Ibanez Roadstar II RS-525

Gold hardware, coil splitter, Pro Rock'r Locking Tremelo

Very versatile. Rock and jazz. Even country and metal.

Excellent workmanship, on par with a Strat that costs twice as much

Everything works after 25 years!

Too old to be under warranty, but Ibanez has great service

Buy one to enjoy now!

24 frets, all stock Ibanez humbuckers w/ tap coil splitters, 3 way switch, Pro Rock'R tremelo, locking tuning (3 locks/2 strings each). Rosewood fretboard, whateve white was in 1985 model. Passive electronics, all gold hardware.

I switched out the pickups and eliminated the coil splitting for the fact that if i want a single coil sound i'll use a different guitar.

This guitar sounded great when i bought it with everything stock. It sounds AMAZING with the Duncans i put in it

the factory setup was great. i left everything the same

The guitar is incredibly reliable.

i have dealt with support on other guitars and these guys are great.

great guitar

Bought a 1986 RS-525 two years ago at Ebay. When I received the guitar I discovered the former owner hardly ever played it! Paid EUR 280. The guitar is very versatile. The coilsplitting offers a wide range of sounds. The Floyd Rose is very reliable. I don't have to tune even after playing for several hours.

As said, the guitar offers a wide range of combinations.

Don't know, I'm not the first owner.

Excellent! Extremely reliable...

When I got the guitar it was 19 years old.

I've been playing for 20 years. I use a Fender Hotrod en a Boss GT-6.

1985, paid $525 for it with a hardshell case. 24 frets, all stock Ibanez humbuckers w/ tap coil splitters, 3 way switch, standard Ibanez "super-strat" body, Floyd Rose tremelo, locking tuning (3 locks/2 strings each). Rosewood fretboard, glossy finish metal-flake midnight blue. Passive electronics.

Over the years I've played this guitar through an early 80s vintage Fender Champ, a Peavey Special 130, a Fender Twin, a Fender Princeton 65, and a 60 watt solid state Marshall whose model number escapes me at this point.

The guitar is incredibly versatile! I've played straight blues, bluesy hard rock, and cowpunk. While the guitar is outclassed in specific areas by the obvious axes - Les Pauls and SGs for the harder stuff, Telecasters for the twangier stuff - using it is much easier than carrying 3 or 4 different guitars to suit each song.

Using the humbuckers, the guitar has a very heavy sound, using the coil-splitters, it can twang with the best of them. The biggest drawback is that while the guitar can do a lot of different things, it doesn't have a particularly distinctive voice of its own.

On the plus side, it almost never goes out of tune. On the other hand, with the Floyd Rose, if you break a string, you won't be finishing the song!

It's been so long I don't remember what the factory setup was like!!

The guitar has been incredibly reliable. I had to have the jack replaced 5 or 6 years ago, but other than that, it's been great. I wouldn't use it at a gig without a backup because if string breaks, I need to change guitars immediately!

I know this guitar has at various times been very popular among hard rock/metal guitarists, and I have occasionally heard that it's somewhat rare, though I really am not enough of a gearhead to know myself. I've been playing for 25 years, and was in a a regularly gigging bar band for most of the last 10, and this has been my primary guitar since I bought it almost 18 years ago. I don't know if I would replace it, but I would miss it.

Ok, I fess up. A cute chick talked me into buying this. I'd kinda been eyeing it for a while and I mentioned it to her and she said it was a great looking guitar and that made up my mind for me. I was in college at the time, this was around 1984 or 1985.

This guitar is good looking. Pearlescent white finish, gold hardware. Dual humbucker with push/push coil taps for each on the respective volume knobs. That's a really great feature. Really adds alot to the versatility of the axe.

Stock Ibanez sealed pickups. Stock Ibanez sealed tuners. Stock Ibanez locking Tremolo system.

I used to think about modifying this by replacing the stock pickups with EMG Active Humbuckers. Wouldn't change the look much, but would improve the sound.

Body style is a strat style cut, but the guitar is much more arched and rounded. Sits well on you. Strap pins are this odd wing shape. Not as good as a strap lock, but very resistant to coming off on you.

The guitar jack is a semi locking design. You have to push in extra hard and it semi locks the jack in, making it harder to pull it out by stepping on the cable, which can be very embarassing when playing live. Most guitarists avoid this by running the cord from the jack through their strap for strain relief, which I do even despite this, except sometimes during practice. This feature WILL at least come in handy once in a while for you.

This was my main axe for a long time. It's just so versatile. Rock, jazz, alternative, you name it. You might need to watch your position and angle when the coils are tapped, but that's the life of a single coil.

I used to thing the guitar had a pretty good sound, but after a few years of comparing it to my Jackson SL-1 Soloist and the Duncans I put in my Aria Pro II YS-500, I can tell they're a bit thin and dull sounding comparatively. But they fooled me for a long time.

