Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

[stringbender11]

I've always owned Fenders and Les Paul style guitars, never an Ibanez before so I know little about them. Anyway I picked up a really clean, black RX20 off of CL tonight. I searched online but didnt find a whole lot of info on this model, and was hoping some of you here would help me out.

My guess is that this a rock/metal style guitar, right? Fast neck and lightweight body. Maybe a super-strat kind of design? It has cheap trapezoid tuners so I'm also guessing it's an entry level model. It was made in Indonesia according to it's headstock, and I'm wondering how old it is. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

One thing I've noticed about it so far is that it's incredibly loud unplugged, which is probably a good thing. Tomorrow I run it thhrough an amp for a better demo. :beerchug:

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

It is a beginner/ student guitar. RX was the old series which now are the the GRX. Their should be a serial no . behind the headstock.

http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/RX_series

 

[stringbender11]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

Thanks for the link. Does anyone have one of these? I wanted to hear some opinions about it from someone who plays one.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I'm assuming you're talking about this shredder? There's not too much to say about these guitars except that with a real good set-up, you have yourself a player. This would be a good candidate for a set of pickups (SD's JB & Jazz looks fitting). I would upgrade the tuners because those trapezoid ones are garbage. I would recommend Planet Waves Auto-Trim tuners, but you would have to drill the peghead holes slightly bigger. A new graphite nut and maybe a steel trem block for the bridge assembly and you're good to go. I get most of my guitars from pawn shops, so I see these types of guitars all the time. I think they are excellent guitars and perfect candidates for modding. You could make it easily play & feel as good as a $1000+ guitar if you put your mind to it.:drill:

 

[stringbender11]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

It's very similar to that one, except the neck has a maple FB and the headstock isnt painted. Yeah it seems like a good candidate for modding. I go to pawn shops and use CL a lot too, and have turned my all my inexpensive electrics into really nice players through changing out some parts and setting them up.

The neck feels pretty good on this particular guitar, & has pretty good workmanship I've noticed. I also noticed the body is very light, even compared to my Strat. Is that normal for Ibanez's' shredder/rock guitars, or it due to this being an entry level instrument?

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

It's very similar to that one, except the neck has a maple FB and the headstock isnt painted. Yeah it seems like a good candidate for modding. I go to pawn shops and use CL a lot too, and have turned my all my inexpensive electrics into really nice players through changing out some parts and setting them up.

The neck feels pretty good on this particular guitar, & has pretty good workmanship I've noticed. I also noticed the body is very light, even compared to my Strat. Is that normal for Ibanez's' shredder/rock guitars, or it due to this being an entry level instrument?

Well, it looks like you're going to have fun modding this baby. I have an old Samick Strat style in black similar to the RX20 in the picture above, but with only one pickup. I bought it in the pawn shop a while back for about $70 - $80 if I remember correctly. I'm installing a Jackson J-50BC p.u. in there and that guitar is going to rockin'. There are a few other things I'll be doing to it, but in the end it will feel like a high-end guitar. And BTW it's a very light guitar because of the thinner body. Usually entry-level guitars are lighter weight, but that doesn't mean the sound is inferior. Every guitar is different and amongst the inexpensive models, there are a few gems to be found.

 

[LonePhantom]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I think from memory some of those old RX (before they were GRX Gio models) may have had some sort of alder for the body. I borrowed one from a friend some years back when I only had one electric guitar, and the neck was broken on it. The RX was a really nice player after a setup. With some decent tuners and pickups it would have absolutely killed.

 

[stringbender11]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I'm actually tossing around the idea now of getting a strat body and mounting the neck from RX20 onto it. I've read it can work and I think it would be really cool. There's a strat on eBay right now that has a similar (though better) Ibanez neck on it and it looks really cool to be. There's a gap where the pickguard meets the neck but it doesnt bother me, I like the overall frankenstrat feel of it, lol.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

Leave the body alone, swap in some GFS pickups and play away. I've still got a blue RX20 laying around from the mid-'90s and used to have several friends with them when we were all just starting out. Nothing special about them, totally an intro-level instrument, but they are much better than most contemporary sub-$200 guitars go as far as construction and playability. Hardware is very basic, but reliable and gets the job done. Electronics are really the weak point of these and a set of half-decent pickups can make them fun for a cheap beat-around guitar.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

Some of these Indonesian Ibanez models can be very good, and very good value. I recently picked up an EX at a pawn shop for $80. The hardware sucks, but the neck and body are really nice. It is a big RG-style body with the chunky neck heel. I bought it as a project, but haven't torn it down yet.

