After over 6 months of waiting for my order to finally arrive my Ibanez EGEN18 TVF is in my possession. There are already a couple reviews out there so there is not a huge reason for me to do this. But since I did it for the STM1 I figured, I might as well write one.
Also if you’re actually looking into buying one of these you already think its awesome and therefore my review is virtually useless.
The always amiable gents at Strait Music, in Port Angeles, WA took it upon themselves to give me a hilarious promotional display which I of course put up in my room and used as a backdrop for the photos. I mean I’d have to be crazy not to? Right?
The Story
For the past several years I have been obsessed with the high precision axes made by Ibanez. In particular the Saber body style. Unfortunately for me I was unable to find a Saber that met all my personal requirements for a shredding guitar. The one main hangup being the lack of 24 frets. (I know its not a big deal, but it was enough to make me choose an RG instead, which I’m very happy with BTW). Also I wasn’t too keen upon hearing that the regular S prestige series are made in Korea and the quality had suffered a little. But I still craved the Saber. Anyways it took the likes of Herman Li to finally design the Saber of my dreams. 24 Frets, insanely versatile sounds, Flame Maple Top, and an Edge Zero Bridge, and made in Japan by team J-Craft. If I seriously had sat down a year ago and designed the Ibanez I wanted to play, this would pretty much be it and more.
The Good
What stood out to me most of all right away was the tonal variety this guitar is capable of. Sure there are other guitars out there that play just as nice, but this thing is capable of so many different tones, The DiMarzio HLM pickups do not disappoint, the neck is Warm and dreamy, when split to single coil mode it puts out a great Hendrix style blues. The Middle is warm and punchy, sounds great in combination with the neck pickup. And my personal favourite, the Bridge pickup, it has wildly active harmonics. It screams in a very good way. All the sounds are super tight and clear. There is no hum, its absolutely indescribable how clear this thing is. Its great for nearly every type of music from Jazz, Blues, Rock, Metal… It sounds great clean and dirty, its amazing. If I had to get rid of all my guitars but one. This would be my pick… and that’s a bold statement. Since my Fender Stratocaster is pretty much my soul mate.
Another thing I noticed right away was the sustain. Its as good as I’ve ever heard from a floating tremolo’d guitar. It can really hold a note, which surprised me since the body is pretty small.
The Neck plays as nicely as I could hope. I mean it pretty much doesn’t feel any better or worse than my RG1570’s neck, but that’s not a bad thing, I mean they both play amazing and they are both J-Craft guitars. So it makes sense that they would play similarly. I mean I can’t imagine a guitar playing any better. Let me put it that way. As far as the 4 scalloped frets, I can’t really feel a huge difference when playing them.
One noticeable thing about the neck is that its actually thinner towards the body than it is towards the headstock. Which actually makes for very comfortable upper fret access. This is a difference between the regular wizard neck and the Herman Li custom neck. The neck joint is also very unobtrusive. It makes for some very good upper fret access.
The craftsmanship is pretty much flawless. The inlays are perfectly inserted, there are no glue lines or anything. There is not a single defect or scratch or blemish. You know… Typical J-Craft stuff. Same deal with their cheaper guitars. I don’t know how they do it, but I am very impressed.
The Case is is very quality. Its just a J-Craft case that fits the guitar perfectly, like they all do.
The Edge-Zero tremolo is the best trem system I’ve played so far. Its super tight, it goes right back into place after hammering on it quite hard. The springs feel stiffer than the other ones I have used, but that’s probably Herman’s “custom” spring set. Its not a bad thing, just a little differnt.
Another good thing is that he actually plays his signature model of guitar. So that makes a lot more legitimate feeling.
The Gotoh Tuners are great of course, probably like they always are. I’m assuming… since I havn’t had to tune it… ever. Did I mention it stays in tune? I don’t really know any one who abuses the whammy as much as I do. And I can personally vouche for this things ability to hold tune.
It doesn’t have his name on it. It makes me feel like less of an ass. Since I got this guitar because its amazing, not because I want to be Herman Li.
The Flame Maple Top looks really nice. Its kind subtle but I like that. Also its weird, sometimes the guitar looks blue and sometimes it looks purple.
The Bad
The flat finish show fingerprints pretty easily, its not a huge deal, just something I noticed.
Includes (Mine came with the following items):
- Wrenches for changing strings and setting up the bridge
- A very quality hard case
- An instruction Manual
- Warranty Cards
- A little plastic J-Craft zip baggy
- D’Addario Strings (9-42)
Conclusions
It is what it is, a Japanese built 24 fret S series with heavenly pickups that is built exceptionally… so if you can appreciate that, it is the guitar for you. Chances are if you are a guitarist who is legitimately considering this guitar then you already know its going to be a good guitar. But if you’re just looking for a sweet 24fret S series go for the S5470 and have your own choice of pickups put in it. It would be a way to save $800+, though… like I said, these pickups are magical. The coil spliting is very cool. So although pricey, in my opinion well worth the money.
I will update this review continually and make it more useful.
Geoffiological Super Rating System (GSRS)
- Craftsmanship 9.75/10
- Playability 9.75/10
- Soundz 10/10
- StarPower 10/10
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