i don't think it dings much more than a painted body but i guess it depends on the thickness of the clear coat and paint.
i played the grey version of the SZ4020 recently and i really liked it. the bridge is whole new animal. i would be pestering jemsiters or Rich about what in the world to do with it for a set up and what not.
it played great, felt great (a little on the heavy side), sounded great and overall i was very pleased with it. i would keep the pups as they had a very JB/Jazz or '59 sound going on for great clean and dirty sounds in all three positions. the middle position on the switch had a nice single coil sound that really suprised me. i tried this guitar thru the new
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 combo (i fell in love with that amp!!! - wholy smokes it ROCKED hard!!!). for a good quality hard tail i would surely consider this axe. i like the SZ series alltogether. simple design and effective. i have an SZ520qm on the way to me in the next week or so. i will have to change pups in that to a JB/Jazz.
the things that didn't please me about it was the unmatched flame maple top. the top half was really flamed nicely but the bottom piece had almost zero flame. i would prefer the natural finish over the grey but that is just a personal preference but the grey looked nice. the
truss cover is wood so where it was "stamped" prestige it "bled" and looked kinda sloppy. for $1300 i would expect something a little nicer for a prestige. the Ibanez logo on the headstock isn't pearl or even pearloid which is another dissapointment that they went thru soooo much trouble to make such a fine instrument that they would skimp on such small details. it is not even inlaid in the headstock but i think it is an overlayed decal. tsk, tsk. i think that being a prestige should still mean something even if it was made in Korea. shame on you Ibanez for that. i would still buy this guitar if i was in the market for it.
hope this helps anyone wondering about this guitar - i was excited to hear the store i teach in had one on order and i was glad to get to try it - very nice axe!
