The headstock on my Gibson was broken when it crashed to the floor so I went to Parker Music (Houston, TX) to look for a replacement. I pretty much had my mind narrowed down to either Schecter Corsair, S1 or PRS SE custom soapbar. Playing around on these wasn't helping me with my decision as they each have their pros & cons and I was enjoying them all. Looking around as I played I saw an impossibly thin beautifully finished black guitar. Walking up to it I saw it was an Ibanez S520EX.
Ibanez. I always walked right past them. Typical Les Paul snob I looked down on them as cheap knockoffs of "real" guitars. The Corporate Beast had gotten to me and brain-washed me and I never even knew it. Bastards!
Anyway, I plucked this sleek slim girl from the wall "just to see how it feels." I thought I would confirm my prejudiced and preconcieved notion that they were shoddy, rattling, cheap piles of junk. Wrong answer. Totally wrong.
My LP is heavy. The beautiful Schecters were heavier. The Ibanez was unbelievably light. As an aging punk rocker weight is starting to become a factor with me. The PRS was very light as well but it is also a semi hollow body.
The Ibanez "felt" right, too. You know how some guitars just don't feel right or don't lay themselves out for you naturally? This one, for me, "fit." Being so much slimmer everywhere than my LP it took a moment to adjust but when I did (at least to a degree) it felt good.
Playing fast is easy with the Ibanez. I'm no shredder (punk, remember?) but movement up & down the neck/chord changes were liquid smooth. Maybe it will inspire me to learn to shred. So the neck felt good too. Only problem was my pinky sometimes missing the high E string. I chalk that up to less real estate on the neck than what I'm accustomed to. Also no inlays on the fretboard except the claw mark at 12. But I see that as a challenge to be a better player.
No one guitar is right for everyone, so I'm not trying to sell everyone on this one. But if you haven't tried one of these, I'll tell you like I tell my son: "How do you know you don't like it? You haven't tried it or given it a chance!"
I need to tell myself that more often.
| My Profile
A suprise & a lesson blog
