Here's an initial appraisal of Ibanez's RG521 which is one of the members in the Genesis series.
I'm just pleased that there's no Prestige label on the headstock despite being made in Japan; telling people your product is of a certain high standard through shameless tagging simply reeks of desperation. Kudos to Ibanez for keeping standards high. There are no blemishes to report, not even a hint of skimping.
The scary thing is, the Indonesian standards are currently, in my opinion, as imposing as the Japanese ones. We have the Premium models to account for this progress. Even the Standard models, albeit not entirely, are manifesting good production standards. These models were made second fiddle only because of material grade & definitely not on grounds of workmanship.
The Genesis models return to the block heel of yesterday. If you are a proficient player, this joint type becomes an issue only because it discomforts you, nothing to do with impeding ability. Thank you, Ibanez, for keeping the Super Wizard neck carve true to form despite the alternative approach (neck construction is neither a single piece nor 'skunk striped). The biggest Ibanez selling point is definitely its patented neck carve.
This isn't a detail disclosed at the Ibanez homepage but the RG521 is equipped with a set of locking Gotoh tuners. It seems that the Japanese hands got the Math right as these don't contribute to a neck-heavy episodes; certainly not when I was handling it both in the store & at home.
Also, the string posts are the staggered type to wisely supplement the absence of a string retainer at the headstock- in case you didn't notice that.
Everything is top notch here, arguably like the good ol' days when the RG was king in Shred Land. Some people like to be transported back to familiar territory & this is that escape. The default V7/V8 pickups are bland-sounding units, nothing stellar, nothing too disappointing as well. I have better use for these for clean tones, surprisingly, but not that inviting when it comes to distortion territory. The pots here are good stuff, very smooth unlike the ones in the Indonesian models.
To be continued. 😐
1 comment:
True Ibanez is with its own propriety(the design,the pickups and the bridge by default). Thumbs up Ibanez for the models that do not rely on after market option parts.
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