It's been so long since I posted on here I had to re-register!

Rarely have I found myself grumbling about Ibanez (not since the Edge Zero trem fiasco), but today I find myself frustrated!

I am after nothing too outlandish or special just an RG550 style guitar with and Edge trem and an ebony fingerboard.

So where are they? The AR range has some ebony fingerboard models but no trem (what about a AR350 reissue?), the Iron Gear range has loads but no trems and no fret markers(??)!

So far I have found only ONE Ibanez Rg550 style guitar with the original Edge trem AND and ebony fingerboard the: Ibanez Prestige Uppercut RG6UCS-MYF at over $2000 far from affordable yet even for that money they still don't provide fret markers! Is it so difficult to offer them on RG ebony fingerboarded guitars??

Ibanez seem to slipping behind the competition in this regard. I had a look at Washburn/Jackson and ESP and I can buy an RG550 style guitar with locking trem with ebony fingerboard AND fret markers for around $1000.

Even accounting for spending $250 to replace the trem it is still cheaper by nearly $1000 than the only available Ibanez with ebony and original edge trem......

At this point in time I am having to seriously think about ordering a Jackson DK3 Pro and spending around $600 to replace the trem and put Dimarzio pickups in it!

This should not be happening considering the market place offerings of the competition, is it unreasonable to expect Ibanez to at least match this with one model at an affordable price? With CITES digging into Rosewood availability why not make use of ebony while it is still not on the CITES endangered list? After all the Iron Gear range has more than 97% of Ibanez's ebony fingerboards but no trems...

So my question of Ibanez is:

Why?

The competition offer that spec in a lot of models at a decent price so why do Ibanez only offer that spec WITHOUT the original edge trem and NO fingerboard markers for the same money?

It does seem odd I can buy an Ibanez RG style edge trem guitar without ebony and get fingerboard markers but can't get one with markersm ebony or the trem without spending over $2000!

The Washburn David Palau Signature guitar (based on the Parallaxe model) fits all your querys for around 1500€ (Ebony, Alder body, Seymour Duncan’s and OFR). Check it out.

Had an email today from Andertons in the UK listing the new Ibanez and Schecter models.

Schecter are now offering a range of guitars under $1000 with ebony boards WITH fret markers, good pickups and a locking trem even offering same basic spec PLUS sustainer for under $1000

So now ESP, Jackson, Schecter and Washburn are offering RG style guitars with locking trems and ebony boards with fret markers for under $1000,
Ibanez it seems have re-released the RG550 and RG560 with the original neck joint.....

The Ibanez Uppercuts can be found in mint condition for around $1500. I got one this way about 6 months ago. I personally don't think they are worth their asking price new unless it checks every want box for you. I don't use the position markers on the fretboard near as much as the one on top of the neck so fret markers weren't a turn off. I would like to have some of the luminlay side dots though.

Still shocking Ibanez are so far behind the competition on this trend, why should we have to spend $1500+ for a trem and an ebony fingerboard?

The Uppercut series is a "top-of-the-line" Japanese made guitar like the RG6UCS the only RG with ebony and trem, yet the competition is producing boat loads of mid range priced guitars with trem and ebony boards and branded pickups.

For me in order to get the guitar I would like I am "forced" to choose between the Jackson DK3 Pro and the Schecter Sun Valley III FR (new for this year) if I would like ebony with fingerboard markers, "branded" pickups and a trem for $1000 and below