All user reviews for the Ibanez RG120 [1998]

I bought this RG120 7 years ago when I was 16, I wanted to play guitar so bad and be in a band. I didn't have any experience in playing guitar, so I didn't have a clue in what to look for or what is good/bad. It's a solid red RG120 with 2 humbuckers. I bought it at Guitar Center along with a 15w amp, tuner, cable and strap for around $220 (the guitar alone was listed $199). I picked the Ibanez RG120 because it was cheap, and although knowing nothing about guitars I did know immediatly that I didn't like the thick necks on most brands such as Squiers. I really liked the thin fast neck, and the tone from the pickups was much warmer/thicker than other brands.

I really love the fast necks. Much easier to get your hand around (and I even have long fingers) than a chunky neck. The pickups and tone you get from the RG120 is much warmer & thicker than the competition in price range. Squiers, etc. have are too bright and sound to "tinny". The finish is great, I assumed being a cheap guitar that I would soon have many dents, scratches. But I only have one small one and that's from over 7 years of abusive use. It's been my only guitar and i've used it in playing live many times, and recording two demos.

The input nut has come loose many times allowing the input unit to 'spin' around inside, this has led to the wires being ripped off from the unit which I had to solder them back on. Since it is a very basic or low-end guitar the tuning mechanisms arent the greatest so it doesnt hold in tune for that long of a time. I don't use whammy bars, so the fact that the whammy unit sucks doesnt bother me but it may bother others. My biggest problem though is that the neck humbucker pickup gave out. This is a recent problem though. And considering that i've been playing this for 7 years and with heavy use, I actually am not upset by the fact.

The paint and finish is great. Like I said, there is only one scratch and dent on it, it's on the edge of the body. I've dropped this guitar multiple times, i've had my bassist's headstock crash into my guitar more than enough times from being too energetic in close quarters. I've bled all over the pickups and body, sweated all over it, recently got into swinging the guitar around my neck and shoulders, and this guitar hasnt ever died or failed on me.

I know there are better guitars in the Ibanez line-up, and I know there are better guitars outside of the Ibanez company. But bottom line, this is a really great beginner's guitar if you plan on wanting to be a little more serious than just a toy guitar you pull out of the closet to strum every couple months. Though it doesnt have a good locking-tuning mechanism or really great pickups, it still outperforms all other guitars in it's price range. I would love to have a Gibson Les Paul, both for sound and quality name. But being on a tighter budget, Ibanez will always be my pick.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this guitar at the guitar center, used for $160 but still in excellent condition.

I got it after my Squire Bullet Special wasn't meeting my needs tonewise.

Very nice body shape, and built solidly like a rock. I like the ultra-slim neck, and with 24 frets, it is a good value. The electronics seem to have held strong.

With Seymour Duncans and EMG pickups in this guitar, it sounds great. But, the Powersounds sound flat and are very muddy. They are harsh in the bridge and muddy in the neck.

Although it was bought used, it still has the construction of a tank. The only exception is the input jack, which became loose and ended up tearing the ground wire. Make sure to have a socket wrench on hand to tighten it every once it a while.

Overall, this is a very good guitar for the price. If you swap the pickups out, this guitar will sound very good. I strongly suggest if you have soldering skills you should open it up every once in a while and fix any broken or loosened connections. This guitar makes a good 2nd guitar, so I suggest it to intermediate players.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought my rg120 at my local guitar center for $200 after much searching for a desired guitar.

i find this guitar fun to jam on and just fool around. I like how it goes up to 24 frets, and it sounds really nice if you get some effects on it. It sounds good for all types of music although some would argue that is guitar is only for hard and fast metal music.i like the design, but looks isn't everything.

the sound is just about what you pay for, not incredibly great. I wanted a guitar somewhat more like a fender but the squier was what all beginning guitarists had, and i just knew that wasn't me. I didn't have enough cash to get anything nicer. i can't think of too much wrong with this guitar, its pretty basic, and sturdy.

