The Yamaha RGX and RGZ

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s Series are manufactured by the

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...

and bear a close resemblance to the

Ibanez RG The Ibanez RG is a series of electric guitars produced by Hoshino Gakki and one of the best-selling superstrat-style guitars ever made. The first model in the series, the RG550, was originally released in 1987 and advertised as part of the Roa ...

series, the

Jackson Soloist The Jackson Soloist is an electric guitar model introduced by Jackson Guitars in 1984, although prototypes were available before then. The design is a typical " superstrat"; it varies from a typical Stratocaster because of its neck-thru design; ...

and other "superstrat" enhanced copies of the

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

. These Taiwan-made instruments were introduced in 1987. RGX Series guitars often have 24 or more frets and a

bolt-on neck Bolt-on neck is a method of guitar (or similar stringed instrument) construction that involves joining a guitar neck and body using screws or bolts, as opposed to glue and joinery as with set-in neck joints. Methods The "bolt-on" method i ...

. Some high-end models use a

neck-through-body Neck-through-body (commonly neck-thru or neck-through) is a method of electric guitar construction that combines the instrument's guitar neck, neck and core of its body into a single unit. This may be made of a solid piece of wood, or two or m ...

design. Some come with Yamaha active pickups, in HSS (humbucker/single coil/single coil), HH (dual humbuckers) and HSH (humbucker/single coil/humbucker) configurations. Most of these instruments were generally known as RGZ, including the RGZ820R, a custom green, red and black plaid (often referred to as "watermelon plaid") graphic model with a

Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd R ...

licensed TRS Pro locking tremolo and often retrofitted with

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan foun ...

Parallel Axis Trembucker

humbucking pickup A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in ...

s (though they came with Yamaha-branded pickups), played by rock guitarist

Blues Saraceno Blues Saraceno (born October 17, 1971) is an American rock guitarist, composer and music producer, currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He was discovered by ''Guitar for the Practicing Musician'' magazine at the age of 16, which assis ...

. The RGX guitars were upgraded in 2003 with a 3D headstock sporting a 3+3 tuner layout and a piezo bridge option for acoustic-like tones. Famous endorsees of the RGX/RGZ guitars included Blues Saraceno and

Ty Tabor Ty Tabor ( ; born September 17, 1961) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the progressive metal band, King's X. Tabor has a wide-ranging guitar style, from big guitar riffs to middling melodic passages. His use of volum ...

King's X King's X is an American rock band that originated in 1979 in Springfield, Missouri. They were first called The Edge and later became Sneak Preview before settling on its current name in 1985. The band's current lineup has remained intact for m ...

, who got his namesake RGX-TT and RGX-TTD6 signature models in 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamaha electric guitars series RGX, RGZ, SG

See also

References