Ibanez SA160

I bought mine brand wen around 94. Mines Korean made metallic blue. Mahogany body with 22 fret bolt on neck. It sould be noted that most Ibanez bolt on built in the last 15 years or so have an interesting heel that makes them play like a neck through. I scalloped the fingerboard because I thought the frets were a little small for me and I put graphite sabbles on because the high E string started beaking after a while. I also put a couple of Duncan picups ing mine and blocked the trem so it can only be pulled up, and the guitar never goes out of tune this way when you snap a string.

I play metal blues and classic rock. I've owned a couple of high end Ibanez with locking double locking trem in the past. I've found that Ibanez tremelo hardware is total crap compared to the hardware on my Jacksons and ESP's. I like the Ibanez neck a lot and usuall don't use the trem so I play this guita often. I usually play through a Marshall TSL stack. Mine sound great. in bothe the bridge and neck positions.

Factory was OK, I just ajusted mine a little. I set my guitars up myself. This guitar is one of the easiest guitar tp set up, all you need an allen wrench to set the action and a couple to set the intonation.

I have had problems with the input jack a few times in the past. Blue lock-tight should fix that.
Great paint job, no scratches on mine yet and I play it often.

I've hear Ibanez is a bitch to work with unless you just purchased your guitar brand new withen the last 6 months.

I've been playing since 1981. I started on a Les Paul copy and went to a Kramer Pacer in 86. Shortly afterwars switched to Jacksons. In the early 90's Ibanez stared making their neck more like Jacksons. If you want a nice metal/rock guitar and don't want to deal with a tremelo this may be a guitar worth checking out.
I have absolutly no tuning problems with mine althought I usualldon't have the trem bar on, but when I do this guitar still stays pretty much in tune.

Check other reviews for exact details but what grabbed my eye was sexy quilted maple look, contour-carved look, recessed input jack, 5 selector pup switch for S/S/H and cool SAT30 bridge with trem. Read on . . .

It sounds right on for overdriven metal, tasty blues and spacey clean sound -- what more can you ask for?

Okay, I bought this on-the-spot after a 15-min jam with a Marshall amp at Guitar Center. It was used and looked it with enuff dings and dents to get the on-the-road, stupid-punk-teenager abuse, vintage wannabe a rocker award. But the used price was sweet. It played and sounded HUGE!

This axe new or used shows solid build and dependability.

I have been playing since 1967 and this was an easy buy for me as it had great action, good neck feel, and really played and sounded awesome, even for one abused little puppy. I own 12 (or more) axes, 3 basses some Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, Agile, Samick, Tokai, Electra, Kay, ZZRyder, Rogue and the like . . . This Ibanez SA160 Quilted maple Amber axe I gladly "stole" for $125 tax included and walked right out the store with no gig bag but proud to show it off. I have the feeling this may be my new "go to" axe for awhile as it is already beat up a bit but roars like an angry wildcat!

Bought mine (used)a few months ago as a back-up. Amber version, 22 frets, Korean made. Beautiful quilted top. Pictures don't do justice to the look and colour of this guitar. Very solid lacquer, no scratches, no flaws, even when used. Comfortable thin neck,(not that thin like f.a. a S470) kind of a strat shape mahogany body, 5 way switch HSS. Only one control for treble, would like another one, just like my strat. But i'll live with that. It has a tremelo wich i blocked. I don't use it and this way it keeps my guitar better in tune.

The former owner was a pro-musician and changed the stock-pu's for a set of EMG's. (81-SA-SA) Can't tell about the sound with stock-pu's, but with the EMG's it sounds very powerfull, yet dead quiet (NO HUMM!!)and even usable for a clean sound. A bit more output than the Kinmans in my strat and a bit 'darker'. Makes a great versatile backup for me. I play in a coverband, (70's, etc. until now, all kinds of music, except for metal)I use an American strat with Kinman pu's or this Ibanez into a Boss GT6, into a Fender HotRodDeluxe.
(no effectloop, no 4 cable method etc. just straight into the amp)It does the trick for me. Can get all the sounds i want. (

When bought used, it came with 12's flatwound. (setup was used for powercords..) Put 10's on it, had to raise the neck a little, blocked the trem and replaced the inputjacket. This guitar is flawless, great fretwork and the stock tuners stay pretty well in tune. No need to replace them. This guitar can compete with guitars twice or three times the price.

