Hi, Just wanted to share my experiences with you all.

For years I have been feinding over the Edwards ECY 165CTM. I have just always loved the looks of them. I finally purchased one from Ishabishi music (I am in Australia so it was pretty much my only option). I was searching for one for about 3 months, there weren't any going on ebay. It was very hard for me to pull the trigger on this bad boy, as I am a die hard Ibanez fan. Also, it cost just under 2k delivered, which would be putting me in second hand j custom territory.

I am not 100% sure but I believe the guitar is made in China, which made the decision to purchase even harder.

First impressions were bad. The guitar is well put together but has many blemishes around the mother of pearl areas. The all round finish quality is noticeably inferior to a prestige Ibanez, but still good. The sound of the guitar is to die for, also the neck is quite thick which I didn't like at first. It has slowly grown on me though, and now i full on love it and sadly i have not played any of my prestiges for months as I just enjoy playing the edwards more. There is something unquantifiably awesome about this guitar. Contrary to what I thought, I find a thick neck more comfortable for my big hands.


I would highly recommend this guitar. I feel a good analogy would be that an Ibanez Prestige is like Porsche 911. Pretty much the best put together thing you can buy. A Precision Instrument for the professional musician. The Edwards is more like a high end Mustang. I just never realised I was a ford man until I bought this guitar. Its a great sounding fun guitar that I just love playing.

I just prefer the feel of this big and heavy bold brutal guitar.

Apart from the minor quality flaws, my only real complaint with the edwards is it doesn't have perfect 50/50 weight distribution like the ibanez. I will probably look at putting some extra weight in the electronics cavity so it is not so neck heavy.

The FR1000 trem is great now that I have replaced the crappy trem arm and springs with orignal schaller. The schallar trem arm is vastly superior, it is mandral bent, has an extra bearing in the trem arm lock, doesnt vibrate and is a fraction shorter which i find better. Still considering how much better the Schallar parts are, Once the gold wares off the hardware I will probably change the entire trem and hardware to original silver shcaller.

Hope you enjoyed my crappy review. I still firmly believe Ibanez Prestige are the best built and finished guitars in the world, sadly just not my cup of tea anymore.

Looks like a beautiful guitar in the photos! And it sounds like you and the guitar are forging a strong relationship which is the main thing...if it feels good to you then it is all good! Congratulations!

I would like to see some close up photos of that neck inlay if you get time....

That guitar looks cool. I agree with Dorian...we need more pictures. Congrats...

Finally! Someone who didn't get the ugly red one!

Very sexy dude! I've always been interested in that guitar! I just don't really use 6 strings anymore.

Ive got some more pics so you can guage the quality.



Note: Neck alignment not quite perfect. Can not be adjusted since it is a neck through. High E falling off fretboard occasionally. Not too much of an issue, just took a bit of getting used to.



Lots of black spots like that above the fret, throughout the inlay.



lots of bubbles in the inlay (i guess they put glue or something over a fine piece of inlay (probably a sticker) to give it depth. Also, binding not quite cut perfectly.



Not sure what this is, but maybe a slight overlap of clear coat onto the neck, or a slight imperfection of the wood (where the body binding ends)



Not quite sure whats going on here. Binding kinda blends into the wood



slight scratch in the fretboard parallel to the binding, also lots of black spots in inlay in this area.



More black spots




There were also a few minor slips at the factory with the crowning tool, but all in all the fretwork was very good, the frets were about as level as you could hope for. Fret ends were a little to angled for my preference as well. The guitar came setup extremely poorly, required a lot of tinkering to get up to scratch (nothing major, just adjusting). I added the original Schallar trem bar and the original german made anti rattle trem springs. Made a big difference. These mods are essential for any FR1000 owners. Even the trem feels better with the german made springs.

I have never owned another guitar with such "artwork" so im not sure if any of them are perfect. Would be interested to hear from some J Custom guys.

All the jap made ibanez's ive played have been pretty much perfect, and certainly 100% blemish free. I guess for 1400 or whatever this guitar sells for in Japan, its pretty damn good really (i paid about 2k including shipping to Aus).

Having said all this, i simply prefer the feel of this guitar to any Ibanez Ive played, It is just a splendid instrument to play. I cant quantify what it is. I would love to get a ESP Superstrat one day but unfortunatley i think they all come with painted necks which I dont like. What I particularly like about this guitar is that because of the way the neck is, the strings are higher off the body of the guitar, enabling the bridge to be higher while maintaining very low action, so your picking hand has much less contact with the body of the guitar.


Go and buy one now!!

Not after seeing those pics.

High e is a shocker.

It's a bit flashier than I would buy but i always liked the look of these. the little imperfections wouldn't bother me, I don't think. I would check to see if I could adjust the high E position a bit at the nut or at the bridge as well. Good Luck with her

How on earth could you adjust it at the bridge? File the groove in the saddle on the high E a bit? but then it would be to close to the B string. I was thinking of adjusting it at the nut, but even if i moved the nut over a fraction which would be easy, it would not make any noticable difference down at the bridge end of the neck. I got used to it pretty quickly, but still would be nice if it could be adjusted

Reminds me of an ESP.




Jimmy

yeah i reckon they make the edwards out of all the bits and peices that failed ESP quality control. The guitar is suspiciously similar to an ESP horizon, apart from the cheaper Korean hardware and less than perfect finishing. Still love it. Ibanez is great for people who will not accept anything less than perfection. I just wanted one explosive looking guitar, and to get that in the ibanez range it would have cost me an arm and 3 legs.

Well as Edwards is a sub brand of ESP I am not surprised!

My thought was that the bridge might not be sitting correctly if it was that far out of whack, not that it might need to be filed or altered.

i dont think the bridge can sit incorrectly, its like the edge pro with the little rounded groove in one of the knife edges to hold it in position against the post.