Couple of things about my Ibanez RG470

[SiMoN 83 uK]

I Live in England, but last year I was in Florida on holiday and I was at a George's Music shop in Orlando, and Id always wanted to get an Ibanez, cos I loved the sharp prongs, body and pretty much everything about it. And I saw several RGs at the shop, I think the ones I was lookin at, were an RG320 (dunno exact number, it was a dual humbucker, no single coil, and in red.. possibly the shark fret inlays i think..but anyway), a Titanium Ice RG470 and the RG42T.

I eventually settled on the 470, cos I loved the colour and the 42T was a bit too expensive.. I didnt really check out the actual aesthetic perfections of the body cos I had only been playing for a few months and wasnt something I had thought to check.. so I bought it (for about.. $400 I think it was, and considering the same one was £500 here in england, that seemed a bargain), so I got it, took it home..

Ive had it almost a year now, but soon after I got it, I did notice a few imperfections in it. The pickups seem to be at a slight angle to the actual body, and u can actually wobble the pickups slightly.. not talkin loads, maybe a mm or two) and the neck seemed to be at an angle to the body, or the body itself might have sunk in places, im not sure.. and recently I seem to have made a tiny 1mm or so chip in the body near the bottom.. its not hugely noticeable, but it still sucks to see something like that in it..

Basically, I was wondering if someone could just tell me if the pickups need to be reinserted or something, or have work done to the guitar, and how much Id be looking at (realistically) to have those things done.. Im not a huge expert on the actual guitar itself, with regards to fixing the body and stuff, so Id much be much happier knowing a professional was doing it, with a slight cost addition taking this into account. Would basically need the pickups to be "straight" and the neck and body to be flat with each other... might be a bit hard to explain, so I took a few pictures.. they didnt come out great, but they do show what im trying to get across..

I was looking at getting a JEM early next year, but id still like to fix this up properly if it needs it.. and i love the colour of the guitar

Also i was wondering, people go on about the RG570 being the minimum RG you should get, yet the only difference I notice between the 470 and the 570, is the Tremolo.. both have the same pickups/fretboard/body/neck.. i cannot honestly believe a tremolo would make the guitar THAT much better..seeing as both are floating ones anyway, just a better one on the 570..

(Pics of guitar

http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/neck1.jpg
http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/neck2.jpg
http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/pickups1.jpg
http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/pickups2.jpg
http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/pickups3.jpg
http://ofpuk2001.homestead.com/files/chip1.jpg

[Kowalski3500]

Since out of 6 guitars with humbuckers, all 6 move here, im pretty sure that it is nothing serious.

[Rich]

The neck angle is intended. The pu/s all wobble, they're 2 screw mount giving it a pivot. They used to make 3 screw mounts to stabilize that.

[germX]

about that neck anomaly- it happened to my RG 560 & it wasn't an intended phenomenon. it's actually an upper fret neck warp & was cured via a fret re-dress (since the truss rod couldn't cure the upper fret warp). all my other ibanez does not have that kinda neck pitch, they're all straight.

[Timanator]

Originally Posted by SiMoN 83 uK

Also i was wondering, people go on about the RG570 being the minimum RG you should get, yet the only difference I notice between the 470 and the 570, is the Tremolo.. both have the same pickups/fretboard/body/neck.. i cannot honestly believe a tremolo would make the guitar THAT much better..seeing as both are floating ones anyway, just a better one on the 570..

This is true, and YES, the Edge is that much better that a TRS....


So much better it's not even a comparison. You will findout when you goto the JEM.

And I agree with Rich, the neck angle looks right to me.

[SiMoN 83 uK]

ok thanks a lot guys glad I checked this place out, some cool people here

[reguv760]

Also i was wondering, people go on about the RG570 being the minimum RG you should get, yet the only difference I notice between the 470 and the 570, is the Tremolo.. both have the same pickups/fretboard/body/neck.. i cannot honestly believe a tremolo would make the guitar THAT much better..seeing as both are floating ones anyway, just a better one on the 570..

I used to have an RG470 for a few years before I got rid of it. I had done all these mods like changing pickups, marbelized it, and even added a preamp booster. I've also damaged and lost parts (2 new nuts and a few bridge posts). Its been gigged and banged around in a gigbag before i actually got a hardshell case for it. I've even 'blocked' it to prevent it from detuning but it got irritating because i couldn't do pullups anymore. What's the point of having a tremelo if you're not going to use it ya know...
My friend still has his '90 RG570 (to this day) which i used to envy cause it felt nice and it was a very stable guitar compared to the RG470 due to its very dyslexic term. If I had only knew...
After playing and owning guitars with an Edge and a Lo-pro, I really found them to be much more stable than its TRS counterpart. From how I see it, if the bridge can handle Vai's whammy abuse and still be in tune afterwards, i'm sure it'll handle any kind of whammy abuse you can do to it

[jemsite]

Originally Posted by SiMoN 83 uK

I eventually settled on the 470

"settle" is a good word.

