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Hatsubai « Standard production sig model »
Published on 10/01/11 at 13:57This is pretty much the regular model that everybody thinks of when they think of Joe Satriani today. It's his standard production model, and aside from the color, it's very similar to the actual one that he plays. I should note that his actual model has a compound fretboard where as this is just a standard 12'' radius. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple bolt-on neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, Edge Pro tremolo, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone with a coil split and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was nice and lightweight. The body was super thin, and it was crazy easy to play standing up. The finish on this was one of my favorite finishes from Ibanez. It's very laid back and elegant looking compared to some of the other finishes out there. The neck on this is pretty nice, but I don't like the fretboard radius as much. It has a classic fretboard radius. What I mean by classic is that it has a Les Paul style radius on it. I tend to prefer flatter radii, so I always tended to gravitate towards the regular S series or even the RG series. This is kind of like a fusion between a Strat and a Les Paul at points.
SOUNDS
This guitar had the older pickups before Satriani switched to his new ones. It has a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck. The FRED in the bridge is a pretty unique pickup. It has these odd harmonics that can really add something to the lead lines. Combine this with the basswood body, and you got yourself a really cool lead guitar. The PAF Pro in the neck is great for that open and vintage style PAF lead sound. It can get some really cool character going on, especially on the wound strings. The guitar also has a coil split switch so you can get those kind of single coil tones going on. To be honest, it doesn't work that great with these pickups, but if you are on the clean channel, it's pretty nice.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a very cool guitar, but I generally prefer the regular S series for whatever reason. I like the necks on the standard S series vs this neck, and I like the mahogany body instead of the basswood body. This is great for leads, but I find the regular ones to be a bit more versatile than this. If you can find a good deal on this used, and don't mind playing sig gear, then I recommend picking one up. Most people should really dig this guitar.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was nice and lightweight. The body was super thin, and it was crazy easy to play standing up. The finish on this was one of my favorite finishes from Ibanez. It's very laid back and elegant looking compared to some of the other finishes out there. The neck on this is pretty nice, but I don't like the fretboard radius as much. It has a classic fretboard radius. What I mean by classic is that it has a Les Paul style radius on it. I tend to prefer flatter radii, so I always tended to gravitate towards the regular S series or even the RG series. This is kind of like a fusion between a Strat and a Les Paul at points.
SOUNDS
This guitar had the older pickups before Satriani switched to his new ones. It has a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck. The FRED in the bridge is a pretty unique pickup. It has these odd harmonics that can really add something to the lead lines. Combine this with the basswood body, and you got yourself a really cool lead guitar. The PAF Pro in the neck is great for that open and vintage style PAF lead sound. It can get some really cool character going on, especially on the wound strings. The guitar also has a coil split switch so you can get those kind of single coil tones going on. To be honest, it doesn't work that great with these pickups, but if you are on the clean channel, it's pretty nice.
OVERALL OPINION
This is a very cool guitar, but I generally prefer the regular S series for whatever reason. I like the necks on the standard S series vs this neck, and I like the mahogany body instead of the basswood body. This is great for leads, but I find the regular ones to be a bit more versatile than this. If you can find a good deal on this used, and don't mind playing sig gear, then I recommend picking one up. Most people should really dig this guitar.