The RG-ARCH1 is a special RG series solid body electric guitar model offered by Ibanez in 1997. It was made in Japan by FujiGen as part of the upscale J Custom line.
The RG-ARCH1 was part of a showcase series of guitar models created for the worldwide introduction of the J Custom line which had debuted in Japan in 1996. As its name implies the RG-ARCH1 has an arched top, rather than the usual flat top on standard RG models. A similar body style would be introduced nearly a decade later as the RGA series.
The RG-ARCH1 features a arched top mahogany body with gold flake binding bolted to a maple Wizard neck with a 24-fret ebony fingerboard with black binding and special gold flake dot inlays at the twelfth fret. Components include DiMarzio pickups and a Lo-Pro Edge tremolo. The RG-ARCH1 also has some very unique visual features like gold flake body and neck binding, the ebony fingerboard, pearl and gold flake inlays and the solid arched top. It is the first RG model with an arched top, a feature that wouldn't return until 2005 with the introduction of the RGA series.
It's believed that as few as 17 RG-ARCH1 guitars were produced.
