Ibanez RG Prestige Pickups, Necks and Bridges

The Ibanez RG Prestige series of electric guitars have the advantage of a wide variety of high quality and innovative necks, pickups and bridges. Let's have a look at them.

The Pickups: The Ibanez RG Prestige 3000 series guitars use Dimarzio Pickups:

Dimarzio Tone Zone DP155
The Tone Zone is used in the bridge position. The Tone Zone is hot enough to qualify as a high-output pickup, but it has a wider dynamic range - hard picking will produce a lot of power, and softer picking will be much cleaner and quieter. It's got tremendous bass and low-mid response to reinforce the bottom end and make the overall sound bigger. The highest single notes have depth, and chords sound huge. The Tone Zone uses Alnico 5 magnets.

Dimarzio True Velvet DP175S
The Dimarzio True Velvet is a vintage-style single-coil pickup that is designed to be clean and bright - even above the 12^th fret. DiMarzio pulled this off by tuning the coil to a frequency range that's bright but not thin. They combined the tuning with a magnet stagger specifically designed to enhance string balance, which produces great clarity, even with full chords. The True Velvet also uses Alnico 5 magnets.

DiMarzio Air Norton DP193
The DiMarzio Air Norton was originally designed to be a bridge pickup but has turned out to be a seriously cool neck pickup. The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It's hot, but not distorted. It's even got cool harmonics, which are really unusual for a neck humbucker. The patented Air Norton magnetic structure reduces string-pull, so sustain is improved; and pick attack and dynamics are tremendously controllable and expressive. The Air Norton also uses Alnico 5 magnets.

The Ibanez RG Prestige RG2228 8-string uses EMG 808 active humbuckers, one at the bridge and one at the neck. The 808 is designed specifically for 8-stringed guitars and provides sound that is heads and shoulders over other 8-string pickups which tend to sound muddy and dull over the low B string. The EMG 808 features Alnico V loaded wide aperture coils which beef up the low B tone and at the same time provide a more responsive super tight overall sound. Regardless of your playing style or amp settings these pickups will articulate every note, harmonic and squeal you ask of them.

The Ibanez RG Prestige 1500 series includes both 6 and 7 string guitars and uses a different set of pickups of their own design in each:

The 6-strings use three pickups:

Vintage 8(V8)
The V8 is used in the bridge position and is a warm and articulate humbucking lead pickup with enhanced overtones and provides good harmonics without without being overly bright. The V8 uses Alnico magnets.

Single 1(S1)
The S1 is used in the middle position. The S1 provides a traditional single-coil sound yet is a high output pickup. Alnico 5 polepieces provide an even string output. The S1 is specifically designed to work with the bridge and neck humbuckers in the splt coil position.

Vintage 7(V7)
The V7 humbucker is used in the neck position and provides a tight but bright sound. The V7 is a very dynamic pickup that is great for chording and rhythm work. Instead of Alnico magnets the V7 uses ceramic magnets.

The 7-strings use two pickups:

Vintage 87(V87)
The V87 is used in the bridge position and is the 7-string version of the V8.
Vintage 77(V77)
The V77 is used in the neck position and is the 7-string version of the V7.

The Ibanez RG Prestige 1400 series consists of the RG1451 and two Limited Edition Annivesary models: the RG1420F and the RG1421F. All three guitars share the same neck and bridge pickups. The RG1451 sports a single-coil in the middle position while the the other two have only neck and bridge pickups.

V6F
The V6F humbucking pickup is used in the neck and bridge positions and is a high output, dynamic pickup. The V6F uses ceramic magnets.

RTS
The RTS single-coil is a ribbon transducer system pickup that is great for capturing acoustic sound and dynamics. The RTS also uses ceramic magnets.

The Ibanez RG Prestige Necks:

The necks are an area in which the Ibanez RG Prestige guitars really shine. All use a version of Ibanez's Wizard Prestige neck. To begin, the Wizard necks are thin and wide which contributes to fast playing and great string bending without having to worry about bending strings off the neck(I've done that a number of times on my Jacksons. It's annoying to say the least to have to stop in the middle of a solo and pry a string back into place - a bit embarrassing as well.) In addition, the Wizard necks feature a 5-piece construction.