If you want to be different and not get a squier for your first guitar, this would be a good bet. since people don't know what it is, friends think that its more expensive than it looks. again, i like the looks of it: a nice sharp design. don't plug it in, or take the plug out at a bad angle, cause you might break it, like i did within the first 2 months.

this was my first guitar, and i don't regret getting it. i would still choose it over a squier. this is fun to play around with, you'll like the 24 frets, and the shape of it. don't give in to the "this guitar is only for hard metal playing". pretty good deal for the price range.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

At the Los Angeles Guitar Center, I paid around $170 for the guitar hoping that the most popular & inexpensive one would be the best because I knew squat about guitars, and I wasn't willing to research the matter thoroughly.

I got was I paid for alright; an inexpensive & popular guitar, which had a name brand that was tied to many popular rock bands like Korn. Plus, the guitar looked pretty cool; churning out repetitive power-chord after power-chord hardly seemed like a chore when people saw me use it. To me, this guitar satifies every one of my narcissistic whims, gratifies my superficial pleasures, and-hey-it makes sounds, too. Groovy.

When the tendancy to stroke my own ego went away, and the power-chords I played could no longer hold even my own attention, I began to see the guitar's failings. This was, by the way, only a year after I bought it. As my sound began to mature, I noticed how terribly limited the sound range of my guitar was when played it without distortion. Not only that, but the sound was never crisp, it was always a sound closer to being muffled, or thin. The humbuckers didn't scream, or give a clear tone, instead, they gave a generic, yet almost inefficient sound. Perhaps it was because stock Ibanez humbuckers were just too cheap. Hell, then where did the money go, you might ask. Well, it certainly go to the electronics, and it certainly didn't go to the termelo bar it didn't come with, and it most certainly did not go to the tuners, which always put the strings out of tune, and it SURE IN THE HELL didn't go to the socket that is continually falling apart and becoming loose no matter how many times you try to fix it, no. Since I am naive enough to believe Ibanez wasn't trying to rip me off, I believe my $170 went to the body of the guitar, which I will discuss in the next section.

This guitar is damn heavy. You try to play it sitting down without a strap, you're legs are gonna go numb in ten minuets or less. You can tell how absolutely solid the construction is, so even if you want to smash the guitar in pieces out of the frustration you feel towards yourself from letting yourself get suckered into buying such a piece of junk, you just can't do it in one swing toward the concrete. Try it two or three times REALLY hard, then it'll break. It's not as if it even matters at that point anyway because the inner electronics are probably damaged and warped (especially the socket) so badly that by the time you go insane and want to break it, you'll only be smashing a useless piece of heavy wood shaped like a guitar.

1. Guitar Center is a horde of predators.
2. The Ibanez RG 120 is cheap... cheap in all contexts of the word.
3. It breaks on the inside, while looking shiny and new on the outside.
4. I wouldn't wish this guitar on anybody, not even a novice.
5. If I could, I'd spit in the face of the salesman that sold it to me.
6. Never EVER think this guitar is for you.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i got it at a guitar center, and i didnt rerally no that much about guitars, but this one seemed the best, so i ended up getting it. got for $199.99


it sounded great for how much i paid (at least til the peice of crap amp that came with it broke)for it, and it looks sweet, and is solidly built. strings stay in tune well, except when you use the whammy bar.

not that much actually. only about 2 things: for some reason on certain chords the string will lightly buzz for about a second, but it doesnt happen very often, and doesnt really annoy me. but what does bug me is that the thing where you put the chord in gets loose very often and easily, and if you tighten really tight, it wont make any sound thru the amp wen u play. ive tried everything, but i just keep having to tighten it almost everytime i play (with the amp)

very sturdy. nothing has broken. people usually complain about the knobs, but i havent had any problems.

its great. it was my first guitar, and it was perfect. id reccomend this to any beginner

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got it from Guitar Center for around $120-150 (I've had it for two years now). It was my graduation present from my mom. I was playing a friend's Squire Strat in my band and needed my own gear. Sides the Squire was crap.

