Ibanez JS1000 Joe Satriani Model

The Best Feature to me is the angled neck plate. It allows easy access to all of the frets. The coil taps and HPF are usefull as hell (more on this later). I lso like the fact that you DO NOT have to cut the ball off of the string ends! The trem unit is first rate. Also the prestige neck is just right for players with smaller hands like mine. And the black hardware is just first rate.

Firstly let me say I am not a Satch fan at all, heard that song back in the 80's, it was cool but not enough to get me to buy the album. So the "model" had no effect on my decision. I picked it off the rack at guitar center while I was waiting on someone. Hit a note on a spider and thought OMG this thing has massive sustain. I am a working pro and needed a guitar that I could use for a variety of situations. I want to clarify what the guy who must not know dick about guitar sound said. He gave it what a 5? wow. I use all tube Marshalls, combos and stacks. And I can get any sound I need from 50's through today. And if you pull both knobs it sounds better than my pre cbs thwin ever did or could and that goes for the other 5 fenders I have owned. For those who said it won't do metal? I put it up against two Seans one was a Razorback and this thing has more gain and way better tone, not even in the same league. I would be lying if I said money didn't facor but it is a working ax and I don't want to destroy a 3k guitar on stage. But before I paid for it I tried a few Prs, Gibsons, and Even a Jackson or three. Hands down this thing was more versitile and better playing and sounding.

Two Things Here, One Good One Bad. The one I bought off the rack had a couple minor cosmetic flaws and the nice guys at Guitar Center Columbus, (shout out to ya!), ordered me in a new on in the box. Ok The Bad News. The new one while flwless in finish needed a lot of adjustment and still had a dead spot. So I returned it for my old one. But as others have said the knobs/Pots seem sketchy, loose but not loose. Wierd and hard to describe, I am getting used to it. When you put pressure on them they are smooth though. But the neck is amazing. You know a lot of people I know have a saying or a process when it comes to buying public guitars. I say 1 out of every 60 is playable some of my freinds put that number at 1-160. But they don't have a rack of these either. All I can say is thing plays better than ANY thing I have owned ever in over 30 years, perfectly intonated and pure sustain at every position on every note. Like someone else pointed out you can see the joint in the back. But hey You can spen 4k on a PRS that is AA and not book matched. Well I rest my case.

This an't a battle ax like a Paul but if you realize this it last like any other, yeah?

They have a forum which is cool.

Been playing for thirty years, and have had a lot of stuff over that time. Lately I have settled in on Marshalls and Eventides. I do a lot of live and studio work. If it were lost I would be on a world wide search to find one just like it. As I said before, before I paid for it I spent a couple trying out other brands and models. My strat And PRS are about to onto ebay. Well crap I got someone in my ear that is not going to go away. Buy one and have it set up by a pro, and raise the pups a little.

2007 JS1000bp

I play classic rock with a mix of some 90s stuff but mostly the 70's and 60's loud concert stuff like Jethro Tull and Deep Purple and Cream. Im using a JSX half Stack right now but Im still trying real hard to like it. i didnt want to be a total Satch Head by buying all his gear. It just happened to be the best sounding amp i tested.
Pretty good sounding guitar overall. Not the heavy-metal monster you would think. The coil taps are cool but they suck the life right out of the volume. I corrected that quickly by kicking on my Fulltone Fatboost to level it out and that worked well. I have a 50th anniv Strat and an old PRS. It sounds better than the PRS but the Strat has better tone on the neck pickup. I tried my friends 58 custom shop les paul reissue and that guitar blew all three of thes away, as well it should have seeing that it cost almost 4000 dollars.
My biggest complaint is the hi pass filter. Its activated with a push-pull pot on the volume. In the up position the whammy bar hits the knob if you swing it side to side. I think its a some pretty crappy design work for a 1400 dollar list guitar. Also the setup was not very good but I dont usually complain about that because everyone's idea of what is good depends on taste and style anyway.

As i said, the setup is not too good but I will fix that (if I decide to keep the guitar)
The Black Pearl finish has a goth metal vibe to it that I dont really care for but I hated the red JS1000 and the White ones are impossible to find new anymore. They have a new silver one coming out and i didnt care for that either. There are no real cosmetic issues with the guitar that I can see.

