The Ibanez RG is a series of electric guitars produced by Hoshino Gakki and one of the best-selling superstrat-style hard rock/heavy metal guitars ever made. The first in the series, RG550 was originally released in 1987 and advertised as part of the Roadstar series. That series was renamed 'RG' in 1992 and all models since are simply known as RGs. It rose in popularity throughout the 80s and it had the features that musicians in the rising shred and thrash metal movements of that time were looking for - a fast neck, comfortable body, powerful pickups, and a reliable tremolo system. The RG series has the most subtypes of any Ibanez model and is the most popular series of Ibanez electric guitars produced by Hoshino Gakki. The RG's deep cutaway, flatter fingerboard and extended fret range has made it one of the most popular guitars for rock and metal music.
Origin and name
The Ibanez RG was originally designed in 1987, the same year as Steve Vai's signature guitarJEM 777, and perhaps RG was received and served as a derivative of Vai's model back then. Also, there has been some confusion and mischief around the RG name. One of the popular opinion was that Rocky George, was its designer, because Rocky's initials are the same as the model, and he was one of the first famous users of the RG model. Another was that it was meant to be a competitor for Yamaha RGX. Both above are disputed. The RG in the Ibanez RG name, in reality, is now widely considered to mean "Roadstar Guitar", although current instruments differ significantly from the pastRoadstar and Roadstar II series, introduced in from 1979 to 1986.
Features
Neck
The RG Series features a neck that is very thin in cross-section a wide, flatter than most double octave fretboard. Flatter radius on fretboards facilitate wider bends and lower string action at the expense of comfort in playing chords. For the virtuosic "shred" style of guitar playing or fast, aggressive thrash/speed metal rhythm, this type of neck is often preferred. The fretboards are usually made of maple or rosewood.
Body
The body of the RG Series features sleek, offset pointed double cutaways giving better access to the upper frets. Typically the body is made of Basswood or Mahogany, with some exception such as swamp ash or alder.
Hardware
The pickups are usually configured as HSH, HSS or HH. There are Japan-Custom IBZ, USA-Custom IBZ, Infinity, Powersound, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Acis, LoZ or EMG pickups in the RG Tremolo and Fixed series. The Prestige series typically comes equipped with either the USA and Japan IBZ series, IBZ DiMarzio pickups, DiMarzio pickups in different configurations, active EMGs in several configurations, and one model comes equipped with Non-OEM Seymour Duncans. Bare Knuckle pickups are now standard on some Prestige models. All of the RG550s, 560s, 565s, 570s, 670s 750s, 760s and 770s have a version of the Ibanez Edge tremolo, be it Original or Lo-Pro. The Edge tremolo incorporated several manufacturing changes when compared to the original Floyd Rose, including increased mass, relocated fine tuners and improved locking posts. The locking posts are no longer used as of the 2003 model year along with the introduction of the Edge Pro. While most models of the RG series use variations of Ibanez Edge tremolo, there are fixed bridge models available, which are equipped with either a Hipshot-style bridge or a Gibraltar standard bridge. Fixed bridge versions of the Edge bridge are also available on a few select signature models.
Extra string models
Since the release of RG7620 and 7621 in 1998, RG's are famous for being the basis of particularly easy to play seven string guitars. Also, in 2007, Ibanez produced its first commercially available 8 string guitar, the RG2228. Ibanez introduced their first commercial nine-string models, the RG9QM and RG90BKP, for 2014.
Model variations
In addition to "standard" RG Series, there are various sub-series of guitars available: ;RGA ;RGD ;RGV ;RT ;RX Additionally, current the RG series and related sub-series are split into following versions depending on quality: ;J Custom line ;Prestige line ;Premium line ;Iron Label line ;GIO line