All of this was pretty good. The only problem I've ever had with this guitar is the damn 3rd string twang problem that most locking tremolo systems seem to have. I attribute this to poor design on the lock itself. One screw locks down, via a metal plate, the 4th and 3rd string, but it's not a variable width piece. Since the 3rd string isn't as thick as the 4th, you get a less solid lock down on the 3rd string. FWIW, I have the same problem to a slightly lesser extent on the Floyd Rose on my Jackson Soloist.

I've used this as my sole axe at gigs before. It's built well, plays pretty well and is pretty solid and reliable, despite having a bolt on neck (I'm very partial to through the body necks).

Never needed it.

This is a great, reliable, versatile, good sounding, great looking guitar. With some slight modifications, you can turn it into a pretty incredible guitar (new pickups and tweaking the string lock).

Price paid $40.00 used. Purchased from a friend who paid $10.00 for it. 1985. Japan. Solid body electric. 24 frets. Solid top. H/H Factory Ibanez pickups with coil taps, 2 volume controls, 1 tone, 3-way switch, strat-style basswood body, or so I read from different web sites, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Black satin finish and black hardware. Pro Rocker Bridge with locking nut. Ibanez sealed tuners.

This guitar suits my playing style particularly well. I play rhythm guitar in a classic rock/country rock, hobby/sometimes bar band. My primary amp is a peavey studio pro. I would describe this guitar as having a rich/full sound. But with a touch of the coil tap on the bridge pickup it is capable of being pretty bright. That variety of sounds is what I like most. Although I'm using inexpensive equipment, this thing can go from a bright telecaster sound to les paul, well almost, crunch. What I like least is the ProRocker tremolo. It stays in tune just fine, even after repeated dive bombs. But, if any bridge part breaks, the guitar is going to be down, maybe dead without a retro-fit. I'm yet to find any parts, anywhere! The fine tuners are a smaller size than a Floyd, I've got hardware store allen heads in there now, but they're kinda hard to turn.

The guitar was practically a basket case when I got it. The finish is pretty beat. A friend, who is quite adept at guitar repair, took a dremel to the tremolo cavity, fabricated an internal bridge part for intonation adjustment, then set the bridge. It plays great, now. A previous owner soldered the input jack wrong and it buzzed like @#$%, but my friend and a fifth of vodka fixed that, too. These deficiencies, of course, aren't the fault of the manufacturer. No problem with the pickup heighth. I guess the previous owner(s) left them alone. What can I say about the action...it fits my left hand to a tee.

This guitar has withstood live playing and performed well. I feel I can depend on it...but there's still that bridge thing. Because of that I usually carry a backup.

I haven't dealt with Ibanez. I visited the web site, but in most instances it refers you to their dealers.

I've been playing for 20+ years, mostly as a hobby. Every now and then me and my buds will go play a bar for $50/each and/or free beer. I also have a Sambora mexi-strat w/floyd 2 and Takamine AC/EL. The Ibanez is the guitar I prefer playing. I like the action and sound of this guitar, It fits my hand and fits what I do. It's a clear reminder of a Les Paul-shaped Carvin that I had (and wish I still did...another story)in the 80's. Tha action is very similar and sound versatility (coil tap)is, too. If this guitar was stolen or lost I would definately replace it, hell, I'd like to buy a parts guitar right now if I could find one (the bridge thing, again). I've had lots of guitars over the years, usually low to mid-grade types. With the exception of the aforementioned Carvin, none have played and sounded as good as this one.

Here is the guitar you've been looking for!!!!
If you want the sach sound you want this guitar - more later on that...

Basswood, Floyd (originally an Ibanez version) two hums, rosewood/maple with paint on the back of the neck - very nice feel
The entire guitar is a pearl white, yellowed quite a bit but I won't repaint it and mess up the sound - and it looks good in the right light. Comes with ibanez dimarzios, someone changed the bridge to a duncan custom whcih is more of a mahogany kind of guitar pickup for classic early 70s tones, I put in a Dimarzio Fred in the bridge - that is THE Sach pickup. Standard strat scale but you can get up to the E with it. And actually use it. I'm so excited by this guitar and I know what I'm talking about. There is a toggle between the two hums, with seperate volumes with pull pots for single-coil sounds. And a master tone. This is a very high quality guitar that never found a following. Oh ya, the neck is thick, not the skinny wizzard neck which helps the tone and playability - as Joe S. also prefers.

OK here's the details. In the past I've had an RG550 and a 540s. I got them because at the time I liked the tone of those guitars. I thought they sounded something like my Sach records at the time but I was not a techno freak and I didn't care what he was playing. As my amps improved I finally realized that these guitars were lacking in tone and unloaded them in favor of alder/ash types of guitars (540 is mahogany and 550 is basswood). But some years go by and I learn about woods and setups and what Sach was doing so I bought a 540p and put a Fred in it. It was supposed to be his guitar - as on many old album covers, and it sounded VERY close but overall the tone was just not as good as my other guitars and I usually put it down before long - having a need for tone!!! Then I thought - ok the JS guitar is thick not thin like the 540p,550, but it is basswood and it has a thick neck. Same features as a 525!. This is the holy grail, the 525 is not only the right set-up for practically free ($150 in my case + $60 for the pickup) So you see it's not that basswood sucks, its more that thin bodies and thin necks suck. Basswood is a special sound to be certain (it mixes more than cuts) but it does have it's place as Sach has shown us all!