Who knows for sure how the finish will on the hardware and paint hold up with heavy gigging. My guess is that the black will wear off the bridge pretty quickly but that would be pretty normal for most guitars.
I wouldnt feel comfortable using this guitar alone on a gig without backup only because of the locking tremolo. It would take too long to change strings if one broke on you during the set.

Have not tried them yet but I plan to level a complaint about the whammy bar hitting the volume know. Piss poor design for a 1400 dollar guitar. Gonna email Joe about it too!!

been playing for 30 years plus.
Wish I had known about the hi-pass filter not being on all the time.
I dont think right now that I would replace this if it got stolen.
I love the fast neck and its super light and comfortable. Mostly I choose this trying to get a bigger hard 60's 70'd rock sound thsan my strat will give me and also because i use and need the whammy bar. The Les Paul blew it away tone wise but no whammy.

Burnt transparent blue finish; bought Feb 2007 from GAK.com in the UK.

I'm a fan of Joe's tone and bought this guitar for it's sonic versatility; I play anything from blues to neo classical, as well as all sorts inbetween. I risked buying this instrument online without having touched one in the wood which was quite stupid really baring in mind that I knew the neck/fretboard was pretty bespoke to Joe's prefs; The board has a highly tapered radius which likely wont suit a lot of players and the neck is thin and quite flat in profile and has an 'unfinished' feel (ie, smooth but not laquered/varnished). The fretwire used is quite narrow stuff.

The body is wonderfully light-weight and is contoured beautifully and the brb finish was flawless on my example and gives the guitar a visual depth when viewed closely.

The overall impression is of a compact, well made versatile workhorse.

Sonically the guitar is fabulous. I am not a gigging musician really, more of a recording musician; I often play the JS1000 un-plugged and by comparison to my 72 Strat it has a thinner brighter sound (which is expected due to the sculpted basswood) but still has wonderful tone and ringing sustain. By comparison the strat has a deeper more resonant bell-tone; The JS1000 is brighter.


Plugged through a Marshal JMP-1 tube pre-amp the versatility in the wiring and pups come into thier own; The JS1000 wants to be plugged in, whereas the Strat is more than happy unplugged.

The variety of tone available through the pups and wiring make this instrument such a great all round blues/rock guitar; The pups want to sing.

Generally the fit and finish is very good; My instrument arriveed in pristine condition without any obvious issues.

The action was set quite high (not overly high but I expected it lower) and there was very slight buzz on the lower strings from around the 5th-9th fret; The floyd in standard tuning with factory setup wasnt flush with the body, it was tail high; No complaints though really as this is to be expected; especially with a bolt-on neck instrument with a factory set-up; Nothing a good technician/luthier cant sort out and anyone who buys a mail order instrument should expect to do this anyway.

Genarally the overall workmanship and quality is very high.

Cant comment really; only had the guitar for 10 months now and it hasnt seen any gigging action and is generally looked after as though was fine china.

This is daft in a way; I bought this guitar so I could have something to throw about a bit and not care so much if it got marked etc; Unlike my 72 strat which I want to look after these days as they are becoming sought after now (but which I refuse to stop playing also because it's such a nice players instrument and wants to be played).

I expect the JS1000 will last well as it's very well made, good materials and well crafted.

Not needed them thus far

I've been playing for around 20 years on and off; Some classical training early on; Segovia got me hooked when I saw him on TV as a youngster.

I wish I had tried before buying the JS1000; purely for the curvature of the fretboard. It took my picking hand quite some time to adjust to the curvature of the strings at the bridge, which is quite extreme by comparison to my 72 strat and a massive departure from the almost flat fretboard of my old Kramer Stagemaster.

If I'm totally honest I still dont think I've fully come to terms with the high curvature with my pickhand and it may well be that I never will fully but I have learned to cope and will hopefully fully adjust in the course of time.

If I lost this guitar I would probably replace it with another JS1000; The guitar has so much to offer and my issue with board radius is something I am prepared to live with because of the guitars outstanding qualities.

I love the compact, form follows function, feel and versatility of the guitar; this guitar will do anything almost. A lot of guitars do one thing well, the JS1000 is an all rounder in every respect.

I looked at other mid to high end guitars when shopping around. I wanted a Floyd for sonic jollies, I wanted versatility (tonally). The JS1000 ticked all the right boxes; my only bugbear was that I couldnt find one locally to try and so chanced the purchase online after much reading (such as this fine website).

