The RS500 is a Roadster series solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez for 1980. It was made in Japan by FujiGen and was a non-catalog spot model.
The RS500 features neck through body construction with a maple and walnut neck with ash body wings and an integrated 21-fret fingerboard with doubled black dot position markers. Components include a trio of Ibanez Super Tap 6 single coil pickups mounted in pickup rings with the bridge pickup askew, a coil tap toggle and a phase toggle, an Accu-Cast fixed bridge with a sustain block, a brass nut, Sure Grip control knobs and Smooth Tuner II tuning machines. Strings can be either routed through the body or terminated at the bridge's integrated tailpiece. The output is mounted on the face of the guitar.
According to lore the RS500 was built as a prototype for Bob Geldof who apparently passed on it, although this story isn't confirmed. It's believed that a very small number were produced.
The RS300 is a related model with a bolt-on neck and no phase switch.
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