polara Posted January 20, 2016 Posted January 20, 2016 First the funny part: In my quest to get down to just 2 to 4 usable, giggable electrics (I am at four) I thought I'd trade my modded Squire Standard Strat and a little Marshall Valvestate at Guitar Center for a Utility Guitar.Utility Guitar = stays in tune, sounds okay, withstands abuse at gigs, can do humbucker and single-coil sounds, has a whammy. Just a "Whip it out to play music, whatever," instrument.GC offers me $70 for the Squire (fair, about what I expected) and $70 for the Marshall. I had actually bought the Marshall from the same store for forty bucks a year ago. So they were offering to buy it back for $30 more than I paid. Sound business sense there, lads. I agreed, obviously.And walked out with a 2003 Ibanez SA420X. I know jackshit bout Ibanez guitars, but this one seemed nice.Made in Japan (apparently only old or "Prestige" models are made in the Land of the Rising Sun and this one was too, despite not being old or Prestige)Kinda super-strat looking, arched top, mahogany with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard, 25.5" scale, 22 big fretsTwo humbuckers (V1 and V2) with a five-way switch for a load of different sounds a la PRS.The cool part: a nice-looking vibrato bridge with pop-in arm and piezo saddles. So it has two outputs and a mini-toggle like a Duotone, with a piezo volume knob. You use one output jack and select either mag pickups, piezo, or both, and adjust the level of the piezo with the knob. Or you use both outputs and run one cable to your amp and one to the PA or acoustic amp. Cool.Piezo sounds like a piezo but I recently dumped all my pedals (amps are going next) to use a Line 6 Firehawk, which I freaking LOVE. Fiddled about a while and found a compressor, EQ and reverb for the piezo that won't pass for a real acoustic guitar but is a pleasant sound.Anyway it was pretty close to pristine, no scratches or dings or fret wear and all the electronics work. I think the vibrato arm isn't original but it might be. No case. I spent a while setting it up as there is a slight flattish bit in the neck along the first three frets and the 19th fret is a tiny bit high but it plays well with easy action and .009s. I'll file that fret eventually, but it barely buzzes there. Pickups sound darned good, it's easy to play and is a nice deep ruby color over mahogany. Would not stay in tune until I lubed the nut with Pedro's chain lube for bikes (don't laugh, it works and lasts forever.)Pretty good for $399, and apparently rare as hen's teeth, as even the Ibanez Wiki doesn't have it listed. I did find a few mentions of it - always mentioning how hard they are to find - online. I'm not going down an Ibanez rabbit hole any time soon, but it's a nice guitar at a nice price. Anyone here know much about Ibanezes?
Armitage Posted January 20, 2016 Posted January 20, 2016 Didn't they have a weird trem? And weren't they the precursor of the Satch guitar? I haven't seen one for ages...
ARM OF HAMER Posted January 20, 2016 Posted January 20, 2016 I had a Ibanez Ghostrider and a Ibanez AR1200 Artist doubleneck..............both nice guitars but................... I like my Hamers WAY better.
polara Posted January 21, 2016 Author Posted January 21, 2016 It's not too odd a bridge. Pretty sturdy but not Floyd-y. They make so many models that I'm not sure what was the precursor to what.
Jeff R Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Ah, the Saber series. Mahogany body, right? I had a mahogany-bodied 540SLTD back in the 90s when I was in a metal band and it was a helluva lot better tone generator than the basswood-bodied RGs.
Steve Haynie Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Ibanez has some great designs. The Artist is a well thought out guitar.
Hamerica Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I have owned two Ibanez; AT 300 and the AT100CL. The AT300 now resides with my youngest son who loves it. Both are excellent guitars. Hamerica
cspot Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 That is a very nice guitar. I have a few of the old roadstar ii line and an original sabre. Cool guitars. Enjoy yours!
PitBar Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 Yes, i have three guitars and a bass. i bought my 31 years old Ibanez XV-500 ( violet halfburst ) in 2005 from Orval Engling. Better known as Mr. Ibanez. Then i have a Steve Vai JEM7V This is my Joe Satriani JS20TH anniversary . My Bass is a soundgear SR1005.
scottcald Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 I have one of the aforementioned RG series a 550 from '87. Yeah, it's basswood, but I've gotten along well with it. I used to have an EMG 89/SA/85 setup in it (hence the middle knob that's now gone), but switched out to Air Classics and cheap (GFS maybe?) single in the middle.