Originally Posted by SiMoN 83 uK

Also i was wondering, people go on about the RG570 being the minimum RG you should get, yet the only difference I notice between the 470 and the 570, is the Tremolo.. both have the same pickups/fretboard/body/neck.. i cannot honestly believe a tremolo would make the guitar THAT much better..seeing as both are floating ones anyway, just a better one on the 570..

A guitar does not equal just the sum of it's parts. Either way, the trem difference is significant, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE it is a double-locking trem.

Welcome to the forum... & enjoy the 470. Unfortunately you won't convice many the 470 is anything more than an axe you "settle on". Your mind will likely change with more playtime on a 570, etc... glen

[SiMoN 83 uK]

umm "I eventually settle on the rg470" doesnt make sense when im talking about something that happened in the past, "I eventually settled on the rg470" does.. it was past tense, i got the guitar ages ago, settle is present tense... im not stupid and its only a word, Ive already passed english literature and language exams when i was at school 3 years ago, so im confident of what I write. Might not always be perfect, but if its readable, then thats all that matters, its only an internet forum after all..just too bad most ppl care about insignifcant grammar mistakes than the actual content...

Why do you try and twist everything i say? No offence, but id expect better from an admin. Where did i say that I was trying to convince people that the RG470 was the greatest guitar ever? I didnt say anything remotely along those lines.. I just said i like it and am pleased with it. Do you honestly think im going to preach about this guitar when im on a JEM site.. i mean lets see, the JEM series starts at over double the price of the RG470 (UK Prices), so most ppl will have JEMs here.. which are better.. why the hell am i gonna try and convince em that the RG is great when theyve got a better guitar? I dont care whether people have a better guitar or not... Now if you'll excuse the "dad" role with your "good advice", im sure you've got other things you could be getting on with..

[MehYam]

Originally Posted by SiMoN 83 uK

both have the same pickups/fretboard/body/neck..

Actually the necks are quite different - within the narrow context of the RG world, they're almost night-and-day. I actually exchanged a 570 for the 470 because of the latter's slightly thicker and rounder neck. It affords more bending, chording, and vibrato control, but I did it mainly because the 570's super-thin neck caused me to develop sharp, paralyzing wrist pain. The added 2mm thickness of the 470's neck made a world of difference when playing with thumb behind the neck.

I didn't realize the TRS was such an inferior trem to the Edge until the exchange (shoulda researched JEMSITE first!). After about 6 months of pounding, the TRS finally started to acheive some tuning stability. It's all moot now, thanks to the VSBL I picked up, my main guitar (and the most comfortable, controllable "RG" neck so far).

I also thought I noticed slightly diminished general quality in the 470's neck, but I'm not 100% sure...

[MehYam]

Originally Posted by SiMoN 83 uK

Why do you try and twist everything i say? No offence, but id expect better from an admin. Where did i say that I was trying to convince people that the RG470 was the greatest guitar ever?

Whoa, chill man. I think Glen was being perfectly nice in his reply, it sounds like most of the twisting is coming from you. He was giving a friendly warning about some of the less-than-warm attitudes you'll get about the quality of the 470.

[Scott 74]

Simon 83 I don't think Glen was trying to imply anything by his post, or give you a hard time. Hang around here for a while, and you'll understand what he ment by those comments

[germX]

on another note, do sight your guitar neck to confirm a neck warp. if it's straight, then the neck might be pitched at the factory as a standard procedure.

[DirtyBird31]

I think the neck angle is normal. My 2k2 470's neck is angled too. I've taken the neck off and remounted it, and it's still angled so it's not a lack of tightening on some bolts type issue. I assumed it was normal, because with floating trems, even recessed ones a bit of a neck angle can help with action sometimes. Hell some people will intentionally angle their neck if it wasn't supposed to be angled, so as long as your action is fine, dont worry about it.

Second of all, all humbuckers will wobble. The magnetic fields are big enough that it really doesnt matter and as long as it doesnt fall into the guitar or anything, you're fine.

Third of all, the TRS is hit or miss. Sometimes you get one that will work reasonably well, and sometimes you get a total POS like I did. I love my 470, but that TRS gave me so much grief I ended up ditching it and buying an aftermarket 10 year old Edge. The Edge rocks.

My posts are moving around(vertically actually...) and I plan to put real Edge posts in there pretty soon, but until then it's still not quite up to real Edge specs.

That said I still just cant justify spending $500 on a guitar at this point. Got the 470 for $300 new so it's not as bad as it sounds, but that damn TRS gave me so much hell. But I know where you're coming from. I mean we would all like to have our own $4,000 sigs to play all the time but you have to settle for something a bit less than that you know? My 470 is great.

[SV300]

My 2k2 470's neck is slightly angled - that way, your trems mounted slightly higher, more pullup

The interestnig thing is, my 2k2 470 doesnt have the angled pickups to compensate - must be a change somewehre in the production.

I have to say, that my certain Lo-TRS gave me a lotta tuning sh*t. An OFR worked wonders in it, gave me back a lot of the tone that the Lo-TRS mystery metal bled out too!

I picked up my 470 for $350 new. By now, ive spent a good $310 on mods alone! New electronics, new pups, OFR. Quite a costly project, but I love my axe nonetheless.