
My favorite thing about the RG550 is the bridge. The Ibanez Edge Tremolo is hands down the best tremolo out today. I think its much stabler and more comfortable then the Floyd Rose.

1990 Sangria Japanese model with the usual specs. I wont get all technical on my review because everyone has already said what needs to be said in regards to specs .Ok here comes my story lol, I was a professional muscian for about 10 years have had so many guitars and equipment and done so many gigs I got burnt out. Sold all my stuff didnt even keep 1 guitar. Fast foward 6 years later I walk into a pawn shop see a guitar behind a bunch of shitty guitars
wasnt even looking to buy a guitar, but the RG550 caught my eye didnt like the color at the time asked the sales guy to let me see it and then BAM instantly with out even playing I felt the electricity run threw my fingers LMAO Believe or not this RG550 ressurected the guitarist in me and guess what, got it for $190.00 lol

I dont know what people are talking about when they say its only for heavy metal and rock, I was a teenager in the early 80`s when the Heavy Metal Guitar Godz ruled the music scene and those of us who were influenced from that era know how to shred, but this guitar is versatile my tastes in music have chnaged so much from those days and Ive done every kind of gig imaginable I only wish I would of had this guitar back when I played professionaly.

My Action is a little high for an RG and need to get it set up Ive had for about 3 years now but I have no complaints I got is used but I can still shred on it.

The Paint is chipped and cracked in some places, I think whoever owned it before me didnt really take care of it but to me it has character I was thinking about having it repainted but the color is so unique Im gonna leave it as is.

wouldnt know

I would give this guitar 9 1/2 I will admit it doesnt have signature sound like a Fender strat,Les Paul or a PRS but yet its a bit of a chameleon and can be used for alot of different situations. I know own a couple of other Guitars such as a Fender Strat Deluxe and a Fender American strat but the RG550 is the one dearest to my heart and if it got stolen or it got lost I would be devistated. Im definetly gonna get my hands another one I usually play on necks with rosewood fretboards and my rg550 has a maple neck thats the only thing I wish I could change other then that this Guitar is going to the grave with me :)

I've got an Ibanez RG550 which I bought new in 1989. I'm pretty sure its an '89.

I have heavily modified it over time - it still is basswood, is jet black, Indian Rosewood fretboard/maple neck, Floyd Rose which I have blocked with some Brazilian Mahogany so it only goes down (and doesnt $%^& itself when you break a string), I have installed a DiMarzio FRED in the neck pos and a Seymour Duncan SH11 Custom Custom in the bridge which along with the standard single coil I have mounted directly into the basswood body. I have sanded the satin finish off the neck and oil it with lemon oil (like my woflgang).

Im about to create binding on it after seeing this dudes axe at projectguitar.com, by sanding down to the wood.

It came with a custom hardcase which has seen unbeleivable amounts of stuations as it has been giged thousands of times in Melbourne and in London. Its had beer spilt on it, its survived the baggage handlers amazingly (ive had a guitar destroyed by those arseholes), its been knocked over by a drummer, Ive hit cymballs with it, the floyd has been worked so much I broke the whammy bar, the list goes on. The case now understandably is now held together with gaffer tape. I really need to replace it, but as I am now 9-5, married with kids it doesnt really matter.

It suited me for well over 10yrs, now its is enjoying the good life and being rested, hanging in my guitar room.

I use a Marshall JPM1, ART DXR Elite delay, and a Laney Linebacker 100w. The delay is in the effects loop of the jpm which runs directly to the effects return on the laney. This setup rocks. I can dial in almost any era marshall, and the ibanez delivers the goods. The SH11 is great.

I can do a good earthquake on this, look, on this axe you can make any sound you like. It doesnt have a good single coil sound unless you really tweak your amp, so it falls down there, but I really dont care!

Sound is like a slightly suped up vintage distortion and has incredible character.

Perfect now, but requires constant adjustment if floating trem is not blocked

Neck is too thin! It increases fatigue. The board is flat, which is fine but a compound radius 12-18 would have been perfect.

Trem is superb, stays in tune even when abused. No flaws, Ibanez are proud and do it right.

