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King Loudness « Cool take on the RG »
Published on 12/13/11 at 01:08The Ibanez RG320FM is one of the more recent import offerings from the company. They built them in a variety of factories but most of them that I've seen come out of Indonesia. It features a basswood body with a nice figured maple top (likely a veneer though) and a maple neck with rosewood fretboard, 24 frets, and the infamous super-thin Ibanez Wizard neck profile. The tuners are standard sealed models, and the bridge is the Ibanez Edge Pro II, a variation on the famous Ibanez Edge bridge of the late '80s. It has two Ibanez Powersound humbuckers mated to a volume control and a tone control with a 5 way selector switch for lots of tonal combinations.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is pretty standard for Ibanez. The basswood and maple combination is my personal favourite and it works well on this guitar. It's fairly light and compact. The neck heel is fantastic as usual (the Ibanez AANJ) and the upper fret access is pretty stunning too. The only gripe I have is with the Wizard profile, as it's just too thin for my hands. However many shred players will absolutely love this guitar as it's just a dream to play.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar isn't really difficult. The stock pickups aren't the best in the world, but through a good amp all the frequency ranges come through and produce some great tones, both clean and dirty.
SOUNDS
This guitar is simply an evolution on the classic Ibanez RG, so it was meant to be plugged into a higher gain amp such a Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Peavey or similar. I found the clean tones to be a bit anemic at best... they were a little on the sterile side and though there was a nice sparkle sometimes, I didn't find them convincing enough for funk, blues or jazz work. The drive tones were pretty good for sure. I would prefer the tone of some DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan pickups, but the Ibanez pickups in there do a decent enough job for what it is. The neck pickup has a nice dark quality that is great for leads, and the bridge pickup has a good bite, excellent for rhythms or more articulate lead work.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Ibanez RG320FM is a decent guitar for anyone looking for a good playing shred guitar on a budget. The basswood/maple combo is my personal favourite and the tones out of this guitar aren't bad either. The bridge holds good tune, the quality is there and it looks pretty classy too. They can be had for about $300 used which isn't a bad deal for a flame top RG, so if you're into that kinda vibe, this one might be worth a look.
UTILIZATION
The design of this guitar is pretty standard for Ibanez. The basswood and maple combination is my personal favourite and it works well on this guitar. It's fairly light and compact. The neck heel is fantastic as usual (the Ibanez AANJ) and the upper fret access is pretty stunning too. The only gripe I have is with the Wizard profile, as it's just too thin for my hands. However many shred players will absolutely love this guitar as it's just a dream to play.
Getting a good sound out of this guitar isn't really difficult. The stock pickups aren't the best in the world, but through a good amp all the frequency ranges come through and produce some great tones, both clean and dirty.
SOUNDS
This guitar is simply an evolution on the classic Ibanez RG, so it was meant to be plugged into a higher gain amp such a Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Peavey or similar. I found the clean tones to be a bit anemic at best... they were a little on the sterile side and though there was a nice sparkle sometimes, I didn't find them convincing enough for funk, blues or jazz work. The drive tones were pretty good for sure. I would prefer the tone of some DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan pickups, but the Ibanez pickups in there do a decent enough job for what it is. The neck pickup has a nice dark quality that is great for leads, and the bridge pickup has a good bite, excellent for rhythms or more articulate lead work.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Ibanez RG320FM is a decent guitar for anyone looking for a good playing shred guitar on a budget. The basswood/maple combo is my personal favourite and the tones out of this guitar aren't bad either. The bridge holds good tune, the quality is there and it looks pretty classy too. They can be had for about $300 used which isn't a bad deal for a flame top RG, so if you're into that kinda vibe, this one might be worth a look.