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5K views 25 replies 8 participants last post by  TheJazzTerminator 
#1 ·
Hey guys, i just got an RGA121 2006 model... oh wow this is my first prestige guitar, well in fact first japanese guitar... and i thought there couldnt possibly be any real difference between the korean and japanese made... my god my rg350dx seems so... toyish now.

The neck of these prestiges are... well just perfect, dont you agree? Honestly i never knew a neck could be this comfortable and so perfect.

The guitar is just stunning... i can tell this is really going to do something for me... Thanks to everyone for sharing so much info on these boards... i have been reading and reading like i cant tell you! Learnt a lot from here... Thanks guys...

Will get pics up later!

However one question:

Its got a brand new set of strings on it... they are not the stock ibanez ones or anything these seem like 10 gauge or something. The thing im wondering is... the unwound strings seem to be sitting completely inside the nut- so that you can run your finger over the top and you can feel they dont protrude. However the wound brass strings kind of sit half way in... and the fat E is like three quarters of the way sticking out.

This is not right i am assuming?

How should it be and what can i do?

Thanks
 
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#3 ·
fret the bass/6th string at the 3rd fret

now look at the gap between the top of the 1st fret and the underside of the string.

This should be a whisker - virtually nothing

If the string touches the first fret the nut slot is too low and you need a new nut or it needs shimming up

If the gap is 0.3mm or bigger the nut slots need taking down a tad

This works for any of the 6 strings

But leave it to a professional - or get a 2nd opinion from a pro, or you'll cause yourself a load of cost for a pro to put it right

Max
 
#4 ·
Thanks! Looks like i may need soem work then.

Another thing is that.. the g string does not sustain as long as the other strings... again is this the nut causiing this?

And what is the proper way to set intonation on this type of bridge? Simply slack the string off tons and then adjust and retune??
 
#5 ·
congrats on your RGA -- it's defintely a big step up from an RG350.

Leave the "nut work" ;) to a pro.

As for the g string, do you mean only the open G? or also the fretted notes?

you're right about the intonation -- it's pretty straightforward.
although i don't think you have to slack off the strings so much to adjust the intonation screw...
 
#6 ·
Yeah it feels amazing... you have to see it with your eyes to appreciate these guitars i have learnt. No picture can do justice..

Oh i thought you may have to slack them off since i wasnt getting stable and instant results from turning the screw from when they were at pitch...

Fretted notes on the g string i am referring to here... they just dont sustain noticeably as well as the other strings.... which sustain very well!

Thanks...
 
#7 ·
Congrats! the RGA121 was the finest Rg I had ever owned, including 520qs, 560, 570. I certainly agree that with that particular model, the neck is perfect, and the intonation was insane. One of the very few guitars that I picked up played, and was simply blown away with the precision and magic of the guitar. I sold it only because Rg's don't do much for me compared to S series.

PICS!!!
 
#8 ·
hey ive got a problem with it:

I would have expected it to sustain longer? I dont know if this is my amp that is doing this- im using the simulanalog guitar suite jcm900 plugin...

when unplugged- how long does a note last for you guys on a 12th fret g string lets say?? Mine dies noticeably quicker than the other strings...

Also, The tuning goes sharp after a while... what does this mean?? Where could the issue be?

I thought with the fixed bridge- tuning would absolutely be nothing to worry about at all... but its goign a little sharp after playing a while... ?

Another thing... i dont have enough room to move the saddles back as far as i should have them... i cant intonate my a string properly because there is just not enough room to pull it back far enough to keep the fretted note from gong sharp.... Can anyone share some info?>??

And how high do you guys have your action at? Is it actually much better tone wise to have it higher? I ask simply because i really dont want to go have to adjust everything again... i wanna be playing instead..

Thanks!!!!
 
#10 · (Edited)
there is a slight little buzz at the very beggining alogn with the attack of the pick... but it is right at the beggining... however i am used to that on all guitars ive played... always buzz when you pick it.. but then it delivers the note cleanly...

But i think whats more important to me right now is... what could be happening if sometimes strings are returning sharp from bends and stuff? If i play with one string and do a bend on that... sometimes it will go sharp.. sometimes it will return good.. and sometimes it will return flat?

I understnad that nut binding is responsible for strings coming back flat... but what about strings coming back sharp?
 
#12 ·
God DAMN! Another bad RGA121. I'm the guy that someone mentioned had a similar sustain problem. In fact the sustain on my first RGA121 was so bad on basically every string that I had the guitar professionally set up... TWICE! That didn't help, so I had the store I bought it from send it out to the manufacturer to see if they needed to replace the neck/hardware/body/etc. Well, they never said that they found the source of the problem but obviously there was a pretty huge one since they refunded my money (they said they couldn't replace it as Ibanez no longer manufactures the natural finish).

Well, the store offered to have another RGA121NTF brought in from another store. I said I'd give it a try and while it had much better sustain than the first one it's still not up to my level of expectation. Like you say the G string is crap-tastic in the sustain department. And I'm finding that there are certain spots on the upper strings that don't sustain very well, while other spots sustain a lot.

As far as the bridge not being able to intonate are you sure you aren't going to far or in the wrong direction? Even on my first screwed up RGA121 the intonation was easy to get.

All in all I will be returning this RGA121 as well. Sustain is second on my list of things that need to be just right for me to be satisfied (the first being the neck). I have also realized just how bad of an idea it is to get a bridge that isn't a standardized model. If you get an ABM bridge, a floyd rose, a tone pros, etc, you know it's going to be great from the get go because it's a tried and true piece of hardware. Getting a gimmick like the Gibraltar Plus bridge, while great feeling, just allows for all sorts of touchy problems. Plus, the better bridges are the ones that have Graphtech replacement saddles.

