Hatsubai « Quilted mahogany body RG »
Published on 08/18/11 at 12:34Ibanez was experimenting with a unique wood called sapele on this. Sapele is really similar to mahogany in looks, feel and tone. However, it's from a different species of wood all together. They used a quilted top on a mahogany body to bring out a unique look to this. The guitar has a mahogany body with a sapele top, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, dot inlays, a Lo Pro Edge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is very nice. The quilt on this looks pretty unique as they're not using the standard maple that everybody else seems to use. The oiled finish itself looks very nice, and it feels great. It's the perfect weight, so it's not terribly heavy, and it's also not lighter than paper. The fretwork on this is very good, and there was very little wear on the frets overall. The volume pot was starting to go out, but that tends to happen with these cheaper electronics. Aside from that, it was pretty good overall.
SOUNDS
The guitar had stock pickups in it, and I'm not the biggest fan of these stock pickups in Ibanez guitars. The bridge pickup tends to sound pretty bland overall, and it just can't seem to get the clarity that the other DiMarzio pickups have. The neck is much the same way in that it can't get the clarity I tend to look for. I'd like to swap in some nice DiMarzios in these. The Crunch Lab/LiquiFire set works really well in this wood combo, and it helps make the guitar come alive.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find this at a good price, it's worth considering. They're generally not too expensive, so at the very least, it could serve as a backup guitar. Make sure the screws on the back of the neck have not split the wood on these as that's the number one problem these tend to have.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is very nice. The quilt on this looks pretty unique as they're not using the standard maple that everybody else seems to use. The oiled finish itself looks very nice, and it feels great. It's the perfect weight, so it's not terribly heavy, and it's also not lighter than paper. The fretwork on this is very good, and there was very little wear on the frets overall. The volume pot was starting to go out, but that tends to happen with these cheaper electronics. Aside from that, it was pretty good overall.
SOUNDS
The guitar had stock pickups in it, and I'm not the biggest fan of these stock pickups in Ibanez guitars. The bridge pickup tends to sound pretty bland overall, and it just can't seem to get the clarity that the other DiMarzio pickups have. The neck is much the same way in that it can't get the clarity I tend to look for. I'd like to swap in some nice DiMarzios in these. The Crunch Lab/LiquiFire set works really well in this wood combo, and it helps make the guitar come alive.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find this at a good price, it's worth considering. They're generally not too expensive, so at the very least, it could serve as a backup guitar. Make sure the screws on the back of the neck have not split the wood on these as that's the number one problem these tend to have.