MGR/Doc « Ibanez SA160 »
Published on 01/20/04 at 15:00I bought this guitar from Nevada-music, Portsmouth, UK.
I had intended to buy a HIghway-1 strat, and was just playing a few of the other guitars around the shop. I didnt even know the price, I was handing the stuff to my ife, & she'd pass me another to try. This was set up better & played better than anything under 800 pounds (UK). I was delighted to discover it cost just 250!
The neck is awesome, plays very easily. I have a buetifully set up Telecaster(Fender USA) that has a lower action (slight), but still doesnt play as well. THe Tele's strings are perhaps closer together, & its harder work.
It looks like a metal guitar, but I play all sorts from rock to country, and also pick (I began life as an accoustic player). I was delighted by the range of tones the pickups can give, & switching the selector brings up distinctly differant sounds. PLayed thru my MArshal AVT I can get the whole range from, yes, thrash metal, to bluesey overdrive to crunch to a varierty of cleans.
The thing is feather light, yet the sustain thru the AVT is fine. wouldnt like to drop it: the tele would survive much better I think.
I love this guitar, and its half the price I was going to pay. Took little setting up at hoom to fine tune it too.
Bridge is NOT a floyd rose, so its not a bitch to tune. machine heads are better than the strat ones in the hop, about the same as my USA Tele in smoothness.
Probably wouldnt stand a real big drop.
People dont go 'wow, its a Fender', but then no-one has any ideawhat it is or how much it cost: just listen to it!
Lightweight. quality of the finish is superb.
The units come with some lovely wood grain finishes that are stunning: mines jet black, and that I think makes it more 'metal' looking. I got this one 'cos it played the best (marginally).
controls are smooth. pickups give a wide range. 2 of the settings hum a bit (settings on the swich selector), though not too XS, the others are quiet, the dual 'humbucker' one using the 2 opposite polarity bridge pickups is nicely silent.
easy to get to the top frets (much easier than a strat ot Tele).
bridge adjustments for string height are allen-keys, these are provided
Budget price that looks and plays like something more than twice the price. Tones are fine.
I love it.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I had intended to buy a HIghway-1 strat, and was just playing a few of the other guitars around the shop. I didnt even know the price, I was handing the stuff to my ife, & she'd pass me another to try. This was set up better & played better than anything under 800 pounds (UK). I was delighted to discover it cost just 250!
The neck is awesome, plays very easily. I have a buetifully set up Telecaster(Fender USA) that has a lower action (slight), but still doesnt play as well. THe Tele's strings are perhaps closer together, & its harder work.
It looks like a metal guitar, but I play all sorts from rock to country, and also pick (I began life as an accoustic player). I was delighted by the range of tones the pickups can give, & switching the selector brings up distinctly differant sounds. PLayed thru my MArshal AVT I can get the whole range from, yes, thrash metal, to bluesey overdrive to crunch to a varierty of cleans.
The thing is feather light, yet the sustain thru the AVT is fine. wouldnt like to drop it: the tele would survive much better I think.
I love this guitar, and its half the price I was going to pay. Took little setting up at hoom to fine tune it too.
Bridge is NOT a floyd rose, so its not a bitch to tune. machine heads are better than the strat ones in the hop, about the same as my USA Tele in smoothness.
Probably wouldnt stand a real big drop.
People dont go 'wow, its a Fender', but then no-one has any ideawhat it is or how much it cost: just listen to it!
Lightweight. quality of the finish is superb.
The units come with some lovely wood grain finishes that are stunning: mines jet black, and that I think makes it more 'metal' looking. I got this one 'cos it played the best (marginally).
controls are smooth. pickups give a wide range. 2 of the settings hum a bit (settings on the swich selector), though not too XS, the others are quiet, the dual 'humbucker' one using the 2 opposite polarity bridge pickups is nicely silent.
easy to get to the top frets (much easier than a strat ot Tele).
bridge adjustments for string height are allen-keys, these are provided
Budget price that looks and plays like something more than twice the price. Tones are fine.
I love it.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com