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Hatsubai « A destroyer gone all wrong »
Published on 08/08/11 at 18:34This is the last of the three guitars that were part of the Arondite models made in 2007. The guitar itself is based off of a quasi-Destroyer style guitar. It has a mahogany body with a maple top, a set mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, some unique inlays, a Gibraltar III bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
This had the same issue that all the other guitars in this series had. The fretwork just wasn't that good. The frets themselves were not perfectly level, and it was very apparent once you started adjusting the action. The nut on this was also cut poorly and should have been reshaped. Whenever I'd bend, you could feel the string start to snag. It would cause me to go out of tune all the time. A temporary fix is to use some graphite or nut sauce, but that's only a temporary fix. A good luthier should be able to take care of all of these problems. The bridge itself is pretty nice on these models, though.
SOUNDS
The pickups on this guitar are pretty low quality, and it's no real surprise as Ibanez was never known for having great pickups, even in their higher end models. The bridge pickup has lots of output, and it's very bright. It's similar to an X2N but without the dynamics and awesomeness. It can kinda work for overdriven tones, but it lacks clarity. The neck is just way too bright for me, and I find myself reaching for the tone pot to help tame that treble all the time. However, I switch between the neck and bridge often, so I'm constantly fiddling with the knobs. I'd replace these with something else. Probably original Blackouts to help give this some beefiness and hide the original body wood tone.
OVERALL OPINION
This is the last one in the Arondite series guitars. There's a reason why these were sold for such a short time. They're simply not good guitars. You're better off spending your money elsewhere. I recommend surfing eBay for some killer dealers on there. You'll be much further ahead than if you were to buy one of these, even used.
UTILIZATION
This had the same issue that all the other guitars in this series had. The fretwork just wasn't that good. The frets themselves were not perfectly level, and it was very apparent once you started adjusting the action. The nut on this was also cut poorly and should have been reshaped. Whenever I'd bend, you could feel the string start to snag. It would cause me to go out of tune all the time. A temporary fix is to use some graphite or nut sauce, but that's only a temporary fix. A good luthier should be able to take care of all of these problems. The bridge itself is pretty nice on these models, though.
SOUNDS
The pickups on this guitar are pretty low quality, and it's no real surprise as Ibanez was never known for having great pickups, even in their higher end models. The bridge pickup has lots of output, and it's very bright. It's similar to an X2N but without the dynamics and awesomeness. It can kinda work for overdriven tones, but it lacks clarity. The neck is just way too bright for me, and I find myself reaching for the tone pot to help tame that treble all the time. However, I switch between the neck and bridge often, so I'm constantly fiddling with the knobs. I'd replace these with something else. Probably original Blackouts to help give this some beefiness and hide the original body wood tone.
OVERALL OPINION
This is the last one in the Arondite series guitars. There's a reason why these were sold for such a short time. They're simply not good guitars. You're better off spending your money elsewhere. I recommend surfing eBay for some killer dealers on there. You'll be much further ahead than if you were to buy one of these, even used.