View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « Extended range prestige model »
Published on 08/12/11 at 22:04The Ibanez RGD line of guitars is their line of semi baritone guitars. These guitars have extended ranges but they are just setup in D tuning which isnt very low by modern standards. This guitar has a cool finish on the body. It is something called Cobweb Silver metallic and it is pretty cool looking. This guitar has a basswood body with a bolt on wizard prestige neck. This is one of the thinnest necks you can get on a guitar today. The neck is made out of 5 pieces of maple and walnut to give it extra stability. The scale of the neck is 26.5 inches. The fretboard is rosewood with 24 jumbo frets. The guitar has a set of normal Ibanez humbuckers and an edge zero tremolo with the adjustments on the back of the springs. The controls are super simple with a volume knob and a 3 way toggle. The toggle is placed up by the neck pickup so you can switch quickly on the fly.
UTILIZATION
MIJ Ibanez guitars are some of the best playing guitars on the planet. When they say prestige on them you really are getting a prestige guitar. Which such great playability you instantly forget you are playing an extended range guitar. The prestige wizard neck is super thin and flat. The fretwork on these prestige Ibanez guitars is almost perfect. You really have to play them to know. The pickup selector placement is pretty strange but I understand what they were going for. If you are doing a lot of tapping putting the switch there lets you change pickups pretty quickly. It being only a 3 way also means they know most people who buy this guitar will most likely put a set of active pickups in it. Why Ibanez didnt just put good pickups in from the factory I cant tell you.
SOUNDS
While this guitar looks and feels great right out of the box it does not sound very great. It is let down by the junky Ibanez pickups. Ibanez has some of the worst stock pickups in the industry. With an extended scale and factory low tuning you really need a set of good pickups to get good clarity on the tone. Giving this guitar only a volume knob and 3 way switch Ibanez is pretty much telling you to drop in a set of active pickups. With the stock pickups you get a pretty dull and lifeless sound. The bridge is a bit grainy and is not as hot as you would want a metal guitars bridge pickup to be. The neck pickup is a bit muddy and does not have the bite you need for quick leads on the neck position.
OVERALL OPINION
If you were going to play this guitar acoustically it would be perfect out of the box. Since it isnt an acoustic and you are going to play it through an amp you will probably need to swap the pickups out with better models. It is pretty sad that you pay all this money for a prestige made in Japan model Ibanez but you still need to toss the stock pickups like some 200 dollar guitar center job. If you are an longtime Ibanez player you are probably use to this. If you are looking for an extended range guitar that plays super easy this is the guitar for you.
UTILIZATION
MIJ Ibanez guitars are some of the best playing guitars on the planet. When they say prestige on them you really are getting a prestige guitar. Which such great playability you instantly forget you are playing an extended range guitar. The prestige wizard neck is super thin and flat. The fretwork on these prestige Ibanez guitars is almost perfect. You really have to play them to know. The pickup selector placement is pretty strange but I understand what they were going for. If you are doing a lot of tapping putting the switch there lets you change pickups pretty quickly. It being only a 3 way also means they know most people who buy this guitar will most likely put a set of active pickups in it. Why Ibanez didnt just put good pickups in from the factory I cant tell you.
SOUNDS
While this guitar looks and feels great right out of the box it does not sound very great. It is let down by the junky Ibanez pickups. Ibanez has some of the worst stock pickups in the industry. With an extended scale and factory low tuning you really need a set of good pickups to get good clarity on the tone. Giving this guitar only a volume knob and 3 way switch Ibanez is pretty much telling you to drop in a set of active pickups. With the stock pickups you get a pretty dull and lifeless sound. The bridge is a bit grainy and is not as hot as you would want a metal guitars bridge pickup to be. The neck pickup is a bit muddy and does not have the bite you need for quick leads on the neck position.
OVERALL OPINION
If you were going to play this guitar acoustically it would be perfect out of the box. Since it isnt an acoustic and you are going to play it through an amp you will probably need to swap the pickups out with better models. It is pretty sad that you pay all this money for a prestige made in Japan model Ibanez but you still need to toss the stock pickups like some 200 dollar guitar center job. If you are an longtime Ibanez player you are probably use to this. If you are looking for an extended range guitar that plays super easy this is the guitar for you.