RG 4xx MIJ once again?

[Hikey Mikey]

Originally Posted by psychoshredder

well, for the local market ( here in indonesia), i think it's an option for those who wants mid price MIJ RG guitar. . . .

There are plenty of people all over the world who would want something like this, especially if it is indeed a Fujigen model.

The flat finish and stripped-down hardware would seem to indicate that Hoshino is going the way Fender went with its Highway One series and Gibson went with its Faded Mahogany series. These companies know the perceived value of a desired country of origin and are saying to themselves, "okay, what is the cheapest guitar we can make in [Japan, the USA, any given country] and still give it our brand?"

[RedTiger]

Originally Posted by Hikey Mikey

There are plenty of people all over the world who would want something like this, especially if it is indeed a Fujigen model.

Does Team J Craft = Fujigen?

[psychoshredder]

Yes, it's Fujigen.
Serial number starts with F09XXXXX.

[LonePhantom]

Any pics yet? I'm curious to see.

If these come with Edge Pro, and are a reasonable cost down from the 1550/1570, etc then they are going to be very popular.

[psychoshredder]

I'm going to the expo again, today, hopefully some pics could be taken.

If this comes with edge pro, I thinkthe price would be almost the same with 1570.
remember back in 2003/4, the RG 450 LTD and RG 1550 shared the same price.

[psychoshredder]

so here we go , enjoy:



back of the headstock, sorry it's blur, my hand's shaking..

[Homebake]

good lord...

is that a fugijen-made rg550 type guitar with a lo-trs or something?

[psychoshredder]

i doubt it...
like I said before, it's more like MIJ RG 350 from the past.

[LonePhantom]

I dare say it's more like a LO-TRS from the MIJ guitars of the past, which is actually a decent trem (much like a OFR). Hey at least it should be easy to retro-fit a Gotoh FR.

[Brambram]

No-one ever tried to cram an Edge Pro in a Lo-TRS cavity?

[Homebake]

what kind of finishing/quality will these be? somewhere between the korean/indonesisan and prestige made ibanez's?

[stodge]

So there's an expo and Ibanez are announcing new models?

[RedTiger]

Awesome! Thanks for the pictures!

That neck looks interesting. It's definately not a scarf joint, looks like a multi-piece neck with a volute. Looks kinda like a prestige but not as fancy and not as refined or finished. The locking nut is the kind that screws in from the back of the neck. I personally haven't see that PLUS a volute. Looks like it should be sturdy. Those tuners look like schallers!

From those two pictures, it definately looks like a step up from the Indonesian ones. I've only played a neck-through Korean Ibanez, so I can't comment there. Seems like it should be at least as good as one of those. I still wonder if this is Asia-only and if not, how much it will cost.

[psychoshredder]

I'm not too familiar with newer prestige, the only newer RG I ever owned was RG 2610 Z, owned it for like 1 month before selling it back. Just can't stand the fat neck....
Regarding this RG 450, I tried to feel my hands on it for a while, just to play it without amp.
Neck as I said, is very wizard II profile,3 pieces maple feel like unfinish treatment/ same thing with prestige neck, I did not pay attention to the fretwire finish or something, the trs-look a like tremolo ( not sure it's trs or not), is cosmo black with ibanez logo on it. Tuning machines are from gotoh.

now regarding this expo, don't expect it like American NAMM or Japanese Tokyo guitar show, not anything like those... even they want to make it like one, but I don't see anything close to it.
The expo itself somehow like : gather up some distributors to clear up their stocks.
The Ibanez distributor is the only interesting participant on this expo, because they dare to show their most expensive axes and some new ones.. say PGM 300 RE, EGEN, AT 100 CL, and new RG 450, and RG 2620 ( the new 2620 is the one with REAL dimarzio, not Dimarzio-IBZ), etc... They also EBMM dealer, so they put some expensive EBMMs too.

other participants like marshall and fender dealers only show their old and so-yesterday stock, amps : only JVM and vintage modern the latest, guitar : fender amer std strat...
but I ended up buying a JVM 410 for a really good deal in there.
I was expecting they have the new Marshall MA series or haze, but not a chance.