Ibanez MMM1 Mike Mushok Baritone

Mine is made in Korea 2003

Mahogany body which heavy like a morta !!! Long scale 28" and use very bid strings that is very strange for me

Very beautiful finishing .....

Pups are custom from Ibanez which not bad.

Neck is quite thick compare to another Ibanez Model

Sound is very rich. Alot of bass tone. It broke down my speaker !!! BE CAREFUL !!! :-)

Action is quite high ......

I don't use it much, because it is too heavy and I have no songs to play with. ( jamming with CD )

Good Looking, but I don't use it so much. Stay always in a case ;-) If you want to buy please contact me. I could sell him, because I want it goes with the person who can use 100 percent ability from him.

The electronics are kind of generic for a guitar in this price range, in my opinion. However, the body and neck are very nice quality. Very solid.

Sounds great if you swap out the pickups. I put a DropSonic in the bridge and a SuperII in the neck. I'm using it with a Line 6 HD147 head and custom cabs and it kills...if you are into metal, that is!

I bought it used, so I have no idea about the factory setup. I'm going to have to either have the bridge block milled down a bit, or remove some wood from the bridge cavity so I can lower the strings a bit more. It's not drastic, but I can't get the strings low enough to suit my taste. As for the finish, here's a tip: sand it off and apply many coats of quality tung oil. Tung oil will make the mahogany body and neck look much better..the factory finish turns "muddy" over time. tung oil is easy to repair, easy to apply and is inexpensive to purchase. Another tip: If you get dings and gouges on the body, take a damp cloth, put it over the damaged area, and hold a hot clothes iron on it for a few seconds..let it steam up a bit. That will raise the grain and "pull" the dents out. You will have to lightly sand after that to knock the surrounding grain back down, then re-oil it until it matches up with the surrounding finish. I removed buckle rash and deep pick gouges from the one I just bought with this method and it worked like a charm.

The factory finish won't take much abuse. No oil finish will withstand a lot of abuse, but the tung oil is at least better than the factory finish. I'd use the guitar without a backup, it is solid other than the things I mentioned above

Never had to deal with it

I've been playing for 20+ years. This isn't the first baritone I've owned, I had an ESP LTD HD300 for a while. I think this one is nicer and I'd get another one if this one were lost or stolen. One thing I wish it had was position markers on the fretboard, and different finish options and hardware finish options, like black chrome. If you decide to change the chrome hardware out, you're stuck with the massive chrome bridge since it's not a standard bridge.

Most of the features are already covered in the other reviews above.
It's Korean made with the typical Korean-style aluminum box truss rod. 3 layer laminate neck thru body constuction.
No name tuners, plastic nut, and jumbo frets. Beefy bridge.

Does the low tuned metal thing pretty good. Pickups are OK, but nothing extraordinary. Not sure why the pickups are not coil tappable, it would have added an extra dimension to the tonal palette of the guitar. It would have been nice to have a coil tap and get the twangy Dano-style tic-tac bass sound.
Mine seems to be a little noisy, not sure if it is a ground problem, or just a fault of the cheesy import electronics.

Guitar seems solidly built. Most metal parts are of average quality. The pickup bezels are not angled correctly, so the pickups do not sit under the strings level with the strings. That can be fixed inexpensively.
Of course it has the typical super cheesy electronics that most far east import guitars have. I plan to replace the pots and switch with CTS pots, heavier guage wire, and a megaswitch, along with some 4 conductor Seymour Duncans so I can increase the flexability and get some different tones.
Fret work is average, not crowned very well with some rough spots.
I'll probably end up refretting it because I like my frets glued in for maximum tonal transfer (most imports do not have thier frets glued in ala PRS, Gibson, etc...)
I need to remove some wood below the bridge so I can lower it a tad, it is at the minimum setting right now on the plain string side, and it could go a touch lower.

Haven't owned it long enough to give an honest opinion of long term reliability.

