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Ibanez IC400
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Ibanez IC400

Other Shape Guitar from Ibanez belonging to the Iceman series

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« Classic Ibanez design »

Published on 08/12/11 at 22:45
Back in the day Ibanez was known for their copies of guitars. The Ibanez Lawsuit era found them making guitars that were better than what america was producing at the time. This was one of their first original design loosely based of the Les Paul design. When these came out they were better than the 70s American guitars that were being made. This guitar has a mahogany body with a set in maple neck. The fretboard is rosewood with split trapezoid inlays and 22 medium frets. It has dual Ibanez humbuckers with with a standard set of controls. The controls are traditional with a volume and tone for each pickup with a 3 way switch. The pickups are switched with a 3 way toggle on the upper bout and the bridge an Ibanez tune-o-matic stop tail combination.

UTILIZATION

These guitars are not really shred guitars. They have a more traditional feel to these. Back in the 70s these guitars were blowing Gibsons away in playability because the American quality had declined so much. The upper fret access is pretty good because of the unique lower horn. Whenever I see one of these guitars I cant help but think they look like upside down Rickenbacker basses. Early on these guitars were just called "Artist" models. There was also a Greco guitar just like it made in the same factory called the Mirage. The 3 piece maple neck is strong and it is a setneck so the heel is not too big. The medium frets have pretty vintage feel but they are still totally playable. This guitar feels a lot like a Les Paul but plays better. These guitars have all the playbility of the RG models just with a more traditional feel. You can still get a super low action on these guitars even with its older style construction.

SOUNDS

These guitars have a nice beefy tone like a Les Paul. They have a beefier sound than Ibanez's shred guitars because it is a more beefy guitar overall. This guitar can do just about anything from Jazz to rock and blues. It has a very smooth tone like a Les Paul. The bridge pickup is nice and crunchy with an open tone. It has more of a classic rock voicing to it. The neck pickup has a smoother sound like a typical Les Paul neck pickup. It can get muddy but that is a normal neck position thing. A set of after market pickups would really take this guitar over the top. This guitar sounds good with the stock Ibanez garbage in it that means it would would superb with some good pickups. For a guitar like this I would recommend some Seymour Duncans.

OVERALL OPINION

The Iceman is one of the most unique and longest lasting guitars in the Ibanez line. They were great guitars then and they are great guitars now. They are like the Les Paul from Bizzaro world. They play great and have a decent tone stock. A stock decent tones means an excellent tone once you get some good pickup in it. The Iceman is an iconic Ibanez shape so if you are looking for one of these you can get a vintage one or a new one. I would try to get a vintage one first but either way you are getting a good guitar.