Hi everyone! This in my first post in this forum. I've been reading it for a few days and it looks like a great place to learn about guitars.

I'm thinking about buying a brand new guitar, either an RG 1570 or an RG 2550. I read really good things about Rich at Ibanez Rules and I decided I should get one from him. Well due to several reasons, it's gonna be really difficult (if not impossible) for me to get one from him, mainly because in my country buying stuff outside without a credit card is an EXTREME pain in the ass. But I don't want to bother you with details...

In his site, Rich says he inspects every guitar he gets, and there are a few of them that doesn't pass the inspection mainly because of neck issues. Here is a quote from his site

"If the neck is not producing ample relief it fails. If it is, then the treble side is checked. It should either have the same amount of relief or less and it's actually preferable to have less relief on the treble side as the unwound strings do not need the clearance that the wound strings need to minimize buzz. If it has more relief than the bass side it fails. .... it can not have late breaking bow which means the bow is centered past the 12th fret. The neck cannot have any S curve tendencies either, these necks are all failed."

My questions is this. Are those neck issues really a BIG deal?. I mean, I think I have no other option than buy the guitar in one of those warehouse stores. But since I'm located outside the US returning the guitar once I get it will be too complicated, and I'm concerned that I might get an unplayable instrument. Is that a possible scenario? What does exactly mean what Rich says up there? Why does he say those necks failed?

Well, I hope I was clear enough. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance! See ya around

Well...the thing is that sometimes necks that will eventually be bad aren't bad when they get bolted to the guitar and shipped from the factory. If you buy from a warehouse then there really isn't a chance that the guitar will be checked at that midpoint between arriving at your door and leaving the factory. So if an issue does arise, your best chance of trouble free playing is to have an experienced tech check it out before it gets to you, and make the correct adjustments to it. After that, your best bet is to get an experienced tech to check it out once it arrives. Expecting the guitar to be properly setup when it comes out of the box new is really expecting too much; it's not going to happen on a guitar that is mass produced. To get it perfect so that the guitar itself isn't a hindrance to your playing is going to require someone spend some time to make necessary adjustments to it, especially in the case of a guitar with a locking bridge. If you get one from Rich, he does that for you (as well as some other things, he's thorough). If you buy from a warehouse, you'll need to get someone else to do it or attempt to do it yourself. Having been a player myself for close to 35 years now, I can't stress enough how unbelievably annoying it is to try to play a guitar that isn't properly setup.
Is there a big chance you'll have a major issue? No. Is there any chance? Certainly. Is there a chance the guitar will be perfect from the factory? No.
If you get a guitar from Rich it wouldn't be an issue; you'd never see the neck with an issue and whatever might need to be addressed as far as warranty repairs or dealing with Ibanez or distributors would happen behind the scenes and you''d never even ever be aware of it. Frets that hung over would be filed; everything that might piss off a gigging pro would be fixed before you ever saw it.
Another thing to consider is that most of the big warehouses require a credit card if you don't walk in the door with cash as well. Basically, if you're cool with just getting something and playing it no matter you'll be fine buying from anyone or anywhere. If you want a guarantee your guitar will be completely issue free and perfect when you open the case then you deal with whatever you need to and you buy from Rich. I don't mean to make this sound like a commercial for Rich, but you will be less disappointed in what you see when you open her case for the first time if you properly level set your expectations.

What country are you in?

jim

I'm in Venezuela. Buying outside the country is a major pain because we have change control (I don't know if that's the english term for it). Basically we are not allow to buy dollars. There are two options to buy on the Internet:

*** NOT GUITAR RELATED - YOU MAY SKIP THIS PART IF YOU WANT ***

1.) You fill out a form and you get permission from and institution called Cadivi to spend up to $2500 (or $4000 not sure) a year with an aproved credit card of your choice. That's what I have. But Rich doesn't take international credit cards.

2.) You fill out another form, and 6 months later, if Cadivi aproves it, you can make bank transfers from your bank to the US. Obviously this is going to be too much trouble.

Today I went to Western Union and they only allow you to send money to relatives and you have a $300 limit. So I'm screwed from that side too. I really need to get the guitar before january the 20th so my sister can bring it to me (she is in the US, but she doesn't have an US credit card nor the money to buy the guitar as far as I know).

*** END OF NON-GUITAR-RELATED RAMBLING ***

My biggest concern is spending $900 dollars on a guitar that could screw up quicly. The setup I don't mind that much 'cuz I probably could get a guy overhere to do at least a decent setup on the guitar once I get it. But getting a beyond repair instrument is what I'm afraid of.

Another option I though of is that my sister could take the guitar to a place in the US where a tech could check it to see if there is anything wrong with it. Is there any respectable place in Florida where she could take the guitar to? Maybe that could be a good option.

But anyway, I hope I haven't annoyed you too much hehe. Thanks for your answer man.

Wow, that's insane. I know there are some wierd restrictions in parts of Europe, but that's just crazy. We should all say a big thanks for the freedoms we have here in the US!!

Answer is simple, send your sister $300 3 days in a row

The last 3 guitars I ordered [received]. VWH and 2xJS1000's. The VWH had 0 neck relief. One of the 1000's had NJFC's on both sides. Take one 1000 home. Replacements in, go down, trem blown off the VWH [shipping] which took a chip out of the rout [the other one was still sitting there so I swapped bodies]. The 1000, tone knob came off and rattled around inside the case dinging up the top [one of the bad things about the J Craft cases is the open space over the control side of the body that would let that happen]. Replacement comes in, great. Do it last night, I find a small depression and finish crack on the bottom of the lower horn I missed inspecting it in store. Can't win for loosing. Three trips, for three guitars, that ended up being 6.