Ibanez 2026: S-Series

Every year, the S-Series releases were pale shadows of its RG counterparts. There's some respite this year as the new 2026 models are both Prestige offerings. If Ibanez deems the S-Series to be worthy considerations in their catalog, they should make a bold move in reviving some older guitars as Genesis models. The 540S would be a delicious consideration but it would mean going back to 22 frets which will affect the manufacturer's economies of scale, to say the least. 

Pics: Ibanez

Greenie midweek

Will always make time for this guitar. The middle single coil got a green treatment but remained stock. There's no denying that this guitar is actually nothing special, just a commemorative S-Series given a very loud colour. Those green Seymour Duncans: Custom (b) / Jazz (n).

Ibanez: July 2025 (2)

So this Summer, Ibanez paid attention to the S-Series a wee bit but it's nothing refreshing. Still, it's something to populate the line up. The S670QM is a variation of something that's available in the current offerings; an HSH S-Series.

But I'm a fan of this one - the S520AH, an ash body, HH guitar. Pickups here are direct mounted as opposed to the S670. Still waiting for an S-Series Genesis model to happen.

Pics: Ibanez

SF727

Beneath the boring facade of releasing an acoustic bass & a starter acoustic guitar for the month of May, Ibanez had this SF727 out & it's both good & not good.

Good because it's a deserving addition to the S-Series which, as we all know, is living in the shadows of the RG highlight. 27 frets - yes, it goes beyond 24, Duncan's Nazgul humbucker in the bridge & those reversed shark tooth inlays are just very evil. In a good way, of course.

Not good because it's a Euro only release. Dammit, Ibanez! Why??!!

Pic: Ibanez

SCA_SEW

 ... and the weekend is here. Had been Ibanez-ing the entire week with these two:

SCA220. After missing out on the S-Classic (SC), this SCA220 was the consolation. Inadvertently, this prepped me up to embrace the SZs which were introduced subsequently. The difference? Unlike the SC, the SCA features a flat back with a curved body top. The SC replicated the S-Series body strictly & had the input jack access on the body top. Pickups here are Seymour Duncan 59 & Custom 5 combo.

SEW761. One of my fav S-Series but it's breaking down right under my nose. The fretboard is coming off the neck & I didn't see this happening because it's on the treble side which I don't look at while playing. I only realized something was wrong when fret buzz began to be heard. It will be an expensive endeavour to get this fixed; removing the entire fretboard & re-glueing everything once more. It might mean the removal of the frets to get the job done. Re-fretting + re-glueing would cost me nearly the price of this guitar to begin with so it's a no go. I've re-dressed the frets of the affected area in the mean time. So far, so good.

What an S!

This is an archaic Ibanez S270. It's dated to be a 1997, made in Korea. It was in a neglected state but brought back to life recently. In fact, I got Beez to do his magic on this guitar yesterday. It's now a treasured member of my S-Series line up.

To be continued... 

JCS21U

It's one of those rare occasion when Ibanez decided to give the S-Series a J-Custom treatment. This is a JCS21U. Liking this green version & they kept it as a 22-fretter; my preference. Pickups are DiMarzio Titans. I don't fancy cream pickups & the gold hardware, the rest are solid appointments.

This all-access rounded neck heel is also a great feature, befitting of it's custom nature. The thing about J-Customs, they are not on a standard distribution practice. Some will debut in preferred international store fronts, some online distributors will get some pieces as well. Also, these instruments are competing against American-made guitars in terms of prices, they don't fare as well in terms of re-sale value. 

Pics: Guitarsale/ Ibanez Japan

Ibanez 2021 (2)

I'm always looking forward to any S-Series developments & every year I'm let down somewhat. For 2021, Ibanez offers only three new models. The SEW761 you see above is a follow up to last year's model but featuring gold hardware this time round. How 'exciting'.

