1991 Ibanez RG 565

by Anthony Garone in 2011 Nov

The 1991 Ibanez RG 565 in Candy Apple Red

My love for Ibanez guitars started in 1995 when I received the 1995 Ibanez guitar catalog at a local music store. The body shapes were sharp and distinct. They didn’t look like Gibsons or Fenders and I felt that they better conveyed the attitude of rock music. I hadn’t played an Ibanez guitar, but I knew I wanted one.

The Ibanez guitar catalog impacted me monumentally. I carried it around with me everywhere. I learned about musicians I would otherwise have never heard: John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, John Scofield, and others. I spent all my spare school time reading through the catalog, memorizing every specification of each different model, drawing the guitars in art class, telling my friends about these awesome guitars. One guitar in particular caught my attention: the Steve Vai signature Jem7vwh.

I cannot understate how much I adored that guitar.

Until I found out how much it would cost. Then I fell in love with the less-expensive Jem555 (with basswood body, rosewood fretboard, lower-end inlay, and lower-end tremolo, etc.). Of course, even that guitar was too expensive for me and my parents, but a boy has to dream.

Christmastime 1995 came around and my parents said they could spend up to $300 on an electric guitar. I was dead-set on an Ibanez with the pointy-horned body shape, but every guitar shop we visited couldn’t meet that $300 number. About to give up, my father and I visited one last store and I saw the Ibanez RG565 in Candy Apple red. I fought against my discouraged self and inquired about the guitar.

It was used! It was $300! It was mine! I was overjoyed.

As of this writing, the guitar is now 20 years old. I’ve owned it for 14 years. It still plays like it used to, although I’ve certainly worn down the finish and introduced several wounds into the paint and wood. According to the 1991 Ibanez catalog, the guitar features:

In picking up this particular guitar as I write this particular article, I am reminded of the thousands of hours I dedicated to playing this instrument. My bedroom had rather large loudspeakers and white Christmas lights everywhere. I used to shine this guitar up and stare at it in the light, like some lustful teenager looking at an illicit magazine. Having my own guitar was such an incredibly beautiful thing. Most guys my age wanted a car, but I wanted a guitar.

You have to realize that this guitar literally changed my life. I spent no less than 8 hours every day throughout the summer practicing on this instrument. I spent every waking hour learning, writing, performing, and recording music with it. Having this guitar taught me how to take care of an instrument, how a floating tremolo system worked, and how to save up for the essential accessories (strings and picks, mostly). I learned that a pencil eraser can clean the electrical contacts on a pickup selector switch. I developed all of my chops on this guitar.

What’s also funny about the guitar is that it’s red. And it’s got red plastic inlay dots. And I hate red. Red is the default color for everything. The guitar I was borrowing from my uncle before I bought this guitar was red. My first new car was red. I still look at this guitar and its plastic dot inlays and laugh about it.

Despite its redness, and despite its early 1990s reverse headstock, this guitar has always been faithful. It earned me a “best instrumentalist” trophy in the Chandler, AZ talent show. It got me through my first major live performance at 1996 and 1997 Jethro Tull Conventions with my dad’s former band, Heresy. It got me through years of high school jazz band. Heck, I used it to record nearly all of my first album, Hansel Vs. Gretel.

And now the guitar mostly sits in a case. Isn’t that the way it goes? While this instrument may have served me for a time, I believe it’ll be in regular rotation once I get our living situation figured out in this new house.

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