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So I've been breaking in my new 24 fret cheapo ibanez for the past 3 days now and I must say that once I got used to it, I know what they mean when they say it's a "fast" neck. There's so much more room to move around compared to my Jackson 22 fret. On my 22, the bolt-area is about 2x as thick which made me have to take my thum away from behind the neck to reach up to the 20+ frets. Ibanez neck I can go all the way up with room to spare. It's an amazing new feeling for me. Liberating actually. I have room to move, and the strings are like rubber bands from the first to last fret.

I'm having fun with this.

l

Their necks are like butter to me! So smooth and easy to move around, and get from one place to the next, without any noticeable friction. Makes me want to be a lead guitarist, cause that would make that smooth action even more profound! But even as a rhythm player, it just feels great to hold and play.

I played Ibanez guitars for about 20 years they are great guitars. Their necks kind of have a feel of their own. Once you get used to playing them anything else feels weird. Great guitars though!

I've only played a cpl of the guitars, but thier basses have some of the very best necks in the biz.

They have great necks.

Im a Les Paul kinda guy and stick to those, plus I play my axe too low to be a true shredder, but i have played quite a few friends Ibanez's thru the years and Im way faster on these than on my own guitars.

I really like them too. The one in my pic is a Prestige RG 2610Z and I really do like everything about it, but I'm now playing a USA Floyd Rose Redmond model 2. It only has 22 frets and has more of a strat feel to the neck, but for some reason I like it better than the Ibanez. Even though I'm a metal shredder, I still like a little more meat to the neck. The other thing about a lot of Ibanez's that I don't like is that they use basswood for the bodies which is a really cheap and somewhat "dead" sounding wood. The Floyd is poplar so it has a "poppy" bright sound to it, kind of like a bright alder sound. Couple that with 60's type humbuckers and you've got a tone machine.


Side by side, the Floyd just walks away from the Ibanez as far as tone goes. Every note is perfectly clear whether playing fast or slow and has a ton of sustain.

If you like an Ibanez now Chris, wait until you have a chance to play on one of their neck-through models.

I bought an Ibanez RGT42FXQM a couple years ago.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ibanez-RGT42FXQM-Electric-Guitar?sku=512369

Neck through construction. I had never played on anything like it. I immediately bought another neck-through model with a different finish and they are easily my two favorite guitars. I swear I will never purchase another bold-on neck again after playing with a neck-through.

They just feel awesome.

I am glad you like your Ibanez guitar Chris! I have been a big fan of Ibanez since I started playing. My main guitar player influences play Ibanez: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman, Frank Gambale, Paul Gilbert, George Benson and John Petrucci. There has to be a reason why the top guitar shredders have backed this name over decades.

Shredders UNITE!

We have two Ibanez guitars in our family. Sweet instruments.

jsantos wrote: There has to be a reason why the top guitar shredders have backed this name over decades.

Shredders UNITE!

There's a simple answer to that. MONEY. Ibanez has poured more money into endorsements than any other company ever, period. They are decent guitars, but FAR from the best. If anyone here wants the real deal scoop on what Ibanez guitars really are and how they're made...just call and ask Ed Roman himself. You probably won't like what you hear and see if you're a fan of the company. He also has some blogs on his website about them as well. I'm not bashing them, but after spending a lot of money on a couple Ibanez's, I'm simply not impressed. Great necks, but that's about it. Tone wise they are very dry with little sustain compared to others. This really becomes apparent when playing them side by side with other guitars through a good tube amp.

dECHO wrote:

jsantos wrote: There has to be a reason why the top guitar shredders have backed this name over decades.

Shredders UNITE!

There's a simple answer to that. MONEY. Ibanez has poured more money into endorsements than any other company ever, period. They are decent guitars, but FAR from the best. If anyone here wants the real deal scoop on what Ibanez guitars really are and how they're made...just call and ask Ed Roman himself. You probably won't like what you hear and see if you're a fan of the company. He also has some blogs on his website about them as well. I'm not bashing them, but after spending a lot of money on a couple Ibanez's, I'm simply not impressed. Great necks, but that's about it. Tone wise they are very dry with little sustain compared to others. This really becomes apparent when playing them side by side with other guitars through a good tube amp.

I read all of Ed's stuff years ago. The guy is a good luthier from what I can tell. But I have never played one of his guitars.


But I find Ed's rants to just be overboard and unnecessary. He's an angry man, and I just don't have time for the negativity.


Ibanez is a mass-produced guitar, so yes, if you know what to look for you can find quality problems with them. They make way too many guitars out of basswood, for instance. And if you don't have someone taking care of you, you can get a bad guitar. The guy I buy my Ibanez from locally always makes sure he gets pristine guitars when he orders. If anything is wrong, he sends it back. You can't get that kind of service from an online store...

