Ibanez RG120

Bottom of the Barrel, While Still Being a "Real" RG

Sound	The first thing that stands out is the bright and snappy (a good word I'd use to describe it is 'dense') tone coming from this thing when played acoustically. The timbre is slightly more nasal in a pleasing way and a bit louder than your typical basswood RG. The body is agathis, so that explains the above. It'll also explain the brick like weight of this guitar! It's always fun to restring this one (using the ernie ball 9's nowadays). While I'm pleased with the acoustic tone of the 120, the pickpus unfortunately don't have the same bright snap. It's got the INF3/INF4 you'll find on most recent Indonesian made RG models, and they pick up vibration of the strings. Sound boring? Well they do too. While not completely unlistenable or atrocious, they certainly do come across as quite bland as they seem to lack any kind of characteristic or interesting sound. This is mostly because they don't respond that well to harmonics, and are so bass heavy that any higher frequencies kind of get lost, and actual high frequencies (shoot I dunno...anything above 2.5-3khz) don't really get picked up. It's equipped with standard 1 volume 1 tone 3 way blade config that we all know so well. The pots on this guitar don't really seem to allow for much dynamic control either. If you're into rock or metal, your usual series humbucking neck + bridge sounds are there and the pickups will do just fine for starters, and surprisingly do not sound too bad when used in a high gain setting. If you're into anything that requires a bit more of 'tonal finesse', forget it. I would however say, for those of you that are familiar with them, that these INF pickups will definitely outdo something like the V7 / V8 combo, just to reference against another typical 'stock' pup. They're hotter and have an interesting crunch when used through a 5150 style amp. The stuff I play is instrumental rock ala PG (my favorite), with sometimes a fusion-esque vibe. Iv'e also done the whole metal guitar thing to death, and I definitely would say that the 120 is aimed at that crowd.
Action, Fit, & Finish	I purchased this guitar from a local GC a long time ago when I started playing, so I'll have to go over this from memory. I'm reasonably sure they set it up, and the thing that turned me to it was the playability and sound. Someone in that store has no idea that the action on a guitar should be lots less than an inch, yet this one was nice and low just like your typical Ibanez. The intonation was also very good at the 12th fret, unlike every other floor guitar they have out. Pickup height was pretty normal- not close to the strings and not sunken in. The rest of the details I can comment on currently. Ive taken this thing apart and reassembled it, so I'll start at the headstock and go down. The tuners are probably really loose in the headstock. Ibanez seems to be really bad about letting those flop around. Nut is just regular plastic. The frets have some issues first being the fret ends. They're surprisingly smooth for a low end Indo-made RG, but still not that great. One proved to be problematic (the 17th i believe). It wasn't pressed down right and lots of notes were fretting out, but I smacked it into place with a towel and hammer (wow I was a dumb kid at one point). Standard non bound rosewood board with dots. I really like this board, but the edges in between frets are kind of gnarly. It's not hugely apparent until a good up-close inspection though. The neck profile is quite good. I'm a fan of the Wizard II. Many complain about how it's not quite as thin as the Original Wiz, but It feels a lot more stable and is thin enough to play fast for sure. AANJ and no finish cracks, and it's been beat on a little. I have the Candy Apple Red finish and it's a nice, sparkly red. If you like dorothy's shoes, you'll love it. The great thing about this finish though is that it's really rugged. The typical light scratches are very hard to see due to the paint sparkle, and it just feels well done. Plastic pickup rings around the INFs and a lovely, absolutely lovely FAT-20(yes it's FAT20 and not FAT10 like the specs. check ibby's parts section) trem to top it off! (I'm seething in sarcasm with that last one if you couldn't tell). This is THE WORST PART ABOUT THIS INSTRUMENT. They should have made it a fixed bridge model. I cannot possibly discern any other use of this tremolo unit other than paperweight (or weapon if you like :D ). The way the intonation works is, or is supposed to work, is through the intonation bolts protruding from the tail just like any trem. Only problem is that they don't actually seem to move. There's locking bolts for each saddle so you can tighten them if and when you get it right (which probably will be by hand) but sometimes the correct intonation actually lies outside of the trem's physical capability, meaning you might not be able to lock the bolt down. The bolt on my high e is halfassedly sitting there crooked, and the string is still flat at the 12 and 19. Nothing can be done about it. I haven't even gotten into tuning stability and usage, but I'm gonna save the text. The tremolo is not usable and should be blocked.
Reliability & Durability	Everything about the guitar itself is great. It's the shoddy components that make it not-so-great. After owning it for a few years, the finish has not chipped, the neck is still in awesome shape, and it actually still looks shiny and striking. There's really not anything to complain about outside of the trem. I'd love to say I would gig with it and depend on it with my life, but the lack of stable tuning and unusable trem, and also the inability to intonate it properly, I wouldn't trust it outside my room. I really hate to label it unusable like this, because for the $175 I paid for it new, it really is a sweet guitar minus that awful FAT-20.
Customer Support	I don't typically call customer support for any issues I encounter.

