Ibanez RGD320: Back in action

Ibanez RGD320- not mine, belongs to my friend, Fabian. I'm helping him with the action settings.

The Edge III bridge was lowered but the tension wasn't compensated so it led to the bridge reclining itself into the cavity.

OK, done. Bridge was re-adjusted & guitar is ready for collection. I only agreed to do this because I had some prior encounters with the Edge III.

Parting ways

Yes... saying goodbye to my Ibanez RGD320 & you know it's very new... like 3 month old. If you are interested, do let me know. Why am I selling? I have 2 more guitars coming in, one of which is another RGD, he he...

Asking price: $499 (neg), bag included.

Longest & shortest

I had these two guitars out today: Ibanez RGD320 & Squier Duo-Sonic, the former sporting the longest scale length in my line-up (26.5") & the latter, the shortest (24").

I started with the RGD as the longer scale length helped me warm up; some slow, doom-type riffing then moving on to licks & finally all out acceleration.

Switching to the Duo-Sonic put me in 'rest' mode despite still playing on. I did not feel the strain of having to stretch-fret my notes & this helped me play faster of sorts. Psychological really; it's the human mind interpreting 'lesser strain' as 'going faster'.

Ibanez: RGD320 mods

No, I'm not sick & tired of my Ibanez RGD320 (not yet, maybe...), I am making sure it serves my needs. As you can see, I have the Orange Drop cap in there...

The pickup selector is now 3-way (Allparts) & I have a pull-push pickup coil splitter which doubles up as the tone knob.

Pickups are still Ibanez's default VK humbuckers & that's about it. Loving my RGD320. Harold the helicopter isn't part of the mod, of course.

Who else but Master Beez- the person responsible for the above specs revision. You can click the link on the right to look for Beez for similar mods.

RGDrive

This pairing of my RGD320 & the Sound Drive SG612R has given me some very pleasant tones. It's simply a plug & play combination, no pedals or whatsoever in between. The lower tuning of the RGD requires an amp which can help it manifest clarity, especially for the lower bass notes. The SD does this well & so the pair is effective when put together. The Ibanez VK pickups are also to my liking; grainy sounding with drive but lots of non-muddy tones to be heard at higher volume levels.

VKDT

The default pickups in this year's Ibanez RGD320 is a pair of VK-DT humbuckers. These were conceived specifically, according to the manufacturer, to manifest very acceptable detuned tones without the loss of clarity. The Alnico V magnets make sure this takes place.

I personally like these pickups, they sound close to Seymour Duncan's Full Shred unit but a little restrained when high gain/ distortion is in use, maybe Ibanez should employ ceramic instead of alnico in the magnet material. This aside, the cleans are also above average but do not expect any '59-like warmth. I'm certainly keeping them.

Ibanez: RGD320, mine!

The latest addition in the house: Ibanez RGD320

I have this guitar for quite some time now, was in no hurry to update. Testing & playing it was priority.

Looks rather normal but the RGD320 sports a 26.5" scale length. The objective here is for the guitar to hold detuned strings well. It's equipped with a set of .010 D'Addarios as default & employs a DGCFAD tuning (high-low).

I'm totally happy with the neck of this guitar. It isn't the typical Ibanez skinny but the Wizard II profile, feels rather sumptuous with the thicker strings & longer scale length.

Not quite visible but the RGD320 was made in Indonesia. The serial number is proof it's made in 2009, despite the RGD series being a 2010 release.

...to be continued.

Ibanez RGD!

 

Good news indeed: Ibanez RGD320 (new for 2010) is here in SG! Available @ Standard Value. List: $760.00 Is it coming by here to my place? Watch this space :-)