Bill Alston

The RGZ



A T shirt I saw on sale on a US website


The Yamaha RGZ is similar to the RGX range but with a less pointy headstock. It can be divided into the models made in Japan for the domestic market only and a larger range of models which were exported and probably also sold in Japan. The Yamaha Archives only show the domestic models and none of the export models appear in any of the Japanese catalogues I have seen. They appear to have been made from 1988 to about 1990 and I have not seen any in any catalogues later than 1990. As I can't find official records of some of the models it is possible that some were made later. If anyone can add any information about dates please contact me.


This is an RGZ 111

According to the archives there are 6 domestic models, in reality this is three models there being a M version of each to indicate a maple board, which for some reason commanded a slightly higher price. Unusually the higher the number the lower the spec. The specs are:


RGZ 1 and 1M

RGZ 11 and 11 M

RGZ 111 and 111M

Dates made

March 1988 to 1990

March 1988 to 1990

March 1988 to 1990

Price

125,000 yen 128,000 for M

68,000 yen 70,000  for M

55,000 yen 57,000 for M

Neck

Maple Bolt on

Maple bolt on

Maple bolt on

Scale

648mm

648mm

648mm

Radius

350mm

350mm

350mm

Fretboard

Bound Ebony or Maple

Rosewood or Maple

Rosewood or Maple

Body

top 2 layers of Maple back 2 layers Mahogany

Basswood

Basswood

Frets

24 Jim Dunlop 6100

24 Jumbo

24 Jumbo

Hardware

Black

Black

Black

Bridge

Rockin Magic Pro

Rockin Magic Pro

RMX 11

Pickups

LIVE-GS 1 (Alnico II) x 2, LIVE-GH 1 (Alnico V) x 1

FOCUS - SH 1 T (Ceramic) x 1, FOCUS - SS 1 (Alnico V) x 2

FOCUS - SH 1 T (Ceramic) x 1, FOCUS" - SS 1 (Alnico V) x 2

Controls

1 volume 2 tone 5 way switch and mini toggle for coil tap

1 volume 1 tone 5 way switch and mini toggle for coil tap

1 volume 1 tone 5 way switch and mini toggle for coil tap *

Colours

Violin finish sunburst, see-through black, see-through red sunburst, see-through navy sunburst

Black, Pearl White, Red Black Sunburst, Champagne Gold

Black, White, Italian Red
* The 111 has this mini toggle according to the archives but I have seen pictures of only two of them and neither of them have this switch


The headstock of a 111

All these models have a headstock as above without the model number displayed the 1 is easy to identify as it has three controls the 11 and 111 have different bridges and possibly the 111 doesn't have the mini toggle switch.
Information on these models is scarce and not many pictures are about. Anything anyone can add would be appreciated.
Some pictures
These are the only pictures I have of the 1

The catalogue is from 1990 and the top guitar is a 1 the other is a 11M none of the other models appear in that catalogue

A 11M in Red Black Sunburst

 

Some Pictures of the 111


On to the other models Export Models