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Hatsubai « Lower end SC »
Published on 08/10/11 at 16:54When Ibanez decided to make their PRS clone guitars, they made a few models. One of them was a super luxury model with all kinds of features and a fancy top. The other two were very similar and had more bare bones options such as dot inlays, etc. This model is one of the lower end models. It has a mahogany body with a maple bolt-on neck and a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
This guitar had a few problems, but they weren't anything too major. For one, the neck joint on this was a bit sloppy. Around this time, you could sometimes find that the neck joints weren't quite as tight as later on, but it was minor and can be fixed by pinning it in place. The frets had some wear on them, although it was kinda normal considering that this guitar is getting to be a bit old now. The nut needed some lubrication, but it was cut properly. Some nut sauce or graphite would make it stay in perfect tune. The only other odd thing would be the 25.1'' scale that Ibanez decided to use with this guitar.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this were pretty bland. Some people like them, but I was never a fan. The bridge pickup was decent under gain, but it seemed to lack the clarity and punch that I find in higher end pickups such as DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan. It did decent cleans with the split coil sound, but that's to be expected. The neck pickup on this was pretty bland as well. It was just uninspiring. To help make it a bit warmer, I turned down the tone knob, but it just made it sound dull more than anything else.
OVERALL OPINION
While it's the lower end model, it's still a pretty decent player. If you can find one at a good price on eBay or your local music store, it could be worth considering. Just be sure to replace the pickups as the stock ones are pretty bad.
UTILIZATION
This guitar had a few problems, but they weren't anything too major. For one, the neck joint on this was a bit sloppy. Around this time, you could sometimes find that the neck joints weren't quite as tight as later on, but it was minor and can be fixed by pinning it in place. The frets had some wear on them, although it was kinda normal considering that this guitar is getting to be a bit old now. The nut needed some lubrication, but it was cut properly. Some nut sauce or graphite would make it stay in perfect tune. The only other odd thing would be the 25.1'' scale that Ibanez decided to use with this guitar.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this were pretty bland. Some people like them, but I was never a fan. The bridge pickup was decent under gain, but it seemed to lack the clarity and punch that I find in higher end pickups such as DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan. It did decent cleans with the split coil sound, but that's to be expected. The neck pickup on this was pretty bland as well. It was just uninspiring. To help make it a bit warmer, I turned down the tone knob, but it just made it sound dull more than anything else.
OVERALL OPINION
While it's the lower end model, it's still a pretty decent player. If you can find one at a good price on eBay or your local music store, it could be worth considering. Just be sure to replace the pickups as the stock ones are pretty bad.