I've been thinking about this for 20 minutes. Only logical explanation is it was black and they taped off the pick guard in place(?) And just painted over the jack. Wonder if the neck pocket has any clues?

 

Thanks for the thinking! Yeah, it’s like they had a slightly smaller pickguard stencil used after the black base coat to protect the cavity from the blue/purple metallic paint. The actual pickguard covers the outline perfectly by about 1/16th”. The only far fetched theory I have is they wanted to keep the metallic paint out of the shielding/ground. A lot more effort, never heard of this though. Most solid color cavities I’ve seen are painted the same color. Thanks again for the reply.

 

Also, neck cavity is similar, black.

 

 

It's a '92 model.

https://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/us/1992/rg5_2.jpg

 

Thanks for the reply. Agree on the BU color as a potential option but it doesn’t have the McRocklin switch and I don’t think any of the electronics have been modded. Worked as a tech for a lot of years and am pretty good at spotting solder work inconsistencies.

 

that is one hell of a lazy paint job.

 

Agree totally on the headstock truss rod cover and string tree and some other details like the output jack plate which I didn’t provide a picture, lazy, but all the other masking lines are clean, and using a pickguard silhouette to mask the rout cavity is a heck of a lot more work than just removing it (only detach ground/bridge wire and output jack) and spraying the entire body. Bizzare imho. I’m thinking someone with some good refinishing skills and some theory I can’t explain.?? Finish is hard (well cured) and well polished. It looks good, guitar plays great, has me working on some shred licks again, it’s all good!
Thanks for the replies 👍

 

it sorta reminds me of an Earl Scheib paint job.

 

That’s a trip, I just googled that name and it’s an auto body painter in Rancho Cordova CA. I live in Folsom CA, very close to Rancho, but I just bought the guitar online from GC in N. Olmsted Ohio, near the Cleveland area.
Strange coincidence. If you want to enlighten me on why exactly it reminds you of that shop I’d be interested. Thanks

 

I get it now, a discount auto body shop. Appreciate the humor on some level.