Twiggy | soldguitars

(SOLD)

2003 Ibanez Prestige S3620FM

"Twiggy"

Everyone needs a Japanese Ibanez. If only to see what all the fuss is about. These are tremendous guitars, and this one is no exception.

Made in the in the Fujigen Gakki factory, which, to us 80s metal types at least, is the stuff of legend. That is where the top-end JEMs are made, and (curiously) is also where the rare Ibanez USA guitars are made (before being shipped to America to be painted and messed with).

This is one of the Ibanez 'Prestige' models, and is a severely good piece of kit. Build quality is fantastic - there isn't a single aspect of the way that this is built that I would like to see done differently or improved upon. The fretwork is immaculate, the binding is flawless, its ... just ... awesome. This is the offspring of the old "Sabre" series, with a body of normal thickness at the centre, thinning out to only about 10mm at the edges, so it is ridiculously comfortable to wear. The mass is concentrated around the middle of the guitar (just where you need it).

The body is traditional combination of a mahogany back with a maple cap (a proper cap, not a veneer), and the maple has a crisp, tight flame to it. The headstock has a maple cap too, finished in the same blue as the body, which looks VERY smart. The neck is a Wizard II (the bubinga striped version), which means that it is just a shade thicker than the original (super-skinny) Wizard necks, and is a good deal thinner than the more recent Wizard necks. Whatever, it is VERY thin and is great to play.

Pickups are both DiMarzio PAFs, which sound great (if a trifle muddy at the neck with the tone rolled down, which is fixed by not rolling the tone down!). The trem is the Ibanez 'ZR' (zero resistance) which operates using a set of roller-bearings instead of knife-edges. It is VERY smooth and responsive and COMPLETELY stable. Tune it and forget about needing to tune it again. It also has the original 'Zero Point' trem stabiliser installed, which means that the strings don't go out of tune when you bend a note - a very clever system with a second set of springs that pull against the trem springs. Seriously, all trems should be like this. I read that the collar for the trem arm on these trems sometimes snapped during heavy use (cheap metal apparently), which didn't bother me in the slightest, until mine snapped. A new part from the States, and now it is as good as new. This is such a comfortable, feather-weight guitar to play.

Lastly, check out the angled input jack. As it enters a thin part of the body, the jack socket is recessed and angled ... a very nice touch.