Ibanez RS300

The Ibanez Roadstar is MIJ. Mine had a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, and the stock single coils in the middle and neck. The neck is maple with a rosewood board. I loved the neck profile, it felt like a great, chunky C shaped strat. Really comfortable. It had a vintage trem, and 22 frets. I used this guitar for dropped tunings, and it shone in the lower registers.

UTILIZATION

All the sounds available were useable, the neck pickup and bridge in particular were great. The coil tapped bridge did convincing Strat single tones, and all of the tones available straddled the warmth and beef of passive pickups, and the articulate metallic chunk of active pickups. I had a coil tap installed, and the tapped humbucker in the bridge did a great Strat tone.

Upper Fret Access is average, when you consider the strat style, block neck joint. The Roadster was about 9 lbs. For a superstrat had some heft to it!


SOUNDS

I was surprised at how good the pickups sounded for the money. The single coils sounded bright and trebly, but very chimey and strat like it handled high gain really well. Almost in between an active single and a regular single.

The JB was thick and lively in this guitar. The bottom end was huge, and tight, with lots of definition, and a metallic edge to it. This is the only guitar I owned that I regret selling.

Something about the way this guitar sounded made me want to play. As I'm typing this, I'm actually on ebay searching for another Roadstar. I'd forgotten what a great guitars they are!

OVERALL OPINION

The pickups sound really unique, they're the perfect for modern downtuned metal. I think that these guitars are great value for money, and they have a very comfortable neck that feels like an old Strat. Knowing what I do now, I would buy another one. I'm actually looking for another one right now.

One thing I didn't like was the lack of availability for parts. My pickguard broke, near the jack, and I couldn't find a low cost replacement anywhere. The only way to get something of quality, in a configuration and colour that suited me, would be to custom order it, and it seemed like alot of money, given that I paid very little for the guitar.