Brooks Posted January 21, 2016 Posted January 21, 2016 polara, thats a cool guitar, never seen one of those before. a pal has a one pickup duotone type hybrid ibby with a wood acoustic bridge that i've never seen before either. i ran into a japanese mahogany S540LTD a few years ago, which started me on an Ibby kick. stike did a blue sparkle refin & i put EMGs in it, then i ended up getting 3 more; 2 hardtail RGs (a plain mahogany korean, & grey trans flame maple capped indonesian) the one i ended up keeping is an indonesian RG w/ edge trem & EMGs, i added another stike refin, prolly needs a new trem for better tuning stability but its a great guitar, it actually plays & sounds better than the others Ibanez makes great semihollow & hollowbody jazz boxes too
polara Posted January 21, 2016 Author Posted January 21, 2016 polara, thats a cool guitar, never seen one of those before. a pal has a one pickup duotone type hybrid ibby with a wood acoustic bridge that i've never seen before either. i ran into a japanese mahogany S540LTD a few years ago, which started me on an Ibby kick. stike did a blue sparkle refin & i put EMGs in it, then i ended up getting 3 more; 2 hardtail RGs (a plain mahogany korean, & grey trans flame maple capped indonesian) the one i ended up keeping is an indonesian RG w/ edge trem & EMGs, i added another stike refin, prolly needs a new trem for better tuning stability but its a great guitar, it actually plays & sounds better than the others Ibanez makes great semihollow & hollowbody jazz boxes too That is one sexy finish. Really works with that body shape. Just ordered some locking Gotoh tuners, as it still isn't staying in tune as well as I'd like. Okay, but the whammy-wiggle guitars I had in the past all benefitted immensely from lockers, and I've gone over the nut and bridge with the proverbial fine-toothed comb and lube. Suspect the culprit is a little wind and unwind on the tuner posts, as it is only the E and B that get weird.
KH Guitar Freak Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Used to own a couple of them. Now down to a lovely Ibanez GB10, and a Roadstar II RS530
diablo175 Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Nice score, Polara! I've been in and outta love with Ibbys since the late 80's. Snagged a used, red RG 550 in Seattle in '89 after all my other gear had been boosted from our rehearsal space. Ended up creating some pretty kick ass stuff with that ax, despite the shitty, stock IBZ p'ups. The trem was super responsive but the stupid little plastic bushings had to be replaced every month or so to keep the trem arm from swinging freely . After that, I left Ibby for a long time. Tried a few here and there- an RG something or other, the Xiphos XPT700, a heavily modded Iceman IC Something or other, a Prestige RG 1550 and a MIK Jem 555BK that I modded the f*ck out of. None had the mojo.A month or so back, I scored a hardly used Premium Series Jem 77 bfp. I posted on here about it. So far, so good. Love the ever-so-slightly beefier maple neck and it's latest version Edge trem. The Gravity Storm p'ups aren't bad but still are a little dull compared to say, SD TB-5's. It's comfy, versatile and can tear it up when needed. For a like-new, high quality ax for less than a G, it was a great score.Enjoy that Ibby, Polara!
BTMN Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Happy New Guitar day. Sounds cool and useful enough for sure.
Bobby Marshall Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 I have had really good experiences with MIJ guitars. Wait, is this thread going to become political?
ARM OF HAMER Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Sill a member here from long ago and I still do a post now and then. I found this.http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/index.php/topic,27159.msg223725.html#msg223725
sixesandsevens Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 I had a brief fling with a JS1000 in Black Pearl. It was awesome. If I'm not mistaken, Toadroller has one of the newer Paul Gilbert Fireman models. I played one in a GC and without seeing the headstock, you'd never guess it's neck was from an Ibanez.
anotherfreak Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 I have loved some, some not so much Most Japan models are better, but I have been surprised. Congrats on the new toy!!!
RobB Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 I'm a fan of the "sure-grip" knobs.Dave, how do you get the Ibanez knobs to fit onto non-metric shafts? I have one that I’d like to use on my Charvel but am reticent to force it down.Are there newer ones that will fit on standard pots?
BadgerDave Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 I've never had a problem with them, but it's possible that the ones I've bought on eBay are reproductions designed for CTS pots.
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