Ibanez RGA121 Review

Ibanez has a rich history of making some very high value guitars at reasonable prices. By manufacturing in foreign countries and being based in Japan, they can bypass some U.S. Regulations that drive domestic guitar prices up. Their specialty is undoubtedly instruments designed for metal and hard rock genres. One example of this is the Ibanez RGA121. Let's take a closer look to see if it performs up to their high standards.

Features: The body of the RGA121 is, unlike many other Ibanez instruments, made of mahogany wood. This provides good sustain and a bit of a different tone that say basswood or alder. Also, a maple top is added to enhance the finish. There are three finishes available with the RGA121, including ruby, natural, and trannsparent black. None look very traditional in the sense of classic guitars, but they are very sleek aesthetically. The neck is made of a combination of maple and walnut, making it light and durable. The fretboard, meanwhile, is made of rosewood and has twenty four jumbo frets with pearloid dot inlays as position markers. The hardware is made to match the finish, with pickup covers being black and the bridge and tuning heads being chrome. Electronically, the RGA121 two Ibanez brand humbucking pickups, tone and volume control knobs, and a three way selector switch to maximize your tonal choices.

Playability: As aforementioned, Ibanez has a pretty impressive history. One of the qualities that has made them so successful is their playability. The full twenty four fret neck combined with deep cutaways on the body makes for excellent high fret access. Also, the lightweight body is comfortable to play for lengthy amounts of time. The string action off of the factory floor is excellent as well.

Sound: The RGA121 is certainly designed to play hard rock and metal, but it is surprisingly versatile. The Ibanez brand humbuckers can churn out wide variety of music. The neck pickup sounds great clean, much like a Les Paul. And on distorted settings it's very crunchy and deep. The bridge pickup, meanwhile, is nice and bright. It's a little piercing on the clean end, but on the distorted end is screams.

Overall: If you're looking for great playability, good make quality, and a pretty nice variety of tonal capabilities, the Ibanez RGA121 is a great guitar to pick up. It can hang in there with instruments in four figures all around. You can find the RGA121 in music stores for about $700.