Liked about it	Good neck (for dirt cheap) Bright, dense tone Rugged finish
Didn't like	FAT-20 (there's seriously not even options to retrofit this god awful thing) INF pickups are a bit boring Quality of electronics overall is poor

Overall satisfaction:

2.5

By Bronx
Feb 05, 2011

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What you'd expect from a Beginners Guitar

Sound	I play metal, from Death metal to Grindcore, although I am able to achieve the sounds I want, it's not the tone I like. Keep in mind these are stock pickups and I have played worse! Don't get me wrong, these pickups do need to be replaced but they're good enough for ANY beginner guitarist! The pickups lack tone and sound pretty crappy! The bridge pickup is a little too bright, and the neck is a little too muffled- but in between you can get some cool grunge sounds out of it. However, the cleaner you go the muddiness really starts to become obvious. But to any beginner, these pickups might sound like they're being played out of a Goddesses Vagina ;) One thing that was really irritating about these pickups were they weren't leveled but angled in different positions. I also couldn't achieve that High piercing pinch harmonic! I've had way better sounding harmonics on other guitars in the same price range. One thing I give this guitar credit for is its sustain. It has fairly decent sustain for being a guitar costing $200.
Action, Fit, & Finish	Despite being one of lowest models in its line, the set up was fairly decent. The neck was very sturdy for being a bolt on! It has that killer RG look ready to take on any Metal audience! There were some flaws! I didn't like the action, it was set fairly high and the pickups weren't even leveled. You had to adjust the pickup height to achieve a decent sound! The RG120 has that RG neck favored for its thin, flat, fast-playing design with a rosewood fretboard and 24 jumbo frets! It has an agathis body and fat10 tremelo for wild whammy action! And it's loaded with dual open-coil;humbucking pickups!
Reliability & Durability	Although this Model is around the 3rd lowest in its Line, it's built to rock on any occasion, its one sturdy SOB!! First off the neck is great! Not too fat and not too skinny, it's just right. I like the neck on this model then I do on my Charvel model 6!! "Just the neck" The RG120 is the only guitar I'd let my friends use when they would come over and start fooling around with my gear! And not 1 scratch would be done by them...always by me! :P The finish to me seemed a little thin which meant it was very easy to ding, scratch, scuff and Chip!! This is a great guitar for beginners but I wouldn't bring this guitar to my gig and play live just due to the fact I have guitars that cost 4x as much with better build, sound and quality! ;) I wouldn't invest anything into this guitar because I wouldn't want to put more money into it then what I got it for(even tho it was a gift) Also, I haven't noticed any fading on this model, even though it lacked quality in its finish!!
Customer Support	I owned a couple of Ibanez guitars and products and Never dealt with anyone from the company because I never needed to, which is a plus! :)

Liked about it

This guitar has a great neck, pretty fast..but it is not the best. If you're a starting guitarist with $200 and want a great rock/metal guitar, I'd recommend this guitar in a heart beat! Everyone needs to start somewhere and this is a great starting point

Didn't like

You get "What you pay for" The stock pickups have to go, Im not a fan of bolt-on necks and The bridge is cheaply made! You cannot dive bomb without this thing going out of tune and intonation is almost impossible to achieve! The tuners do tend to get warn out quite quickly. Intermediate guitar players...this is one to AVOID! Unless you like doing modifications, then this guitar will suit your needs! It has the potential to put out great sounds and tones but why invest more then what it cost?

Overall satisfaction:

3.0

By Weezel
Feb 10, 2010

Last updated: February 11, 2010

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Pretty good

Sound	I play classic metal and thrash metal.I think it sounded pretty good.The stock pickups are okay nothing special but still pretty good.the neck pickup sounded like it had allot of bass.But the bridge pickup was pretty average.I installed some Emg hz's and it sounds great now. The wood is agathis Which I kinda like.because its heavy and that gives it pretty good sustain.
Action, Fit, & Finish	Intonation was perfect when I got it.the action is pretty good.but I'm not someone who really cares how low the action is.So I can't say how its going to be if you try to get it as low as you can.The tremolo works fine if you put a stabilizer on it.but without a stabilizer you can still dive bomb.if you don't care about pulling the trem is fine as is.The finish is also great on this guitar no flaws hasn't faded or chipped in the two years I have had it.
Reliability & Durability	I've had this for two years and its still holding up fine.I don't gig right now but if I did I would bring this without a back up.
Customer Support	I don't have any experience with the Ibanez customer support.

