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Ibanez RG350EX Electric Guitar Black
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The Ibanez RG350EXis a maxxed out guitar that's built for raw power. Its triple pickup design with 2 IBZ Infinity humbuckers and an IBZ Infinity single coil, basswood body, Wizard II neck and 24 jumbo frets make it one formidable addition to your ...
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Searched Ibanez RG350EX Electric Guitar Black in Reviews
a true workhorse 
| Sound |
I play rock, shred, pop and jazz. With stock pickups this thing can already get you through a nightly gig with the right EQ-ing. It sounds reasonably clear and heavy with medium-to-high gain settings (check this out for a short demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9llNBop_qM) and equally clear with cleaner settings. Surely, with the right pickups (I put Evos) the guitar would take on an even more authoritative and confident voice.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
I got the guitar with medium low action without buzzing. I would think this was set up prior to me buying it. It was really heavy (the batch of wood used was perhaps a bit dense?) and felt solid. The neck was nice and thin, with a slightly flat profile at the back. Being used to playing guitars with narrower string spacings, I was a bit surprised with the 350 at first, but a few weeks of playing with the guitar and I got used to it. The other things on the guitar, such as the pickguard and the bridge, felt really solid.
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| Reliability & Durability |
I've had this guitar for close to two years now. I am not particularly violent with my whammy bar compared to Steve Vai, so the bridge still stays in tune (with a little help from Chapstick, thanks Rich!). Despite the battle scars and scratches on the guitar, it still does what it's supposed to, and I still love it. The only weak point of the guitar was the electronics. It didn't matter if you had a lot of cosmetic damage on the guitar, as long as it still produced sound when you strum the strings. I had to get the guitar rewired twice just because the pots wore out and got scratchy whenever you roll them. Additionally, the guitar has developed this slightly annoying buzz sound, also probably due to the electronics. The bridge parts have corroded quite a bit, but they do not really affect my playing.
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| Customer Support |
I never had to call Ibanez for anything, since the distributors do repairs themselves.
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| Liked about it |
1. It was my first Ibanez, my first locking tremolo guitar, and the first guitar I really loved to bits.
2. It does what I wanted it to do, even after two years of medium-to-heavy usage.
3. It has this certain crowd-pleasing appeal whenever you strap one over your shoulder.
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| Didn't like |
1. Electronics could be improved (shielding, better pots, etc.)
2. Hardware can be improved (metal parts corrosion, durability, etc.)
3. Harder wood could be used (wood started to strip after installing new straps)
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Good Budget Priced RG
| Sound |
Sound wise its quite a good guitar offering a good range with the use of 2 humbuckers and a single and 5 pick up selectors. I use it through a Peavey amp and a range Boss pedals. Good guitar for general metal sounding music which I'd say is it's main aim, though with use of the neck humbuckers on a clean channel you can get some very nice clean accoustic kind of sounds.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
It's hard not to compare it to my RG550 and Jem as this basically is a lower end version, it does a good job to imitate them but for the price of course it doesnt come close. The bridge is an Edge 3 which is fine for general basic use but dont expect too much from it. The neck although fine, it doesnt come close to a Prestige or Jem neck, the craftmanship isnt close, which from a Korean made guitar you expect. The neck is also thick in depth, very unlike a RG550 or Jem, not sure why they have done this. The frets arnt as smooth when bending strings, its as if its grating as you bend. I'm making it sound bad but really it's not, It's just this is what you notice when playing a Jem daily, but this is why it's a fraction of the price. Overall it is a good guitar, and if your a beginner and this is your first guitar then this will keep you going for a very long time, this certainly is much better than my first guitar of a Hondo Strat copy.
It looks good too this guitar, i changed the pickguard from the silver one to a blk/wh/blk 3ply and to black knobs so it looks like a RG550, it now looks very classy. This is a good hobby guitar, it has a good strong body giving chance to upgrade the pick ups and bridge, mind you the pick ups that are stock are pretty good to be honest. I wouldnt buy this guitar purely for upgrading though as the neck will always be the stopping point to make it a perfect guitar, and you change that then all that money on upgrades would of got your a prestige anyway.
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| Reliability & Durability |
It is a strong sturdy guitar, no issues with mine.
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| Customer Support |
Not had to contact them.