And you have to know what you're looking for. I make sure not to buy basswood Ibanez guitars - I don't care for that tone. And Ibanez uses basswood a lot, so I have to be discerning and make sure I get a model with Mahogany or another, harder wood. I also, like I said, will only buy neck-through now. And on every Ibanez I replace the pickups with Seymore Duncans before I even play them.

But if you know what to look for and are willing to be discerning you can get a really nice Ibanez guitar that will play really well and fill your needs. I love my two neck-through Ibanez guitars. I challenge Ed Roman to build me a better guitar - because I'm not seeing what else can be done to these two guitars I own to make me like them more. They play wonderfully, they feel awesome in my hands, and they have the best tone of any guitar I've played.

The other thing: Ibanez, if you're into floating trems, has really advanced the trem systems in the last couple years. The floating trems they have now are simply awesome...



Ed can bash Ibanez all he wants. But I don't see the point. Play what you like.

If Ed wants to build me a guitar that is better than an Ibanez he's welcome to do it.

dECHO wrote:

jsantos wrote: There has to be a reason why the top guitar shredders have backed this name over decades.

Shredders UNITE!

There's a simple answer to that. MONEY. Ibanez has poured more money into endorsements than any other company ever, period. They are decent guitars, but FAR from the best. If anyone here wants the real deal scoop on what Ibanez guitars really are and how they're made...just call and ask Ed Roman himself. You probably won't like what you hear and see if you're a fan of the company. He also has some blogs on his website about them as well. I'm not bashing them, but after spending a lot of money on a couple Ibanez's, I'm simply not impressed. Great necks, but that's about it. Tone wise they are very dry with little sustain compared to others. This really becomes apparent when playing them side by side with other guitars through a good tube amp.

Yeah I know about ed roman.

Anyway, not to detract from my original post, I think the reason I like Ibanez is that the people that they endorse have had a developmental impact to the Ibanez guitars (Not Because of Money), for example: Steve Vai' Universe Line/JEM line, Satriani's JS-Series, Paul Gilbert' FHoles made contributions to further the innovations of the Ibanez line.... I don't think any other guitar company have given their endorsed players such license to augment freely.

I have the most basic Ibanez models and happy with it. Maybe i'm just not that guitar savvy.

ColorsFade wrote:The other thing: Ibanez, if you're into floating trems, has really advanced the trem systems in the last couple years. The floating trems they have now are simply awesome...



Ed can bash Ibanez all he wants. But I don't see the point. Play what you like.

If Ed wants to build me a guitar that is better than an Ibanez he's welcome to do it.

The newest Edge Zero trem is cool in theory, but in practice, it's the most noisy trem that I've ever played. Too many springs in there to make it work the way that it does. At the last tour show that we did, I almost couldn't even get the trem bar in because of the cheap plastic gromet that's in there. Once installed, it makes so much noise just moving the bar that the pickups, well...pick it up. And if you dive bomb it and just let it go, it goes too far back again before settling out because it rides on ball bearings. You don't have that trem on yours though. They're only on the Prestige models.

The Floyd Speedloader is the best trem that I've ever used and you can block it easily with a tiny allen screw, so you can drop tune to where ever you want to and still have use of the trem. Or you can just leave it at full-float. No noise and perfectly fluid motion. Dive bomb, let go, and it's right back to ground zero.

One more thing about the necks...they are nice and thin (which I could do without), but you really have to be careful if you live in an area like I do. Going from severe cold into a warm building, you have to crack the case open for a while so the neck doesn't warp before opening it all the way up a grabbing it out. I've seen it happen way too many times to people.


And yes...Ed can be a grumpy guy, but I've talked personally with him several times and he doesn't come across that way in person. He's one of the most knowledgeable luthiers that there is in the States and he tells it like it is with no candy-coating of the truth. I respect people like that.

jsantos wrote:Anyway, not to detract from my original post, I think the reason I like Ibanez is that the people that they endorse have had a developmental impact to the Ibanez guitars (Not Because of Money), for example: Steve Vai' Universe Line/JEM line, Satriani's JS-Series, Paul Gilbert' FHoles made contributions to further the innovations of the Ibanez line.... I don't think any other guitar company have given their endorsed players such license to augment freely.

Vai only added a monkey grip to a guitar that was already being made. Satchmo's JS series is nothing more than the old Ibanez Radius series that were his favorites and are now called the "JS" series. Gilbert's "F-holes" are painted on.

dECHO wrote:Vai only added a monkey grip to a guitar that was already being made. Satchmo's JS series is nothing more than the old Ibanez Radius series that were his favorites and are now called the "JS" series. Gilbert's "F-holes" are painted on.

Yeah I guess you are right. Thanks for clarifying that. You really know your guitars.