My experience with import electronics has not been good, so I do not expect them to hold up with a lot of abuse.

The finish seems pretty cheesy, though. Mine has arm wear and and picking wear thru already. A tung oil finish would have been much better, and could have been re-oiled.

The hardware is of average quality.

Could use strap locks if gigging.

No experience.

I give the guitar a solid 7 out of 10. It's a cool guitar, but not a perfect guitar and it has some issues. I've been doing guitar repairs for over 15 years, and have owned hundreds of guitars, so I know of what I speak.

Construction-wise it is solidy built, but electronics-wise it isn't there. The flimsy electronics are not up to pro level. It can be fixed up with higher grade components but that also costs money. The cheesy finish is pretty weak. It would have been better if they would have just oiled the wood instead of spraying a thin coat of tinted sealer over it. If the guitar new were street priced in the mid $400, that would have been about right. Seems a little high street priced around $600 for what you get. Buying used is the best bet.

The upside is that the unit has a lot of potential. I plan to use mine for low tuned heavy metal stuff, plus reworking the electronics to use it for twangy spagetti-western type clean stuff as well. I wish Ibanez or the Staind guy would have thought of this. Seems like a lot more studly guitar than the Danelectro baritone guitars, plus the Danos won't work good for heavy metal.

Basic: Neck-thru construction, Mahogany body, Mahogany and
Purpleheart neck, Rosewood fretboard, Chrome Hardware, 22
Jumbo frets, 28" scale
Electronics: 2 Custom Wound Super 58 humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone,
3 way selector, Shielded electronics caivty
Nothing special... but thats the beauty of it

This guitar is absolutely perfect for my style. I'm playin' through a Marshall Valvestate half stack right now using an Ibanez Smash Box and Phaser. I can get pretty any kind of sound I want to play Nu-Metal and other hard rock stuff that I play. It has great clarity even when I'm playing complex chords and using distortion. The clean sound is pretty good, too. It's pretty quiet except if I decide to not use the void switch on the smash box.

I got this guitar used (kind of abused) and found that it had been terribly set up. I had to readjust the action and intonation significantly. I also found the oil finish to not be very durable. After a few months of play, I had already rubbed off the finish on part of the body with my pick and worn the finish a little on the back of the neck. It's being refinished right now. Also a few of the screws on the bridge are rusting a little.

Though the finish on this guitar is pretty much crap, I would definately use this in a show without a backup. I recently dropped it on the floor and picked it back up finding that one string was out of tune. The strap buttons seem slightly bigger than normal, but I still might get strap locks sometime.

Never dealeed with it...

I've been playin guitar for a little over two years and right now I have three main guitars. My Takamine EAN 10-C, my Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and my Ibanez. The Ibanez is by far my favorite electric I've ever played. The action is a little high, but thats a small sacrifice to make for the sound I love.

You all know the specs for this, if not go to the ibanez website to find out, The features suit me perfectly I like its simplicity.

It sounds awesome, I can play anything I want to with it. I've been playing Jazz, Metal, Reggae and everything in between. My musical style is what I like to call Unreal Metal no comforting to any norms total lawlessness. I send it straight into a Yamaha DG130Ha head (very superb amp by the way, brutal brutal distortions, crystal clear cleans) I use the amps built in effects which are awesome too. I use an avatar 212 cab with eminence V12 speakers. Man my tone is now perfect. So clean so crunchy so brutal.

I bought it from drumcityguitarland.com they set it up for me for free. All I did when I got it was raised the action a tiny bit. This one was flawless baby.

Good god this thing is solid. Man I cant wait to buy another one for 540 its a steal. I would definately withstand live playing, the hardware it solid as hell. I can more than depend on it.

Never dealt with Ibanez customer support

I have been playing for 4 years now I am 25 yes I know I started late but people make music not age, this is the best guitar I own. Hell I am getting another one soon, hell yeah I would replace it if someone stole it. I love everthing about it price solid wood and hardware. Go out and buy two if you can, they are really great guitars. Good luck.

