# Ibanez rg220 trem swap question-



## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

Ok, so i have a '98 rg220 body. I'm thinking about making a project out of it. I plan on refinishing the body and then picking up a new neck cause I want a maple board. So my question.... Will the 220, which originally came with a lo-trs licensed floyd, be a direct swap for an original floyd rose trem? 

Thanks

anyone? the kids over on the ibanez forum are just saying random shit that doesn't help me whatsoever. That pisses me off. If you can't give usefull information when someone asks a quesiton why do those asses fill my thread with garbage. such as...

"i have an rg 220, but i dont think it comes with a lo trs, mine had edge pro II coz it was made in the year 2004. "

seruously, how the fuck does that help me?


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## jarrydn (Apr 18, 2007)

Floyd is a direct swap for the Lo-TRS.

Sounds like a fun project . What colour do you have in mind for the body?


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

jarrydn said:


> Floyd is a direct swap for the Lo-TRS.
> 
> Sounds like a fun project . What colour do you have in mind for the body?



thanks for your help, positive rep for you!

not sure about the color. any suggestions are welcome. isn't there a site that goes in detail about refinishing guitars or something?


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## jtm45 (Apr 18, 2007)

This has been puzzling me lately.
We're forever seeing people here saying how the OFR's are a direct swap for the TRS's but i can't actually remember seeing a single example of this actually being done. 

Maybe i just missed 'em but it would be nice to see some positive confirmation that it can actually be done rather than people just saying that they heard it can be.


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## Chris (Apr 18, 2007)

When I sanded down my RG220 body, it wasn't even made of wood, it was some kind of weird fiberglass composite. Steve can verify, he saw it.

Just before I threw it away. :\


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

Chris said:


> When I sanded down my RG220 body, it wasn't even made of wood, it was some kind of weird fiberglass composite. Steve can verify, he saw it.
> 
> Just before I threw it away. :\



I hope that isn't the case. its supposed to be basswood. I'll let you guys know what happens.


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## Chris (Apr 18, 2007)

It was with mine. Weirdest shit ever.


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## jtm45 (Apr 18, 2007)

That's fuckin' strange!
Coincidentaly though i saw an Ibanez RG*** the other day for sale and in the specs it said that the body was an Ibanez 'Resoncast'.

I just had a dig around and it was an RGR470 domestic model in 'Jewel Blue Burst'.If it had a wooden body i'd be tempted.
It actually looks like a really nice guitar but the 'resoncast' thing made me dubious.It certainly sound like it could be what Chris described.
Wicked colour on this thing too;














EDIT:
To add to this info i just found a list of all of the RG models (and there were a surprisingly large number!)that were made from this 'Resoncast' stuff.
They also made a lot of the Talmans from it as well apparently.
*Resoncast bodied RG models*
RG MODELS: 

RGR 480F# RBS,RWS:S/TOOTH INLAY:EDGE/V6x2+ RTS S/C x 1. 

RGR470:BK,DW,JB:S/TOOTH INLAY:EDGE/V6x2+RTS S/Cx1. 

RG380F# AMS,RBS,RWS,TKS/DOT INLAY:TRS101/V6x2+RTS S/Cx1. 

RG270B BK,JB,RW/DOT INLAY:TRS505/V6x2+RTS S/C x1. 

RX SERIES: 

RX185GQ SVS,TKS,WNS/DOT INLAY:TZ30 GOLD/V6x2+RTS S/C x1


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

so what exactly is resoncast? chris you got any pics of the 220 you sanded?


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## Chris (Apr 18, 2007)

None of the post-sanding body though. I was pretty disgusted with it. I tossed the body, sold the neck on here for $50 and called it a day.


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## Drew (Apr 18, 2007)

Holy shit that's hot, JTM!


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## Steve (Apr 18, 2007)

Chris said:


> When I sanded down my RG220 body, it wasn't even made of wood, it was some kind of weird fiberglass composite. Steve can verify, he saw it.
> 
> Just before I threw it away. :\




Absolutely.... Chris' RG220 was NOT made out of Earth Wood. It was resin/composite like material - or perhaps, paper machet.


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

well now i have to try it. I already sold the neck for 100 bucks. i want a maple board anyway. this might suck balls. what year was your chris?



Steve said:


> Absolutely.... Chris' RG220 was NOT made out of Earth Wood. It was resin/composite like material - or perhaps, paper machet.




seriously this is insane. i've never heard of this. why the fuck would you make a guitar out of anything other than wood? I'm going to the hardware store after class and sanding this fucker down to see what i get. expect pics in a day or so.


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## jtm45 (Apr 18, 2007)

GH0STrider said:


> so what exactly is resoncast? chris you got any pics of the 220 you sanded?



I found this on one of the Ibanez sites;

"I have a '94 Talman with the fake flame maple finish over a resoncast body. The resoncast seems to be a fine powder bonded together with some mystery material (epoxy resin?). The powder could be very fine sawdust, but it's impossible to tell. Surprisingly, the resoncast body is quite resonant and loud acoustically."

So it sounds like it could almost be a slightly finer version of what we in the UK call chipboard and i believe it's known as Particle Board in the U.S.


