Ibanez RG565R Genesis

First Impressions

Cue your best mullet and crack open a Crystal Pepsi! The RG565R is the kind of glorious late 1980s shred machine that makes your Strat cry in passive-aggressive shame. The neon color options are not here to make friends; it’s here to dominate Instagram feeds and blind the audience under stage lights.

Right out of the case, it’s clear this isn’t some half-baked nostalgia cash-in. The fit and finish are tighter than your drummer’s schedule after he gets a girlfriend. Clean paint lines, no finish bleeds, and neck pocket tolerance that could make CNC machines weep tears of joy.

It gives off that unmistakable “RG pedigree” vibe. This isn’t a parts-bin special masquerading as a reissue (looking at you, Kramer!). It’s a legitimate player’s guitar dressed like it’s late for a Whitesnake audition. And let’s be honest – you’re already checking if you still own leather pants.

Disclaimer

Let’s get something straight. I’ve been waiting for the RG565R since it was first announced. This one’s been on my wishlist for months. The specs hit all the right notes. Classic RG curves. Blade-style neck pickup. It screams ‘80s shred with modern reliability baked in. But finding one? That’s been tricky. They pop up online, only to disappear faster than your bassist before load-in. Some stores even pulled listings without ever getting inventory.

So I called Hoshino USA (Ibanez). Their answer? This model is a limited run. Not just marketing hype, but truly limited availability. That meant jumping when I saw one available. And in this case, that meant Sweetwater. Not my first pick, and here’s why. Sweetwater does their “55-point inspection” on every guitar. That can include a setup and associated tweaks – whatever they feel like doing that day. So the guitar I receive isn’t factory-fresh. It’s been handled by a third party before I ever touch it. That changes the equation.

For proper evaluations, I prefer Zzounds. They ship untouched guitars. No techs, no adjustments, no showroom fingerprints. Practically factory-direct, box-to-door. That’s how you get a real sense of a guitar’s quality, consistency, and quirks – straight from the source, no meddling. So keep in mind: this RG565R is via Sweetwater. Anything setup-related might reflect their adjustments, not Ibanez’s original work. Consider this review 90% Ibanez, 10% Sweetwater mystery sauce. I’ll call it like I see it, but context always matters.

Body

The basswood body keeps things light without making it feel like a toy. Tonally, it’s balanced – tight low end, crisp mids, and just enough top-end zing to cut through a mix without going ice-pick. You’ll feel the punch without breaking your back mid-set.

Contours are textbook RG: the forearm carve and rear belly cut wrap around you like a spandex tour shirt from ’89. Upper fret access is criminally good. If you can’t hit the 24th fret on this thing, that’s a your problem, not the guitar’s.

The gloss polyurethane finish? Sure, it’s a fingerprint magnet, but honestly, the color options are so loud, it practically shouts down any smudges. It doesn’t just catch light – it demands a spotlight. If you’re trying to be subtle, maybe go buy a Telecaster.

Electronics

This is where it gets spicy in all the right ways. A V8 humbucker in the bridge and an Infinity R blade-style humbucker in the neck. That’s right – none of this HSH “jack-of-all-tones, master-of-none” nonsense. This is precision-engineered minimalism for people who don’t need to fake a jazz tone.

The V8 bridge pickup is Alnico and unapologetic. It’s tight, aggressive, and makes high-gain amps light up like a Christmas tree wired to a car battery. It’s not boutique, but it doesn’t sound cheap either. Think of a bouncer in a tuxedo: refined, but it’ll still smash your face in. The Infinity R ceramic neck pickup is a sleeper. It delivers thick, chewy leads with just enough clarity for expressive phrasing. And the middle positions on the five-way blade switch offer enough quack to fake your way through a blues jam without getting booed off stage.

Hardware

Ah yes, the Edge tremolo system. Ibanez’s secret weapon for keeping Floyd Rose purists awake at night. It flutters, dives, and returns to pitch better than most pop stars return to relevance. It’s not just stable – it’s trust-fund stable. This one did arrive with a shim under the nut. As the 1st fret clearance is on the high side of normal while still being acceptable, I remove the shim. The result elevate the action and the setup to shred city. Some hard-to-find harmonics are now popping out and in your face.

Controls are intelligently placed. Volume and tone knobs are just far enough to avoid accidental sweeps but close enough for quick access. The blade selector clicks confidently like it’s made of actual components—not the kind of plastic switch that snaps under the weight of your tone dreams.