If you take care of your gear, any guitar will withstand live playing. I believe that there is no need for backup with this guitar, but i take no risk. Also, whe do some songs with an altered tuning, or sometimes i need that extra bit of power from a HB. Therefor, i always take 2 guitars out on a gig.

No experience!

I'm into playing for some 15 years now. I own an American Strat, and a Yamaha LJXC-6 acoustic jumbo. Great guitar, great sound!
275 euro for this guitar with a set of EMG's, i would replace it in a heartbeat! I love the versatility of this guitar, a shame that it came with only one tone-knob. The EMG81 is great for leads, it cuts trough anything.

I have an oil/satin finish mahogany "weathered brown" model. Finish was near perfect with one tiny glossy spot. The body is made of two pieces almost invisible in their joinery at the pickup jack. It is a stunning guitar, and astonishing for the cloeseout price. Which is why it gets a 10.

The electronics are adequate, the neck is fast, and it just feels good. It's a guitar that wants to be played.

Sound is sweet and bluesy to hard metal with the diverse S-S-H. The singles pick up all kinds of junk (motors, lights, etc.), but the 5-position switch lets you have a number of hum-bucking options. Mahogany sustain means you can hit a note and go grab a sandwich. I love the sound, but it's not in the range of a custom guitar costing 20 times as much... why that would be surprising to some people is rather odd.

Fantastic set-up! By far the best factory set-up I've seen. I tweaked it here and there just for fun, and ended up bringing it right back to where it was originally. Low, fast and buttery.

I don't gig, but I have a buddy who wouldn't hesitate to bring this on stage.

I am giving this a 10 based on value. It is comparable to much more expensive guitars, and really just feels good to play.

The origional finnish was a glossy black. Silver hardware. Non-locking tuners. No included accessories. Twenty-two frets. Volume, Tone, 5-way selector. S/S/H configuration. The best feature of this guitar is the neck. Very thin and fast. If you do anything to this guitar, do not destroy the neck. do not paint it, re-finnish it, sand it, ect. It is to fast and good a feature to chance ruining.

I purchased this guitar a bit over two years ago, and am writing this review as an experienced owner of this product. I have been playing guitar for over four years. I have a very eclectic taste in music, therefore, I play from a variety of very different genres. I use a Fender Stage 160 (2 channel/ 2x12") Amp, and a collection of effects pedals. Like almost all guitars, you will eventually have to tweak little things in order to tailor it perfectly to your hands when you get it home from the store. With this particular guitar, the first thing I did was remove the factory strings, lower the action, and put Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings on. After a few months, I replaced the humbucker with a Seymor Duncan "Dimebucker." This helped the sound greatly. Hardly any feedback, as opposed to small but annoying ammounts before the switch, and a much deeper tone. While I had it gutted, I figured I would replace all of the wiring and electronic connections to assure durability. If you want a great sound, I would reccomend replacing some if not all of the pickups on this guitar. Lately I have been dissapointed with the bridge, only because I would rather have a Floyd Rose for certain sounds I have begun to experiment with.

The action on this guitar would be perfectly fitted for a beginning guitar player, but not a guitar enthusiast or someone who has been playing for a number of years. I personally have my own obsessive-compulsive guitar settings/tweaks. I lowered the action, like I mentioned earlier. The guitar was very solid. You cannot really understand how something works untill you take it apart and reassemble it, so I chose to do just that. I removed everything from the body to paint it. The neck was surprisingly held on very sturdily, as was everything else. The bridge gave me no problems, however I did alter the settings a bit for good measure. This guitar was basically flawless as far as condition. The wiring was very well completed, all covers, rings, ect. fit perfectly.

This guitar has served me well on many occasions in live situations. I would not worry about technical difficulties caused by this guitar on stage. I have only ever had small problems, but all have been caused by exterior sources such as pedals, amps, ect. The strap button on the front has given me no problems, however, the button on the butt of the guitar strangely loosened itself. I left it on, but drilled a new hole just above it for a locking strap device to be completely sure. This also affords unlimmited combinations of strap usage. I personally never use a guitar on a gig without a backup, but if I absoloutly had to, I would feel comfortable with this guitar flying solo. Keep in mind the fact that I have made numerous alterations to important aspects of this guitar. It is for those reasons only that I feel ultimately comfortable with this guitar on stage.