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

fucked up. I gotta say I'm really disapointed in ibanez's cheapness.


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## jtm45 (Apr 18, 2007)

Yeah,i was a bit shocked by it too.
I was aware that they'd used Lucite for the bodies of the EDR series guitars and the EDA and EDC series basses too,but theu were supposed to sound pretty good.
They also used Lucite for the bodies of the JS10th 'Chromeboys'. 

This 'resoncast' stuff sounds like a whole different ball game though.
I'm all for experimenting with materials for the advancement of guitar sounds and technology but not for a purely money-saving reasons.



Drew said:


> Holy shit that's hot, JTM!



Yeah,it's a beautiful looking guitar that's why it makes even less sense that they'd make the bodies out of this stuff.
There were three of these unusual burst finishes and they were MIJ guitars too with original Edge trems.
It would be an awesome candidate for a body change but it's such a shame that you'd have to lose that lovely Jewel Blueburst finish.
This blue one is for sale at the moment but it's in Australia or i'd think about picking it up cheap and changing the body for a custom DY body or something cool.
This is one of the other colours.Think it's called Black Redburst or something;


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## BigM555 (Apr 18, 2007)

Ya know, I like wood too but sooner or later there will be such a shortage of decent woods like mahogany, ash, alder and maple that there won't be much choice but to buy a guitar that is some kind of 'composite' material, maybe with a 'tone wood' top.

As the rest of the world tries to get what we have in "developed" countries real wood will get harder and harder to acquire.

Someday I foresee that all our axes will be as sought after as those vintage Gibbys and Fenders.


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## jtm45 (Apr 18, 2007)

It's not like Ibanez made those bodies as a contribution to the Conservation of natural products though is it.It was an attempt to save a buck or two not a tree.
Like i said earlier,i'm all for using alternative materials for guitars,but it has to be quality materials that sound at least as good as wood if not better.
If i could afford to do it i'd get the guy who built my aluminium Tele body to build me an RG 7 string one out of the same aerospace grade aluminium because the tone on that guitar is in a whole different league to any of my other guitars.
The attack and response you get when you hit a string on it is un-fuckin' believable.
I can only dream of what those all aluminium 7 strings that someone posted here before (they were MEGA expensive,like $7k+).

I think by the time we have to start worrying about there not being enough wood left to make guitars from there will be a shit load of far more severe things going on in the World that will be far more of a worry.


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## Chris (Apr 18, 2007)

jtm45 said:


> I found this on one of the Ibanez sites;
> 
> "I have a '94 Talman with the fake flame maple finish over a resoncast body. The resoncast seems to be a fine powder bonded together with some mystery material (epoxy resin?). The powder could be very fine sawdust, but it's impossible to tell. Surprisingly, the resoncast body is quite resonant and loud acoustically."
> 
> So it sounds like it could almost be a slightly finer version of what we in the UK call chipboard and i believe it's known as Particle Board in the U.S.



Definitely not anything like particleboard, if mine was indeed Resoncast. At least particle board looks kind of like wood. It honestly just looked like a wad of plastic. 

FWIW, it was an RG220B.


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## clnh5 (Apr 18, 2007)

I used to have an RG220B years back that i got for $50 from a friend, i thought it was a deal, but then i realized why my friend sold it to me that cheap, the thing sounded like shit, played like shit, and felt like shit! So i did the only logical thing at the time...i literally smashed it into pieces...best $50 i ever spent!


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## GH0STrider (Apr 18, 2007)

clnh5 said:


> I used to have an RG220B years back that i got for $50 from a friend, i thought it was a deal, but then i realized why my friend sold it to me that cheap, the thing sounded like shit, played like shit, and felt like shit! So i did the only logical thing at the time...i literally smashed it into pieces...best $50 i ever spent!


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## Chris (Apr 18, 2007)

Meh, it still has a 24 fret AANJ neck. That's worth the price of admission anyway.


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## jarrydn (Apr 18, 2007)

jtm45 said:


> This has been puzzling me lately.
> We're forever seeing people here saying how the OFR's are a direct swap for the TRS's but i can't actually remember seeing a single example of this actually being done.
> 
> Maybe i just missed 'em but it would be nice to see some positive confirmation that it can actually be done rather than people just saying that they heard it can be.



http://www.jemsite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-50520.html

And I compared my floyd, and the TRS in my dads guitar side by side...I couldn't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to swap them out ;D

Also, I'd happily play a guitar made out of compoite materials. I can't sonically tell the difference between mahogany and plywood, so it probably wouldn't bother me too much. If it did, just throw some EMG's in there . As long as you get decent sustain and pick-attack, it should sound fine with some decent actives.


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## Chris (Apr 19, 2007)

To be honest, it didn't sound all that bad.


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## Nick1 (Apr 21, 2007)

Lets save it for the 4th of July and we can use it as a launch pad for our illegal fireworks!


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## GH0STrider (Apr 22, 2007)

i think your strat will do a much better job.


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## Jeff (Apr 22, 2007)

The Resoncast stuff originated with the Talmans, with which Ibanez was trying to do the whole Danolectro thing. Danos were (are) made with a similar process. It ain't wood.


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