I think I'd get a different model if something happened to this one, but its unique and somewhat mello/earthy appearance makes it stand out from others and creates a seemingly personal or custom ownership experience.

Sound
This model has the INF 1 and 2 pickups which sound less natural and seem to be higher output than the INF 3 and 4 that are in the RG321MH. I lowered the pickups a bit to compensate for the output. Arguably the concern about their tone may be invalid considering the 321MH has a through-body fixed bridge. One major disappointment is that the body is made of 4 pieces of mahogany, instead of just 1 or 2, which likely limits sustain and tone. There's more noise from this instrument than the 312MH, so I'll have too look into better grounding and install some shielding.

Features
The 5 way switching is very useful. The Edge III can be tweaked to pretty much any desired action and once properly set up stays in tune reasonably well with all-out use.

Ease of Use
This guitar required literally every adjustment possible. It arrived with unconscionably bad intonation. Some saddles had to be moved to even different holes to even begin to be dialed in. The relief in the neck was too great and required a couple days of truss rod adjustments. The pickups had to be lowered as previously mentioned. The tremolo had to be leveled and adjusted to taste. This guitar was purchased… read more new. Anyone without set-up experience and considerable patience would either send it back or keep playing it and think it was not a good guitar. Once set up correctly it isn't a bad guitar at all, but upon arrival it played like a $99 guitar.

Quality
See above ease of use for set up concerns. The volume knob is falling off. Its innards are plastic that snap onto the pot ~ unheard of. There's no way to tighten it save for use of glue or wax, which would risk contaminating the pot. The pickups sound and appear to be entry level. As previously mentioned, the body is 4 pieces of mahogany glued together. The frets were polished and smooth along the fretboard. The high E string is a few mm too close to the edge of the fretboard. Beyond that, the finish and apparent quality of the Edge III seem excellent.

Value
Compared to others in the price range (I got it for ultimately $359), I think I'd be hard pressed to find better new.

Manufacturer Support
I haven't heard back from Ibanez yet about the setup upon arrival concerns. ZZounds did promptly honor their price match guarantee when the price dropped though. I have dealt with Ibanez in the past regarding the promotion where you bought 2 Tone Lok pedals and received a free case. I didn't get the case for 4 months and eventually found an internal number to their US HQ in an online forum and after a few phone calls received the case.

The Wow Factor
The finish of the RG420CM is almost vexing. It does grow on you but it's very different. That fact had drawn me to it initially but the price drop sealed the deal. I had to stain the inlays because they seemed in their original off-white plastic state contrasted with the color and visual of the body.

Musical Background:
Hobbyist, occasionally semi-pro

Musical Style:
All over the fretboard, rock or jazz read less