The only repairs this guitar has experienced were administered by me, so I have never had any severe horror stories in that department. I have never had to contact Ibanez, but I feel that they most likely employ the same quality with customer issues as they do with their guitar creations.

As I said before, I have been playing for over four years. I own several guitars including basses and guitars of all kinds. 12 string acoustics, 12 string electrics, acoustic basses, electric basses, ect. They are all different brands. In my opinion, no guitar has ever made every kind of guitar perfectly. There is usually only one that can be considered their masterpiece, therefore, I try to find the best of the best for which ever specific type I am looking to purchase. If this guitar were stolen or lost, I would be dissapointed in the loss of time and money I spent to make it what it is today, but I would probably not buy this again, however I would buy an Ibanez.

Features:
SA160 BL

SA neck (Sangria, Rosewood fingerboard)
3pc. Maple Neck Material, bolted
Mahogany Body (small, the whole thing weighs close to nothing)
22 Medium frets
SAT30 bridge
H-S-S: all stock pickups
dot inlays
chrome hardware

Theres nothing out of the ordinary here. What I like about the trem system is its easy and reliable. Its not as easy to put the strings out of tune as with some floating bridges. The SA line was new in 2005 along with the SZ, based on the S series.

The SA neck is miraculous. It is the single best thing about this guitar. Its rediculously thin and makes technical playing rediculously easy.

My two problems with the guitar: 24 frets would have been ideal. And playing a guitar that uses .9s (.9-.42) is not something that I find especially useful. The smaller gauge means less output, less sustain and they dont last as long.

I'll play anything - blues, rock, harder rock, metal (black, melodic death), neo-classical stylings, and especially 'guitar rock', such as Vai. So really a huge range.

The playability will mean most people interperet this guitar as a dream shredder for the masses
amps used - crate, marshall amps, ranging from 15w to 100w.
effects - dunlop jimi hendrix wah wah, zoom 505II, various boss distortion pedals that I borrowed and didnt return.
slightly noisy on all settings.
non descript sound. not rich by any means, not bright either. versatile tho.


details:
When I picked up this guitar it was my first 'serious' or 'semi serious' instrument. My previous guitar was made by Y*m*ha and was firewood. It was absolutely unuseable after 2 years. Going to music school in the next year however Im looking for something much more serious than this.

I instantly liked the feel and especially the playability of it.

The sound is non-descript. The mahogany body doesnt give as much lower end punch as you might hope. Theres plenty of mids (which I dont care for), but the overall sound is 'rounded' and 'stale'. The redeeming aspect of it is its versatility, especially playing through a clean amp.

So i'll give it a 2 for sound: versatile instrument but lighter string gauge and stock pickups dont give much bite. Overly rounded, stale sound with no life to it. From a tone point of view not for any sort of expressive playing or rock playing where you need hotter leads, unless you arent afraid to use some sort of digital modelling. I almost always used the zoom, because it vastly improved the sound.

factory set action is probably the lowest I've seen, which is great for fast and fluid playing.

Intonation however needed some tweaking. Not to mention, the saddles were skew --/\-\ (???), and bizzarre to adjust. I did need to adjust the spring tension in the back. These types of adjustments are incredibly straitforward with Ibanez instruments, as you probably know.

The neck was well bolted ;).... haha. the finish was good. If you choose to use the little notch to place your picks when your on a stage or in a jam session, expect to get many, many scratches on that one area (between the fretboard and pickup is the notch). frankly that doesnt bother me, but some people see a scratch or burr and get squeemish.

Other hardware - the switch, nobs, machine heads, are great.

overall I'd say 7.
were this not an Ibanez and easy to adjust certain things about it, the score here would be much lower.

I used the guitar at a few small shows, no problems there. I wouldnt dream of using it at a big show. Reliabilty decent, overall.
The hardware will last. But its of a better quality than the sound of the instruement.
The finish is starting to wear off in some parts. Thats to be expected, given this isnt a high-end instruemtn and how much I play guitar. (yngvie jr)

Again, im looking for a new instrument. I suspect this one would last another 4-5 years before I lament its passing. Decent reliability, but 3 for durability.

If you were selling this, you probably wouldn't want to give a lifetime warranty :)

I have not dealt with customer service. What I hear however is its best to contact dealers about any problems or questions.

If this were stolen or lost I wouldnt worry too much about it. As I stated Im looking for another instrument. It would speed that process up a bit.

The best thing about it is the feel and playability.
The worst is the sound.

