Which years of RG 550s had wizard necks?

[wizard333]

I'm trying to find infomation about which years of RGs had wizard necks (not wizard 2 or some other variation). I saw in another thread people claiming that they all did but I can tell you from experience that this is definitely not the case. There my very well have been misleading or mislabeled web site or catalog info, I don't know about that. But I've personally played a number of RG 550s that had wizard 2 necks, and owned one breifly that had a neck like an SRV strat, a real baseball bat. Before anyone asks, yes these were all original serial numbered etc, and mine was japanese and original with serial number. If anyone can tell me for certain which years had the original wizards I would greatly appreciate it. The older pre 1990 ones I have played all had it, the 2002 catalog claims the new ones do but a 2000 i played did not, a number of other 90s ones I have played didn't either but I don't know if the rg550 didnt appear at all in the 90s with the original wizard or whether certain years did and certain did not.

[wizard333]

One of the sponsors of this site has jpegs of 88 to 2k ibanez catalogs. I went through them all and it does appear that 550s were listed as having wizard necks for all years they were produced. In 95 and 96 all RGs were listed with wizard 2s but 550s were not produced in those years. This makes no sense to me as I own and have played a large number of 560s and 570s and they are remarkably consistent in feel from different years, though I never played a 95 or 96 when they supposedly has wiz 2s. Yet the 550s I have played, including the one I owned, have varied dramatically from original wizard to baseball bat. It doesnt make sense that QC on guitars made in the same factory could be so different, with 570s being consistent and 550s all over the place. Are the catalogs just completely wrong? Please post if you have some insight.

[Getthis]

my '97 rg550 has a slightly thicker neck. definately thicker than every rg570 i've played.