This is an ibanez guitar so it will need a setup. If you don't know how to set up a guitar, take it to someone who does. With a bolt on guitar, there is no reason (except for warped necks - and I hardly ever see those) can't have as low an action as the highest priced Jackson or PRS. The components on these old guitars is top notch, but they never had a guy spend an hour with it to get it right - and almost all guitars buy are sold cheep becuase they have lousy pickups and action, each of which is cheep to correct. I really like the look of the body by the way - it has that cool 80s cutting edge thing going on - and actually looks similar to a Sach but more interesting design features.
I had to adjust neck angle, intonation, truss rod, and fix the neck from being crooked using a spacer and block the floyd for one-way (dives only). To adjust neck angle, use the metal from a floppy drive. Cut it into a small 1/4 inch to fit along the end usually one fold will create the right thickness. To block the floyd, glue a small piece of wood onto the guitar in the spring cavity where the floyd block touches the body when you pull up (using elmers so you can remove if someone wants to). A popsicle stick is probably about the right thickness but all are different, use the springs as a clamp while drying.

It's a guitar with good paint and pickups never go out and the hardware is high end.

dunno and dont care - I do it myself.

Been playing for 23 years. I have about 30 guitars now. I ONLY care about tone. I don't care about stupid ass tops or super floyds. For $200 bucks you can paint anything to look perfect and tops are not visible from 5 feet so why bother - if you want a good stage guitar that is. Yes I play for myself but my wife is my biggest fan - and every once in a while I like to wow a club audience with some cool guitar.

I haven't found any reliable info about this guitar on the net, so I thought I'd share some myself... there are photos of this saying it's a Roadstar II and I found specs of a RS525 but they were clearly wrong (not the right number of knobs for a start). N'way, it's your standard strat-style axe with a nicely different look (curved top, no pickguard).

I bought mine used and I have no idea when or where it was made, the Roadstar II series was made in the '80s. This one is finished entirely black so no idea of the materials either, the fingerboard is standard rosewood with 24 frets. There are two pickups, selectable between single-coil or humbucker by pushing the volume knobs, and a three-way switch to select either pickup or both. There's a tone knob too.
The bridge is fully adjustable, with fine-tune knobs (a Pro Rock'r?) and there are string locks just behind the nut, which is irritating because if you do a really deep dive with the whammy then sometimes the strings will be out of tune. The neck has a firm feel to it that invites you to really grab it, not just tingle =)
Not a full 10 because of that stupid nut, should probably change it...

This guitar is really best at churning away at those loud power chords. There's a strong low end, and it really wants you to play hard rock on it. Not that it can't manage a decent clean sound, but even with the pickups in single coil mode, it doesn't seem to produce a very bright sound. Part of this may be due to my amp, which is just a tiny 12-watt Marshall (that I can't play at full volume at home). I imagine that with a better amp it would sound better too... but there's a real problem with the high notes, frankly I can't see why the neck goes up to 24 frets because anything above 20 is quite unusable - if you try to bend a string there, the sound just dies away like that. The sustain gets pretty bad at the higher end. So, not a guitar for someone who wants to play real quick wailing solos, but a decent rock'n'roll instrument.

Can't say much about the fit'n'finish category, because when I bought it the guitar had been unused for years and the strings were rusting! But it's OK since I've owned it, and the finish is almost like new except at the places where I've knocked it at walls or furniture, so it's a bit chipped. I've had to adjust the bridge, so it's fine now, and everything else is quite in order, except for a nasty rattling sound that sometimes emanates from the bridge when you hit the strings hard. Nothing seems to be loose there, but still the sound persists... it doesn't come through to the pickups though. Oh, and I had to replace the pickup selector, but the previous owner paid for it =) All the tools necessary for adjustments came with the guitar.

This is a very solidly built guitar, and the only problems I've had with it are the strings which tend to break occasionally when I get carried away =) Because of the semi-locking nut and bridge, changing them is a pain... The knobs have a solid feel and work like new. The cord socket is unfortunately mounted so that if you step on the cord, it gets pulled out unless you wind it around the strap (really, why do they still make guitars like that!?)

Never tried to get any.

Overall, I think this is a good electric guitar, though no doubt there are better ones around. If I keep it for a few more years, it'll be vintage and you'll pay ridiculous amounts of money for it =) It ended up to me quite by accident as a friend was selling it away and didn't ask too much cash. So far (3 years of playing, before that 3 years of sitting in its case under the bed) I've been happy with it and see no reason to start looking for a replacement.