On 2008-04-20, Curto rated this Ibanez SZ520 a 5...(12961)
History: I have been an avid guitar player for around ten years, and I have played drums as a side hobby for probably around five or six. Over the years I have owned several guitars, and aside from the fact that I am just a tech head that loves to keep up with the latest equipment, I spent my college years working in a music store, so it was my job to know such things. I have always been active in the local music scenes, I play alternative/rock music, and every now and then I like to try my hand at metal. I have a great love for almost any kind of music, though.
Purchase: First off, I reviewed this guitar five years ago on this very site; the review is still posted. I wanted to give you the "five years later" review so people know how well these babies hold up! I bought this guitar over five years ago, in Cleveland, TN. I purchased it from the music store where I was working at the time. I believe at the time they retailed for around 5-600, I don't remember how much I paid, and I know the new models are now retailing for quite a bit less. I was looking for a new axe, I saw this one, picked it up, and it was basically love at first sight. I knew it was for me after I played the first few notes.
Pros: Nearly everything. Aesthetically it is an absolutely beautiful guitar. I have the Gold Amber Burst finish, and it has held up beautifully over the past five years. It actually gets prettier as it ages (I think so, anyway.) The neck and body are crafted from mahogany and the fretboard is rosewood. The neck is fat, which is what I need in a guitar. I have trouble playing with those "fast neck" heavy metal guitars. It has a set neck, and the body is quite heavy, giving it the feel of a much more expensive guitar (It has the weight and feel of something along the lines of a nice Gibson). Over the years I have grown to love the lack of fret dots, but as a teenager who had only been playing for a couple of years it was confusing. I think the newer models have inlays all down the neck, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. The gibraltar bridge (reminiscent of the gibson tune-o-matic) and tuners keep this guitar in tune nearly perfectly. I never have a problem keeping her in tune. Never. As far as pickups are concerned, the stock pickups are open coil Ibanez humbuckers. The neck pickup gives you a beautiful, warm, fat tone. Now switch over to the bridge pickup, throw on some distortion, and you have a beast in your hands. Seriously. The rest of the guitar is standard electric guitar fare, Two volume knobs, one tone. Three way selector switch, etc.
Cons: Keep in mind that a lot of this is my fault. This guitar is pretty rugged, and under normal circumstances nothing will go wrong with it. But after five years of owning this guitar (gigging, traveling, etc.) I had to have some soldering work done because a connection came loose inside. That's the only problem I have ever had with this guitar, and it was fixed by a guitar technician in about ten minutes. Also, the input jack comes unscrewed easily, but again that's my fault for being too rough with her.
Quality: I think I have already done enough of that, but I'll reiterate :-)
The basic design is quite sturdy. This guitar is basically a big ol' piece of mahogany. Mahogany body with a mahogany set in neck. Rosewood fretboard, 22 frets with a neat little fireball inlay at the 12th fret. The gibraltar bridge gives this baby awesome sustain, and the pickups are to die for. I'd get a noise gate for hard rock though because the bridge pickup can be overpowering :-)
Such is rock & roll. On a side note, everyone who has ever seen my guitar has had positive comments about it, players and laypeople alike. People who know nothing about guitars think it's beautiful, people who know quite a bit about guitars think it SOUNDS beautiful. I had a guy (a "professional" musician) tell me that he liked his SZ better than his Les Paul Custom. No lie.
Review Summary: I love this guitar. You absolutely cannot go wrong with this instrument, especially for the price you pay. Ibanez could make some serious money if they would jack the price of this guitar up just a tad and market it better. On 2003-11-12, Curto rated this Ibanez SZ520 a 4...(6147)
Purchase: I bought this guitar new at Cleveland Music (Cleveland, TN) for around 450-500ish, I don't remember EXACTLY how much, but I know it retails for 599.
Pros: I like pretty much everything about it. the pickups sound just like an ibanez should...you get a big fat clean sound, and when you turn on the distortion it rips! It's an extremely pretty guitar, it comes in two colors: Gold Amber Burst, and Blueish burst. I got the gold one, but they are both pretty. The fireball at the 12th fret is cool also.
Cons: The one thing I can say that I don't like about it is that there are no dots on the frets, and it takes a little bit of time to get used to it, and in dimly lit areas it's kind of hard to see what you're doing. Other than that it's a great guitar!
Quality: The quality is great, everything on this guitar is pretty rugged. I've had it for probably around 3-4 months now and it's my main axe now. Review Summary: Overall, it's a great guitar...awesome sounding for hard rock music. The only downfall is the lack of fret dots.
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