Ibanez S470

I've been playing for 7 years and I have had an epiphone les paul for a while but I wanted something with a tremolo. My favorite bands right now are DragonForce and Alter Bridge.

I bought this guitar from Daddy's Junky Music and paid $389.99

I love the look of this guitar. The color is a light blue/silver. It really looks great with hardware color. The ZR trem works amazing and will stay in tune with the biggest dive bombs. It is really easy to play but the frets are a little taller than on my LP. I do like the pickups but would like a little more mids from them. Like the intonation tool. Strap locks pins are great.

There are several things I don't like about this guitar. First of all I can't stand how Ibanez uses those stupid allen wrench type screws for everything - they always strip or break. They material they use for all those screws is cheap like plastic and I'm afriad to adjust anything because I'll strip everything. I broke the action adjuster already. The whole tremolo unit could really use a redesign. The 2 posts that the trem sits on aren't that strong and looks like they could break. The intonation tool is great but again, uses small allen screws to lock in the saddle. The frets are too high, when you fret a note you can barely even feel the fretboard and the strings really dig into your fingers - which is good, I guess. I'm not a fan of the larger 25.5" scale length which is a big adjustement from my LP. The body could use a little more wood - the guitar doesn't feel heavy enough.

Besides the trem, constuction of this guitar is surprisingly good. The paint is hard and wont crack and resists dents. The volume and tone pots are good as is the 5- way switch. But I will say it again, adhustments on the trem such as intonation, changing a string are a real pain.

The bottom line is this is a good guitar if you can take the time to set it up perfectly, or pay someone else to do it. If you are willing to devote this guitar to just standard tuning and want a trem this is the best guitar for you, unless you can afford a PRS or Ibanez pretige. If you know of anywhere I could get replacement hardware and such I would appreciate your email. Srmason2@msn.com

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought the guitar from American Musical Supply.
I paid $300.
I like Ibanez guitars.

I like the avant-garde body. It's thin at the sides and thick in the middle.
The tremolo is outstanding.
It has a cool "moon shadow," finish.
The neck is great for lead playing.

I wasn't happy with the stock, bridge humbucker.
I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan "Detonator."

This guitar is made very well.

I love this axe! It's a fine addition to my collection.
It certainly isn't vintage
However, it can deliver great tones in any setting.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this guitar for $440 dollars at the Guitar Center in Manchester, CT.

My S470 is in a deep violet flat finish, which is nice because the finish doesn't smudge or leave fingerprints. The Wizard II neck is thin and fast, and because the neck is not glossed over, it makes it easier to slide up and down it. The inlays are cool and the 12th fret inlay is abalone, which I am a fan of. The guitar has the S-zero tremolo system, which is actually better than standard Floyd-rose tremolos, because of the sleeker design and incredible ability to stay in tune. The tuning pegs are sealed and are fine, and the knobs are normal, not too bad or good. The body is super-lightweight and the deep contours make this guitar extremely comfortable to play for long sets. There are no problems with the locking nut, and it is almost impossible to break a string if the guitar is set up correctly. The stock pickups are hot and sound great as soon as you get this guitar, although I was looking for an even hotter sound so I installed an EMG-81 in the bridge position. This guitar can trully handle all styles of music. The stock bridge pickup can dish out heavy chunks of metal power chords, or can bring out the subtleties in your playing for blues and solos. The middle pickup sounds great for clean, jazzy music, and the neck pickup sounds standard, like any 2 humbucker guitar.

The only things that bug me about this guitar are that the tone knob became somewhat loose about 5 months after purchase, but can be fixed by removing the control plate and tightening the knob. The finish is not glossed over as many Fender and Gibson models are, and therefore it is easier to get scratches that go through to the wood. The bridge needs to be adjusted every time you change to different string guages if you want perfect intonation. The neck pickup was a little weak in the sustain department, and it was hard to let notes ring for a long time. Also, the bridge on my model was a little loose in it's housing and moved about 2 millimeters from side to side, but that could be fixed by a standard set up at a local guitar shop.

Overall, you really can't ask for more from the price of this model. This guitar was built extremely well for it's price, and to be honest, is the best quality guitar I've ever seen for $440.

I've had this guitar for 2 years, and I play it every day in my band. It has not failed me yet, and can handle ANY type of music, I mean ANY type. I don't care if you're SRV the second or Mr. I-have-to-tune-this-guitar-down-like-12-steps-man, this guitar can handle it. It's a perfect second or third guitar, and you will NOT be dissapointed with your purchase.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Guitar was bought for 450 pounds in a guitar store.

It does look the buisness. The tremalo allows a very smooth action, meaning by tilting the guitar you can almost let gravity bend for you! Overall quality of the guitar seems good. The kneck is stunning - incredably quick, smooth, and great to look at, with the 's' inlays realy adding that visual punch. I havn't played that many guitars in my time, but you can get just about any sound you want from it.

The weight. Im told les pauls weigh a ton sa well, but if your prancing around like the idiot you have to be at a show, you'll last 30mins before your in great pain! The tremalo is obviously a complex thing, but rather annoyingly you do get a few buzzes from it now and again, and trying to find them is a nightmare! But they don't affect the sound so as lond as I play loud, there aint no problem. Also, the center pickup is a bit annonomous. Not really adding much to the versitility of sound.

I've had it 4 months now, and she seems in good shape. Appart from the buzzing tremalo - which can be fixed with either excessive bashing with fist, or excessive drinking of beer - it seems very solid.

If, like me, your done with your first guitar of many years, and are wanting a versitile guitar, then this could be the one. I've read on the net you can pick one up for as little as 400 quid. Of course for a bit more you could get yourself a strat, but it's just not nearly as cool! Epiphone les-paul? I nearly got one myself. Don't sound great though, and so your adding another 100 on for decent pickups... Im curently saving for a PRS -Just 15 years to go! Sure I'll be happy and proud with the s until then!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com