RG350dx VS GRG250dx

[Gareth John]

Hi, I've been looking into buying an Ibanez. I've never owned a guitar with a locking vibrato in my life and I am mostly used to Fenders. I had the chance to buy a Floral Jem years ago but foolishly didn't buy it. At the moment I haven't got the money to buy a Jem (they seem to have gone way up in price since last time I was looking). Anyway I'd like to buy an inexpensive ibanez model. I tried out in my local shop a RG350dx (in white, very attractice) and a less attractive looking (IMO) GRG250dx. I also tried a maple necked RG350. Set up wise they all seemed ok, but when I did up bends on the vibrato the one with the maple neck's strings hit the fret board and choked, less so on the white RG350 but the GRG250dx did up bends extremly well and didn't fret out at all.
I didn't relaise that the GRG was a "cost effective" option whilst I was playing it, it played that good, different finish and pickups and a one piece neck is all I could note as different. Could any of these models be set up to do up bends as well, because I really like the look of the white one. Any one here have an opinion on either of the two models?
The GRG was £280 and the RG in white was £350.

[fwd0120]

the 350 blows the grg (or any GIO) out of the water. With the RG tremolo series you have have a double locking bridge (the GRG has an inferior pseudo strat style bridge) Even though the edge III is not THE best, its better than any in its price, and with a little love you can abuse it enough.

The Pickups are far superior on the RG350 as well, It has dimarzio designed infinty pickups, whereas the GRG has powersound pickups which general concensus claims to be junk. however, many people change the infinity pickups after a while, A popular combo is the Dimarzio air norton in the neck position and the 'tone zone' in the bridge.

The rg 350 is a little bit more in price, but to get the GRG on par, you would need to spend A LOT more more that what the RG350 costs.

There is a review section of jemsite that will give you very much information on both instruments, I stongly suggest you cehk these you!!

Best of luck and rock on!!

~Frank


oh lawd, I need a commission from Ibanez now lol


CORRECTION!!! The GRG DOES also have the edge III bridge, but the build quality still may be lower, and the pickups are still kinda bad

[LonePhantom]

Ah GRG250 has an Edge III from memory, but yeah, inferior pickups to the RG

[Hikey Mikey]

The 350 is a good mid-level guitar. The Gios are good for what they are-- beginner instruments that will stay in tune and not fall apart. I agree with the previous posters and I'll say that the GRG will do a decent job in the store, but in the long run, if you're planing to play this guitar for a few years, the RG350 will give you much greater satisfaction.

I know they're more expensive, but if were in your shoes-- if I wanted a new Ibanez and I had 350 pounds right now to drop on an RG 350, I'd bank it and next year I'd buy the most accessible MIJ Ibanez I could find: an RG1570 or RG1550. These models offer the best value across the entire range of Ibanez electrics.

Peace

Mike