seeking help from Ibanez experts (id this prestige model)

[Relinquish69]

I'm a fan of Ibanez guitars and I do know a fair share about them. I've recently bought this Prestige from someone. basically, we've concluded that its an RG1308 (J Custom) model. however, it has a prestige label instead of the J Custom label.

another thing to note is that the body paint finish is different from those pictures that I've seen online. mine is a darker shade while the J Custom seems almost glowing.

check out the pictures here.
http://jcustom.web.fc2.com/

the specs of the 2 guitars are the same though. dimarzio pickups and all. however, I'm certain that this is not a RG1308. the RG1308 has the J Custom logo at the headstock. mine has the prestige label.

this is a picture of a RG2550ex body taken from ****.


here is a picture of my prestige body


the back of the neck


behind the headstock


what I can conclude is:

- the body matches the neck

what I can assume is:

- this is a J custom but released as a regular prestige model back in 1997.
- the neck should be similar to a J Custom as it has those black numbers there ( my previous J Custom had those )

is the model for this guitar RGC308 (since the RG2550ex has the model number written in the neck pocket) ? if so, what does RGC stand for? how come I cant find any information on google or other search engines? I would appreciate some help guys. thanks!

[scanlan75018]

Maybe a short run for a japanese retailer ? (like IRG/HRG, KRG etc... nowadays ?)

[sniperfrommars1]

Originally Posted by scanlan75018

Maybe a short run for a japanese retailer ? (like IRG/HRG, KRG etc... nowadays ?)

That seems likely to me too

[Relinquish69]

however, arnt J Customs more expensive than prestige guitars? if it were a limited run, shouldnt it be the other way round ( the limited run for J Customs instead of Prestige ) ?

I'm just curious why the RG1308 has the same specs as the one I have. its strange that only the only differences is the finish and the neck label. I would like to know the exact model for my guitar as well. solved mysteries are always the best

[machinediva]

Originally Posted by Relinquish69

if so, what does RGC stand for?

RG Custom, I guess...

[madpickin03]

or RG Clueless

[buddroyce]

I have no idea what RGC stands for but they couldn't call it a RG1308 because the model number was used up. However, while Ibanez did make the original RG1308's were made in 1996, they replaced it in 1997 with the prestige version, which is what you have.

Here's the spec page for your guitar if you don't believe me:

http://jcustom.web.fc2.com/prestige/rg1308.htm

Ishibashi had one of these in their u-box a while ago that I was going to buy to replace an RG1302 that I once had, but I decided against it because I didn't have enough $$$ to justify it.

The only thing different is the neck type/profile(The j-custom version had a chunkier assymetric ultra shape neck, the prestige being more of a Wizard shape). I also believe the rosewood on the J-Custom version was generally a darker selected rosewood. But aside from that, they were pretty much the same.

Hope that helps.

-Budd