this is a great guitar you will like it alot, in 1997 i paid $550 for my rg 470 new, this guitar has better 3 piece neck, & a hell of alot better bridge, ash body instead of basswood, other than that it's the same as my 1997 model & know it's a great guitar, I set my guitar up to the exact same set up as Steve Vai's guitar from jemsite, lowered bridge a tad, raised my INF pickups the same as his evo's specs even though the INF's call for more space from the strings & it sounds even better than stock, thinking of installing EVO's in neck & bridge, this guitar is the same specs as more expensive Ibanez's just no as good pickups, but the stock INF's do sound really good, I probabally will buy this model also & definitly recommend it to anybody cosidering a midrange price guitar this is a very professonal instrument

Sound
sound is great for all plaing styles, & is dead quite when not playing, no annoying buzz at all, planet waves gold connect cord being used helps, INF 1&2 pickups sound good

Features
features have all you need in a guitar, I have this same model in a 1997 model w/ same features except basswood body, 3 piece neck, mine has LO TRS II bridge, instead of EDGE III bridge,I changed the arm holder in my LO TRS II bridge to accept pop in arm w/ nylon bushing arm is a little high, but I like the idea of the EDGE III arm height adjuster, the locking nut design will never wear down causing string buzz like alot… read more of other model guitars cause it has no bone nut w/ the lock above it, the nut is the lock itself made from metal great design

Ease of Use
this is the easiest guitar to play very fast neck, dont have to press hard at all to get notes to sound, vibrato is very easy on this neck

Quality
made very well, but like any guitar if you throw it around it will eventually give you problems, finish has held up well on my 1997 model volume control went out after 5yrs of volume swells but changed them out w/ 1ghz dimarzio pots instead of 500mhz stock pots what a difference that made very cheap to do too, but had to buy universal knobs to match old ones cause originals didn't fit the dimarzio pots

Value
worth every penny & then some

Manufacturer Support
never used them

Musical Background:
Active Musician/Hobbyist

Musical Style:
"Rock"/"Metal"/& all styles read less