Overall I'd reccommend this as a decent entry level guitar. Its reasonably reliable. But once you reach a certain level you would definitely want to move on to something else... What I do strongly reccommend is you look at the higher end SA guitars, with fitted necks and such like.

I have thought about putting dimarzios in there but theres no point putting top pickups in a bottom end guitar, is there?
When I bought it, it was priced cheaper than the Ibanez models that are 'officially' entry level, for some reason.

The one I have is a 2002 model (not too sure). Black and same as everybody else.

Amazing harmonics on the bridge pup when distorted-similar to my SG Special. The neck pup sounds ok. Reminiscent to my Am Standard Strat neck pup with a more pronounced mid range. But I will replace the neck pup eventually because the staggered pole pieces have overly accentuated the A,D,G and B strings and there's a noticeable drop in output when plucking high string E. I rarely use the middle pup so I will leave that alone. You can get a huge variety of sounds from these babies as is-ranging from hard rock sg to twangy strat.

My only gripe is when it comes to adjusting the neck and mid pup heights. They only go so far and the adjustment is different from nearly every other guitar. That said, you get pretty limited adjustment from these and have a pretty "set" sound.

Excellent set up and finish out of the box. Again, neck and mid pups have limited adjustment capabilities. The selection switch seems a little loose and is a tad noisy when switching.

The tremolo gives me no problems (not like my old RG).

As for the neck, read: IBANEZ HAS THE BEST NECKS IN THE BUSINESS!!!

Great for this price range.

NA

Playing 10 years on and off. Have a bunch of other guitars in the $1000 price range Gibson specials and Am Standard Strat, Epi Elite LP Custom (excellent guitar).

Love the price, playability, finish and the excellent neck! I also love that since this isn't so expensive I can hot rod it as much as I want and it'll kick serious ass. Judging from the incredible sound unplugged, I think this will really sing with better pups.

Not too happy about the neck and mid pick ups sound and adjustment limitations. Need something with a more balanced tone.

Chose this because of the look. I had an old RG which I sold and I've moved from metal to more rock and blues and when I chanced on this guitar I had to have it. It's basically a more mellow, mature RG to me.

Wish this came with a hardtail since I hate tremolos.

Conclusion:

This can be "every man's guitar." It can suit a huge variety of music and styles. This is a guitar you grow with. As is, its amazing for the price. Pretty awesome, actually.

Everything standard, read the above reviews. Tuners need to be replaced after a couple years of heavy playing though, keep that in mind. Other than that very nice for a intermediate range guitar.

When i bought this guitar, i loved the sound. After improving my skills over the years though, i've come to realize that the stock pickups flat out suck. They have no power. On clean, the sound is VERY quiet. Feeding it through a distortion pedal helps. I'm replacing the pickups with some EMGs this week though, because i love everything else about the guitar.

Okay on the whole. Action needs adjusting after a little while but that's standard. The mahogany on the neck seems to have developed some white stripes, which is really weird.

Tuners getting a little weak, but otherwise great!

So, i got ripped off by L&M when i bought this, however i hold no grudges as it was probably my own fault for doing no research. I love everything about the guitar except for the pickups, which I'm changing to EMGs this weekend. Seriously, a great intermediate guitar for the price. Besides it's so much cheaper to buy a guitar like this when you're learning and then put in some asskicking pickups when you get better. The EMGs are running me a solid $280 though, so beware.

This is standard Korean made 80's shredder style axe with an HSS pickup configuration, 5-way switching and Wilkinson style tremolo system. The body is royal blue and made of mahogany. Decent looking sealed tuners and a nice fast neck. I personally like the HSS pickup configuration because it is so veristile. I was looking for a backup axe for gigs. My main axe in a 1992 American Floyd Rose Classic Stratocaster with the same HSS configuration that I have giged with and used for 13 years and it was starting to get a little rough around the edges. I figured that a cheap Korean guitar would be cheap but maybe a decent backup and I thouht the mahagony body was a good enough starting point and that anything else I could fix later..ie: pickups, tuners etcs.

