Ibanez RG470AH

The RG470 has been one of the more iconic guitars that Ibanez has offered in their budget "overseas" line, and they now are making it with an ash body. This guitar features an ash body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, HSH configuration, 24 jumbo frets, sharkfin inlays, an Edge III bridge, a Wizard III thickness neck, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

These guitars can really be hit or miss, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're not made in Japan. The fretwork can be iffy due to them not spending as much time on them as needed. The bridge in this guitar also isn't that good at all. I find it's quite inferior to the Edge Zero, but it's somewhat to be expected since this is a budget model compared to the Prestige ones. The neck is fairly thin, but it's not quite as thin as the Prestige necks. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you like your necks. Thankfully, it still has the same super flat radius to allow for lower action, fretwork permitting.

SOUNDS

The stock pickups on this guitar absolutely blow. You'll want to replace them right away. While you're at it, you might as well replace the cheap switch and junk pots. Once you do that, the guitar should start to come alive. However, I'm still not a huge fan of ash Ibanez guitars for whatever reason. They can work nicely with strats, but I'm not sure if it's Ibanez's ash or what, but the guitar just sounds to be too "hyped" in the low end and high end. Ash generally has a fairly strong scooped tone, and I find this to be even more accentuated. I also dislike the looks of the grain, but that's a purely cosmetic thing.

OVERALL OPINION

If your'e looking for an ash Ibanez, your choices are fairly limited. If that's the case, this model might be worth considering. However, I'd advise you to look elsewhere if you could. These guitars can be very hit or miss, and the bridge on these really isn't that great. The Prestige Ibanez guitars are leaps and bounds above what this is, and if you can dismiss the ash requirement, I recommend trying to pick up an RG550 or RG570 on eBay, assuming you're on a budget.