The S561 on the other hand, is the more laid back version featuring in-house Quantum humbuckers. I'm interested in this one for the HSS pickup combo & that no-frills look. Every year, the S-Series are overshadowed by other money-making models namely the RGs. Recently, the RGDs are also making headlines for the Fluence pickup/ multi-scale length iterations. It is therefore increasingly difficult for the S-Series to catch up in terms of appeal. Oh, well...

Ibanez 2020 (4)

I find this a little disturbing. The S671ALB is the only new S-series addition to the 2020 fold. Compared to the S61AL in 2019, the new iteration is given a new colour (available in 2 new finishes) & a middle single coil of the Fluence type. Everything else remains the same. Ibanez is telling us that there are other up & coming models to focus on (AZ) & this is consolation. There are already fans out there dissing this one for the middle pickup which gets in the way & seldom used. I'm not an active pickup fan & this is certainly not appealing. 

Tight

It's not until the recent volume pot replacement of my Ibanez SV5470 that I discovered these rusty/ corroded screws. Still wondering how they deteriorated this bad since the probability of moisture entering those small cavities are remote. Whatever. These were replaced.

This is the cavity view of the said Ibanez SV5470. It's definitely a tight space in there housing 2 control pots, a very big capacitor an a 5-way selector switch. Note that the volume pot there is a push-pull coil split feature which is a little long but it would definitely fit if you designate it at the volume position. I'm saying this because there are techs out there claiming such pots won't ever fit into the shallow cavity of an S-Series guitar. Of course, if you bought the longer shaft version, it won't fit for sure. Stick to the standard version. 

Ibanez 2019 (3): Initial sadness

Damn it. This is the only new Ibanez S-Series for 2019: S61AL.

Thanks for having the Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers in there but gone are the maple neck (walnut/ panga panga) & mahogany body (nyatoh). If there's any implications to all this, Ibanez is telling us that the active pickups would render body wood consideration less significant.

This makes the S61AL the only other S-Series to be featuring active pickups in a regular production model. The last time we see this happening was the S920E (above) & that's been done with in 2014. Instead of the active push per se, the Fishman electronics feature 2 voicings via the volume knob's push/ pull facility. Together with the coil tap feature, this would make an interesting tonal palette.

I sincerely hope there are some other regional exclusive models for consideration or Ibanez would be releasing subsequent variations by Summer NAMM (high hopes!). Having only a single addition in  the midst of others is a sign of impending extinction. 

At the gates

Ibanez S420- gave it a re-string.

One of my fav guitars in terms of clarity & I have the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus to thank for that. These humbuckers are touted to be twangy (especially in split coil mode) & country-esque so putting them into the S420 was a real risk. Guitars with a heavy dual-action bridge like the ZR seen here, robs it of a good low end response, we do not wish for a bright sounding pickup to be there as it complements nothing. Surprisingly, the PG does well here because the S420 in its entirety is rather heavy. This wasn't the case with the S-Series of the '90s; those guitars were some of the lightest Ibanez had ever manufactured (I still own one). 

Still not available

We're now into the final quarter of 2017, there's still no news pertaining to the reverse headstock Ibanez S-Series you see here. Highly likely, they won't make it here at all since they are not featured on the (SG version) manufacturer's regional web page. Let's see now, they are available in the USA, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Russia... everywhere else but here. If you recall the Talman models which were recently re-introduced to the market, those made it here late. By the time they appeared on the store walls for sale, the year has turned & people are into other, newer models. It's also a perfect excuse for dealers to say, "Hey, these things won't sell." If you are moving with the times, this shouldn't be the case. I sound very disgruntled because I'm a fan. I have a flailing interest in Ibanez now partly because not everything in the catalog is available here for consideration. 

None to come by

A little bummed because was told that none of the new reverse headstock Ibanez S-Series will make it here. Or someone's plain lazy so the webpage remains disregarded.

In any case, happy October, everyone.

Iron S

Awesome releases by Ibanez this summer.

These are from the Iron Label series, featuring DiMarzio's Fusion Edge pickups which are currently in the RGD range of this series. 

That reverse headstock- it's a welcomed change. Looking forward to their availability here.

