Please help date my RG550 (no serial #!)

[bikeman]

Hi guys and gals. I bought a Road Flare Red RG550 recently and I've been trying to find out the year of manufacture. I think it had a serial number on a sticker on the back of the headstock originally, but it's long gone

Spec:

RG550
1 piece maple neck, maple board, 24 fret, black dots, scarf joint headstock
Original neck joint
BWB scratchplate
Unbadged neck and middle pickup - bridge pickup has been replaced with a SD
Road Flare Red (I think) with matching headstock - very bright!
Just an Ibanez logo on the headstock, no "RG series"
Original Ibanez Pro locking bridge and nut

The only clue I have is the neck plate number - 801411 - which would date it as 1980 which can't be right.

I'm guessing it's a Road Flare Red from '87 - '88 (not '89 as it doesn't have V7 on the neck pickup), but is there any way I can narrow it down to either of those years?

[NormalPerson]

try looking through ibanezrules it has the catalogues from 87 to 89 i think

[Ant1981]

Definaly late 80's. As the guy said above, check the back catalogues out which you can find on the Ibanez Rules site (resources, catalogue library), link at top of the screen, ran by our good fellow Jemsite friend, Rich Harris.

[gpenguins]

The serial number would make it an '88. Between 1987 and 1996, the first number was the last digit of the year. However, I don't recall a lot of 550s have neckplates with serial numbers on them, so that could be a replacement at some point. Or who knows, sometimes funny stuff happens at those factories.

Either way, I think the RFRs were only in the 1988 catalog, but many have 1987 serial numbers. Although there was an RG550 supplement in 1987, but I don't recall if it had RFR on it or not. 1989 catalog has the FA (Five Alarm Red?) finish, but I don't think those had matching headstocks.

Hope that helps.

Dave

[bikeman]

Cheers guys - I've seen all the catalogs on Rich's site but there's no 1987 RG catalog, just Jems. The neck plate number has no letter (A, B etc) to indicate the month of manufacture like some Ibanez guitars, just the six digit number.

Was RFR available in 1987, or is it a 1988 model only?

[brothersnowgone]

gpenguins is probably right, my rg 570 has serial # 12148* (did the * purposely) meaning it's a 91'. Sometime's the first # is the last digit of the year.

[guitarslinger213]

I've never seen an '88 with a headstock serial number. I had an '88 neon orange rg750 and an '88 lipstick red 540 saber. They both had neckplate serials.

BTW, they did make an '87 road flare 550, but it wouldn't have a neck serial number. It would have a plain, oxidized neck plate saying Ibanez made in Japan.

[marianozz]

'88 in the catalogs show the Edge...


weird!

[bikeman]

Cheers guys. Sounds like mine is an '88 then. Maybe early '88 if it doesn't have the month letter on the neck plate?