Say no more.

10/10, as I got my replacement whammy in 14days.

Unfortunately for the ibanez its competition is my Peavey Wolfgang EVH Standard, flame maple top, birdseye maple neck, stop tail (i love that bridge). The EVH is one of the best sounding guitars that I have ever heard, bar none. The ibanez holds its own, but the neck irritates me. Its too skinny, I have big hands and it actually tires me out. The evh neck is SUPERB and I will be replacing the neck soon. I am also raidiusing the board (which will be put on the new neck), so really its almost not an ibanez its a simonez :)

24 frets, volume and tone control, 5-way selector for h/s/h (Ibanez v8s passive)
Basswood body, maple neck and finger board, black superstrat body, lo pro edge vibrato system (slight nusiance in this being older model with the pegs behind the fine tuners) with locking nuts . Has all the features i require in a guitar.

Sounds fantastic. Zero noise - first time in a long time. I can get wicked vibrato from this guitar. This neck plays better than any rock guitar I've tried (although only on a par with jems) although of course this is subjective. I play metal and shred a lot, but like the 'feel' and tone of the vol rolled off for raunchy blues stuff. Probably seymour duncan or emgs to replace pickups may improve metal sound slightly (maybe even dimarzios). I also like to jazz up by playing clean with tone control rolled off to 3 or less - sounds lovely although jazzers may despair at the thought!
I practice and teach through a bandit 112 (old model with out the scoop features) - lovely response to transistor distortion. Live i play through a mesa boogie triple rec. Superb sound.

Set up was fine. retuned immediately to Eb and swiched from ernie ball super slinkys to hybrid slinkys. Seems the extra tension of these strings counteracted the overall reducd tension caused by de-tuning and remarkably the intonation remained perfect too. Won't have to set this up for a while!
Lowered middle pickup for picking purposes.
Everything was mint, only needed to lossen tuning pegs a little.

Used twice live. Difficult to judge durability at this stage but am optimistic.

I NEVER use a guitar without back-up. Its a pain keeping two guitars gig ready all the time, but you can guarantee you'll snap a string on the gig you don't!

n/a

This guitar may have been the last brand new Ibanez rg550 on sale in the uk! If anyone now different let me know - it was purchase dec 15 2005. The 1550 is the newer incarnation (I don't like the new metal vol and tone pots on these newer models. In fact i switched back to the old style plastic one on my Jem SB aswell). However it is exactly the same spec otherwise. I believe they don't do a maple fingerboard anymore for 1550s, so I was glad to find this. I'd love to get hold of another and see what they're like scalloped.

I had a try of an RG550 which is currently advertised on Ebay. It is a Black one with a Maple neck WOW, it is the best playing guitar I have ever handled. better than my Jem!!! Trouble is, the guy who is a pro musician with a studio wants about #500 for it, I just cant afford it. If you want a 550 forget the shops buy this one, it's AMAZING.

Cant believe the tone, not a crackle just pure rock.

Perfect set up, has been done by a professional. A proper Pro's guitar

Cannot see this guitar EVER going wrong it is too right, a 1993 without a mark on it!

He has great feedback, I met him and he is solid, he goes under the name malaki, on E-bay he is backingtrax, his website is cool too www.malaki.org

Been playing 20 years, I am a professional, I would buy another one of these if I could find one as good! I have tried a lot of the modern ones, theyare not a patch on this one.

I recently aqquired this RG550 from eBay. It was made in 2001 by the Fugijen factory in Japan.

- Basswood superstrat body with All Access Neck Joint (AANJ)
- 3-piece Japanese Wizard neck
- 25.5" 24-fret maple freboard with jumbo frets
- Sangria finish (dark red, metallic, glossy finish)
- Ibanez Edge trem
- Cosmo black hardware
- H-S-H pickup config, Ibanez V8/S1/V7 (bridge/center/neck)
- 5-way blade pickup selector, 1x volume pot, 1x tone pot)

I guess the features are rather basic. Just a regular superstrat, although the features are a bit more advanced than your average 80's Charvel (OFR bridge, single H pickup). So I'll give it an 8.