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| Liked about it |
1) Looks good
2) Sounds pretty good
3) Good budget price, very good value.
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| Didn't like |
The neck for me is its slight downfall, not so much the quality or feel of it, but the thickness of it (going by a 2006 model)
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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A good guitar for a good price
| Sound |
The sound is good enough for the price. I'm using it with a Laney LV200. No effects. I can easily get Metallica, Megadeth and even Dream Theater tones from this guitar. I can even play blues with it. However, a pickup change is recommended if you can afford it. The middle single coil is very useful, I use it in positions 3 and 4 to get "acoustic" sounds. The cleans are good, and the distortion is, like I said before, good enough for stock pickups. Don't expect the ultimate tone from a $300-$500 guitar. To have it, you'll need to change the stock pickups.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The store I purchased it from did a complete set-up, so I can't comment on factory setup. There is just one thing I must say: the neck is by far the best part of the guitar. I know it can't be compared to prestige or jem necks, but this Wizard II neck is really fast and comfortable. Perfect to play metal, shred or anything that requires good technique.
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| Reliability & Durability |
It's been a year since I purchased it. So far no problems. Just one thing bothers me: the cosmo finish in the tuners, bridge and knobs wears really fast. However, it's not a big deal. I've read many reviews of people complaining about the Edge III bridge. Let me tell you something: a floating bridge requires maintenance. You have to check if the locking nut is tight, among other things. I used to have tuning stability problems too, but they disappeared when I started to check all this things. Keep this in mind.
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| Customer Support |
I've never dealt with Ibanez.
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| Liked about it |
- Good price
- Comfortable neck
- Wide variety of tones.
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| Didn't like |
- Cosmo finish wears too fast.
- Should have better pickups, but the stock ones are good enough for the price.
- It's a bit heavy, but it's not a big deal.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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Good For Price
| Sound |
Well I've played this guitar through many different amps and it doesn't sound too bad when put through a good tube amp but it holds the amp back with the cheap pickups, it has fairly thin harmonics and they get worse the thicker you try to get distortion. They do clean tone well enough and pickup strings fairly equally
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
It came set-up very well from the factory, (At least enough that I could play it for a while before setting it up myself) it was in tune and had only action problems from factory, I couldn't see any finish problems except for the wood showing through the neck bolt holes (Something I see in most Ibanez anyway?). Also the knobs and switch work smoothly and don't slip in their place.
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| Reliability & Durability |
It is a sturdy guitar, I have beaten it many times against hard surfaces and there are no dints or scratches, the cosmo finish has changed colour after months of play but it is still an attractive colour. I could play this without a backup but it wouldn't be my first choice, especially against prestiges.
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| Liked about it |
I like that while it has the cheapest locking tremolo of the Ibanez line it stays in tune very well. I also like that it is very durable and sturdy while still comfortable. The best thing I like is the 5 way switch because more pickup options bring more value to the guitar.
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| Didn't like |
I don't like the shape of the neck, it has a curve to it that doesn't feel natural in my hand sometimes.
I don't like the tremolo arm holder, because it uses friction to hold the arm it has eaten away through about a third of the arm at the base. I have no other complaints about it but I wish there were more colour options.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Good Buy
| Sound |
The sound of this guitar surprised me, it has a darker sound similar to current Metallica and a Petrucci type sound like of "Constant Motion" It's packed with Ibanez INF3 and 4 humbuckers. I don't really use the single coil because the sound is so fat from the humbuckers, almost addicting lol.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
Love the appearance, has a nice metal pickguard on a black finish. Ibanez has great black finishes on their guitars. Think this has a wizard II neck, but the neck is fatter than your typical Ibanez and has a nice snug feel. 24 frets, feels like a medium fret, not as fat as a RG520, and the fret markers and binding really set the guitar off. I don't even use the trem, but I haven't had any tuning problems. The whammy bar just slides into the trem, no snap in here. The volume and tone knobs are kinda tight, at least on mine so far, which makes it harder to kill the volume fast.
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| Reliability & Durability |
Although I wouldn't make this my main axe, its a superb backup guitar and great for recording. It can be tweaked easy for higher performance duties.
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| Liked about it |
I like the finish and overall look.
I like the sound, very fat.
I like the inlay and binding.
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| Didn't like |
Wish it had an Edge trem
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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internal use: spec98 spec484 spec552
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