Ibanez Wizard Prestige Neck

The way the 5-piece construction works is two different woods are used - for instance, maple and walnut. The neck would consist of three pieces of maple with two walnut strips sandwiched between them. This makes for a very sturdy and durable neck. The image at the right will give you an idea of what it looks like. In addition, the Wizard necks have a medium "C" shape which most people find very comfortable to play. The necks are finished in a satin gloss which makes them very smooth and fast. Finally, the Ibanez RG Prestige guitars use either maple or rosewood for the fingerboards. The choice of fingerboard wood depends on the sound you want. Rosewood produces a thicker, darker sound whereas maple produces a lighter, brighter sound.

Super Wizard Prestige Neck
The Super Wizard Prestige neck has a 25.5" scale length and is 43mm wide at the nut, 58mm wide at the last fret, 17mm thick at the 1^st and 19mm thick at the 12^th fret. In addition, the RG3000 models use KTS titanium rods for even greater strength.

Wizard Prestige Neck
The Wizard Prestige neck has a 25.5" scale length and is 43mm wide at the nut, 58mm wide at the last fret, 18mm thick at the 1^st and 20mm thick at the 12^th fret.

Wizard-8 Prestige Neck
The Wizard-8 Prestige neck has a 27" scale length neck and is 54mm wide at the nut, 78mm wide at the last fret, 20mm thick at the 1^st and 21.5mm thick at the 12^th fret.

Wizard-7 Prestige Neck
The Wizard-7 Prestige neck has a 25.5" scale length neck and is 48mm wide at the nut, 68mm wide at the last fret, 19mm thick at the 1^st and 21mm thick at the 12^th fret.

The Ibanez RG Prestige necks are truly unique. No other guitar necks are constructed quite like them.

The Bridges:

Ibanez has designed some innovative and very effective bridges in both fixed and tremolo configurations. The Ibanez RG Prestige series takes full advantage of these designs. Let's take a quick look at them.

Ibanez Edge Zero w/ZPS3

Ibanez ZPS3 Spring System
The Ibanez Edge Zero has a removable stop-bar/secondary spring, known as Zero Point System (ZPS3, carried over from the Ibanez ZR tremolo), which provides additional spring tension and thus extreme tuning stability. This comes at the cost of a stiffer feel and being unable to 'flutter' or 'gargle' like other fully floating systems. In all marketing material, Ibanez have claimed that due to the ZPS, unlike other locking tremolos, even with a string break, the other strings can still stay in tune at an acceptable level. The Edge Zero uses the traditional knife edge pivot system. The downside to this is that the knife edges can dull(takes years) causing tuning stability to decline and preventing the tremolo from returning to the "zero point". The knife edges can be easily resharpened returning the tremolo to to its optimal performance. In addition, the Edge Zero features an onboard intonation screw.

Ibanez Fixed Edge III-8
The Ibanez Fixed Edge III is designed around the Original Floyd Rose Double Locking tremolo system. The Fixed Edge III, although double locking, is not a tremolo. It is mounted on top of the guitar body and provides the tuning stability of the double locking system along with the sustain of a fixed bridge, similar to that of a hard-tail bridge. The Fixed Edge III-8 is the 8-string version of the Fixed Edge III.

Ibanez Edge Pro
The Ibanez Edge Pro was designed around late 2002 in an attempt to skip the Floyd Rose patents. While it features the lowest profile possible, it has no locking studs. The Edge Pro does have some advantages, though. It will accept strings with the ball-end still attached, the string holders slide and are part of the bridge and won't drop from the saddle unit while you're changing strings, so you don't have to worry about the string holder blocks falling out and getting lost.

Ibanez Edge Pro-7
The Edge Pro-7 is the 7-string version of the Edge Pro.
Ibanez Edge Zero-7
The Edge Zero-7 is the 7-string version of the Edge Zero.

Ibanez Tight End

Ibanez Tight End Bridge
The Tight End bridge is a streamlined offshoot of the classic hard-tail bridge. It's very solid and eliminates unnecessary wobble enhancing sustain. Its low profile is forgiving on your hand allowing you to play as aggressively as you want without tearing your hand up on the bridge.

The Ibanez RG Prestige series guitars sport various combinations of these features making them very versatile, great playing and great sounding guitars.

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