Ibanez J Custom RG8560 - Sapphire Blue - Sweetwater Exclusive Review

As far as J Customs go I was Disapointed.

So I own several J Customs. and I am a huge fan of Ibanez, when I seen this one I purchased without question. Now form fit and feel, it is a J custom, fret work, neck, everything flawless. I gave it a lower score because of 2 things, first the Bridge. This has a low pro edge bridge on it. Which is a considerably cheaper and inferior bridge than the other J Custom bridges. You… read more get these bridges on the lower end premiums. Some standards have them. I am not sure why this one was chosen. The Regular J Customs always came with the the Edge Zero ZP3 bridges, at least all my others do. Difference being the low pro edge has push in bar, with cheap silicon bushing that wear out, make it hard to use and adjust, the edge zero has screw in with height and tension adjust. Also Edge Zero you can set intonation all build in without detuning and lock everything in. I can deal with it I have this bridge on other Ibanez but it was one of the main reasons I see J Custom and I buy them for the superior bridge. This whole bridge is why I give it the Could be better rating. Second, the pickups. I took a chance on these, Black Velvet, no one really knows much about them and couldn't find any info. I can't say I am impressed in any way. I find them kind of thin sounding. Especially when they are describes as thick sounding. In all, this may be one I trade away, I gave it time to try and get used to it. I might swap out pickups see if I like it better. If you basically want this guitar, but think you might like other pickups I recommend Ibanez, RG6PKAG I have that ones as well, same specs, woods, neck, bridge, with EMG's at half the price. I like it with EMGs though. It even has luminlay side dots for playing live, this J Custom does not. Basically other than the Tree of life inlays, I would put this up against several Premium or Prestige Ibanez in specs.

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Dream Guitar

If I had access to the Ibanez Custom Shop this is the guitar I would have designed, except with real binding instead of the faux binding. That being said, the faux binding has grown on me. I didn't think I'd notice an improvement over my Premium and Prestige Ibanez guitars but this one even surpasses those. I'm so happy Sweetwater decided to get this color/finish too. Plays like… read more a dream, was setup perfectly, honestly I don't see any way it could be improved upon.

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Remarkable

I own 6-7 Prestige Ibanez guitars so I didn't expect this one to be able to stand out that much. It's like the difference between a Premium and Prestige, amazing guitar. It beat even my lofty expectations. Plays like a dream, sounds remarkable, not a thing to be critical about. This was the guitar I would have designed (well maybe an S body instead of RG) if I had access to the… read more Ibanez custom crew for my own build. I wasn't excited about the faux binding but honestly now that I have it I wouldn't change a thing. Amazing guitar, amazing service and sales support from Sweetwater as always.

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