Ever since I had one new in 94 I regretted selling it.... This is a version of the famous RG550 that was only sold in Europe and the US, came with a bound rosewood fretboard with sharkfin inlays and a smoke mirror pickguard.
It´s basically a Jem without the monkey grip and lions claw trem cavity.
Every once in a while I been searching eBay, reverb,... for used ones, but the ones that (rarely) popped up had a steep price tag. Just before christmas I found this one on a european classifieds website for 300€ incl a hardshell case. So I contacted the seller (google translate is your friend) and for a grand total of 350€ including shipping it made its way enroute Japan.
Package got delivered today and after a short first inspection it really was a steal. Some minor dings and scratches (can be polished out) and quite some dirt...but frets still have about 85% life in them and the cosmo black hardware doesn´t look like it´s 20years old.
Just took everything apart for a thorough cleaning and refurbishing. Already sanded down the back of the neck with 240 and 320 grit and the first 2 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil are already soaking in....
DiMarzio Breed Bridge and PAF Pro for the neck are also already enroute. This one´s gonna be a versatile Jem-like shred-stick!