You've got a nice guitar, and a great platform for mods. Enjoy!

 

[stringbender11]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

Yeah it seems like electronics are always the weak point in all lower budget guitars. Easy enough to fix of course.

 

[ElricEpicness]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I have this guitar and made some research on it a while back. If you still want more info about it just tell me and I'll tell everything about it I might know in this thread.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

A friend of mine has one of these, whatever cheap pickups are in it, they sound killer (well, the neck does mud out a bit under gain, but the bridge rules!)

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

A buddy of mine just gave me a lefty RX 20...Love the neck on this thing.I set it all up with a Gibson SG A5 pickup in the neck and (at the moment) a Dimebucker in the bridge with series/parallel/split switching.I'm trading this for a JB though.It's an inexpensive beginner guitar,but setup right it's a real player and I'm having fun with it.I only have $12 into it for a tele 3 way switch I put in it.It needs some better tuners also,but overall I really like this thing!

 

[heem6]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

A buddy of mine just gave me a lefty RX 20...Love the neck on this thing.I set it all up with a Gibson SG A5 pickup in the neck and (at the moment) a Dimebucker in the bridge with series/parallel/split switching.I'm trading this for a JB though.It's an inexpensive beginner guitar,but setup right it's a real player and I'm having fun with it.I only have $12 into it for a tele 3 way switch I put in it.It needs some better tuners also,but overall I really like this thing!

This GFS pickup would be great for that guitar. They really scream and have tons of pinch harmonics. And at $33, they're just the right price for upgrading an RX series. http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Crunchy-Rails-Our-Hottest-Modern-Metal-Power-Black-Bridge-Pickup_p_303.html

 

[heem6]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

A buddy of mine just gave me a lefty RX 20...Love the neck on this thing.I set it all up with a Gibson SG A5 pickup in the neck and (at the moment) a Dimebucker in the bridge with series/parallel/split switching.I'm trading this for a JB though.It's an inexpensive beginner guitar,but setup right it's a real player and I'm having fun with it.I only have $12 into it for a tele 3 way switch I put in it.It needs some better tuners also,but overall I really like this thing!

This GFS pickup would be great for that guitar. They really scream and have tons of pinch harmonics. And at $33, they're just the right price for upgrading an RX series. http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Crunchy-Rails-Our-Hottest-Modern-Metal-Power-Black-Bridge-Pickup_p_303.html

 

[HKZSquared]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I have the GRX version and I dropped a screamin demon in the bridge and called it a day. That thing solos effortlessly, and I love the stock neck pup. Original bridge pup was DOA when I got it. And I'm a big fan of the poplar body.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

This GFS pickup would be great for that guitar. They really scream and have tons of pinch harmonics. And at $33, they're just the right price for upgrading an RX series. http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Crunchy-Rails-Our-Hottest-Modern-Metal-Power-Black-Bridge-Pickup_p_303.html

Other than better tuners,I'm not dumping any other money into this one...Will have a A2 JB in the bridge and the SG Neck pickup....I have 'alot" of guitars and this is just a cheapo fun one! LOL

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I have the GRX version and I dropped a screamin demon in the bridge and called it a day. That thing solos effortlessly, and I love the stock neck pup. Original bridge pup was DOA when I got it. And I'm a big fan of the poplar body.

I'm not certain but I think these are plywood or agathis bodied...The body is light though,so maybe something a little better? I never liked the Scremon Demon....Was bright and thin(Probably was in the wrong axe)

 

[HKZSquared]

Picked up a pretty sweet Ibanez RX20 today, what can you tell me about it?

I'm not certain but I think these are plywood or agathis bodied...The body is light though,so maybe something a little better? I never liked the Scremon Demon....Was bright and thin(Probably was in the wrong axe)

When I looked up the specs on mine it was poplar. And mine is very light as well. I think the demon is really well suited in that poplar RG. It's bright, but not too bright. Poplar is good for all sorts of gain and cleans. I'd describe it as being almost a mix of Mahogany and Basswood. I'm putting together a poplar and maple HH tele and I'm excited. Poplar and maple with a rosewood fretboard is one of my favorite tone combinations. I had a semi-hollow poplar and maple hh tele with a rosewood fretboard and that thing put out any kind of gain I threw at it.
Sorry, totally got off on a tangent about poplar xD