Ibanez RG1451

Most people know Ibanez as a shredder guitar company, and because of that, 90% of their guitars have floyds. However, this guitar has a normal hard tail bridge that some might really enjoy. The guitar has a basswood body with a maple neck, rosewood fretboard with 24 frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, HSH configuration, all access neck joint, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

I'll get this part out of the way first. I am actually a guy who loves floyd roses. I know that people say that they suck tone, but it's not really true. It's just a different tone. It's not better or worse. The bridge on this is a pretty high quality bridge, but I have to say that I prefer floyds on my Ibanez guitars. They just feel more natural to me. The fretwork on this was top notch, although there was a little bit of fretwear going on thanks to the guitar being used. Everything else was pretty on par for the course with this guitar.

SOUNDS

The guitar had the stock pickups in it still, and that was the weakest thing about this guitar. The bridge pickup tends to sound a bit muddy under gain. It can work for cleans and some lower gain stuff, but once you add some decent amount of gain, it tends to lose clarity that other DiMarzios have. The neck pickup was a bit bright for me, although turning down the tone knob helped solve the issue. The problem came when switching between the neck and bridge with the different tone positions. I would constantly be fiddling with the knobs in between lead lines.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar is great for those looking for a hard tail version of the Ibanez guitar. However, if you're looking for a hard tail model, I can't help but recommend the RGA121 or RG321 instead. It's just a better sounding guitar overall, although you have to get used to the arch top on it. Not everyone likes that. This is a solid model, but I feel there are better ones out there. Regardless, you'll want to swap the pickups for something better.