I play mostly shred (Racer X, Vai, Cacophony, Satch, Gilbert, Lane, etc etc). The stock pickups aren't bad for shred, I guess, but they aren't particularily good either. The IBZ V8 bridge p/up is very harsh, too much treble, and a bit muddy for my style. The neck pickup is pretty much the same as the bridge pickup, just slightly nasal in comparison, a bit more mid range too. I haven't tested out the center pickup enough to come to conclusions though. I am playing through a Laney GH50L loaded with a JJ/Tesla E34L matched pair, and hi-gain matched 12AX7's. The electronics on the RG550 are very quiet, though, the pots and selector are nice and clean. Swapping the pickups for a DiMarzio ToneZone/BlueVelvet/AirNorton combo helped the sound alot. The tone is still a bit bland though, must be the basswood, which is standard issue on most superstrats. Surely it wouldn'tve cost Ibanez much more to use alder. But that's what you get with a production RG. If you want exotic woods, you'll have to go for a J-Custom.

With the stock pickups, I give it a 6. They are versatile, but aren't to me liking really. With the DiMarzio's, it deserves an 8. With a more toneful body wood, it would get a 9. Although I would never give it a 10, since a floating trem kills off all of the sustain, and chokes the tone. I'll go with the DiMarzio score, and give an 8.

I don't know how the factory setup was like, since I bought this second hand, but I own 2 new Ibanez guitars (an RG1570 and a JEM), both of which had a decent factory setup, it was more than playable. But being a perfectionist I redid the whole setup to get everything just exact.

The setup it had when I recieved it was awful. The pickup height was completely off, and the trem angle was unusable. Plus, the trem posts threads had been stripped. The previous owner probably attempted to set it up himself, without any knowledge and slowly damaged the threads with over tightening. After I sorted out the setup, everything was fine. Plays really well now. The finish had a couple of small chips on the corners, but nothing compared to what I have on my other guitars. The routing was superb. All of the hardware was perfectly mounted too, Ibanez' Fugijen (Japan) made guitars are superb quality (I own 3 guitars from that factory, including the one in question).

With the setup I recieved it in (NOT factory setup) it deserves a 1 here, but with my setup, it deserves a 9. But I'll base my score here on the factory setup of my other 2 Japanese made Ibanez guitars. 8.

The RG550 is pretty durable. It's survived 3 gigs with me now, no problems yet. I put a change of strings on the morning of the gig and stretch them out all day to get them ready. On stage, it never goes out of tune (unless I do something stupid). I have an Ibanez Backstop tremsetter installed anyway, so if I break a string pissing around with the trem, it stays roughly in tune, enough to finish the song. Although, I do worry about chipping the finish, it seems rather thin, but I've yet to chip it, and I've been using it heavily for weeks now. I use it for gigs without a backup, all the time. Even if the bridge goes horribly damaged on stage, I'm a trained tech. I've replaced entire trem units on stage during songs when things have gone wrong with my other guitars.

The thin finish aside, it deserves a 9.

Never dealt with them.

If it weren't a Sangria finish, I probably wouldn't care if it got stolen. Besides, RG550's are for sale 2nd hand all the time. But this finish is quite rare, and the guitar already has some sentimental value. So if somebody stole it, I'd hunt them down and castrate them with a rusty chainsaw and brutally murder them shortly after. Except from a few picky things (the choice of body wood, the stock pickups, the fact that the finish chips easily), it's perfect. I've been playing for over 13 years, own many expensive guitars (Ibanez RG1570, Ibanez JEM "Bad Horsie", Customshop 2003 Jackson USA Soloist, and a few others), yet the RG550 is still my favorite guitar. The neck is frictionless, perfect for shredding. The trem is one of the best availible (it sure beats an original Floyd, and kicks the crap out of the new Edge Pro bridge). And the finish is certainly unique, it's kinda cool. It deserves a 9. With fixes to the above mentioned dislikes, it would easily get a 10.

No idea the year of this one... But it's a Japanese made, 24 jumbo fret, volume, tone, and 5 way controls. The big selling point is the Floyd Rose Trem. That thing never goes out of tune. Once it's set it's set!

