Pls recommend a good starter Ibanez Guitar

[coldshot76]

Hi Guys

I'm thinking of getting an Ibanez since i've been reading good reviews abt it. And the prices are pretty affordable.

At present, i have a fender strat but the 7.25 fretboard radius is hard for playing leads.

I am the only guitarist in my band so i play a good mix of rhythm and lead. We play mostly blues n rock so i have my overdrive going most of the time

I've read through the reviews and the SA260 seems like a good pick due to its SSH combi.

The RG321, SA120 and SZ320 also has good reviews.

my budget is abt $600.

What do you guys recommend?

 

[BlackMoo]

Are you into whammy? Cos if you are, then we must take into special consideration the floyds on each model. Ibanez has plenty of floyd offerings, some good some bad, which must be individually evaluated. So which guitar are you interested in, and is a whammy mandatory?

 

[coldshot76]

I'm quite ok if the guitat doesnt have a whammy. I hardly use it in my playing as well.

 

[Vaiyen]

what do you mean by fretboard radius? I often see that term but don't know what it means. Enlighten pls.

 

[subversion]

fretboard radius refers to the curvature of your fretboard top. for fender guitars the fretboard is more curved (7.25") than an ibanez (14"). to some players, this affects their playing notably because of the way they finger their frets. radius also affects bending, for guitars with a small radius, bending will result in string choke.

coldshot: it's good to try the Ibanez guitars you mentioned for the feel as these guitars sport different neck depths/ profile. the SA120 or any other selected models with a dual humbucking pickup combo, ibanez has a 5-way switching system so you'll still get effective single coil emulation as there is a split coil option in the switching.

 

[Vaiyen]

eh? I thought all fretboards were flat? nm, I go look at some web resource..

 

[sofyan]

the other sideeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Vaiyen]

oh. that's the neck.

 

[kingkong007]

He is refering to the fretboard.. not all fretboards are completely flat... If you look closely ya can see a slight arch on the fretboard. For fender the arch is more obvious... Only classical guitars have completely flat fretboards. correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Vaiyen]

i see. It looks flat on mine. Don't think I've ever tried playing on an arched fretboard.

 

[pooo]

Only classical guitars have completely flat fretboards. correct me if i'm wrong.

Not sure if it's completely flat though, might be really flat. And coupled with such a huge width, i find classicals a bitch to play at times.

 

[17wil]

why not try the GAX70?

 

[coldshot76]

why not try the GAX70?

According to the reviews, the S series seems a better investment.

i will be going down to Swee Lee soon to check em out.

I have my eye on the SA160 Transparent grey though. Very nice guitar.

Whts the diff between the 160 n 260? Wil the tremelo give me tuning probs?

 

[jeremyrozario]

the top, the 160qm is quilted maple, and the 260fm is flamed maple, other than that, i think its the same

all tremolos have their own tuning problems, eg flyod got to retune numerous times when changing to an altenate tuning, vintage trems don't hold their tunings so well when heavily whammied

 

[hullabalooeeks]

gax70. yamaha pac112

 

[ShredCow]

all tremolos have their own tuning problems, eg flyod got to retune numerous times when changing to an altenate tuning, vintage trems don't hold their tunings so well when heavily whammied

Well, when you got a trem, alternate tuning will be quite a troublesome thing to do... its not meant for that.

But if its a good trem and well set up, note that it can be more stable than a fixed bridge.

 

[wangdexian]

Downtuning is still a bitch though.
Let's just say that each bridge system has its pros and cons, shall we? :wink:

 

[ShredCow]

Well, you are not supposed to be down tuning on the fly, with a floating trem system... it just wouldn't happen. Even with the d-tuna system... you will need to have a blocked trem (dive bomb only) or a trem with the tremsertter system inorder to use it...

 

[wangdexian]

Which is precisely why it's such a bitch to downtune, IF the need arises...

 

[WiZaRd]

Hmm I detune alot actually!! ibanez rg220b with floyd tuned to D string gauge 11-50's DR and Gsa 60 Tuned to C# tuning string gauge 11-52's. I had them both setup at GC and really like it alot. THey helped me file my nut to accomadate my string thickness.But still i tink i need to do sum more adjustments to make the tuning really stable.