I would recommend that anyone looking at buying one really needs to try one first; mostly for the feel of the fretboard above anything else.

Well i'm sure others have written enough about the basics. Mine is born in 2000. It's a BTB. Everything is original.

Ok here's the important section. THE SOUND of this guitar is just breathtaking if you like to play solos or melodic lines. It's a very bright and full sound. The expression is just outstanding you can form the tone to the shape you want. I was always in search for this sweet and living tone. For rhythm it's great as well. It does not have this kind of edgy sounds like Strats or LP's but it round and with the push/pull options very versatile. It's not an extrem metal guitar. There are others like the RG's or a good Jackson. But if you need a guitar for many sound sphere's go for it. Clean is very, very beautyful, especially with some good effects. The pick ups are very strong. IMO a very friendly guitar, but if you want to scream go for it's ver easy to get really special tones out of it.
I own or had quiet few guitars. Gbison LP Studio, American Fender Strat(tuned), Flying Rocket, JPM, RG 550, FGM 400(all Ibanez), PRS CE 24
For lines and solos it's my first choice, without thinking to take another one. That's just it for me!

I bought it from ebay. The fretboard is not anymore like how it should be, that's why i'm gonna to change it. But the rest, as always by good Ibanez, perfectly

There's nothing i have to worry about.

Never had anything to do with them

I'm playing for 18 years. Well that's my babe. There are not many guitars i've played (friends, stores) that give me this tonal reflection. Probably a PRS Santana. But it's just a very expensive guitar. Even a JEM is not as strong IMO in single tones.
I'm a gear junkie. Have really good equipment. But the best on this guitar is. Just take an amp, plug in and play. Other goodand expensive guitars sound just good if you have a great amp. JS don't need that. It's the tone of the guitar that counts IMO.

Japan 2004, BTB Color.
You know the rest.

Sustain is longer than eternity.
Dunno how ibanez managed to make a guitar with such a long sustain from such a light-weighted guitar.

DiMarzio Paf pro neck position is probably the best neck pickup I have ever heard. Is seems like it was made for this guitar.
Add the split ability and you have a ton of heavenly sounds.

DiMarzio Fred on bridge position is a good balanced, midium output pickup.
You can play almost any music with this axe, as with most ibanez guiars. I wouldn't suggest this guitar to a metalhead though, unless he/she plans to change the bridge pickup with a higher output one.
I like EVERYTHING on this guitar. Best on my collection.
I play through various equipment, cannot mention it here.

Setup factory was pretty poor. I made my own setup, I stopped visiting guitar technicians 10 years ago. I had previous experience with an edge pro bar, which is the only thing you may need assistance for.
The electronics were simply perfect. No mess up, no cold solderings or poor wirings. Everything was wired properly.
No flaws on finish, standard fretwire (I like thin frets, I hate large or jumbo frets). Volume control is EXCELLENT. Probably the best around. It does exactly what a vol control should do. Lower the volume without affecting the tone. PERFECT
Wood is basswood, so you can expect a balanced tone, which is an advantage if you plan to change a pickup. Mahogany, for example, is wood that tends to tremble the sound, alder tends to add bass. Basswood is well-balanced.

5 for factory setup, 10 for action/fit/finish

Don't know yet. Have it for a year, but judging from the construction and the electronics should last a couple of lifetimes.

Haven't dealt for this guitar, but have dealt with my old JEM and I was satisfied.

've been playing for 15 years. Let me tell you this...
This is a top end all-around guitar. If you are looking for a rock guitar you should probably look for a gib. If you are looking for a metal guitar you should probably look for other Ibanez or Jackson guitars. If you want the best all-around guitar that modern guitar commerce can offer, get this axe.
Best neck pickup ever had my ears hear.
Best neck I have ever put my hands on.
Man , I LOVE this neck. It's not as flat as a LesPaul, the radius is smaller, but once you get used to it, you simply can't do without it.
I tried a couple of other ibanez guitars first (was going to buy a new JEM). Then I saw this JS. I always thought that signature models suck, cause you pay for the artist's name on it (JEMs were and are an exception too). I decided to give it a try. I simply grabbed it, and ... CLICK. Couldn't get my fingers of. Bought it and run home. Played for 1 hour. Changed strings, made setup adjustments and played again for 6 hours.

I won't go on with the features. See many below. Besides I have no idea what jumbo Warnoff threats are anyway. Mine came with usual tools and hard case.

