Ibanez S520 Electric Guitar (Light Violin Sunburst)

I've owned this and the hard-tail version (S521) for over a year now. I've played them everyday.I grew up in a violin shop and have been a professional musician my entire adult life. I have built and repaired musical instruments for over fifty years now. In all that time I have NEVER seen such a great guitar at this low price.The only mass-produced guitars that beat this in quality, are the Made-in-Japan Ibanez Prestige guitars, but they cost four times as much. I've played several of Billy Gibbons' Bolin-made guitars, which are amazingly lightweight and super cool looking, but no better. Those are custom guitars that cost ten times (or more) what these little beauties cost.For value, versatility, playing ease, design features, comfort, TONE... there is no other production guitar on the planet that is a better value. It's difficult to find expensive custom guitars that are substantially better.Ibanez attention to detail even in these low cost models is amazing. I've played seven of them, own two, and they are all consistently fine right from the box. Only one of these required a minor tweak for intonation, and that was because the guy who bought it uses an unusually light gauge of strings. (.007)The two pickups have a FIVE position switch that gives you all the tonal versatility of a standard Strat layout, but without that nuisance of a middle pickup and it's negative effects on tuning. ( the dreaded Strat "warble.") This smart design avoids that by using two pups. You get neck humbucker, neck humbucker w-coils parallel, two single-coils ( the "quack sound") , both humbuckers and bridge. The tonal variety is BETTER and more musical to my ears than the same positions on a typical strat. Even in the second "quack" position, these do not lose too much volume as almost all stock Strats do.These stock "quantum" pickups are certainly pro-grade and do not require replacement. They are plenty strong enough to punish the front end of any good tube amp for the distortion that so many guitarists crave. And if you use a high-quality analog preamp like Carl Martin or Sansamp, you can make ANY decent amp sound like a raging wall of Marshalls.Yet they are beautifully musical when played clean as more mature guitarists desire. You can roll the tone back a little for a nice clean jazz neck humbucker, or open the tone all the way for sweet articulated "straty" tones. The volume pot has a treble bleed circuit that prevents losing too much high-end when you dial down the volume. For old-school players that use real amps and know how to use the volume control ( instead of "boost and distortion" pedals) that is a real benefit when soloing! I normally do not use distortion pedals at all, but when I have with these guitars, I notice the pickups ( all positions) are articulate but not harsh. On my 520, I actually changed the pots ( to one Meg-ohm) and replaced resistors to get some "harshness" back!Like all the better Ibanez guitars, this has the famous Wizard style neck that uses laminated pieces of quarter-sawn maple for maximum rigidity and stability. Only the best after-market necks by Warmoth, Best Guitar Parts or Musikraft are as stable, and some of those necks cost what this entire guitar costs! For a while, I bought necks from Doug Darling of Soulmate guitars. Those were handcrafted necks in the 3 to 7 hundred dollar range. But Doug is now -semi-retired and you can't get a neck of his quality without spending as much as this guitar costs. These stock Ibanez wizard necks are the closest thing to those fine handcrafted laminated quarter-sawn necks... but FAR less expensive!Quarter-sawn wood is inherently more rigid, and lamination insures any tendency to warp or twist in one direction is evenly counteracted. Laminated necks are just plain better in every respect. Combining lamination with selected quarter-sawn wood is the best of both worlds. Ibanez was the first company to use this clever idea of laminating flat-sawn lumber perpendicular to the grain to create a quarter-sawn neck. That gives DRAMATICALLY improved stability at a very low price. Unless you make the neck yourself, buy a high-end aftermarket Warmoth or get a custom guitar like Guthrie Govan's, you just can't find that crucial feature.As a matter of personal taste, I would prefer a thicker neck, but since this is a production guitar, Ibanez must acquiesce to the whims of shredders who seem to prefer skinny necks. Apparently, tyros believe believe marketing BS about how skinny necks are "faster." That is imbecilic and WRONG on every level, but to sell guitars and remain profitable, manufacturers must kowtow to widespread