I'm going to find a hardtail guitar with an ABM bridge and get some sweet sweet Graphtech saddles. The RGT42FX (not the RGTDXFX - which has ugly ass shark tooth inlays) seems right up my alley.
 
#13 ·
but thats not a prestige is it? why would you get that?

well, g string is not really THAT crap but it sustains for like just over 3 seconds unplugged if i play 12th fret on g string...

To be honest i reckon its just action maybe too low..

But tuning well i dont know about that... its not like going out really big or anything but this is ibanez prestige i expect it to be top notch
 
#15 · (Edited)
On the original RGA121 the sustain on basically every fret of the G lasted 1 or 2 seconds... that's plugged into my distortion pedal with high gain. A lot of other strings did the same thing - in fact the 24th fret of the high E just fizzled out immediately. It was completely useless.

On the new RGA121 most of the strings, and their frets, sustain well enough (well enough meaning average instead of great like you'd think a Prestige should) but with the G string there are a few weird spots. The 12th fret gets about 5 seconds, 13th fret gets about 4 seconds, 14th gets like 6, etc. I think the real sustain problem is that the notes fizzle out to nothing instead of die out gradually. My LP's sustain may not be insane but the notes ring as the volume drops down to nothing. There's never a point where the sound fizzles and stops. The sustain problems with this RGA are MOSTLY around the 11 through 15th frets on all the unwound strings but a lot of it is pretty sub par. Sub par enough that I'm not keeping this. One would speculate the problem to be fret related but like I said with the first guitar it was setup and looked at by the distributer to no avail. In other words the problem isn't going away - either you get it setup fully and live with whatever sustain that gets you or you take it back.

In the end the RGA121 is a terrific looking, feeling and playing guitar but it's lack of sustain and unnecessarily unique make it not live up to, at least my, expectation. If you want a true beast of a Prestige guitar with sustain to die for and a hard tail get the SZ4020FM. Through body guitars are the way to go.

EDIT: Oh, and it doesn't really matter if a guitar is a Prestige or not, it's what works for you. The SZ4020FM, for example, is a Prestige that is actually made in Korea, yet costs more than a lot of Prestiges. Point is if I can get an RGT42FX that has a lot of what I wanted with the RGA121 but has better sustain, at the expense of Japanese craftsmanship, I'll go for it. I really want that SZ4020FM but it's a little too expensive right now and impossible to find on ****.
 
#17 · (Edited)
mine is 2006 but way not as bad as what you say jonny... its ok...you can live with it fine... its just not lasting like the other strings...

To vinco:

I'm going to order that tremnut... hope it solves the sustain and tuning... Do you know what its pre-cut to? Would it fit a 9- 46 gauge set fine??? the stock one does not fit the wound strings of 9- 46 gauge...

And for those experiencing bad sustain issues... is the nut the real problem here??

It seems like the nut is the only not perfect thing on the guitar???

Also for the strings going sharp sometimes... does the bridge saddles have anything to do with it??? like is it equally important to stop binding at the brigdge? lube it??
 
#18 ·
And for those experiencing bad sustain issues... is the nut the real problem here??

It seems like the nut is the only not perfect thing on the guitar???
I don't believe the nut will have anything to do with the sustain once you fret the note. I think it is the frets, action or a problem with the bridge.
Interesting note: I was able to get a lot more sustain if I bent the note on the g-string around the 12 fret. I'll keep looking into it.
 
#19 ·
this is wierd. i noticed the same thing on my RGA121.

The G string 12 fret note sustains much less than all the other notes. But if i bend it up to another note, it sustains ok.
So it seems like there i something wierd with the G note on the 12th fret...

It's not so bad though that i would really call it a "problem", but it is noticeable. And with high gain, it's hardly noticeable...
The guitar is still excellent overall though.
 
#22 ·
^Haha, yeah it would suck if all RGAs had the problem (or some level of it) that I had and RGA owners just didn't realize... until they read this page hehe.

I'd say if someone is only having a problem with the G then it HAS to be a problem with the saddle. A fret problem or a whole bridge problem would affect more strings.

I also noticed that the sustain gets crappier when I put thicker strings on even though sustain is supposed to get better with thicker strings (or so I'm told). So maybe the saddle has problems and a fatter string over that problem only affects it even more. Or maybe we're all crazy.

I've tried putting that lube stuff called, "Nut Sauce" on the nut and saddles but it didn't do anything for the sustain. Though still great stuff for none Graphtech nuts.
 
#23 ·
Oh, check these out - Locking Studs

This will correct any and all movement of both the bridge on the pegs (studs) and movement of the pegs in the ferrets (bushings) - which, in theory, should increase sustain to some degree and keep the entire bridge perfectly level and therefore not be leaning forward. Leaning forward may actually be the cause of the sustain problem. It may be causing the saddles to be leaning a bit and do funny things to where the strings rest. Which may be why bending the string increases sustain - it corrects the position of the string on the saddle.

I'd like someone to try this out and see if maybe we have found the solution to any RGA owners sustain problem. If it's not a fix at least that person has a totally stable bridge.
 
#26 ·
I had an RGA321FSPB (which I sold to someone on Jemsite) and I wasn't impressed with the playability of the guitar at all. It sounded really good and it was beautiful, but the sustain was kinda lacking on that guitar, too.

So, I sold that and bought another RG3120. That was the better choice. Much thicker sound, better playability, tons more sustain.
 
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