Any current Ibanez have the same Wizard neck as my 1990 S540

[SliderJeff]

Hey guys,

Went to Guitar Center last night and played an RG3120. I didn't really like it. The neck was too wide compared to the Wizard neck I am used to and love on my 1990 S540LTD. Do any of the current Ibanez axes have the same old Wizard neck, or is it all this P.O.S. "new" Wizard neck? Also, was the neck that came on the USRG30 this NEW one, or is it like the S540 one I have? I wanted to play an RGT3120 but apparently they are only "Special Order" guitars for my Guitar Center. I don't know of another Ibanez dealer in my area, but I am thinking that I probably wouldn't care for the RGT as it has a neck that is similar to the JPM models, right? I can't stand those necks either... too rounded and thick. Gimme Old School Wizard... that's what I want.

Also, I was playing through a Line 6 Spyder... just because that was what they hooked me up to. Anyway, I wasn't too happy with the tone coming out of the guitar either. I own a Line 6 POD, so I knew how to dial in a "good" tone on the Spyder, but the tone from the guitar was just soooooo bass heavy... i.e. what alot of people call "warm". YUCK. I HATE "warm". I don't play nu-metal... I play prog metal and good old fashioned shred. I really didn't see how you could coax a good Petrucci "Images And Words" tone out of this beast. Incidentally they had this guitar marked at like $1199 I think. They had a used version of the same guitar that looked like it had been used to pound masonry nails into concrete... I mean this sucker was in BAD shape... had it marked at $499. I was like, "Yeah, RIGHT". Unbelievable.

Thanks for any help you can throw my way,
Jeff

[CDNICKCD]

Its funny, I just bought an RG3120, well you know, cuz we've talked about it in many threads, but I love the tone on it. Dark and Heavy, which is what im after, ie Awake and ACOS tone. Maybe its just me but i get a good tone, and everyone i know loves it too.

Anyway I'm replacing the pickups anyway to Breed (Neck) and Evo (bridge) or Air Norton (Neck) Steve's Special (bridge) as my second choice if i don't like the Breed/Evo combo.

[wizard333]

The one you played was a wizard 2 style, a little bigger. Makes me want to cry that they didnt release the RG3120 with a real wizard neck because other than that its perfect. The new RG570s and RG 520s have necks that match the real wizard specs (17mm 1st fret/20mm 12th fret) AND have the AANJ (all access neck joint). I have 9 of the old style wizards and just got my first AANJ wizard on a rg5120QS. I highly recommend the new wizard necks! Really solid feel (the babinga stripe my contribute to that). The neck joint on my old ones never bothered me but now that I've experienced the AANJ it will be hard to go back, may have to do some updating.

RG550s claim to match the original wizard specs, but I've found some do and some don't. The ones that don't are somewhere between a wizard and a wizard 2 or even matching a wizard 2. I even had one that was more like a SRV strat, I wanted to take batting practice with it. My advice on those is get a reliable set of calipers and measure it yourself or, if you are doing mail order, have someone who knows what they are doing confirm the size. For some reason the 550s show far more variation than the 570s or 520s, I guess its the hand finishing on the maple and the maple fingerboard.

Good Luck

[Scott Smith]

To me, none of the new Wizards feel like the old ones. I'm sure the widths might match up with the older specs but the older Wizards had more of a rounder profile instead of the flat back like they have now. To me, the profile is where the neck "goodness" lies. The older Wizards have that comfy feel, the new ones just seem like they are built for speed and that's about it. Course, that's just my opinion. Like someone hear use to say, it's all ice cream...

Another example is Fender Strat necks. I have owned over 20 Strats in my time and none felt the same. All the necks were different. Even if they were the same year, no 2 felt exactly alike. I'm sure there are small differences to each neck produced...

[sniperfrommars1]

The 520s have the original wizard neck. Identical profile to the old 1987 rg760's, this was in a side by side comparison and I cant tell a difference except for the bubinga, which incidentally makes it more stable, and I like the tone more with these. Although I miss the old ibanez/dimarzio pickups. Different models have different profiles aside from what ibanez says. Ive never seen a good outline of these models, As with anything like this youll have to find one you like as Ive never really played two necks that felt completely identical

[Anders_destium]

Could it be that the one you have is equipped with a prototype super-wizard neck or is the super meant for another spec?
I love that Neck, it feels so much thinner than the Wizard II I've also got!