Okay, as I've already mentioned I've had this thing for two years. It's well build as far the body goes. Real strudy. It's been tested..... I leave it sitting out in my room and it gets dumped over by me, my dog and my friends and there's maybe one dent in the head. It stays in tune fairly well. There's room for improvement, but it's not bad for being under $200.

The stock pickups are um... For lack of a better word, crap. They sound good as long as your a beginner, but once you get a better guitar you'll have to change the pickups. Granted my bridge pickup also died within 6 months. The neck one hasn't gone yet (I have a Duncan '59 in the bridge now) but it's starting to die and the tone just isn't as good as the Duncan. That's about the only complaint I have.

Solid body, nice playbility and decent electronics. I must be lucky because I'm the only person whose knobs haven't become loose on the guitar. They're both still there and work just as well. The nut on the output comes loose, but it just has to be tightened.

Good guitar for beginners. You'll have to change out the pickups if you get better and want better sound (or when they die), but the body and actual electronics will last you at least a couple years. Mine's still in great shape and it's 2 years old!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

this was my first guitar which i purchased at my local guitar center for $170 (which is a kick a** price

this guitar is very light and has a thin neck which let's you get a good grip if your young (i was 12 when i got this). the sound is clear and comes out wicked when with distortion. in terms of looks, it's got a nice body with a hot wizard neck

my knobs are a little loose but it's overall a positive review

as i said the knobs are a little loose but i'm rough with my guitars and i've dropped it many times though it still sounds like new

it is a great starter guitar and offers more than what it's worth, it's strong clear, good lookingand ect.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this guitar at Guitar Center for about $200.I was into metal at the time and wanted a cheap guitar to start learning, this is what i chose.

The neck is slim and fairly smooth so you can move fast on it. The Bridge is american vintage style so it doesn't feel that bad when palm muting, strap locks never come undone, and the strings never break.

The wood chips easily, gets out of tune fast, but hey what do you expect for a cheap guitar. The Pickups aren't that good and are a little bright, im probably going to switch them soon anyway.

Its light and has a comforting tummy cut, but like I said the wood chips easily.

Good guitar, great for starting out but I wouldn't suggest getting it if you like metal, unless you like being dissapointed

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i got this guitar at my local guitar center for $140 because i found it cheaper at another location and they have a price match gaurntee. the list was $200 and if i paid $200 fo rit it would still be worth it.I had bought a squier bullet about a week before and i hated the f***in thing it was a total piece of crap and i saw this guitar a musicians friend and it looked good and war pretty cheap and i had always wanted an ibanez. so i took back the squier and got this unit.

everything......the sound is great the look is good but keeping a black guitar clean is a pain inthe ass. it has fast action good tone good output and all that. it stayes in tune very well i could tune it and leave it for a week came back and its still the same.

pretty much nothing... the one thing i changed is that i didnt like the stock ibanez pickups so i bought seymour duncan Invaders the same ones that are on the fender tom dalonge strat and they sound great.

the construction of it is pretty good nothin has broke i have had it for about a year and its holding up pretty good.

this guitar is my favorite out of all of my 5 i love to play it. its good quality sounds great and this is a good buy..... if you are looking at this guitar and you have the money i say you should go out and buy it.....

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This guitar was my first electric, after playing an acoustic for a while. I was really suprised how well it played, especially for the price. At the time I was on a really tight budget, and $189 at Guitar Center was just what I was looking for!

I LOVE the feel of it! It has a fairly thin neck, not quite a Wizard II, but for the price, can I complain? The stock electronics are decent and the body is really light weight.

I blocked the tremolo because it would cause the strings to go out of tune occasionally. I didn't get much use out of the tremolo, so it's no inconvenience to me! I swapped out the stock pickups for some high output DiMarzio's because the stock pickups were a bit muddy. I had a problem with the knobs falling off (after owning it for about a year), so I had to put some teflon tape inside the knobs (And for a free fix, it works wonders...They don't fall off any longer).