OK this is probably sacrolidge round these here parts. But I don't actually like Joe Satriani's music very much. Leaves me cold I'm afraid. I admire his technical ability and tallent though. And the reason I bought this guitar is because I really like the tone of the Dimarsios on this axe and the amazing versatility the thing gives you. I mean this high pass filter type thing it has. Well I don't know of any other guitars that have this. But this is an excelent feature. On my Marshall VS100r combo, I use the OD channel 1 with gain at 10. You can obviously get a good classic rock sound using the bridge PU (Dimarsio Fred). But with the high pass engaged roll the volume right back and get an almost clean sound,just breaking up. Marveless. Audible clear clean tone, to rock all controlled from your guitar. And thrown in the combinations you get with the coil split feature. Another really nice sound I like is the same amp setting but coil split and using neck pick up with the volume rolled back to about a third from silent. Really nice bluesy jazzy sort of tone for leads. Not quite a strat sound. but that's why I've got a strat as well. But very close and very nice in it's own right.

I play anything from surfy type big reverbe stuff, through to chunky riffy metal. Playing through a Marshall Valvestate 100r, with Carl Martin compressor / limiter in the loop with Electro Harmonix Holier Grail reverbe.
When recording on PC, straight into mixer through Marshall JMP1 with compressor in loop. Or a Johnson J Station amp moddeler.

If there's one thing I'd say this guitar is not quite there for. It's heavy grinding palm muted metal riffs. The bridge pickup isn't quite hot enough for that. But when I want to play that stuff I use my RG with stock Ibanez pickups. in that respect, I'd say the RG's bridge pickup screams where the Dimarsio Fred sings. Do the old hammer on and pull off stuff, give the string a bit of vibrato and listen to those harmonix. Sweet. I give this cattagory 8 due to it not being up to full on metal. Not to my ear anyway. However, I doubt there is a pickup that can do that stuff and still pull off all the other tones this combination can.

This ones black. I got some money off mine due to a piece of missing lacker on the heal. However, the guitar apart from that is beutiful. Really light and slim, no harsh edges. A pleasure to play. I've been playing 11 years and owned this about 9 months. I felt like a way better guitarist once playing this because you can just get such a range of sound out of it. The strings glide nicely over the thret board and you can bend them with such ease. Can't do that on either of my other 2 guitars.

Only one problem in this area. I suspect it's my fault for not properly stretching the strings. But over use of the tremelo does tend to make the G,B and high E go out. I have to pull the bar back the other way slightly to get them back.

I'll give this a 8. not taking points of for the lacker as anything can happen between factory and customer. I'll leave 2 point head room for perfection. Which probably doesn't exist.

I'm not sure how hard the finish is, thinking of that chip again. Never scuffed or damaged it myself though. Crome hardware I think. Should stand up. Wouldn't leave it on a beach for too long though and I don't chuck my guitars around. SO it should last. I'm tempted to put it back in it's hard case after playing it at home, but I play it so often it's a pain to keep getting the thing down from the wardrobe. So it stays out on a stand in the corner hopefully out of harms way.

Would I use it live. Yeah no probs. Would I take a back up. Well if someone has a spare 1200 quid, then yeah they can buy me a back up. Blue please. I can't afford to take back ups of anything in this price range. I would say I'd take my RG as back up due to it having a locking trem system, but it would be pointless as it sounds nothing like this one.

I emailed an Ibanez dealer in the UK who were helpful regarding some replacement springs for the saddles. Never dealt with Ibanez direct. the dealer was, Nervarda music in Portsmouth.

If the guitar was lost I'd have to have some serious words with myself. If it were stolen. I would find the unfortunate culprate and gentily explain the error of his ways. Before bludgening him to death with a Jim Dunlop Cry a baby.

My JS1000BTB is made in Japan with the serial no. start with 05 means 2005. It is a Team J.Craft limited guitar!. This guitar came with an Ibanez hardcase with Team J.Craft logo with it. Inside only have the JS1000 guitar, tremolo, allen Key and an instruction book of Ibanez.

I am a guitarist for almost 4 years but i had tons of experience in sound due to (GIT) and myself have about 18 guitars. This guitar seriously sound better than my JS 1 to compare. With good sustain and also i am a user of Di-Marzio, i just like it!