Gotoh tuners up top are the unsung heroes. Smooth ratio, rock-solid feel. Combined with the locking nut, tuning stability becomes less of a concern and more of a bragging right. You can abuse this trem all night and still stay in tune, unless you’re actively trying to make it fail.

Neck

Strap in – this is the Super Wizard 5-piece Maple/Walnut neck, the kind of neck that makes other necks feel like they skipped leg day. It’s not just fast—it’s warp-drive fast. Thinner than your excuses for not practicing, yet strong enough to deflect small asteroids thanks to that 5-ply laminate. The maple/walnut combo isn’t just for show. You get the snap and brightness of maple with the added rigidity and dark visual contrast from the walnut stripes. It’s a tonewood marriage that screams “I’m here to shred, but I also have a woodworker’s soul.”

The satin finish on the back of the neck is worth the price of admission alone. It’s smooth, fast, and won’t turn into a sticky mess halfway through your set. Gloss necks feel like molasses compared to this. This is the kind of neck you want to take home to meet your pedalboard.

The bolt-on heel sculpt is a masterclass in ergonomics. You won’t just reach the 24th fret – you’ll live there. Accessing the upper frets isn’t just easy—it’s practically an invitation to move in and raise a family of sweep-picked arpeggios. That upper register is so accessible, it feels like cheating. Ibanez made the heel so sleek it should be banned in 48 states.

Frets

The RG565R sports 24 jumbo frets on a 25.5″ scale rosewood fingerboard. That classic RG combo that’s powered more fretboard acrobatics than an Yngwie Malmsteen solo. Medium-high and perfectly level out of the box, with no need for a fret level unless you’re unreasonably picky (or just bored).

Fret edges are smooth and polished. No cheese graters, no fret sprouts. It’s like the techs at the factory actually care, which is both refreshing and mildly suspicious. Someone clearly snuck in a little pride with the build quality. The fingerboard radius is flat enough for sweeps and string skipping, yet comfortable enough to survive open cowboy chords without wrist fatigue. If your fretting hand cramps on this neck, it’s time for yoga—or a career reassessment.

Demo

Specs

Switching System

Color Options

Areas Of Opportunity

Alright, let’s talk setup – and not in the “dialed-in by a Jedi master” kind of way. Case in point: the Ibanez RG550 Genesis comes out of the gate swinging with a borderline pro-level setup, practically begging to shred straight from the box. By contrast? This setup feels like it clocked out early. The action’s doing its own thing, and the intonation’s off by a few cents – which might not matter to your bedroom riffs, but it’s enough to make your tuner throw side-eye. Now, whether this setup snafu falls on the fine folks at Hoshino or someone in a Sweetwater warehouse? Hard to say. Let’s just say the Force is not strong with this one… but, it is now.

As for pickups – credit where it’s due. The stock set channels that late-‘80s vibe well enough, like a decent cover band that remembers most of the lyrics. But let’s be real: we’re not here for meh. Swapping in a DiMarzio PAF Pro at the bridge and a Pro Track at the neck? Now we’re cooking with thermal detonators. That combo lights up this guitar in all the right ways, giving you articulation, drive, and just enough sass to make your amp ask questions. But for out-of-the-box, I’m not saying we need to crank the asking price for a personal preference.

A must-have upgrade that I’m all-in on for this guitar is the Luminlay Knobs. Luminlay offers a spot-on match for the Black hardware that looks so much at-home that Ibanez should be putting these on there as a stock adornment. For this guitar, I’m going with the blue glow to accent the blue paint. Check it out in a bright room and a dim room:

Final Conclusion

The Ibanez RG565R is a glorious fusion of shred nostalgia and modern reliability. It doesn’t just remind you of the ‘80s – it brings that era back with a vengeance, but with better hardware and tighter tolerances. If you’re looking for a wall-hanger, move along. This is a player’s instrument. It begs to be thrashed, dived, and riffed into the next dimension. It’s a riff rocket for the price of a boutique pedalboard. For about a grand, it’s a tone weapon masquerading as a retro throwback. Whether you’re stage-bound or just melting faces in your bedroom, the RG565R is the real deal. This isn’t just shred – this is precision-engineered, neon-lit warfare.

For reference, this Ibanez RG565R guitar evaluation was conducted with a Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller.  Real cabs in use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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