Birthday Guitar/s

[VanHalenFan5150]

I'll be turning 16 next Tuesday. Happy early birthday to me! I've been saving up my money for this guitar:



It's around $400 and the local Sam Ash carries it in stock. My pops said if I save up half, then he'll pay for the rest. It's an Ibanez RG350M with a sparkly blue finish, 24 fret one piece maple Wizard III neck profile, Ibanez Edge III whammy bar, Infinity 3 neck and middle pickups, and a hot Infinity 4 pickup at the bridge...

What do you guys think, is this worth the money? It has really good reviews and I play it all the time at Sam Ash. I love it so much. It's sexy too!

[VanHalenFan5150]

By the way, here was an early birthday present.



My guitar teacher brought in his Franky. It needed strings so I put new ones on in our Electric Guitar class and he let me play it all class!

It's bitchin'.

[ashstralia]

awesome, kid! the ibanez is a good axe for the bucks. if you're into the low tunings you might want a spare fixed bridge guit as well though.

[Diamondjimi]

Right on man. The Ibanez is an excellent guitar for the money. Nice Frankie too. (could use a nice relic job) Did he make it himself?

[VanHalenFan5150]

Well I use my Les Paul for detuned tunings. And yes, he did make the guitar himself! It's really sweet in person and it screams like a banshee.

[Diamondjimi]

Needs relic-ing!

[VanHalenFan5150]

That guitar's finish is smoother than a baby's ass! Could use a GOOD relic or two!

[jhale667]

Congrats and Happy Birthday!!

[Reverberator]

Cool Ibanez , I got a white RG 350 DX , nice and fast , enjoy!

[VanHalenFan5150]

Thanks guys! We'll have to see how my birthday turns out! (:

[sadaist]

That blue Ibanez is beautiful. Damn nice looking guitar there.I'm glad it doesn't have the rosewood fretboard. The light wood really makes the blue stand out good.

Anyways, who the fuck is "Guido The Giraffe"?

[Seshmeister]

It's funny to think that 20 years ago that same guitar would probably have been at least $1200.

[Hardrock69]

Neat photo. So he gave some pieces of 2 X 4 with some sharpie scrawlings on them? Cool!

[Cato]

It's funny to think that 20 years ago that same guitar would probably have been at least $1200.

all Ibanez guitars/bases were Japan-Made 20 years ago. so they were pricy.
but now their regular products are made in China, Korea, Indonesia.

J-Custom, Prestige, and Artist models(JEM, PGM etc...) are still Japan-Made.

[VanHalenFan5150]

I am in the only electric guitar class at my school, although my teacher teaches 7 other classical guitar courses on a block schedule. And in classical guitar we have the Yamaha Silhouette guitars, the piece of wood with the metal frame and nylon strings. And you're supposed to play classical with a foot rest underneath the left foot to perfect your posture/stance, and, ever since i've been going to my school, the teachers have always let the kids write on the blocks. I believe it was Sam And Max who once said, "Graffiti is like poetry of our age." "Yeah, well just what we need, more lame poetry!"

[Seshmeister]

all Ibanez guitars/bases were Japan-Made 20 years ago. so they were pricy.
but now their regular products are made in China, Korea, Indonesia.

J-Custom, Prestige, and Artist models(JEM, PGM etc...) are still Japan-Made.

Yeah my Ibanez RG is an older one that was made in Japan and was much more expensive even chipped to fuck second hand off EBay.

Good to know you survived the shaking.

[Hardrock69]

Ah, so that's what the blocks are for.

It is cool your school offers such classes! How I wish that sort of thing was available back in the 70s when I was your age.

But of course back then, to suggest such a thing would be the same as suggesting they have a class teaching Satan worship!

[VanHalenFan5150]

Yeah, we're a public charter school and we have a lot of courses that many schools in our state don't offer. Check out the website! MSFTA.org

[Hardrock69]

Oh and also, congrats on the guitar. Ibanez has always been a good company that makes good guitars.

[Nitro Express]

That blue with the maple neck and black pick guard is great looking. If it sounds and plays as good as it looks, then you have a winner there.

[VanHalenFan5150]

Well, I haven't gotten it yet, I'm hoping to get it for my birthday. Which is Tuesday. My dad said to wait and see what I get for my birthday. Girlfriend got me the Jackass trilogy box-set at Walmart today for my birthday! So, as always, we'll have to wait and see.

[Hardrock69]

IF you don't get that one, I hope you get something equal or better.

[VanHalenFan5150]

Thanks, we'll have to see how my birthday turns out.

[neuralfraud]

I have an RG350EX and there are definitely some things you need to know about this thing if you want to get all you can out of it. When set up properly it shreds quite well and will take any abuse you can give it.. if mine would speak I'd say "ask it", but alas...

The tremolo is the "Edge III" - it is decent but it needs a lot of setup work first. Every guitar that comes from sam ash is NOT set up properly. The action is wrong, the truss rod is wrong, everything is wrong. You can adjust them fairly well but it is difficult. Give it to Borgy, it's only about $45 for him to set it up and he will make it perfect.

If this is your first floating trem guitar, you'll need to pay attention to the trem to make sure it's balanced properly, otherwise it'll be hard to keep in tune. Check out jemsite.com or ibanezrules.com for some great tech info on how to set them up.

The Edge 3 is shaped like a wedge, so the top cannot be used as a guide to determine if it's level and the knife edge does not protrude through the casting. There is some info out there on how to tell if it's aligned properly, but like i said that is the most important factor for a floating trem.

Other things to know about the RG350:

The tremolo claw screws are too small, they can and will rip out of the body if you adjust them too much. Go with something similarly sized but longer (paying attention to the total length so that it doesnt hit the neck bolt)

The strap knob screws are too small, they will also rip out. GET BIGGER SCREWS.

The tremolo bar slides in and does not use any type of bushing like the japnese RG's/edge equipped ibanez's. There is a hex screw inside that pushes on the "cuff" where the rod inserts, this controls the tightness. You can also adjust the height of the bar with a philips screw on the backside of the trem.

You have to cut the ball ends off of the string.

The string retainers in the saddles (or whatever they're called) WILL FALL OUT if you flip the guitar over during a restring for any reason, be careful.

Shove a AA battery underneath the tremolo as a prop during a restring, it will hold the tremolo in an almost neutral position so you can get back to tune faster.

Hope that helps

and congrats, kid!