Priority #1 for me is tuning stability. Nothing will stop the phone from ringing quicker that an out-of-tune sounding guitar. I can take bad sounding pickups because if you roll off the tone and volume a little, that will usually make an even terrible sounding axe usable. This axe can barely make it through a scale without drifting out of tune. The combination of cheap sealed tuners, floating bridge and a poorly cut nut make this thing unusable on a gig. The pickups are terrible. The neck pickup is hard and brittle. The pickup can barely be lowered because of the way it is mounted in the guitar. All 3 pickups are highly microphonic. I had guessed this would be the case before I got it so after I confirmed what I suspected would be the case, I put on a set of Sperzels and locked the floating bridge down since I don't need the tremolo. I also put a Dimarzio HS-2 in the neck. That cleared up my main complaints about the guitar. It now stays in tune fairly well except the nut still causes problems even with "guitar grease" in the slots. The HS-2 made a huge difference. It now sounds warm, dark and fat in the neck position which I use a lot. The stock humbucker is usable with the tone rolled off and the volume backed down a little. Since 50% of my opinion of a guitar's features is based on tuning stability I have to give it a five. Since I think they are justified in putting cheap pickups in a cheap guitar I can't really deduct for that and it does have the HSS configuration which is all I can really ask for.

I play comtemporary jazz/funk in a band so I need to get that ( or try to get that) Larry Carlton, Mike Stern kind of sound as well as a decent funk sound and a good sustaining lead sound to cop horn solos. Since I also like to play Van Halen and other rock stuff on the side, I like the basic 80's strat style with a HSS pickup config. I play through a trademark 60 which is a great amp for playing in clubs, again very versitile. I also use some delay, reverb, chorus and a Boss SD-1 for pushing the clean channel of my amp. I save the "Marshall" channel for rock jams. This guitar is brittle and noisy. Every tiny sound you make is amplified. The stock pickups are very trebely and thin. Other than the feel of this guitar, there is not much I like about it and I ended up buying a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster w/ HSS. My old Strat is now my backup up. The new Strat sounds beautiful. It is perfect. The SA160 is now a lab guitar. Any set-up changes I'm thinking about, I do to the SA160 first as practice so I don't mess up my Strats. I've actually gotten excellent results with this approach.

This thing has an amazing unplugged tone. The set-up was actually pretty good. The neck is probaby one of the easiest and most comfortable necks I have ever played. The picks were way too high and could not be adjusted down because they were attached to a tall piece of plastic that was part of the pickup itself. This caused the axe to sound rank and microphonic. The nut was cut terribly. I could see the jagged edges in both the front and back of the nut. The body and neck on this thing are great. The neck was beautifully done and the action was super low with little or no buzz. The body was light and super comfortable. As I said, unplugged, this guitar sounds and feels great.

This guitar is unfit for any kind of professional work except mayby a grunge kind of thing where the tuning is not important and everything is cranked up so nuance is not a factor either. Not only would I not gig with this guitar, I wouldn't use it as a backup. That being said, oddly enough it seems built rather well. If the thing sounded good and stayed in tune, I would probably gig with it because it is solid enough.

Have not dealt with them.

I've been playing 23 years or so. I've owned Les Pauls, Flying Vs, Strats, Kramers, Charvels. I now own 2 HSS Strats, and an American Fat Tele. I bought this online based on the mahagony body and some of the reviews in the forum. I just needed a backup and over estimated my ability make a cheap guitar usable and under estimated the cost to do so. I've already put about $110 dollars into this guitar with the tuners and pickup and it's a little better but now it's now a $339 dollar guitar instead of a $229 guitar which is what i purchased it for. There are probably a lot better options available for $340.

If this were lost or stolen, i wouldn't notice until I waned to make an adjustment to one of my Strats and would look to test on this axe first.

bought this brand new last year april as a practice guitar. i use a RG550 for clubs n gigs. It is koeran made and black with 22 fret rosewood neck. s-s-h configuration with a 5 way selector and one volume n one tone pot. basically i de-did the most of the guitar as i loved the neck and body but was not too confident with the electronics n parts. i installed planet waves locking tuners. changed the 5 way selector to ernie ball. Got a guitar luther to remove the existing tremolo bridge n installed a fender two fulcrum bridge which included graptech saddles n nuts. the neck has a dimarzio chopper, mid is a virtual vintage dimarzio and recently changed the bridge from a dimarzio paf pro to dimarzio breed. i give a 6 for the original electronics n parts but now a 10 with my modified guitar.

the guitar blows with all this new parts. i laid to rest my rg 550 (which has a sd 59 at neck, sd single staggered mid and sd jb at bridge). this guitar kicks ass now. strings seldom break with graptech and i can play blues to metal with the dimarzios. basically i play in clubs so music ranges from top40s to rock to r n b n dance and this guitar can do it all. the neck n the weight of the body really impressed me. basically this guitar goes thru my boss me-33 and a volume pedal and the clubs' end accordingly.

