Ibanez SZ520QM Review

History:

Purchase: Its Christmas Day, and I finally got the guitar I've been saving up for the past 2 months (I work at a Pizza shop, $7/h and I am in Gr. 11)Anyways, I finally got my Ibanez SZ520QM, with the Gold Amber Sunburst paintjob, christmas morning because my parents paid the rest. The shop it was bought from was Central Music, a popular local music depot focusing on guitars and drums. The original price was marked at $695.99 Cdn funds, however, I managed to make the clerk drop the price, throw in extra strings, patch chord, and adjust the action (it was to low, and it buzzed a little). All in all, I paid $600, $150 of that coming from my parents. I bought the guitar because I beleive that music is an art and the instrument creating the music should be a work of art as well. Additionially, I had spent many hours at the shop testing guitars within my price range, such as epiphone les pauls, and schecter guitars. However I fell in love with the PRS looking SZ and couldn't resist. I'll save some of the goodies for the next paragraph.

What I Like About This Unit: First off, I want to comment on the price, for $600, I could not buy a better guitar. The sturdy peice plays as well as she looks. The set in neck, and giberaltar bridge allow for maximum sustain. The lack of markers on the fretboard, to me, was a great idea because no one can tell what your playing, and you look good playing on a guitar with no markers, save for a gorgeous flame inlay stretching about 4 frets in the middle of the neck.

What I Do NOT Like About The Ibanez SZ520QM: There could have been more frets layed out on the neck, possibly 24 or 25.

SZ520QM Quality: This ibanez's double humbuckers have superb range and have a really warm, bright tone. One thing I liked about the dub Hum's is that you can upgrade to EMG pickups seamlessly and have the exact setup as Zakk Wylde (an EMG85 up at the neck and an EMG85 down by the bridge). The small scale neck at I think 24.1 or 25.1 is also thin and fits easily into my palm. Also, the tuners on the headstock are smooth, and the guitar stays in tune for days of hard play (I didn't have to tune it all day so far [at least 6 hours play] - im writing this on christmas day)

Summary: I have had another guitar before my new Ibanez, and it obviously cannot compare to the quality and playability of it. The guitar may not be a good for beginners because of the cost, but it is certainly good for the more advanced player, possibly going on to do some real gigs. The guitar's looks can fit any attitude and will definitly not be an embarrassment to shred. This is my main axe and will most likely continue to be. I was lucky enough to get one in my area, because Ibanez for some reason does not deal anymore with Ontario. Buy one now, these guitars would sell easily for over $1000 if they were in any other big name such as Gibson. 5 out of 5.

Rating of this product: 5

This Ibanez Electric Guitars Review Submitted By: Mark

Date: 2004-12-26