This thread is 4 years old.

Are you hoping for a rendition of Happy Birthday?

I have a RG550LTD, mine is black with polished scratchplate..... mine is from 1994... brilliant guitars

Now the thread is 8 years old...lol

yap, this thread dates back to black monolith's first appearance

Came here looking for guitar porn and found the old necrothread. Oh well, I got yer 550LTD right here.................................





Always regretted moving this one.

Time for necromancy.

Who is still playing the RG550LTD in 2020? Long live the RG550LTD!!

The RG550LTD PT is still my number one since I purchased it in 1994. I don't know if they are all like that or if I was fortunate to get a lucky piece of wood with magic Duende and Mojo.

I have played hundreds of gigs with her. It has even survived a JS2450 and a J-Custom RG8550MZ. I've had these and other expensive guitars but they offered no added value over my old RG550LTD, so I sold them and keep the RG550LTD. The RG8550MZ was nice but it had a damn dead note (the body absorbing the strings vibrational energy at one fixed frequency) that was impossible to correct.

Many pickups have been there. Fred, Blue Velvet, Tone Zone, Air Norton, The Breed, Evo2, Gravity Storm... Now I have a Suhr Doug Aldrich at the bridge and a Bluesbucker at the neck.

I have replaced the bridge 3 times because many gigs were close to the sea and, mixed with sweat and abuse, it ended up quite damaged

The last replacement has been with an Original Floyd Rose. A guy was selling it for a good price, because he bought it by mistake,and it perfectly fits in place of the Lo-Pro Edge. The advantage of the Floyd Rose is that I do not have to care about putting Teflon tape at the damn plastic rings anymore because it has a nut to manually tight the bar.

Old pic with the Lo-Pro Edge:


The new Floyd Rose:




AANJ Neck Joint:

Long live the necro-thread!

Looks like a great guitar. The pickguard gives it a real unique look.

What's that behind the bridge holding the trem arm? Or is it just part of the Roland system?

That is the Schaller Tremstop. I never leave home without it. Instant blocking the tremolo bar. Useful not only for blocking the bridge but for easily returning to tune if a string is broken.

The Schaller Tremstop has avoided me the pain and suffering of having to play with a heavy and anti-ergonomic Les Paul

What a great idea. Why have I never heard of this before?
Looks way easier to use on the fly than the tremelo-no

Although it also ruins my justification for having both a JS1000 and a JS1600...

Is it reliable enough you can briefly change tuning? (Eg drop D) if you have the nut unlocked??
I presume it needs a really tight arm fit?

Yes, you can change the tuning on the fly without needing to re-adjust the trem springs. It blocks the floating bridge even if the arm is loosen. There are 3 rubber bands that tightly fit to different arm diameters, and the angle is adjustable.

But you better don't unlock the trem while the guitar is at the altered tuning.

It seems like Schaller is no longer producing the Tremstop, but it can still be found at some stores.

I am tempted to buy a JEM7V 2017 (100% mint condition for $2,200). I’ve already had disappointing experiences with the JS2450 and the RG8550MZ that didn’t had much added value over the RG550LTD

I’ve read all the RG550 Vs JEM discussion out there, but they are all missing one detail: the RG550LTD is not as different to the JEM as the RG550.

Leaving aside the aesthetics and the interchangeable pickups:

RG550LTD // JEM7V 2017
Body material: Basswood // Alder w basswood veneers
Neck joint: AANJ // AANJ
Bridge: Lo-Pro Edge tremolo // Edge tremolo
Neck type: Wizard // JEM Prestige
Neck material: 1-piece maple // 5-piece maple/ walnut
Fingerboard: Rosewood w binding // Rosewood (frets 21–24 scalloped)
Frets: jumbo // W6105 (Prestige edge treatment)

So, the only major difference is the 21–24 scalloped frets and some "treatment"

(p.s.: I am trying to convince myself of not buying it Damn GAS!)

We need more RG550LTD porn. Please, post your pics