Its all been said all ready.


Not many features but thats how I like it.

Great sounding Baritone. It would be hard to find a better sounding Baritone at any cost. The Super 58s have a great warm tone with lots of sustain. Great for Charlie Hunter riffs. I play Jazz,R&B and easy listing with this Baritone. I know it was made for Hard Rock but its great for any style of music. I use this with a BOSS ME-50 and a Roland JC-120 and its got a great tone. I've never played a better Baritone and I've played Fender,ESP,Conklin and Novax.

Great setup

built very well.

I've been playing 9 years and have worked in music stores and studios. I own lots of other guitars including Fender Starats,PRS Custom 22 with the Artist Package,Gibson Les Pauls and others. But I dont play them now that I have my new MMM1. If it was stolen I would buy another as soon as possible.

2003 model

2 custom wound "super 58" pickups (all right sounding i thought)

neck through construct

1 vol, 1 tone, 3-way switch

chrome hardware

28' baritone scale

i tune mine ADGCEA

and im not sure about this feature, but mine came with an autographed electronics cavity cover. mike mushok sighned it and there was a little piece of tape covering it. not sure if this is a stock feature or a special thing (some promotion for musicians friend maybe?)

i play a lot of nu-metal and other (manson, SOAD, coal chamber, tool, APC) and it works fine. i run it through a marshall valvestat VS100 right now, and its great. the pickups are great, they nail the staind distortion perfectly, and arent to muddy or bassy like i almost expected on stock pickups. theres no noise what so ever, even when the guitar is right in front of my speaker, it takes a while to feedback.

set-up was top notch, it was mostly in tune when i got it, just some minor adjustments, and i was ready to go. its an extremely light guitar, offering almost NO stress on the shoulders neck and back like a les paul would. there was one minor flaw in the back of it, a dent about as long as my pinky, but i think its a flaw in the wood myself, not the guitar. dont matter really, guitars are meant to be played, not babied.

i think this guitar is a beast. its light, but durable. they put a nice sized chunk of wood right where the headstock meets the neck, so headstock breakage shouldnt be an issue (less you pull a steve vai move and swing it around yer shoulder and hit something!). i would use it without a backup, cept for maybe string breaks, but the string through body bridge should make string changing a snap. i would call it dependable.

i didnt get it from ibanez themselves, rather from musicians friend. overall id say their support is rather hit or miss. sometimes theyll be your best friends and go to the ends of the world to make YOU, THE CUSTOMER, happy, but other times its more like "hey, what do you expect US to do?"

if it were stolen i think that person would wish they werent born when i get ahold of them. its my only baritone, and i love it to death. i am an avid collector and player of guitars. i own gibsons, ibanezs, jacksons, fenders, and epiphones. i have to say i love this one the most. if it were gone, i would DEFINATELY get another one.

-2003 Ibanez MMM1 Mike Mushok baritone (Korean made)
-22 jumbo frets
-28" scale neck
-1v1t 3 way selector switch
-H/H pu configuration
-Custom wound Super 58 pickups (passive)
-Mahogany body
-3 piece Mahogany and purplewood neck
-Custom MM bridge
-Neck thru construction (awesome sustain)
-Thru-body stringing
-No inlays on the rosewood fretboard
-bound neck and headstock (does have side markers)

I play mostly nu-metal, and I'm really into Staind, so I'm in love with this guitar. It obviously perfect for Staind, but it's also great for any other heavy stuff (i.e. Chevelle, SOAD, Taproot) and even seven string stuff like KoRn. I'm running it through a Marshall MG100DFX head and a Marshall 4x12 cabinet. I can any kind of sound out of this axe, clean or on distortion, it does damned near everything. I love everything about it, wouldn't change a thing.

