Mid Range Ibanez Recommendations Part 2

This year, is a good year for Ibanez lovers. This is a year of change. This is a year where players get choices which they normally don't on previous years. This is a year of Ibanez willingness to break out of it's norm shell and try something different. Lastly, this is the year which Ibanez offer to players out there, a choice of different tone wood, without causing a big hole in out pocket.

Part of this year's brilliance, I present to you the Ibanez RG470AH, a mid range Ibanez that isn't made with Basswood. Instead, this model sports a Swamp Ash body in beautiful natural satin finish. What makes this change so enticing then? Well, Ibanez has long been making RG from Basswood for it's mid range guitars which includes the famous RG550. There is nothing wrong with the mid range dominant Basswood and neither is it a bad tone wood for a guitar. However, not everyone of us likes Basswood or rather, few of us would like to have the option of some tonal differences. Swamp Ash offers more resonance across all frequency and might appear punchy to some. This is the exact difference compared to mid range dominant Basswood.

Coupled with this year's innovation is the introduction of the new mid range Ibanez Vibrato Tremolo bridge, the Edge Zero II.The new design provides tuning stability and gives the player the option of taking out the Zero system turning the bridge into a full floating tremolo. The bridge also has the advantage of buttery smooth action of pulling up and whamming down while the locking studs, which are once again being introduced with this new bridge, providing superior tuning stability.

For the uninitiated, Ibanez created a bridge that has a lot of tuning stability problems known as the Edge III(There are more which I shall not mention). For a list of the Ibanez Tremolo Vibrato bridges, click here to find out more about the different types of Ibanez Tremolo Vibrato bridges.

Ibanez also did a slight revamp on their Wizard II neck shape and equipped with this guitar is the Wizard III neck. It feels similar to the Wizard II however, with the exception of the extra meat at the sides, giving it a chunkier feel. Even though it is chunkier at the side compared to the Wizard II, it does also however feels "thinner" than the Wizard II due to the flatter back. Think of it in terms of a Thin U shape vs a Thin D shape profile. However, this is by no means a baseball bat neck of the Gibson and is by all means very shred-able.

It also features a 400mm radius (16") which is in my opinion the perfect balance for easy chording and scaling. 43mm nut width (the others being 42mm) provides a wider width for the neck giving sufficient string spacing for fast scale runs. Coupled with the maple neck is the rosewood fretboard which are slotted with Jumbo frets which allows almost effortless note fretting.

As usual with all the mid range Ibanez RG line are the pickups. The Ibanez INFs are pick ups with high output but gets really muddy and thin with high gain. As bad as I deemed them to be, they aren't totally unusable. Compared to guitars of similar price bracket, the pickups do sound way better. However with a pickup swap, this guitar will be a decent workhorse for professionals or professionals wannabes.

Generally, the production line from Ibanez's Indonesia plant has proved the test of time and is still producing great quality instruments of the price bracket. If you are in for a change, for something different from the typical Basswood Ibanez, do try one of these at your local Ibanez distributor today. You might just bring home a new member for the family.

Ibanez Edge

Often, when we walk into a store or surfing around the net, looking to buy an Ibanez Tremolo Vibrato (Floyd Rose) equipped electric guitar, we might usually be asking ourselves if this guitar comes with a decent bridge. Ibanez being a company with over 20 years of producing Tremolo Vibrato equipped bridges, there is no wonder that there are so many of them that leaves the potential buyer lost. Fear not, in this article, I shall introduce to my readers the common, popular different Tremolo Vibrato bridges that Ibanez has every produced.

Ibanez Original Edge



Ibanez take on the Tremolo Vibrato Bridge. To many, this has been an all time favorite and is known for it's Tuning stability. The bridge has a spring lock bar and push in arm. Comes with Locking Studs.

Lo-Pro Ibanez Edge (Low Profile)



Design is pretty similar to the Original Edge with a few exceptional differences. It has fine tuners moved to the back while it is heavier compared to the Original Edge. String lock screw is located at the saddle. Has the same tuning stability as Original Edge. Comes with Locking Studs.

Edge Pro



The Edge Pro is the further modification of the Lo-Pro design. It features sound metal chips at the saddles that improves overall tone and can accept ball ends. It is the lowest profile Tremolo Vibrato Bridge. Tuning stability has been reduced because the locking studs which was included with the previous Edge incarnations were being excluded. However, Rich Harris from Ibanezrules came up with a Locking Stud mod and with them installed the tuning stability is on par with Edge/Lo Pro. 2003

Edge Zero



Ibanez created an all new tremolo system which supposedly has the ability to counter the flaw of every Tremolo Vibrato Bridge. That is the whole guitar going out of tune with the breakage of one string. This is known as the ZPS system. What this doe is, it is a giant spring that is placed at the tremolo cavity, acting as a counter force pushing the tremolo to a "Zero" position. It is of course switchable to a floating position by removing the ZPS system. The profile is slightly higher compared to Edge Pro. Features built-in intonation tool. Pre 2011, these come without the locking studs but from 2010 onwards, all of them are pre equipped with a pair of locking studs which therefore, increase stability.

Edge pro 2



This is the cheaper version of the Edge Pro. The visual difference are the excluding of sound metal chips. It has poor tuning stability with it's weak knife edges. However, the routing is able to accommodate Original Floyd Rose without the need of further routing should the player desire to switch to a bridge with better tuning stability.

Edge III



This was the bridge designed to replaced the Edge Pro 2 due to the conflict of patent rights with Floyd Rose. It features the same arm as the EP2.
Tuning stability is about the same compared to the Edge Pro 2. The routing is able to accommodate Original Floyd Rose without the need of further routing should the player desire to switch to a bridge with better tuning stability.


Edge Zero II



The Edge Zero II was introduced in 2011 to replace the Edge III as it's mid range Ibanez Trem. This is so far the best midrange system ever made by Ibanez. It features the zero point system with all the functions of the Edge Zero with the exception of the intonation tool. It has way better Tuning stability compared to Edge III and features locking studs for better stability performance.

ZR



The ZR is a Ibanez design Tremolo which functions close to a Khaler system. Instead of having Knife edges like the traditional Floyd Rose designed Tremolos, it uses a ball bearing-based pivot point instead. It has a different feeling compared to Knife Edge Tremolos but has great tuning stability none the less. This bridge also features a Zero point system which are existent in Ibanez Edge Zero series.


ZR II



ZR II is the successor to the ZR tremolo. the main Tremolo system is the same as the original ZR tremolo with the exception being the use of a different alloy in the spring assembly and a new design of arm holder. The Original ZR system had a flaw where too much wood had to be removed for it's cavity and the arm holders breaks easily. This bridge has great tuning stability and features the Zero point system which are existent in Ibanez Edge Zero series.