Ibanez guitar buying guide II

An article by Todd Simpson - Related article

I get asked often about buying an Ibanez guitar. It's a minefield with so many models and many new ones not very good that it can be confusing. Here is a primer. Please feel free to add

Ibanez guitars just depend on price. Your budget will determine what you can get. What is your budget? If you can spend 700 euro, I'd suggest any used RG5 series made in Japan. These are all used instruments and are 10 years old or more at this point. Here is what to look for: 1.)Made in Japan
2.)Wizard Neck, (not wizard II or III)

That's pretty much it. If it has those two things it's a good fast ibby. (That is to say it will "feel" fast, the player determines the speed via precision of course) Here are some other models.

RG760 (Ibanez pickups instead of stock ibby pups), RG570, RG560, RG550, These are older guitars. The RG570 was replaced with the RG1570 and they changed the name to "Prestige". So the older guitars are really "Prestige" quality instruments. Which is why they are so sought after. They are all built in the "Golden Era" late 80s early 90s. Before Ibby switched to indonesia and korea and made their necks bigger.

If you want a newer one, 2009, you can get a RG3570Z which is what BEN just got. Killer Guitar. They renamed the name to the "ultra wizard" but it's the same thing These go $1000 U.S.

But that all assumes 500 to 1000 US. If your budget is half that, then you are more limited. I can't think of a single Ibanez made in Japan that you could buy new for under $1,000.

But if you just wanna try one, you can get a 350, 320, 420 series for a couple hundred bux like I did. But it's not anything like the golden era Ibby.

The Xiphos I just bought is something close but it's indonesian and has the WIZARD II neck (slightly bigger than the original wizard, but not as big as the wizard III). It plays well though and you can get them for $500 and it's neck-through body so it has amazing sustain. And mahogany body which you usually see on more pricey guitars.