Straight from Musician's Friend this guitar was set up to play. Pickups were balanced excellently. I was amazed at the high quality of the wood and of the construction. Everything was tight and ready to go straight out of the box.

This guitar is built like a fricking rock. The body seems incredibly solid, as does the bridge and all the hardware. The raw wood finish is great and looks beautiful. I did find that oiling it every couple of weeks seems to help it keep it's shine. If there was one guitar that I could depend on for a gig, this one would be it. Though I don't think I'd ever gig w/o a backup, this definitely gets a 10 for reliability.

Never had to deal with them. If they're anywhere near as reliable as the MMM1, then I look forward to it!

I've only been playing for about a year and a half, but I own a few other axes. I have a Ibanez s470, PRS Santana SE w/ Tremonti pu's, Fender Mexican Strat, an Ibanez acoustic, and I also have a Ibanez SR500 bass running through a Behringer 30 watt. Of all these, the MMM1 is definitely my favorite. If it were stolen, I would track down the person who stole it, tie them to a chair, and proceed to castrate them, making a milkshake with their severed genitalia and force it down their throat.
Of course, you could pack in more features into this guitar, but what would be the point? The beauty in the design is the simplicity of its construction. One thing I love is that there is no need to go changing pickups, the stock ones kick ass!
I would like to say that I have a lot of respect for Mike Mushok, both as a musician, but also as a person, as it was because of him that this guitar was made so affordable. I mean, neck-thru, string-thru, mahogany body, bound neck, these are all features on a $1000+ guitar. But at under $700, it's a fricking steal. Don't just buy one, buy several, you won't regret it!!!

2003 Ibanez Mike Mushok Signiture Baritone Guitar.
Made In Korea
22 frets
28" scale neck
3 way selector with two Ibanez Custom 58 Pickups wound for the lower range of the guitar. 1 volume and 1 tone knob.
3 piece bound mahogany/purplewood neck with neck through construction, two piece mahogany body with a transparent oil finish.
Custom Bridge, string-thru.
No neck inlays, though it does have side makers.

This guitar doesn't have a ton of features, but the features it does have make it an excellent quality guitar. Comes equiped with heavier guage strings (not sure on the exact guages, but I would guess about .11-.74). This guitar is excellent for lower tunnings. The longer neck scale and thicker strings, along with the custom bridge give it great tunning stability, even when tuning dwn to the depths of hell. The neck thru construction greatly compliments the lower tunning by giving it excellent sustain and the mahogany body gives the guitar a deep, rich sound, but more on that later.
My only initial gripe with this guitar was it's lack of neck inlays, as it can be difficult to navigate the fretboard without a refference, though the side markings more than make up for this. I've grown acostomed to the guitar without them, and I think inlays would ruin the overal look of the guitar, which has a very simple, but ellagant appearance. I give it a 10 for features because it has all the features to do exactly what it was designed to do. It won't open cans and feed your cat, but it is an excellent baritone guitar.

This guitar is perfectly suited for my musical style, which is heavy rock, metal, and nu-metal. Being the Mike Mushok signiture model, it nails Staind's sound perfectly. The pickups are excellent. No noise and very clear. They don't muddy up, even with the lower tunning. I run it straight into my Marshall JCM 900 half stack and have no trouble getting an excellent sound. I can get full, rich distortion, and clear, crisp cleans. It does take a little messing with occaisionaly to get the exact right sound I want, but other than that, perfect.

This guitar was set up perfectly when I went into the store and played it. The action and intunation were perfect. The pickups were balanced with each other and the finish was in excellent condition. All in all, a top notch job.

