Hi all. I've lurked this forum before but I figured I should join since I picked up a 1988 540R. It's dark blue, all original with backstop included. I got it for $250.00. Pretty good deal hey?

Anyhow, I'm doing a setup and I have a question.

Does the neck pocket or heel on these have an angle? I notice that the fretboard is not level with the body. So I figure there must be an angle or someone put a shim in there?

Thanks in advance and let me know if this is the wrong forum for tech questions.

On most RG's and Jem's, you'll find a very thin shim in the heel of the neck pocket. None of the Roadstar Pro guitars (Saber, Radius, Power) that I've seen have had one. I put one in my Saber and it really messed things up. The angle became huge.

The fretboard should be at an angle, it's how guitars with Floyd-style bridges are set up.

Thanks. I didn't measure it, but looking closer it looks like the heel has a slight taper to it. I have a Jackson neck-thru Soloist with a floyd so I never saw the angle on the pocket like I see on this one. This is good because I didn't want to take it all apart after I just set it up and put new strings on!

Welcome and HNGD

$250 with backstop? That's a steal considering some jokers in e bay would sell one of those for the same price.

Congrats! post pics when you're able to.

Ya I think I got a real nice deal. I'm still doing some setup but it plays pretty nice. I'm still trying to find the right combination of bridge height and neck relief.

I haven't had a chance to plug it in yet. I'm curious to see how these pickups work with my rig. I'm pretty sure they are original, which would be an F1 in the bridge and C3's in the middle and neck?

Another possibly dumb question....did these come with Gotoh tuners? I just noticed that whats on it and I'm thinkin they aren't original. No big deal. I have a set of Cosmo Black Ibanez tuners I bought for my soloist that should look pretty sweet on this Radius.

They one i have seen comes with Gotoh turners so i think it's safe to say that's original.

An '88 would have a IBZ/USA humbucker in the bridge and two IBZ/USA stacked humbuckers in the neck and middle. There is no other writing on them. The F# and C# pups started in '89.

1988 540R in Jewel Blue

All mij ibanezes after 87 came with gotohs. The ones before were very similar style and said "ibanez" on them, but were still gotoh made. Some of the 87 and 88s have them, but I suspect they were overstock usage.

For whatever reason, cosmo tuners were always blank but chrome and black ones often are embossed with Gotoh. Many black ones I see also don't have countersunk screws on the pegheads.

Strange! I never noticed that! I have a few sets of each layin around, heres a pic for ya. FWIW these are all off MIJ ibanez's.