Ibanez RGA121H

RGA Ibanez guitars are some of my favorite from the maker. They have all the features I like. The A in RGA stands for archtop. These guitars have a mahogany body with a maple top and the top of the guitar is arched. Most of these guitars were hardtails but now they make some tremolo models. The mahogany and maple in the body is a big improvement over the basswood used in most Ibanez guitars. This guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top. The bolt on neck is a maple wizard prestige neck with a rosewood fretboard. The neck made up of 5 pieces of maple and walnut to give it stability. The fretboard has 24 jumbo frets and a super flat radius. The hardtail bridge is Ibanez's Gibralter design. It has a master volume and a master tone with a 5 way blade switch. The pickups are a set of stock Ibanez pickups.

UTILIZATION

A lot of RG problems are gone when you make it a hardtail. There is no tuning instabilities with this guitar and it is very easy to setup and change strings. The wizard prestige neck is one of the thinnest necks you can get on a guitar nowadays. With a thin neck your fingers have more space to move about the fretboard instead of wrapping around the rest of the neck. The radius is super flat and that combined with the big frets mean it is very easy to get a super low action if that is what you want. The cutaways are deep so you have lots of access to the upper frets for leads. With the hardtail you can do even more extreme bends without going out of tune.

SOUNDS

The stock sound is the only shortcoming from this guitar. Stock Ibanez pickups are some of the worst. Many people swap them out immediately. The pickups are very weak. When plugging this guitar in I had to check my amp to see if the setttings were the same because going from a guitar with good pickups to this I lost like 20 percent of the output. The pickups are weak and dull. The bridge pickup is muddy and does not have a lot of punch. The neck pickups is also muddy as well. The neck pickup might be usaable but the bridge is very lacking.

OVERALL OPINION

Lots of people want an easy playing guitar but dont want to put up with floating tremolos. Most shred guitars come with these tremolos so if you want a shred guitar you usually have to put up with them. Now with these RGA Ibanez guitars you can get a guitar with all the playability but without the troublesome tremolo there. With a simple pickup swap this guitar could be a great all around instrument.

The RGA-121 was a short lived hardtail arched top version of the RG. It features a HUGE piece of maple on top of a mahogany body, a very nice Gibraltar Plus hardtail bridge, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, 24 frets, two humbuckers, a 5 way switch, volume knob and tone knob.

UTILIZATION

Given that it's a Prestige Ibanez model, the fretwork on these models is generally pretty good. Ibanez did an awesome job at the arched top, and resting your hand on the body feels great. The Gibraltar Plus bridge is an awesome bridge that I wish Ibanez would bring back, too. The All Access Neck Joint and sculpted lower horn allows you to get to the higher frets with total ease, and the switching setup allows for some great versatility.

SOUNDS

With the stock pickups, it's kinda flat sounding. However, once you put in some real pickups, this guitar really sings. The combination of the maple top, mahogany body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard make this guitar sound awesome for heavier styles such as hard rock or metal. Clean tones and midgain tones can be a bit hit or miss depending on if you like the mahogany/maple combo. Some people don't, but I've never had an issue with it before. The 5 way switching allows you to really get the most out of the pickups, so great clean and midgain tones shouldn't be too hard to get when the pickups are in split or parallel mode.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a hardtail RG, this is really the guitar you should be looking for. It's also a mahogany bodied guitar with a maple top, so I find it's even more appealing for the hardtail crowd. I just wish they wouldn't have discontinued these guitars. Also, the difference between the RGA 121 and RGA 321 is the figured top/colors. Aside from that (and price range), they're pretty much the same guitar.

The RGA121 was one of my favorite RG models. I love the feel of the arch top RG bodies. This guitar had a ton of features I liked. Recently Ibanez started making more hardtail guitars and this was one of the first in the line of them. This guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top. The bolt on neck is a maple wizard prestige neck with a rosewood fretboard. The neck made up of 5 pieces of maple and walnut to give it stability. The fretboard has 24 jumbo frets and a super flat radius. The hardtail bridge is Ibanez's Gibralter design. It has a set of stock junk Ibanez pickups which is the only thing bad about this guitar in my opinion. It has a master tone and a master volume with a 3 way blade switch.

UTILIZATION

These guitars play great and have superb stability. The hard tail means you do not have to worry about adjusting springs and whatnot whenever you change strings or tunings. The wizard prestige neck is one of the thinnest necks you can get on a guitar nowadays. With a thin neck your fingers have more space to move about the fretboard instead of wrapping around the rest of the neck. The radius is super flat and that combined with the big frets mean it is very easy to get a super low action if that is what you want. Even with bolt on construction the heel is rounded off so it is comfortable to play up on the high frets.

SOUNDS

The stock pickups in this guitar are a let down. The mahogany body helps the tone a bit compared to the basswood bodies most Ibanez guitars have but the pickups just kill any tonal potential this guitar has stock. Ibanez puts pretty dull pickups in all but their highest end guitars. These pickups are weak and dull and I would recommend a swap immediately. The bridge pickup is lifeless and does not have the output you want on a guitar like this. The neck pickup is muddy and sour sounding. It is not very smooth either. Overall the pickups in this guitar from the factory are pretty unremarkable. Some hotter and clearer aftermarket pickups can really make this guitar sing. Since it has a mahogany body you will be able to get a thicker sound than most Ibanez guitars once you put some good pickups in it.

OVERALL OPINION

With a swap of pickups these guitars are great. They have a mahogany body which is much much better than the normal basswood body. The hardtail bridge gives you a bit more sustain and tone thanks to the body not having to be cut out for the springs. It also means you can change tunings and strings whenever you want without taking forever to adjust the spring tension. This is a good solid guitar that just needs one upgrade to make it really a top shelf guitar. Once you put some worthy pickups in this guitar it will really be up there with the best of them.