Ibanez RG1550M Electric Guitar  

I hadn't owned an Ibanez since the early 1990's. I had always liked the slim, fast necks and light-weight bodies of the original RG series; having owned and '85 Roadstar II an 88 RG550 and a 1994 RG570.  I switched to American made neck-through guitars in 1997 and sold my my last Ibanez. Although Ibanez' website doesn't mention it, I discovered that the company now manufactures most of their product line outside of Japan(Indonesia, Korea, China, Malaysia).  I wanted an RG that was made in Japan with higher quality parts and a wizard neck with an unbound maple fretboard.  I had also read that Ibanez was dropping the Edge Pro trem(made in Japan) in favor of the Edge Zero(made in China).  My only option was the RG1550M. When the guitar first arrived, I noticed an attractive and apparently well-constructed case. I opened the case and was greeted with a strong, unpleasant smell, apparently from the paint finishing process. The paint was glossy and smooth and the Cosmo hardware accentuated it beautifully.  Unfortunately, the guitar was badly out of tune, the bridge was angled sharply toward the neck and trem arm didn't have the bushings installed.  Trying to tune the strings and adjust the bridge, I realized the string saddles hadn't been properly tightened, hence it wouldn't stay tuned.  After tightening everything, setting string intonation and starting to play, I noticed the frets had been poorly surfaced and the strings were corroded. I switched the pickup selector to the neck and a few seconds later lost most of the pickup volume. Slightly pressing the pickup with my finger alleviated the volume drop, so apparently there is a connection issue in the coil wiring. The guitar intonates well, string action can be adjusted very low if you like, and neck is smooth and thin.  The V pickups are surprisingly well-voiced allowing for various music styles. Overall, I would have given this instrument a 5 star rating had the quality control been there.  When someone pays for a Prestige series RG made by Japan's finest luthiers, one should expect the guitar to be proper out of the box.

Just bought this guitar in blue, wonderful.  I've owned many Ibanez and the quality and playability of this guitar is no surprise to me.  I've had a RG550CM for the past 20 years and wanted another, but they don't make that particular guitar any more, this is actually better.  Great fretwork, and it comes out of the box feeling like a comfortable old played-in go-to guitar.

For the past 15 years, I've owned and played some decent instruments... nothing top shelve ? notably, a jackson with an excellent neck but crap action, a Korean Ibanez S470 - awesome guitar once set up nicely. Recently, after having quit smoking (also 15 years!) I decided to treat myself to a new guitar. I?d been eying the poison pumpkin RG 1550M for a while, especially after missing the RG 20th anniversary reissue. Love the bold colors and maple fretboard. However, after 2 locking tremolo guitars I felt its time for a fixed bridge, shorter scale length, i.e. les paul... I absolutely love les pauls! Took the plunge and purchased what I could afford. . . . . Les Paul studio . . . . . faded cherry. This is an amazing guitar, don?t get me wrong, but I wasn?t a 100% satisfied. I?d rather have a traditional goldtop or burst, or one of the traditional pros they?re selling these days... 800 vs. 2000 though, slight difference! I came to the conclusion that playing ~1k, I?d rather have a top of the line product from an amazing manufacturer rather than the lowest from another. A made in Japan, Ibanez prestige qualifies well... So off went the Studio in exchange for the 1550 poison pumpkin, which arrived today... I am in absolute awe! Ibanez ?team J craft? is a world apart! The neck is the most amazing I've ever seen, as is the fretboard, overall finish, etc. down to the prestige case. Comparing it with my non-prestige S470, I understand what I?ve been missing. Haven?t put it down since it arrived. Definitely get an Ibanez prestige if you?re thinking about it, well worth the $. I?m happy I decided to make the swap. Eventually plan to amuse myself with the les paul... traditional burst, figured maple, fancy pants guitar (which surprisingly the fat neck feels comfortable after being used to S470). For now the 1550 will more than do. Will replace the pickups probably with Evo2, PAF joe, a twangy single coil... Did I mention I was able to drop the action very low without buzz... Very pleased with this guitar (love the white too but didn?t want the zero point tremolo). Don't hesitate about getting this one...

I bought this a few months ago and I?ve not been disappointed. I had a 550 back in the late 80?s and was kicking myself for having missed out on the reissues. I am a die-hard maple neck guy and disappointed Ibanez had no maple neck and fretboard models. When I saw this I looked at it as my new 550 and I was going to buy it. To be honest for the amount of money this thing costs I really shouldn?t complain about anything. It is a very good value. I gave it a 4 on features due to the pickups and a 4.5 over all due to the pickups. I didn?t feel a 5 would be right over-all not having perfect scores in all the other fields. The good : Wonderful neck. Very fast, very comfortable and extremely easy fretting. In my mind it doesn?t feel quite as good as my 550 did. It may be similar dimensions but it feels like it needs buffed or polished a bit longer. It feels just a tad dirty and /or slightly grainy. It is a very minor beef though and I?m being picky to mention it. I?m sure after it has worn a bit and soaked up the oils from my hand it will be even better. The tremolo is awesome. Very flat to the body and recessed a hair. It still has plenty of room to pull the note sharp also. Not having to cut the ball ends off of your strings is nice. Also you don?t have to tighten the string holders to the point of pinching the string flat like on the old ones. It came setup perfectly for 9?s and I normally use 10?s and had restrung with 10?s. It didn?t take long at all to adjust for the change in tension. I ended up going back to 9?s though. This guitar is a rice burner and 9?s IMHO seem to be the most comfortable on it even though all my other axes have 10?s. The bad: The pickups blow. Ok maybe I?m over stating that. They are lacking though. The bridge pickup is very muddy. Yes it is designed for distortion but some chord voicings  just don?t sound good at all. Lead lines are fine. There is a big volume drop off on the single coil also. The neck pickup is the most solid of the three and sounds much better than the bridge pickup. It isn?t like the guitar is unusable with these pickups though. For a 1K guitar I really shouldn?t expect more and it does have good value over all. Still though if there were anything I would change ( and I will eventually ) it would be the pickups. All in all it is a very good value and probably one of the best guitars you can buy for 1K. I would recommend it to anybody looking for this style of guitar.