i got my guitar tech to re-do the action n intonation although the th original was pretty ok. the guitar looks expensive and was surprised of the price , maybe due to it was korean made.

i only have one guitar for gigging as it is pretty inconvenient for me to bring along two guitars. i trust this guitar completely and gig it withour back-up. even the strap-buttons were changed to dunlops just for precaution sake although the original ones were pretty good.

no comment never dealt with em. have used rg550s, JS1000 and a few more ibanezs and never had a problem with reliablity.

been playing abt 11 yrs and owns an rg 550 (former main guitar ) and a yamaha pacifica 112m for practice at home now. if it was stolen i would most probably buy it again but the re-mod cost me abt the same price as the guitar. as mentioned i re-did it coz i was impressed by the neck n body. this was the only model that has a neck pretty similar to my former js1000.

Don't know the year, but it was made in Korea. 22 Frets, 5-Way switch, 1 tone and 1 volume knob. SSH, with some Ibanez pickups that I plan to change once I get the money. It's made of Ash, and it's got a tri-fade burst (Black-Red-Wood). I give it a 9 because of the single tone knob.

I am rhythm guitarist in a rock band. It buzzes A LITTLE on the single coils. The humbuckers give it a darker, fuller sound, while the singles have a brighter, strat-like tone. This guitar can go from Metal to Funk with ease. I love the sound it has. I give it a 10.

It came set up almost perfectly when I bought it. I had to set the intonation, and had to lower the action a tiny bit. I haven't noticed any other flaws yet. I give it a 9.

I've only had it for a month, so I'm not quite sure how it holds up.

Never dealt with them.

I give it an overall 10.

2004 Model in a Sunburst finish on Ash.
Beautiful to look at and even sweeter to play. My friend made a Strat himself called the "Blue Marvel" and it was a Suoer-Strat model just like the configuration of the SA160 I bought. They both sounded great. I wish I would have pickup one of these up 18 months ago, I would have saved lots of money. I had bought 2 Teles and 4 Strats of various configurations and now I find the SA160 is what I wanted all along.

All 5 positions are pleasing to my ears. I run it through a Blues Junior with the following effects:
Boss CH-1<Boss BF-2(coming soon)<Boss DS-1<Boss SD-1<Dunlop Cry Baby Wah. Ash is an interesting would and one I find ideal for this kind of guitar.

All it needs is a minor nut fili and the dges smoothed on the frets. The luthuir didn't have time to do that at the store as I bout this SA160AH and the AX220QM as soon as they got out of the boxes basically. I'm bringing them back in when he's less busy after the Christmas rush when he's more busy selling guitars that repairing them because of volume.

I always have to have a backup. I hope to never need it but this does happen. So I believe on should be prepared.

I'm very happy with the quality and value of Ibanez guitars. Both of mine are Made in Korea, and both were built well.

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

I'd suggest trying Ibanez in the store on both a tube and solid-state amp and let your ears decide what's best for you. There are many good guitars out the. Just play'em first then fall in with the paintjob later.

I have the Orange quilt top SA160. You already know the features. I think for the money you cant expect more than what you get here. I have to give it a 10.

I run my SA through a Line 6 spider 210 or my toneworks PX4 pandoras box (get one if you dont have one). I play alot of Metallica and metal but I like blues and more complicated slow pieces occasionally. The humbucker sounds nice and cruchy and the single neck pickup can produce nice warm blues sounds. Another 10.

Another 10. I dont know about the rest of you but mine has been great since I bought it. I bought it with one ding on the back. Saved me some good money.

I dont play live but I do play EVERYDAY. I have tightened the bolt on neck screws once or twice but other than that no problems. I have to give it a 10 again because I think this is a great guitar,but like I said I dont play live..

Havent dealt with them.

Ok here it goes. I want everyone to know what a great guitar this guitar is. I have been playing for about 6 years. Taking it very seriously. I own 9 guitars. I have 2 big amps and 2 practice amps. I own a 900 dollar ESP LTD KH 602. I still go back to the Ibanez alot. I have owned the SA for about 3 years. I play every guitar I can get my hands on and I cant say enough about the SA 160. If it were stolen I would buy another in a second. If you are thinking about buying this guitar, dont think any longer...GET IT

I bought this baby in 2002, I don't know when it was made
22 frets, solid top made in Korea.1 volume and 1 tone controls, switch 5 position, 1 humbucker in bridge and 2 singles satin finish.