Liked about it

The neck is great.I think its a wizard II very flat and very thin feeling.
It has a non locking tremolo.I hate locking tremolo's so I love that it didn't have one
It has the classic rg look
24 jumbo frets are a must for me.
The neck joint is rounded.I get stabbed in the hand by some square neck joints.So this is another great feature for me.
One heavy guitar(in weight)
Stock pickups aren't too bad.
Great sound when the pickups were replaced.
good amount of sustain.

Didn't like

the trem wouldn't return to pitch when it was pulled.
It only came with two springs for the tremolo.I needed at least 3.

Overall satisfaction:

4.5

By guitarnub3
Feb 10, 2011

Last updated: February 12, 2011

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at 10 stores

Beginner Guitar

Sound	I play classic thrash metal, by that i mean like Exodus and the early Metallica, Slayer, Testament etc., and this guitar isn't half bad for that. The bridge pickup is not that bad of a pickup. It does have a darker tone than what I would like but it is a high output humbucker. It also does not handle harmonics very well. Active pickups are extremely easy to catch harmonics on but these are not. The neck pickup is way to muddy and dark of a tone for me. It also seems like it doesn't have a lot of output. I play thrash metal with heavy distortion and this guitar achieves it well. But metal is about all this is limited too. Heavy blues can be achieved but it sounds quite horrible with clean tones. if you want clean than go with a Strat or something. Don't buy this guitar expecting to sound good without distortion. I currently run through a Boss MT-2 ( metal-zone ) distortion pedal and this guitar sounds all right. Very loud and clear through the pedal. You do get a lot of feedback, and i mean a lot of feedback, from the amplifier. If i quit playing for more than a second, i have to disengage the distortion so that the feedback doesn't kill the music. The guitar originally comes with D'Addario NPS .09-.42 gauge strings. This is way to thin for me so i put on Ernie ball not even slinky drop tune electric guitar strings and readjusted the neck and action and now its pretty comfortable.
Action, Fit, & Finish	The guitar came pretty poorly set up. The action was extremely high and the neck poorly adjusted. After i put on my new strings I readjusted everything and lowered the tremolo all the way and now it plays all right. I do not know where it was set-up at but considering the strings were flat, it was probably set up at the factory. The bridge requires no routing so don't mind that. the pickups were adjusted pretty good. They were adjusted according to the ibanez manual.
Reliability & Durability	I can depend on this guitar in everything but the tremolo. One dive bomb and it falls out of tune. The tremolo is non locking, the nut isn't locking, and the tuners aren't locking so it has horrible tuning stability, especially with how hard I pick the strings and my 2 step string bends. If I brought it to a gig, because of the tuning stability, I would just light it on fire and throw it into the crowd to retire it. I do plan to fix tuning buy installing a lo-pro Edge fixed bridge. That would help tremendously. and the paint job is awesome. It scratches easily but the scratches aren't noticeable unless you really look at the guitar carefully ( unless you get mad and scratch with a screw driver, then its kinda obvious ). It will last, even with me playing three hours a day
Customer Support	No problems

Liked about it	Decent neck, bridge pickup, and it cost nothing.
Didn't like	Ok where to start...neck pickup, tuners, tremolo, factory set up, out put jack, its heavy, it looks boring, strap pins, and that's it, but it is a lot more than need be. THIS IS A BEGINNERS GUITAR. NO INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED PLAYERS

Overall satisfaction:

2.0

By dburn42
Jun 06, 2010

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Best guitar in the $200 price range!

Sound	I got this guitar over a year ago and love it. The stock pickups are great especially for a guitar that is so cheap, they sound awesome through overdrive! This guitar doesn't have much variety in sound considering it has a standard 3-way switch, but that never bothers me since I only use the bridge pickup.
Action, Fit, & Finish	This guitar came set-up pretty well, just had to tweak it a little. The finish is pretty durable, haven't chipped it at all. Mine came with no flaws whatsoever.
Reliability & Durability	This is pretty durable I dropped it plenty of times with only a small bump but nothing too big. I would definetly bring a backup to a gig considering this is a cheaper entry level guitar.