Seen on this page, top-bottom:

• SIX6D- 6 string, EZII bridge
• SIX6FD- 6 string, fixed bridge
• SIX7FD- 7 string fixed bridge

Reference rant: Of mistakes & hard headedness

This is an Ibanez S-Series, an S420 to be precise.

This is in turn is an SA-Series, an SA120.

Yesterday, I pointed out a reference mistake, someone in cyberspace referred to an SA model as an S-Series when the headstock of the instrument clearly stated it's an 'SA'. But the chap wasn't too accommodating with such a pointer. According to his understanding, the SA models were the cheaper end of the S-Series which I disagreed because the SA models offer Prestige & Premium models which are in the upper end of the tier. So you'd end up having some SA models being more costly than some S-series & this puts to rest the fact that the SA-Series were there to be cheaper than the S-models. It's not true.

The reason why Ibanez differentiated the SA series from the S is due to design differences. I have no problems accepting the fact that the SA model was an off-shoot from the S-Series; a variant model, but to refer to the SA as an S model is erroneous. So the chap went on spewing the history of the S-Series since its inception in 1987, & how it developed into the SA & SZ etc. If someone does this, the immediate implication is that (to me at least) he/she has acceptance issues. If I were in this situation, I'd back off & present my case, if the other person has a different understanding of my point of view, then it's a fair difference. Others who read the differences would then form an understanding of their own. In any case, if you carry on defending a mistake, it says something about your personality, especially when it's documented in cyberspace for the world to read. In any case my friends, it will land you in some difficulties if you promise someone you are selling him/her an S-series Ibanez but ending up having an SA model at the time of meeting. It happened to a friend so the entirety of this episode is actually relating to a personal encounter of mine. Just sharing.

Morals of the story:

• Some people don't need our help. They are happy to carry on with some adversity due to a personal belief. If you try to mend their ways, they may/ may not be too receptive of your intentions especially when they did not invite you to state your case
• Do not falter when you know you are right. Present your case but others may or may not embrace it. It's not a court room proceeding after all, nobody needs to prove anything
• The seniors among us are largely stubborn people. It somehow boils down to 'I was there before you, I know what I'm talking about'. Whatever you know oh ye oldies, may still be a little inaccurate. If you don't believe what others tell you, do listen at the very least. These other people don't differ in opinion by chance. It happens for a reason. If there are exchanges in knowledge along the way, we are both winners. Do not compel your beliefs unto others, it would result in more conflicts than friendships.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone :-)

Sunset Monday

It had been a rotten Monday but then again, I couldn't really recall a good Monday. It had been a long while...

So naturally, the guitar cures everything & it was an hour of sunset guitar-ing. Was listening to some Greg Howe & tried to come up with a fusion lick but it was rather impossible if what one plays isn't intentional, like forcing a carrot through a key hole. 

Regardless of the problematic adventure, one thing's for sure- I was engaged from start to end. Thanks to my Subtraction S-series which features only a single pickup. This was the key to focus actually; using only the essentials to address the issue. If there were more than one pickups in there, chances are, tone-chasing would get the better of me instead of grinding some grey matter to solve the problem.

The key to solving a problem is to understand why it happened in the first place. Can't do a fusion lick? Try adding a single chromatic passing note to whatever scale you fancy & play it like you meant it. Now that's the key, not the carrot, to unlocking doors. OK so it's only one of many keys.

Coil splitting iron

Since I am not gonna have the pickups in my Ibanez Iron Label SIR27F swapped out, I had Beez do a coil split push-pull switch. The Ibanez S-series sports one of the thinnest body edges out there so there was limited room for such a switch in the tone position. As seen above, the switch is in the volume position instead.

Ibanez: Iron Label SIR27F

Seven deadly sins strings...

The un-blackening... (1)

This is one of my Ibanez S-series which was originally black...

... but after this morning, it sports a gold finish. The hue isn't obvious in this pic, would update one taken in broad daylight. I'm waiting for some spares before showing the complete make-over. Stay tuned...