[KronoS9]

Hello, I have found a good deal for an Ibanez RG470 MIK in 1998.
Seller has changed bridge pickup with a DiMarzio Superdistortion (he will give me the INF2 too).
The guitar seems to be in good status, it just has two scratches on the back of the body.

What do you think about this model? It would be a good option for less than 200$?

 

[sepulchrave]

Hello, I have found a good deal for an Ibanez RG470 MIK in 1998.
Seller has changed bridge pickup with a DiMarzio Superdistortion (he will give me the INF2 too).
The guitar seems to be in good status, it just has two scratches on the back of the body.

What do you think about this model? It would be a good option for less than 200$?

Yes, it has a useful pickup upgrade and the general build quality of the late 90's Korean instruments is good apart from the tremolo system, the Lo-TRS II is a particularly weak and unstable unit so you may want to block it or change it.

Less than $200 seems like a fair price to me since you could actually sell the Dimarzio alone for nearly half the cost of the entire guitar.

 

[KronoS9]

Yes, it has a useful pickup upgrade and the general build quality of the late 90's Korean instruments is good apart from the tremolo system, the Lo-TRS II is a particularly weak and unstable unit so you may want to block it or change it.

Less than $200 seems like a fair price to me since you could actually sell the Dimarzio alone for nearly half the cost of the entire guitar.

Is the Lo-TRS II worse than a Edge III?

 

[sepulchrave]

Is the Lo-TRS II worse than a Edge III?

They're both horrible, the newer Ibanez DLT as fitted to the Jem Jr is truly shocking as well, the metal is so soft that the knife edges and pivot posts last about half an hour.

 

[KronoS9]

I finally decided to buy it for 150$.
It is a RG470 from 1998 made in Korea.
The really weird thing it's that the guitar has V7,S1 and V8 pickups that were mounted on Japanese 470. So this does not match what I read in Ibanez Wikia.
I am also evaluating the floyd trem. It seems to be stable and reliable. How can I figure out if this is a Lo-TRS or a Lo-TRS II?

 

[KronoS9]

On my trem it is not written "II" as in this picture: https://images.reverb.com/image/upl...,t_large/v1536367036/zs77kumnlafmyjqax9v8.jpg

On my trem I just see the "LO-TRS TREM" signature.

 

[sepulchrave]

It would be so much easier if you just posted a picture of the actual guitar you've bought.
What happened to the Dimarzio?

 

[KronoS9]

It would be so much easier if you just posted a picture of the actual guitar you've bought.
What happened to the Dimarzio?

It has Super Distortion on, but he gave me the original V8 too. Original colour was black, then painted.

https://i.imgur.com/j6Gw8Tu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bTM3JCz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I8UkQ4E.jpg

Japanese hardware on a Korean RG?

 

[snaggleyoda]

It would be so much easier if you just posted a picture of the actual guitar you've bought.
What happened to the Dimarzio?

It has Super Distortion on, but he gave me the original V8 too. Original colour was black, then painted.

https://i.imgur.com/j6Gw8Tu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bTM3JCz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I8UkQ4E.jpg

Japanese hardware on a Korean RG?

It does indeed appear to have Japanese hardware. The original lo-trs is not a bad trem. Not as good as an Edge, but better than Edge 3 & trs2. Roll with it & enjoy your find. Play that sucka till it falls apart. If it needs refretting it'll be a good one for you to learn on.

 

[sepulchrave]

You've landed on your feet for that price, play it like you stole it.

 

[KronoS9]

It does indeed appear to have Japanese hardware. The original lo-trs is not a bad trem. Not as good as an Edge, but better than Edge 3 & trs2. Roll with it & enjoy your find. Play that sucka till it falls apart. If it needs refretting it'll be a good one for you to learn on.

It has just been refretted and set up by the luthier before the sale. Seller was flawless.

Thank you so much guys, but I still need to understand why a Korean guitar has Japanese pickups and trem

 

[snaggleyoda]

Pretty simple. Someone before you upgraded it obviously. Keep in mind it's 20 years old. I picked up a 470mhz for the same amount, but it had infinity pups in it, which are total mud in mahogany. Picked up a set of prs 85/15s real cheap & put em in. Upgrades/mods are quite common for mid range guitars.

 

[KronoS9]

Pretty simple. Someone before you upgraded it obviously. Keep in mind it's 20 years old. I picked up a 470mhz for the same amount, but it had infinity pups in it, which are total mud in mahogany. Picked up a set of prs 85/15s real cheap & put em in. Upgrades/mods are quite common for mid range guitars.

No man, he was the first and sole owner of the guitar.
I am also sure he did not upgrade the pickups, except of course changing the V8 with the SD, and the trem neither.

Is it possible that any Japanese RGs were made in Korea?

 

[snaggleyoda]

It wouldn't be Japanese if it was made in Korea. Japanese refers to where it was built, not the components. It is conceivable excess parts were shipped to Korea. The Korean factory may have run out of parts, & Ibanez sent them those. That factory probably built millions of guitars. 90s we're the heyday decade for guitars. Sales were through the roof. Also that factory probably built guitars for a lot of brands, as that probably had contracts for many.

 

[LonePhantom]

Pretty simple. Someone before you upgraded it obviously. Keep in mind it's 20 years old. I picked up a 470mhz for the same amount, but it had infinity pups in it, which are total mud in mahogany. Picked up a set of prs 85/15s real cheap & put em in. Upgrades/mods are quite common for mid range guitars.

It's not a Korean made Ibanez. The 470 production moved back to Japan in 1996 or 1997 from memory. They came with the V series pickups, as you'ev found, the LO-TRS, which is a perfectly serviceable bridge, which shouldn't give you any issues, and the Japanese spec Wizard II neck, which many may find nicer than the Korean version

 

[snaggleyoda]

OP stated it was MIK, took his word for it. I figured he looked at back of headstock for his info.

 

[KronoS9]

It's not a Korean made Ibanez. The 470 production moved back to Japan in 1996 or 1997 from memory. They came with the V series pickups, as you'ev found, the LO-TRS, which is a perfectly serviceable bridge, which shouldn't give you any issues, and the Japanese spec Wizard II neck, which many may find nicer than the Korean version

OP stated it was MIK, took his word for it. I figured he looked at back of headstock for his info.

Exactly. On the headstock I read "Made in Korea". This is the initial part of S/N: C8112.
Can't understand...

 

[LonePhantom]

Maybe there was a neck issue before the guitar reached the stores then. Everything else points to MIJ. Only reason I suggest this is because I have a 95 MIK RG470, which has all the MIK appointments, but had an MIJ Wizard neck new from the store. My guess is that there were some problems with the neck during QC, and it was replaced. Although the neck did get the MIK serial. the other option is that the original owner could have replaced the neck with an MIK one after a break or something similar?

 

[KronoS9]

the other option is that the original owner could have replaced the neck with an MIK one after a break or something similar?

I would exclude this option for sure. Original owner seemed to be a really fair and honest person, he told me this was his first guitar and he just changed the bridge pickup and painted because he did not like the black colour.

 

[KronoS9]

Today I talked again with the seller. He confirmed he bought the guitar in 1998 from a famous shop near here.
Later he just took it to paint and change the pickup.

Can we get to the bottom of this?