I like the variety of sounds that I can get from this baby. Good for metal and clean sounds.
If you use a fat strings you could get more deeper sounds looking for extreme distortion.

Set up from factory, really nice. Ready to be played.

All the hardware looks strong. And a really very light weight as to be playing for 5 hours running on the stage.

I never used it.

I have this guitar for around 2 years. It's one of my favorites withing my sg. Both are great to play music that I like. Hardcore, nu-metal..

S-S-H Koran made, all the specs other people have listed. Nothing different from what other people mentioned except my concern over the bridge.

I did not want a Floyd ROse bridge and while this doesn't have one, the design of the bridge is still a 2 point floating trem with the lateral stability problems a Floyd gives. It's not as bad as a Floyd to tune, but it does take more work than I anticipated. Not a big deal, but not a Fender vintage bridge duplicate either.

My biggest gripe about the features on any guitar is that I always feel every pickup should have it's own tone control.

Very versatile, plays anything once you get used to the manipulation of switch and knob.

Extrelely pleasing except for the pickup adjustments. They were screechy and too bright, being raised almost within 1/8" of the strings. Fortunately, there was room to lower them and the result was very good. The neck is warm, but articulate, the middle a little ballsier than a Strat, and the humbucker on the bridge has some twang, but is very strong. I could see playing rhythm on the neck or middle and just switching to the bridge for leads without even considering a move of the tone knob.

The paint and neck fit are first rate.

It's new, but my experience with other Ibanez guitars has been good. Everything seems solid and although I don't gig, I would with this guitar.

I've heard horror stories, but I have no experience with Hoshino myself. Considering those stories, if I needed something out of warranty, I think I'd just go to a second market supplier and not frustrate myself.

I'm very happy with the guitar overall. I got rid of a Fender Hyw 1 Fat Strat, prefering the tones of the Ibanez over it. I wish it had tonal controls for each pickup, like a Strat, but otherwise, everything works well and it's a good value for the money.

Made in Korea, 22 frets, candy apple red, volume and tone knobs, s-s-h pickup config., maple neck with mahongany bod, strat body, standard tremelo. I'm not sure what kind of tuners it has.

This guitar can play anything. i play mostly metal, punk, hardcore, emo and it does it all perfectly. I play it through a Peavey special 212 and it sounds pretty damn good. the bridge pickup is very hot but kinda has a flat tone when played clean. they neck pickup is also has nice acoustic sound clean and is good for solos with loads of distortion. i never use the middle single coil, it's just along for the ride. this guitar has a very bright sound on the bridge pickup which sucks for clean stuff. on the other hand when you crank up the distortion it sounds really GOOD. loads of harmonics.

i've had this guitar for about 2 years and i can't remember how good the factory setup was. i have the action very low and the strings barely buzz at all. very nice.

the guitar seems pretty sturdy but i would take care of it because its so light and would be easy to fuck it up. just take care of it and it will last forever.

havent had to deal with them.

This is my only guitar at the moment. If it were stolen i would buy something different just because i want something new for my next guitar.

I bought this used, so I have no idea how old it is. It has a bit of a ding on the top (which my arm covers when I am playing), so I got it cheap ($150). It's candy apple red and even with the ding and the small scratches, it's still a nice guitar. I'm not sure what the body is made out of, but I think it's mahogany. It's thin around the edges and thicker in the center. As a victim of the recent economic downturn, I had to sell off most of my gear last year and decided to just start buying inexpensive guitars for a while, since I am once again gainfully employed. It's an S-S-H configuation, 5 way switch, master volume and tone and has the standard whammy bar (not Floyd Rose), which I don't use anyway. I wnated something with a humbucker and am more comfortable with a Strat style body/set-up, so this seemed like a logical place to start. The guy that sold it to me tossed in a gig bag, so for the price, I'm really happy with it.