This guitar seems like it's built like a tank. The mahogany body is strong, and the hardwear seems solid. The chrome finish doesn't seem like it will wear off, and the light oil stain on the body seems like it will last. IT would definately withstand live playing and I anticipate this guitar being in good conditions years down the road. The only problem I could forsee would be the possibility of the neck breaking. There isn't a greater possibility of that happening with this guitar, but the fact that it is neck thru means that if it happens you are screwed. There shouldn't be any problems with that, as long as you don't drop it. The stap buttons seem solid, but I'd get a set of strap locks for this baby just in case. I'd never gig without a backup for any guitar, but I'd feel more comfortable doing it with this guitar than with any other.

Haven't had to deal with them, so I have no comment.

I own four other guitars. An acoustic (my first), a mexican strat (my first electric), an Ibanez S-520, and an Ibanez RG-7420(I think that is the model number. It's a 7-string with a 27.5" scale neck). This is the highest quality guitar I own. I am absolutely in love with it. I love the extended neck scale, the solid body, the neck thru construction, the look, everything about it. As soon as I saw an ad for this in a guitar magazine, I knew I had to have it. I'm a big Staind fan, and I've always had nightmares with using lower tunnings(not just for playing staind covers). Not anymore. No I can tune low and get that deep, rich, sound I've been looking for. If I lost it, I would get Dumbass tatooed on my forehead, and if someone stole it, I would hunt the motherf-er down and take it back. If that didn't work, I would definately buy another. If you're searching for something new to inspire you, definately get this. The lower and somewhat odd tunning will cause you to write some crazy stuff with a completely different sound. Excellent value. You get more than what you pay for with this one.

My MMM1 is a 2003 hot out of the factory. From what I understand, these are special order only, so I didn't get to play one til I bought it. Thankfully, I am very satisfied with the quality and sound of this Ibanez. Made in Korea and I have no problem with that as some do.

It is solid mahoghany and is NECK THROUGH. The Ibanez site didn't give any specs on neck size, so I am happy with the neck design chosen. It is a very fat neck and unfinished. This is exactly how I like it. If it had come finished, I would have sanded it off immediately. This thing is solid.

The pickups are Ibanez humbuckers, supposedly Ibanez pickups, which I believe are built by DiMarzio. They are full sounding and have tons of punch. They aren't muddy like some pickups, very crisp. I'm surprised that they didn't include coil tapping. The bridge pickup is 4-wire, so I'll probably have someone wire a coil tap for some nice single coil sounds.

Body style and hardware look classy. Just a very good looking guitar

This is pretty much a rock geared guitar, which is what I bought it for. Maybe with the coil tapping it might be nice for doing some chords on a clean setting. It sounds great. I'm sending it through 2 different rigs depending on the gig. My main rig has an ADA MP-1, Eventide and a marshall power amp into 2 carvin cabs. It sounds killer.

The pickups are Ibanez humbuckers, supposedly Ibanez pickups, which I believe are built by DiMarzio. They are full sounding and have tons of punch. They aren't muddy like some pickups, very crisp.

I'm surprised that they didn't include coil tapping. The bridge pickup is 4-wire, so I'll probably have someone wire a coil tap for some nice single coil sounds. That would have provided a little more variety, but more people will use this with distortion only I'm sure.

No flaws at all. A very solid product. I may mess with the bridge a bit and try to lower the action.

I will definitely use this live. I have to write some songs that will be better suited to this guitar.

This guitar doesn't need a backup. Everything seems solid and well constructed.

I emailed Ibanez with questions about the MMM1 and they were quick to respond every time. I bought it brand new, but it didn't come with any warranty cards, which is odd. I'm going to contact the dealer and see what to do about that.

I've been playing 17 years and a baritone guitar is a nice change of pace. I have 4 Ibanezes, 3 of which are signature models. They definitely put more care into the signature models.

Overall, I really dig the guitar and look forward to using it live. The only thing I don't like is the lack of coil tapping on the pickups. I have an Ibanez JS6 which is a very similar guitar (2 humbuckers, solid mahoghany). It came with coil tapping. Oh well.

For the price, this guitar is a GREAT deal. I paid $550 + $100 for the case/shipping. Great deal.