Great construction. Good feel, and awesome curves. Strap buttons hold solid, and I find that hard to find on guitars in this price range nowadays. Everything is nice and solid, I have no complaints.

The guitar is AWESOME for the price, a real screamer. It plays like a beauty with only a few small upgrades and cheap fixes! If you want something that is great out of the box (or off the hanger), check one of these out, especially if you are a beginner! As I said before, eventually you may want to swap out the pickups, but that's not too big of a deal. It is constructed great, and I LOVE this thing. I don't have any complaints at all, despite what I said before

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This was my first guitar. I didn't know hardly anything about guitars at the time, and I really just got this guitar because it looked kind of cool. I got out to Guitar Center and picked this sucker up for $199.99 new and in black.

I like the wizard neck on this. The body looks pretty sweet too just like all RG's do. The price was nice too. Out of all the guitars that I have bought and played over the years, this one very surprisingly kept up the best and stayed new.

I don't like the tone and volume knobs on it, they are a small factor, but for me they are not. They came loose lately and I do not know how to get them tight again, I have to take them off.

The quality is great on this. The sustain is around a B-, which is pretty good for the price I paid for this geetar. I bang this guitar up pretty bad, I have fallen on it many times, dragged it continuosly on a concrete sidewalk, and I have smashed it once into a drum set (it did not split). It is still sounding well enough to play, and It still looks ok enough.

The bottom line is if you are a beginner player at guitar, I'd say go w/ this guitar, it's cheap and it will do more that what the job asks for.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

My RG120 is Japanese made. It has 24 frets with dual humbuckers. The bridge is a stock Ibanez bridge with tremolo unit. The amp has volume and tone selectors. It has a three way pickup selector switch. Not sure what wood the neck is made of, but it is your typical fast ibanez neck. It is thin, normal width and has small to medium size frets.

UTILIZATION

The neck, as with many Ibanez's has a very nice and fast feel. Because it is a twenty-four fret neck, I can easily get to that wonderful high E either by bending up to it, or by simply striking the 24th fret on the 1st string. Give it some wild vibrato and Yngwie would be proud! Cutaways are well cut such that it makes it even easier to access the top notes. The guitar is very light and is easy to move around with. With mine in black, it is very conservative and professional, yet the design still screams "rock star !" Controls are simple and spartan. I usually put the tone all the way. Volume knob depends on where I am in the song. I select the top (low end) pickup mode for smooth solos, and the bottom (high end/treble) pickup mode for rhythm playing and for screaming solos and finger-tapping. I do not use the middle pickup mode.

SOUNDS

This guitar, even at entry level, is shred all the way. Just perfect for me. When I go play a Jackson or even a Fender stratocaster, which I used to play, I am out of my element. That is how much I like the way Ibanez's play. If I buy an upgrade guitar, it will most likely be an Ibanez. (I've already got my eye on one.) I play mine through several pedals, including a Zoom multi-effect. I play through a Hartke half stalk, a Fender stage 185, a Crate gx30m, and a Fender Frontman, as well as a combination of these. Even though this is a double humbucker shred guitar, I feel it plays clean sounds / jazz and blues well, at least in my style. The wonderful clean sounds from my Fender amps also help. This guitar is great for heavy music as well as soloing. Get it set up, and you understand why the Satriani's of the world can solo for so long! The only drawback of lower action is the fret buzz, but that may be my guitar repairman's fault, not the guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had this guitar for about 3 1/2 years and have been using it a lot since. It's such a great guitar for the price. It has seen me grown leaps and bounds in my development as a guitarist, and it's only considered a beginner electric ! I wish it had a better humbucker in the bridge position (the one in the bridge position does not have as much volume as the one in the neck position.) I also wish it had a H-S-H configuration and a tremolo unit that doesn't make the guitar go out of tune, but that's what an upgrade is for. I didn't try many other models besides this one, and since I didn't try out a Jackson, Hamer, Bc Rich etc, I probably didn't need to. I think my choice at the time was great. I still want to keep using this entry level guitar, as I would rather upgrade my amps and effects before I do my guitar.