This guitar set-up is fine! I just have to lower the floyd-rose alittle to suit my playing and it is perfect! The finish of this guitar is better than the normal JS1000btb because the paint job is done by Team J.Craft and i can see it. That is just my opinion!=)

I just bought this guitar and only done 1 live show, it does not give me trouble! In fact, my Jem 7VSBL give me a little due to broken string! So i had to use this guitar to replace my JEM for the 2nd set. She just did her job and made me fully satisfied with it!

Let me see, My JS 1 back plate were broken and try to find one to replace it, I cant find it in the Distributor in Malaysia in fact i had in during my journey to visit my forster family in Japan. They have what kind of accesories in a guitar shop in Kyoto and i can easily but replacement for it but only in Japan!

I had 7 Ibanez guitars,(PGM300, PGM500, JS1, JS1000, RG2820, S-520 and JEM7VSBL) 2 Fender( Stracto. USA deluxe and Stracto. Japan 1960) 2 Gibson( Explorer Gothic, Les Paul Custom), 1 Washburn( Dime 3), 1 Ovation and others. JS1000, I would like to complete with PGM300, and JS 1 because they use the same pick- up. Overall, i like the playability of JS 1000 compare to this 2 guitars.

Bueno....no tengo mucho que decir...asi que todo lo que pienso lo dire en esta linea.
Me decepciono...es una guitarra aburrida. No me quejo del sonido de la misma..y no digo ni mucho menos que sea un mal instrumento NO!.
A lo que me refiero es que es un instrumento que no me dijo nada cuando lo tuve entre mis manos.

Es ligera de peso..el mastil es completamente diferente al resto de los modelos de Ibanez...es como el de una ?FENDER?....si ...esa es la sensacion final...es como tener una fender evolucionada...aunque no se si es una correcta evolucion...pues te da la sensacion de que para pillar esta ...lo haces directamente con una fender.

Qu nadie se equivoque...soy un gran amante de las guitarras que hace IBANEZ...pero esta hacha no es una guitarra que cuando la tomas se note que es un gran instrumento como con las JEM o S o las RG...te deja hueco...

Escribo este Review un poco para desmitificarla...en serio....olviden todos sus prejuicios y vayan a provarla...les dejara vacios...

Locking nuts weared out after 3 month. Don't say I tighten it too much, I've been using locking trems ever since I started to play.

The bass side of the locking nuts on my JS1000 weared out after 3 month, since its still under warranty, the shop ordered a replacement for me. It arrived almost TEN MONTH later! anyways I was happy I finally got it and soon after I got home I replace it with the old one, and guess what? the replacement nut is 23mm in width and the original is 22mm.... what can I say??

I would still buy this again though, but next time I will have my replacements sent from somewhere else.

03 modell blue black colour.The rest of specifications have been explained very well by the other guys .

I am really impressed by this japanese instrument.My review is based on +25 years of experience as mucisian.I did own and still own some of the best instruments ever made.Is better by far than the tom anderson (drop top,cobra),Parker(night fly)but can not touch the sound of a prs custom 22 or fenders from the custom shop,is better than most new Gibsons but can not touch the sound of a good vintage Gibby.The thing is thar this instrument is at list 2-3 times cheaper than the above mentioned instruments.

The finish is poor at my openion and can not be compared with top instruments as prs tom anderson etc.The guitar looks cheap and it is cheap if you compare it with top us manufacturers,on the other hand playability is high the fretboard is top quality and can handle real low action without buzz.The tremolo is best at my openion really close to the right hand no problem at all for heavy dives or reverse bar.

It looks it want stay for ever but thanks God i cant proove that yet.The metal at the bridge looks poor and not solid at all.The finish is poor ,case is extra.

The greek dealer is fine.

I wanted a cheap all around instrument for practice alone or with the my band .For live or recordings i use other instruments but as i said this guitar sounds much better than some really big names in guitar industry.I guess i would sound killer with this guitar live but i dont like people to see me with Ibanez.Its like driving a ferari and you dont like others to see you with a Fiat.(if can passed this complex i have there is not a problem at all).ITS A VERY GOOD GUITAR AND TOP QUALITY FOR THE MONEY.IF YOU ARE AFTER TONE THIS (SERIOUSLY) COULD BE YOUR INSTRUMENT WITHOUT SPENDING MUCH MONEY.On the other hand you dont get the feeling that this guitar will stay alive for long time.Nuff said.