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I got this thing brand new off ebay for $100 delivered, I figured for that price why not add it to the collection. Let me tell ya, if you don't have alot of green for guitar, buy this one. It will cover you from novice to playing out. It's simple, stays in tune, doesn't break strings and will wail. I'm playing it through a Marshall half stack and I can dial in any tone from vintage surf to screaming metal (as Ibanez is known for). Mine came setup from the dealer (action/intonation was dead on for me, I tuned it and plugged in. The stock humbuckers work fine, but you can easily swap em out. The pots and jack are solid, no looseness or solder issues like most inexpensive guitars. I own alot of big name custom shop guitars, this axe sits next to em. In fact I've been using it exclusively on my latest recording project. My 1st, not last Ibanez. Highly recommend this one over just about any 500-600 dollar guitar. Do yourself a favor, get this and put the money you save into a better amp or other gear. The only thing I can't comment on is customer service, haven't had to use it.

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This is one sick guitar... I've been playing since 1989, and I USED to hate ibanez. But last year I picked up an Rg420FM in trade, and that thing was smoking, so I decided to grab this one. This guitar is just as sick, if not more sick than the rg420fm was. I ended up selling that guitar to move, so when I got settled in and started shopping, it was ibanez all the way... This guitar is EASILY the best value for the money. The only drawback is, its a 199$ guitar, and the pickups are weak. I knew they wouldn't be great, but I put emgs in everything anyway, and let me tell you, this thing is sick with some good pickups in it.. the original pickups aren't half bad, but they have low output volume. I ran the guitar through a gain booster before i hit my amp though, and all was well. great tone, great feel, lots of sustain, but the emgs are a big improvement. The neck feels like a thousand dollar neck, the body has a flawless natural walnut finish, and there's no blemishes, marks, or anything on this guitar... everything on it is perfect, and the action, intonation, and strings were good right out of the box. I've never been more impressed with a guitar as i have been with this one. I would recommend you pick this up and grab an emg pickup set(or the pickups of your choice) because even with the extra money you'd pay for the pickups, you're still getting a hell of a deal. This guitar plays, feels, and looks like an 800+dollar guitar... this is the single best guitar purchase I've ever made. I think I'm an ibanez player for life now.

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When I first recieved the guitar, it played fine. Nothing really outstanding but fine. the action good but could be improved. I changed the strings and lowered the action. The guitar then came alive it seemed. the neck is great, fast. the intonation was spot on. The variety of sounds from the picks is cool, 5 different positions. it is like having a LP and Srat in one! Very pleased with the guitar and would recommend.

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Mine was almost returned until I took a chance and installed a different bridge pickup. Stock bridge came in outputting super low volumes. This guitar is more or less for metal but offers some versatility than just that. For starters the 5 way selector gives you some single coil options for chimey cleans. The pickups don't need to be changed out unless you got defective one like I did. The neck pickup is very clear and warm which is more than I can say for stock neck pickups on other brands. Those tend to produce an over bassy muddy tone. The neck itself isn't what I would call s fast neck. It is rather thick and felt really dry (unfinished) out of the box. Currently as I am writing this I hit the back of the neck with a few coatings of lemon oil so I hope this remedies that feel. I'm not to keen on how thick the neck feels with me having smaller hands but I haven't got any cramps playing it. Strangely enough, players advertise this on having a slim neck. It's not. The star of this guitar is it's bridge. The fix bridge is heaven to someone who loves to palm mute. No screws indenting in your palm and more sustain with no tremelo system. To me it's the reason I'm keeping it. So many strat styles for something I don't use. Overall it's a good guitar. Set up was decent out of the box. I had some sharp fret edges that I lightly filed down in a matter of minutes. The guitar comes equipped with extra light gauge strings (.09-.42). If you are wanting to put thicker strings on you're looking at a new set up so your guitar can handle the gauge differences.There's better out there for the price. The grg20 is fifty bucks cheaper and it's around the same quality. Squier makes decent starter guitars around the $200 mark and if Silo3 was still in production that would be my top choice.

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Beautiful guitar, I like the finish more than I thought, the pictures don't give it credit, but the frets are razor sharp, Harley Benton does 10 times better fret work than this.

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If you handed me this guitar before I knew about it I would assume it costs at least double what it actually does. For only 200$ you get a mahogany body with a beautiful finish, solid hardware, an amazing neck with nice inlays, and overall high quality fit and finish. This thing plays great. It's very comfortable and easy to play. I would say with confidence that this is the best guitar in its price range. It even competes with guitars in the 300-400$ range. The only thing I plan to change are the pickups, literally nothing else needs to be done. It even came setup spot on. I also can't get over how good this thing looks. The finish is a very attractive dark red wood grain and is complimented by the black hardware. I play extreme metal (death, black, thrash, doom, etc.) And I mainly use this one for death and thrash because its great for fast accurate playing. Overall, it's a great addition to my small collection and didn't set me back much. If you can only afford a 200$ guitar, please get this one. You will be glad that you did.

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