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Hatsubai « Neck-thru ash Ibanez »
Published on 05/10/11 at 20:14Ibanez has had a few neck-thru models, and this is one of them. The guitar features an ash body, a prestige five piece maple/wenge neck, rosewood fretboard, small dot inlays, an Edge Pro trem, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a five way switch. The guitar is also a Prestige model, so it was paid more attention to than the standard production lines.
UTILIZATION
The neck-thru guitars that Ibanez makes are very cool. For one, you can see the actual neck-thru construction. Although it's purely cosmetic, I really enjoy that. The fretwork on the Prestige model Ibanez guitars is almost always wonderful, and I was able to get sickly low action on this thing. One problem, however, was that the pull-up was compromised a bit. While getting to the upper frets with the AANJ was a breeze, this is even easier thanks to its neck-thru construction.
SOUNDS
The most unique feature about this guitar is the ash body. Ash leads itself to be very low end and high end heavy. The mids are scooped a bit, and the lows/highs are extended. This can lead to some extremely cool tones, especially for hard rock. Since the mids are pushed back, the guitar seems to be clearer and less boxy sounding. The rosewood fretboard allows the guitar to not get too bright, too. The stock pickups in this guitar suck, so I highly recommend replacing them as soon as possible. DiMarzios tend to work great in Ibanez guitars, I've found.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a neck-thru Ibanez model, your choices are a bit limited. This model is a very good guitar. However, I highly recommend playing it first. For one, ash is not for everyone. Some people dislike the strong high and low end of the wood. Also, not everyone likes the tone of neck-thru guitars. If you do decide to buy blind, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
UTILIZATION
The neck-thru guitars that Ibanez makes are very cool. For one, you can see the actual neck-thru construction. Although it's purely cosmetic, I really enjoy that. The fretwork on the Prestige model Ibanez guitars is almost always wonderful, and I was able to get sickly low action on this thing. One problem, however, was that the pull-up was compromised a bit. While getting to the upper frets with the AANJ was a breeze, this is even easier thanks to its neck-thru construction.
SOUNDS
The most unique feature about this guitar is the ash body. Ash leads itself to be very low end and high end heavy. The mids are scooped a bit, and the lows/highs are extended. This can lead to some extremely cool tones, especially for hard rock. Since the mids are pushed back, the guitar seems to be clearer and less boxy sounding. The rosewood fretboard allows the guitar to not get too bright, too. The stock pickups in this guitar suck, so I highly recommend replacing them as soon as possible. DiMarzios tend to work great in Ibanez guitars, I've found.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a neck-thru Ibanez model, your choices are a bit limited. This model is a very good guitar. However, I highly recommend playing it first. For one, ash is not for everyone. Some people dislike the strong high and low end of the wood. Also, not everyone likes the tone of neck-thru guitars. If you do decide to buy blind, I doubt you'll be disappointed.