Ibanez JCRG ARCH-1

Back in 1996, Ibanez decided to open up the J-Custom factory. These guitars were the best of the best. You could put these up against any top guitar manufacturer, and they'd either destroy them or at least hold their own. They didn't hold back at all when building these things, and they're still being built today. This model was only made for one year in 1997, and it was made in very limited quantities. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top, a maple neck with an ebony fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, two 12th fret dot inlays, a LoPro Edge trem, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is simply amazing. First of all, the number one thing that always stands out about these guitars is the fretwork. Ibanez J-Custom luthiers take the time to ball their fret ends. This makes them much more comfortable to play. Only a few luthiers out there take the time to do this kind of work. The frets were perfectly level, and I was able to get some super sick action on this guitar. The Lo Pro Edge is one of the best trems out there, and it's world renowned for being one of the greatest licensed floyds ever made. The neck joint was perfect on this, the finish was super sick and the attention to detail was just stellar.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounded absolutely awesome. This guitar actually had real DiMarzio installed in it from the factory. The J-Custom guitars almost always come with a Tone Zone in the bridge and an Air Norton in the neck. The Tone Zone has tons of mids, and it has a lot of bass, too. This can be kinda off putting for some, especially in mahogany, but I find that backing off on the height will really help make this thing come alive. I was getting crazy harmonics with this thing, and cutting through the mix was no issue at all. The Air Norton in the neck is my absolute favorite neck pickup. It has a super fat, warm and woody sound going on for it that just excels like no tomorrow. Pulling off legato with this thing was crazy easy.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are super rare, and it's almost impossible to find one for sale at a reasonable price. On top of that, they were never officially released here in the US. That means you'll have to start surfing the Japanese auctions/classifieds or get super lucky and stumble upon one on the internet. I highly recommend everybody at least try one J-Custom in their life. They're such remarkable guitars that I'm surprised they don't get more attention.

Made in Japan (17 piece in the world), it has 24 frets, 2 DiMarzio Air Norton (neck) and Tone Zone (chevalet.1 volume 1 tone and a 5-way switch for pickups.
Vibrato is a lo pro edge floyd rose.
The handle is made of ebony and mahogany guitar.

UTILIZATION

The handle is of a J-Custom, ie the wood is carefully chosen with respect to any other model of the brand.
The key is ebony. The handle is very comfortable and allows for any feats, access to treble is excellent.
The shape is that of a row of mahogany and the weight is heavier than basswood (jem, js) but lighter than a single row.
Mahogany gives the Tone Zone sustain remarkable.

SOUNDS

I play beacoup style music, I am particularly a fan of guitar like Steve Vai, Satriani, Ron Thal, malmsteen, ... my playing technique and my sound this guitar makes me perfectly suited to my style musique.Mais course with this kind of instrument you can play the blues like good metal, the sound is to go!
The sound is crystalline, very precise like a good Start, and of course different to the fat issue a Les Paul.
I play a Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 with a whammy, mxr a Dimebag Darrell, a cry baby and a chorus, flanger ibanez of CE5, I have access to any sound, I switch to the type of pantera santana, It is true that it is better to have the following hardware to take advantage of its sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 5 years.
The best: everything
The least: Nothing
try another model: A little all the ibanez that there was a Gebelin in Marseille (jem, js, rg ,...), I have already test gibson, fender on, and on the other
The quality report is correct, it is a very high-end personalized, since there are only 17
I do it again this choice without hesitation, I have a very personal sound, a guitar that can be any acrobatics to sustain and with a crazy thanks to the very pleasant ebony handle the price of a jem