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RG1451 or Tremol-No?

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  Tank 
#1 ·
I've lost interest in floating bridges, so I'm looking at new fixed bridge guitar. The RG1451 is the closest I've come to finding what I want, specifically: HSH, pickguard, Wizard neck, hard tail. I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on it though. I'm comforted by the fact that it's a Prestige class guitar, but I'm antsy that it ships with a gig bag. I'm wondering if this model exists to be an entry level Prestige guitar with cost-cutting in mind, so that leads me to ask whether the guitar is completely MIJ or if it has components that are MII as well in order to cut down costs.

An alternative would be another Prestige with a trem. I would then install a Tremol-No and remain in Hardtail mode. If I went this route, could I retune and even restring without blocking the trem or messing around with the fine tuners? Would tuning and restringing become as trivial as it is on an other real hardtail guitar?

Do I have any other options? The reason I prefer a pickguard is that sometimes I want an SSS setup and sometimes I want HSH or HH, so I'm looking for maximum flexibility.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Well, my RG1420 anniversary prestiges shipped with gig bags, generic tuners, Ibanez pickups, and some other little Indo hardware pieces. However, the guitars play amazingly and are put together right on par with my Jems and PGM. I loved the way they looked, loved the way they played so much -just had to get them -and I'm slowly swapping out a few minor parts, have changed the pickups to Dimarzios, bought M100C cases. So it is a bit of investment but it was fun getting to choose some of the upgrades, and like I said -- the parts that count are all there. I don't feel these are "any less of a guitar" than the higher end Ibby's I have, it's just that they weren't decked out with all of the top of the line add-ons. I figure these guitars would be selling for much more than $999.00 with all of the upgrades I'm doing anyway. Did I mention that they play like butter and the fit and finishing is impeccable? So if you want to customize a prestige with some personally selected "guitar jewelry", where all of the parts like pickups haven't been chosen for you with a big price tag,,,,it can be kind of fun.
 
#3 ·
Yes, they have some Indo parts to keep the costs down, but, check your email to see what actual costs are.

The tuners, knobs, strap pins, jack, jack plate are all non MIJ, but none of them matter but the tuners and they work as they should.
 
#4 ·
Thanks Rich and lynchfan6. I'm happy as long as the model wasn't made particularly to be a cost-saver if you get my meaning. Rich, in your experience, are the rosewood fretboards on the RG1451 dark or light? I've only seen this model in photos - mostly stock product pics, and the fretboards always look very light. I'm looking for a darker rosewood.
 
#8 ·
The Tremol-No does look inviting. But I have my RG550 and a Soloist SL1, so I'll never be in need of a trem if I bring a second guitar, but what I'm really craving is a new main axe that I can switch between tunings on very quickly - essentially a guitar for composing or just playing a variety of favorite songs.

Generally speaking, at what point now do RGs start coming with really nice, dark rosewood? My early 80s Destroyer has gorgeous rosewood, but every Ibanez I've personally owned has been maple.
 
#10 ·
I've been using a Tremol-No for a few years now. It's nice when you want to switch between floating and hard tail or between standard and drop d. It really isn't good for any kind of drastic tuning changes. The set screw won't hold tight enough for that. If you have zero plans to use the tremolo, definitely go for the hard tail.

I've played an RG1421 at GC, I'm still pissed I didn't buy it. The neck felt no different than my RG2550. The tight end bridge is really nice also, felt really sturdy. It's very low profile. If you're used to playing on Ibanez tremolo's, the strings will be right where you expect them to be.
 
#13 ·
I've ordered an RG1451 recently for much the same reasons as you. To answer your question about the rosewood. The used model I tried at the store had pretty dark rosewood. I'd liken it to the rosewood on my Fender Highway 1 strat, actually. It's actually pretty reddish (shocking!)... definitely a cut above the grainy, greyish looking stuff on cheaper guitars.

The bridge on the 1451 is amazing. I'm sick of tremolos, but they usually provide a very comfortable surface to rest my palm on. Most hard tails with a string through body design have a rather abrupt feel to them, in my opinion. The Tightend bridge seems to rectify that. I've never played a hard tail, string through body guitar with such a comfortable bridge.

This is what I figure: One of the main reasons I don't like a floating tremolo, is because of the string changing process. I've blocked the trem on my LTD, and while the tuning stability is great, it still takes way longer than it should to change the strings. One still has to cut off the ball ends, lock the strings in place, and all that crap. So, I'd rather have a hard tail so I don't need to deal with any of that. I have two guitars with a tremolo anyway. If I ever need some crazy floyd rose divebombs, I'm covered. I bought this RG to be my main guitar... something that takes very little effort to keep playing and sounding great and will allow me to mess with different tunings to my heart's content. As great as Ibanez's tremolos seem to be, I don't want to have to deal with maintaining them. It's more work and frustration for zero pay-off, in my case.
 
#14 ·
I have a 1451 and it was with me on tour.

I think it is an awesome guitar. I changed pickups a few times, but the stock pickups are by far not bad at all.
The bridge is rock solid and I think the best hardtail bridge Ibanez has ever made.

My rosewood board is really really dark and I had a darkblue vine put in, looks awesome. Just polishin it a few times a year with Fretdoctor and its all good.

As Rich said the tuners work flawlessly and are really easy and stay in tune perfectly nice for a non-locking guitar, even when you abuse it hard.

For me the 1451 was the best bang for the buck I ever had from Ibanez.
I changed the gigbag to a case ofc for road use... I think the MC100 fits from Ibanez.
 
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