okay-- i have a 96 470-DX. it's basswood. it has a rosewood fingerboard. it has a maple neck. it has Infinity pickups H-S-H. it also has *no pickguard* and sharktooth inlays with a banded fingerboard.

does that make it the same as the current PGM?

the color is metal flake black.

now, the PGM has that EDGE whammy bar, but my TRS II seems to be okay so far..... it's not like i yank on it for *every* solo, 30 seconds at a time. that's why you learn to *bend* the strings along the fretboard, "Freebird" style.....

anyone else have anything similar? INF p/u's? tooth inlays?

- H/M -

Lots of differences between the two guitars, but lots of similarities too:

The PGM has a reverse headstock vs your regular headstock
The PGM has dot inlays vs your sharktooth
The PGM has only one volume knob, way down low
The PGM has a "Prestige" (lol Korean Prestige? explain that!?) neck
The PGM has the painted on F-Holes
The PGM has an angled output (I think)
The PGM doesn't have a bound neck


They both have the Lo-TRS Trem
They both are Basswood
They both have no pickguard
They both have Inf pickups
They are both made in Korea (I am pretty sure the PGM is Korean)

The old PGM had the sharktooh inlays and the Edge trem, not the current production model available in the US.

Both the PGM300 and PGM30 are made in Japan.

Cheers,
Butch

PGM30 is made in Korea, I'm sure

Don't forget the RG470 is made in Japan too these days, so it's not unheard of for a Japanese guitar to sport the TRS trem. It makes sense to make the PGM30 there too if it's going to get the prestige neck

I'm not going to start a war over this. I own a PGM30 and it is made in Japan. Unlike most of the Japanese mid-point guitars, it had a LoTRS2 (I've since fixed that).

As a general rule, TRS2 bridges are on the Korean guitars and the regular (better) TRS bridges are on the Japanese guitars (RG470). Why the Japanese PGM30 has what is typically a Korean bridge is beyond me.

The PGM30 also has a regular output jack. Over all, very comparable to the RG470.

Cheers,
Butch

Butch knows what he's talking about and as a VIP we should take his word as tantamount to gospel on this

Just remember that only recently have they moved the RG470 back to Japanese manufactering. I know in 94-95 they were Korean, pretty sure on the 96 as well.

Isnt it possible that they are made by BOTH factories to fill need? Maybe they run low and they call up japan and ask em to make a few more to meet goal? Something like that possible? I would imagine so

I highly highly doubt it.

I always thought the PGM30 was Korean and the 300 was Japanese, but because of production changes I think we're all a bit confused.

I can't tell you exactly whats going on, but just from reading this thread my guess is at one point the 30 was made in Korea. At the time I dont think it was called "Prestige" anything. I doubt anything with that label would come from Korea. And I'm not saying anything about Korea quailty VS. Japanese, it's just that the Prestige factory is in Japan. Not Korea.

Obviously NOW the 30 is MIJ and Prestige because of production changes. From what I know it was a move made for the 2003 line. I'm sure Paul was on their backs in some way ("C'mon guys go you have to put my name on such a low-end guitar?? Can we say...JEM333???....or 555 for that matter...)

As for the 470, I KNOW at some point it was made in Korea. I thought it was always made in Korea. But it kinda makes sense that it's production was moved to Japan because now there might be a reason why the RG421 was MIJ. For a few years they must have decided to make 4XX series and up MIJ. I cant think of any other 4XX series made in the last few years. 450DX maybe??? Isnt that still Korean??

I've probably confused people even worse....Im sorry I just woke up and Im still blah out of it...

chris

just checked, and the back of the headstock on my PGM30 (2002) is MIJ, serial number F02*******

THE PGM30 IS MADE IN JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GOD DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ITS A SUPERB GUITAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the ones that write made in korea are probably pgm3 like the jem333!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is, yes, but they weren't always. Unless, of course, the Japanese factory put a made-in-Korea sticker on mine for a joke .

- rfb

then the one u bought wasnt a pgm30....it's one series lower than the pgm30.....it came out together with the jem333.....

I don't know where you've got your info from, but the PGM30 has existed for some years (and has been available in Europe and the US), while the Jem333 has not.