Ibanez Left-Handed Guitars

After 12 years of playing my Strat and abandoning my tremolo because it simply would not stay in tune, I decided I wanted something with a locking system. I'm 41 years old and have been playing since age 5. At the age of 15 I started regularly playing out in the local clubs and have done this ever since. In all this time, this will only be my fourth electric guitar. I wanted something that I could get a little crazy with and the Ibanez jumped out. Finding anything left-handed is a real challenge and Ibanez had one that suited my needs. I really like the Wizard neck. I read reviews about this guitar and most said it was very fast. I agree 100% I spent about 10 hours on it this past weekend (for the first time) and I adapted very quickly. After twelve years on my Strat I thought I may experience some cramping but not the case. I would have played longer but the neighbors have to sleep once in a while. I like the oversized cutaway. I can reach all the way up the neck with ease. The pickups seem to be twice as loud as my Strat (which has a Hot Rails II at the bridge). I like the weight, it's very light. I can pretty much make it sound the way I want, from metal to mild. I play though a RedBear MK120 full stack which is a Russian 120 watt tube head with 2-4X12 cabs, and it sounds very punchy. The feedback seems good with no unpleasant squeals... What I really like is, no matter what I do with the trem, it stays in tune!!! The volume and tone pots are a little too stiff. I can't do that "reach down with the pinky and adjust the volume thing...". I can't get the trem arm to swing freely. I'm not sure if that's just the nature of the beast or not. I've adjusted the torque screw and it made no difference. I plan to call and find out if this should be or if I have a problem. I don't like the fact that us south paws can only get this guitar in Black. But Ibanez is not alone here, come on folks we left handers are people too and we also like "Colors". Ibanez only offers 3 models for lefties and that just sucks. But once again they're not alone on this one... The guitar feels solid, the tuners seem okay. The finish is deep and the smoked looking hardware goes well with the "BLACK" paint. As far as durability goes... we'll see after a few gigs. I've heard all the horror stories about "Locking Trems" and how hard it is to change the strings, keep it in tune, yada yada yada. My first impression is that's all bull&$%^... Here's why I think so. I play left handed but I string it like a right hander. (Yup, the big string is on the bottom) There's a few of us out there. So when I brought my new axe home I had to remove the strings (one at a time) and string it my way. I had to set the intonation for each string, which I have never done before. I had to make sure the bridge was aligned properly and go through the delicate process of tuning. I've never worked with a locking trem before and this all took me about one hour. I consider myself mechanically inclined so it didn't seem to be rocket science to me. Will I be able to change a string between songs on stage? NO! but between sets? Sure... I'll take my Strat just in case... This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

For a long time the best mid-range Ibanez RG you could buy was the RG470. They were made in Japan and reasonably priced. They made these models lefty too which is pretty rare. most guitar companies either only make their super low end guitars and super high end guitars in lefty, leaving a gap in the middle where they do not have any mid-ranged lefty guitars. Now that the 470 is discontinued all you can get now is the 370 left handed. The guitar is your basic RG. It has the basswood body in the superstrat RG style. 24 frets on a super flat Ibanez Wizard 2 neck. This guitar has the Wizard 2 neck which is slightly thicker than the normal Wizard neck. The neck has a rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets on a super flat radius. It has the Edge 3 tremolo which is not the best Ibanez tremolo but it is better than most cheap Floyd Rose knock off's. The fretboard on this model has sharkfin inlays. It has the HSH pickup configuration with Ibanez pickups in all positions. There is a 5 way blade switch to switch between them in a strat style arrangement. UTILIZATION With the deep cutaways on the RG body it is very easy to reach all the frets on the neck. The fretboard is nice and flat with jumbo frets so it is easy to get a good action and the jumbo frets let you play easily. The neck is super thin so it is easy to handle if you have smaller hands. Like on all RG's the tuners are close together if you are use to a 6-6 style headstock configuration. Your fingers may hit the other tuners while you are tuning. The tremolo will stay in tune once it is setup or you can block it like any other tremolo. If you change tunings a lot you should block the tremolo and leave the nut unlocked. Changing tunings with a full floating locking tremolo setup takes a long time and can be frustrating. SOUNDS As always with a lower end Ibanez the pickups are the weak point. The tone from the stock pick ups are not great. The bridge position is pretty fuzzy and muddy and the neck position is not as smooth as I would like. The neck position is useable for smooth lead tones and blues and jazz but the bridge pickup is too weak for anything that uses a moderate amount of gain or more. It is a shame that most RG play so good but come with such bad pickups from the factory. OVERALL OPINION This is a pretty mediocre guitar but being lefty there are not many options. Guitar companies seem to forget the fact that there are intermediate lefty players too who want guitars better than beginner junk and cant afford custom priced pieces. The 470L model that Ibanez made before this was a lot better. Those were still made in Japan and the quality on them is a lot better than this guitar. I would recommend looking for a Japan made 470L before getting a 370L.