first year of the RG series

[pebber]

was the 1987 with the RG550, right?

now, was the neck heel scalloped in any way on these?

[markD]

the later roadstar's were called RG's also, but the RG's we think of were introduced with the Jem/RG550 in 1987

the heel was not scalloped

[heartfielder]

You want a 550 Peb ?

I can get you a White one by me.

Lemme know.

[rjohnstone]

I have an 1987 RG560 and the heel is angled/scalloped.
The RG550 is the same.
I think I have pics somewhere... I'll post them or take new ones later.

[pebber]

well.. the thing is, I've seen

- traditional
- sculpted
- scalloped

RG550's with serial F7xxxxx..

that's a real puzzle for me

[BTB007]

Wouldn't F7xxxxx be a 1997?

[pebber]

Wouldn't F7xxxxx be a 1997?

I've looked it up, since I'm no specialist here:

1987 - 1996 - Guitars built in Japan between these years will have a serial number beginning with F followed by 6 numbers. F is the production factory which stands for Fujigen. The first digit will be the last digit of the year, ie. F8***** is a guitars made in Fujigen in 1988. The last 5 numbers will be the consecutive number denoting production count for the year. 25899 would be the 25899th guitar built that year.

1997 - Present - Under the old numbering scheme 1997 would show duplicate numbers to 1987 so the serial number was changed to the F and 7 digits, now the first 2 denoting year of production. F98***** is a guitar built by Fujigen in 1998. The last 5 digits continue as a consecutive production count for the year.

so, no..

[Jackson-Charvel]

Interesting as the Roadstar II's up till 1986 were F86, 86 being the year.

[rjohnstone]

Here's a pic of the heel on my 87 RG560. It was a special order at the time (back in the day when you could do that). Wanted a maple board so they put an RG550 neck on it. It's also the first RG to have this color (Jewel Blue) as well. Again... special order.

[wicked_lester]

The only two neck heel types I've seen on RG's and Jems are the scalloped heel shown in the pic above and the later AANJ (all access neck joint) which did away with the neck plate altogether.

I had a '93 RG-550 which still had the old style scalloped heel. My '98 RG 570 and '02 Jem have the AANJ.

[mab8485]

I have an 89 RG760. It has the traditional heel. Seems strange they'd mix it up like that?

[Jackson-Charvel]

RJohnstone, you got any front pics of that maple boarded Ibanez? Looks good from the rear shots but I wanna see that maple board.

[rjohnstone]

Here ya go... she's a bit rough right now, but still sounds awesome.
I pulled the SD Custom Custom out of my Charvel copy (notice the painted pup ring) and put it in the 560 while the Charvel is out for a new clear coat.

I still haven't decided what pup to put in the 560 as the original was too thin. The SD sounds great, but I'm considering an DiMarzio Evo as well.
The center pup is just a dummy right now.. never used it anyway, so I pulled it and slammed the dummy pup level with the body.

[Jackson-Charvel]

RJohnson did you order it like that back then? I was 16/17 back in 87 and had no idea you could do special orders on an Ibanez. Up until you mentioned you special ordered this with a Maple board, I still didn't think you could do this unless you were in the know with the higher ups of the company or sleeping with someone important. hahaha

You must have had prior knowledge of them changing body styles and whatnot to have pre ordered one of these in Maple. Until I saw the new Ibanez designs in 1987 I looked at Ibanez as a cheap wannabe Charvel/Kramer/Jackson. After 1987, they hit the big time and were in the game. What made you pre-order one of these based on what you knew the 1986 Roadstars were back then? Also interesting is the higher end Roadstrs didn't have Maple boards and I don't recall the ProLine seres using Maple either.