Question: Has Prestige S series S5470 etc improved it's sustain or was that only isolated cases of issues?

I saw some posts that several guys had issues with the notes sustaining and had to go through drastic measures to fix it, I think the bridge was the problem.
What about the S5570 series? What about in general to the other guitars?

As long as the notes sustain two miss iss ippi and can get thru a couple bars that's ok, just not a dead note.

I've got an S5570 and don't have any sustain issues per se, granted it could benefit from more detailed sounding pickups, but the acoustic sustain is pretty good for a guitar with relatively low action.

^ Yours have Tone Zone's or the HGD2?

The tone zones i don't like at all, they are way too bassy and that also masks any crispness and details.
I saw more than one version with diff pickups..

I wouldn't stress over the possibility of getting a dead fret Prestige-level axe. Jono serves a good reminder that action impacts sustain. If you're wanting real prolonged sustain from a super thin, double-locking trem guitar i'd say you should playtest before purchase so that your expectation are met.

It's not an issue about size/thickness or "tonewood" There has been no complaint about the S470 or S670 , S540 etc. This shouldn't be an issue. But it seems there was several users complaining about this particular model.

I can't play test this guitar anywhere it's out of production and Guitar Center or new/used stores here only carry brand new full priced guitars. I'm only interested in used guitars in great condition that go for low price these days. Seems used market is the king right now, u pay mere fractions for MIJ.

I did direct timed sustain tests with a 5470 against whatever current Prestige RG I had in my hand and the length of the sustain was identical, what was vastly different is the S did not start to decay when plucked, like every other guitar. You would get full volume sustain, and then if it was 5 seconds, it would die within a second without warning. So it had the same sustain but an RG tells you as it's dying, the S you got no warning, but fuller sustain while it did.

That's good enough for me then
I just hope the ones thrown on the used market aren't the ones with problems!
i don't need like light years of sustain.. If i needed that, i'd just add a sustaniac (which seems pretty cool, but what songs use it???)

I guess from your test, it might be a few isolated ones or QC was bad . But how many are bad in the batch?
Right now used market is $989 avg for Great to excellent with case. I don't screw with Good condition or less.

EDIT: btw can u send a link to your tests?

one person with unfortunate bad luck with a resonation problem does not indicate a trend.

They are all the same, there was no good and bad [besides better builds and lesser builds] it was the perception that was different, depending on who had it and what they expected. The way the sustain cuts off is a little annoying.

Well, when I did a recent google search I found this thread s5470 sustain issue solved? - Page 4 - S Series - Ibanez Forum
It seems many users had issues and fixed it by dissembling the bridge and modifying the saddles.

If u see this google search u will see many dozens of pages illustrating this issue: https://www.google.com/search?q=s547...hrome&ie=UTF-8

It wasn't just one isolated user.

RICH: can u tell me what color and year the S5470 u tested was? It seems there's no complaint on the S5570 when I had asked another owner and he was aware what I was referring to.

I wonder how much modifying those saddles costs in parts and labor. I mean if the guitar is sold on used market I could still have money left to do the fix on a GREAT guitar.

I don't have time to read that but taking the rubber "mat" from under the back of the saddles was supposed to be a "fix". Somebody came up with that after the 5570's came out, so I never tried it. Taking a ZR apart is a pain to begin with.

It didn't matter what 5470 it was, they were all the same.

...for me at least...

I have a 2010-ish S5470 with the Satin Tung Oil Finish (finish doesn't matter but I saw someone ask), it also has the ball bearing ZR2 vibrato, D'Addarrrio 9's, and I've experienced the dead zone around the 14th fret as shown at 50 seconds in this video... If you have a S5470 with this issue, you know exactly how ANNOYING it is.

Search YouTube for S5470 Sustain Issue, I can't post it here as I haven't posted 5 messages yet.

After years of having this issue arise and then go away, then pop up again, I recently started moving the G string up and down vertically across the saddle, and sure enough the sustain issue went away...so, I believe it is the metal on the saddle possibly being too soft, wearing in, having oil on it, as Ibanez recommends oiling the saddle/string contact point (which I'm no longer doing). I'm not really sure exactly what the issue is with the saddle but if you have a sustain issue, just wiggle your G up and down on the saddle, do this gently as it's possible to snap the string doing this, I snapped my B (or E) doing this and also my D,..but that's after a lot of high and low bombing and the string winding unraveled. I've also snapped a string at the nut on the tuner side by doing a neck adjustment without loosening the locks. Yeah we break strings regularly...it's not the end of the world, but again...

BE GENTLE!

I also noticed that there are rubber spacers on the fine tuners, I considered removing those however my guitar now sustains properly by wiggling the G in the saddle. I think it's the saddle metal or the rubber spacers, or both. BTW, I tried removing the rubber on the intonation tool, that didn't help...also leaving intonation tool out didn't help either so it's not the intonation tool absorbing the 14th fret G string "A" frequencies. The odd thing is, other strings don't have a sustain issue playing that "A". As far as one comment regarding a dead fret, it's not a dead fret. The saddles do slide up and down and I've had an issue with the B and High E sounding a little stale/dead that revitalized a little by moving the saddle up and down so it could be a saddle resting issue as well...but it's definitely something in the saddle. I almost bought a heavy aftermarket saddle block...thankfully I didn't because it doesn't need it.

So...in closing, any other S5470 owners out there who have had this issue happening to them, let me know if sliding the G up and down in the saddle a few times to renew to the metal-to-metal contact helps your sustain issue. I've done near everything I could think of aside from disassembling the ZR2 and cleaning/polishing all metal to metal parts...thankfully I didn't have to.

OFF TOPIC:

Can anyone recommend any 'sweet' humbuckers to replace the stock PU's with? I have plenty of output level so lowering output isn't an issue for me. I just want full range, sweet, articulate...I like to play bluesy, jazzy, classically type music and the stock neck HB is just too muddy for me compared to some older SC EMG's I have on my Casio MG-510. Basically I'm looking for a SC sweetness from a HB...probably chasing after a unicorn that doesn't exist, but I saw an ad for aluminum pickups, kind of pricy to just try out...I'm curious if anyone else had luck with them or any other models, Seymours, EMG, what have you. I'm no PU wizard, I just know what sounds good to my ears. The stock HB's are great for rock/heavy metal, but that's not what I play the most...and so far the 5470 just feels right in my hands...without a doubt the most comfortable and fast playing guitar I've ever had...

I just wish it sounded sweeter...S5470 owners will probably know what I mean.

Thanks for any recommendations/help you can offer...

Peace,

M.

One song that comes to mind...

At 6m 20s Steve Hackett does some beautiful things with a sustainiac equipped Fernandez.

YouTube: (Sorry...can't post links yet)

Firth of Fifth - Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited Live At Royal Albert Hall HD 1080p




Peace,


M.