Sounds great for metal and soloing if your into the maiden sound! Not bad for clean sounds. A little low end hum, but god knows how old the pick ups are. I'm a third generation owner and the thing still sounds great. You can bend the strings right off the neck if the mood hits you and it comes right back into tune. The floyd rose set up is kinda tricky to set up (took me 2 1/2 hours the first time). I switched out my strings for .009 Fender bullets (they make a VERY clean set up.. just string the bullets through the neck and trim them to length) It helped alot with the hum. I use a Crate amp and a "crap" pedal. The between the 5 way and the amp you can get almost any sound you like without having to pump a whole lot of money.

This thing is nearly bullet proof. I can't lie... This one is my battle guitar. It's probably seen more abuse than I would like to imagine. Lots of scars but is still straight and the controls are tight. In fact I do believe that the volume knob is one of the most sensitive ones I've seen. I can't say enough about the Floyd Rose... Just have to adjust your playing so you don't go sharp if you rest your hand on the bridge.

I can't say enough about this guitar. I don't believe I've seen a more durable guitar. If you could see some of the chips in mine you wouldn't believe how thick that finish is! The oversized strap buttons are very nice. I still suggest locks though. Unless you break a string you can't bust this one. It plays every time! Always in tune. However... If you change your tuning during a show I would suggest taking another one to switch out with. It takes a bit of time to set this up!

I've never had a problem with it and from the looks of the finnish no one else has either!

I've been playing off and on for about 8 years. I got in the Army and moved about 3500 miles away from my others. This is one of my favorites! If it were stolen I would get another RG! I'm kinda looking into the RG2550EGK (it sounds/looks outstanding! I think it's about $1200... If it's as good as this one I'd buy it in a heart beat!). Ive got a Skynnard 30th annaversary Epiphone (low cost Fender, best for clean sounds), a Harmony electric (my first back in '85), Epiphone acoustic (got it from my dad). Nothing shreds solo's like the Ibanez.

Insanely orange(yes, I've shocked a few) with black pickguard, maple neck. You all know the details by now... It has got everything I need.

I play through a Marshall avt50/YJM-308 pedal - setup, and it rocks! It took a while to find the right settings, but now I know how to produce any sound from Zeppelin to Malmsteen, and I mean it. Well, actually I'm limited to the 60's-80's, my setup doesn't sound very modern, but I can get any sound I want. The pickups can be a little noisy sometimes, but that is not that big of a deal. How should I describe the sound? Quite twangy, jangly and funky clean on the middle pickup, jazzy, but not very thick/deep clean on the neck, With full distortion it sounds like... Iron Maiden actually, wich means what, slightly middy?

I've just bought it, but it's over 15 years old, and still, there are no greater flaws. Few chips and scratches have appeared on it, other than that, it hasn't been used that much over the years, so it's a bit of a find. It's in better condition than my 2-year-old Jackson Js30, wich is nice:)

I bet, that with proper maintenance, this guitar will last forever. Apparently, the previous owner's kid had run into it once, and it fell from its stand and all the strings flew of. After hours of inspection, I couldn't tell that something like that had happened.

I have no idea about this.

What can I say... I came, I saw, I fell in love. This guitar is fantastic, and it fits me perfectly. Actually, I like it so much, that I'm no longer interested in any other guitar, no matter what the price is. If it was stolen, I'd kill myself!:D Now this doesn't mean it's a perfect guitar, I just love it. For instance, I might change the pickups someday, probably the middle one first, because it's noisy.

1990 Japanese made model , standard RG550 but with seymour duncan humbuckers, neck+bridge added

great variety of sounds from this guitar, as always dependent on the quality of amp/effects unit your using....i use marshalls and BOSS GT6 effects so no problems for me whatsoever

bought this second hand in 2005 ....15yrs after it was made.... it has been re-fretted, and still no other problems

ive been playing guitar for 17yrs and used to own a RG550 years ago which i foolishly sold due to buying a Les Paul.....nothing wrong with the les paul but after a month i regretted getting shot of the RG550, coz you always need a dive bomb or two when the mood takes you !!