public ignorance.Other than that, I cannot criticize this guitar much... and that is a minor gripe based on my personal experience. The most important feature of the neck is that is stays straight and seldom requires adjustment. All the Ibanez Wizard necks do that.I compared this to the new line of Korean-made Chapman guitars, which are also excellent and a great value. Ibanez has even the bargain Chapman guitars beat for value (by about ten percent). Although I admit Chapman has the edge for style. If you exclusively play "heavy' distorted drop-tuned rock, then you should check out Chapman guitars. I like them because they too are a good value with high quality and important features, but mainly because they look cool. For those of us who are required to play many styles and are not cases of arrested musical development, this is a better choice.The only other manufacturer that has good pickups AND Chapman's Korean quality are the low-cost series of PRS guitars. I like those bargain-guitars pretty well too, ( I own one) but they all come with non-adjustable one-piece bridges. They are pretty close to perfect intonation, so long as you don't change string gauges from the factory-spec .009's. But neither of those bargain guitars give you the laminated + quarter-sawn necks until you get into the 8 to 9 hundred range. Then, only the signature or hot rod Chapman guitars give you that.Ibanez s520 series is the clear winner.For my 25.5 scale guitars, (like these) prefer .010's. When I put tens on the PRS guitars, they require truss rod tweaking and those skinny flat-sawn necks don't always bend where they should. That's another reason why Wizard necks are superior. On those rare occasions when we do need to tweak the rod, Ibanez truss rods bend in the right place!.I have never been a fan of "pointy" guitars, so I favor this tame-traditional soft-curved body design over Ibanez's sharper edged RG models. Those RG's are also good, but much heavier and some models lack the laminated neck that is so great on these.The slender and lightweight S-body design is FAR more comfortable than any Strat I have ever played, especially on long gigs. The only Strat I ever played that was nearly as lightweight was a custom built Strat I made myself from Paulownia, a very lightweight wood. Even as an expert and VERY experienced guitar builder, I cannot make a guitar from scratch that is much better, and then for nowhere near this price. It takes a shop full of expensive tools and decades of experience to make a guitar any better. Believe me. I know.I read the other review here about this guitar where the review deducted a point for not receiving a vibrato arm or allen wrenches. If he truly did not receive those things with the guitar, then the seller is at fault, NOT the guitar. So, even he still liked the guitar, despite the fact he doesn't understand the difference between a product review and a seller complaint.This guitar is professional in every respect and the light "violin" finish is beautiful! Photos do not show just how nice it is!Not only is this one of the best designed guitars ever conceived, it is made so well, ANY professional could play ANY gig with it. It is studio-pro and tour ready, right from the box.I have basically lived in recording studios and music stores my whole life. No exaggeration... this is THE BEST production guitar I have ever seen!That's why I bought TWO of them and prefer them for daily playing to all the other guitars I own... 59 Les Paul, several vintage and custom Strats and Teles and dozens of boutique custom made guitars.In this price range, there is NOTHING that beats it, and to really get much better, you must spend two to ten times the cash.Although I routinely carry guitars in a gig bag for convenience, I bought the Ibanez case that fits these S style guitars. The case is a prefect fit and VERY high quality. If you travel, get that hard case too.The ONLY changes I would make would be to use stainless steel frets and have a thicker neck, but even those minor changes are personal preferences, not necessarily "improvements." These are just superb as they are. Most modern players prefer skinny necks and some purists eschew stainless frets.Very few guitars deserve such praise, especially from a practical old pro like me. Ibanez S520 and S521 both earned it.

I'd give this a 5 star-er but because it didn't come with the tremolo arm and the allen wrench tools weren't even the proper size. Other than that this guitar is excellent! I'd like that tremolo arm though... = /

but the floating bridge causes all the other strings to go out of tune when bending a note.This guitar is well made, very light and easy to play