It doesn't sound bad at all, though the single coils are a little thin compared to my US vintage 62 Strat. I play a little of everything from country to metal, so yeah, it suits my style. It's really very quiet, even on the single coils. With the band, I play through a Digitech RP300A (sometimes just my Keeley modded TS9, awesome pedal that it is) into my 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb. At home, I play through a Roland Cube 30 amp, and if you are looking for a neat little practice amp, check out a Cube 30, which is a very cool little amp. Playing through an effects processor like the Digitech can really alter the output of the guitar and change the color of the sound, unless you are on a very clean pre-set. However, when I play it clean through the RP300 or the clean channel of the Cube, it sounds nice. Not great, but nice. For 150 scooters, I got a really nice guitar, and I think the sticker on a new one is about $330, which makes it a very good guitar for the price. Go check one out for yourself.

I got it used, so I can't comment on the factory set-up, but it was set to my liking when I got it. Pickup height seems about right, and overall, it seems to be a well made guitar. The neck is a bit flatter and wider than my Strat, but the neck is nice and straight, the action is really sweet and the medium frets are set perfectly. The body is nice and has a nice sustain. This guitar is exactly what I was looking for, which was something just a little bit different from my Strat, and it was a steal. If I had not found this one, I would have bought a new one. I am constantly amazed at the amount of high quality inexpensive guitars that are available today, and this is a quality instrument for a great price.

I have only had it a month, but it seems solid enough. Everything on the guitar seems to be well made and of good quality. It's lighter than my Strat, and the neck feel is different, but I really like playing it. The top has a ding on it, but the finish has not broken, chipped off or anything like that, so it seems tough enough. Strap buttons seem very solid and while I don't gig much, I would gig w/o a back-up. It's nice to have another guitar though, even if you just break a string.

I have no experince with Ibanez since I bought this used.

I am a former drummer, though I still fill in if our drummer is absent or late, and only got serious with the guitar in the last 5-6 years, though I did monkey around with it for a while. I have a '62 US vintage Strat, a '65 Deluxe Reverb, a Digitech RP300A effects processor, a Keeley modded Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer (Robert Keeley puts out a hell of a product I might add, so check him out) and a Roland Cube 30 practice amp. I had to let go of some other gear last year due to some financial pressures, including a 50's Classic MIM Strat, a 50's Classic MIM Tele (both GREAT guitars, btw), a Deluxe Powerhouse Strat, a Rickenbacker 320 and an Epi Goth Les Paul and EB-0 bass. It broke my heart, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I like most everything about this guitar, hate nothing, and if it was lost or stolen, I might buy another one, or maybe an S470 Ibanez. I would buy one of every kind of guitar made if I could afford it, so don't go by me, LOL. Seriously, I tend to gravitate more toward Strats, but this guitar gives me a slightly different feel and sound. I wanted a new toy to play with and I got a nice one at a great price. I like it a lot and if you only have about 300 bucks to spend on a new guitar, you can't go wrong with an Ibanez SA160. Good luck with whatever you buy.

I got this screaming guitar from a little music store in Stratford Ont. A solid 22 frets, this guitar makes solos childsplay,and the neck takes control of the sound. The Tuners lock comfortably, and are VERY reliable. The Volume and Tone are just about the best in its class. 10.

INCREDIBLE sound. Nothing gets screwed up or goes berserk. I play rock and rock only, therefore this guitar's sound sums it up. It has optional fat sound, and about every guitar sound imaginable. The fat sound is my favorite, for if you play it hard, it submits a medium setting distortion. 10 again.

This guitar not only rocks, but you can move your hand just about anywhere and can give your hand a comfy feeling to boot. The fit is perfect, and kinda relates to a strat, or tele. The pickups are incredible, having five of them, you can do any style of music with a flick of the switch.

This guitar is solid. You can bang it around on amps, and drums and so on, and no dings or dents. Poifect strength, and better yet it isn't heavy, or to light, but is comfortable standing or sitting. Banging it around doesn't screw up the sound, and it rarely dings up. Nuff said!

I have been playing since i was 5. Now i'm only 11, but who says i can't play live? I have a Peavey 1972 amp, and a zoom pedal, and i'd recommend the zoom to anyone. If it were stolen or lost, of course i'd take mug shots, and beat the living crap out of him. I'd buy it again. Everything to love, nothing to hate. Try one out today!

I bought this guitar from a friend. it's about 2 1/2 or 3 years old now. I LOVE this guitar. It is the older model with the older tremelo but the same pickups. There are so many features that are great on this beast the only thing I would replace is the tremelo. But that really isent a problem.

I play so many styles of music that I need a guitar that can handle everything, so I don't have to carry a les paul, Strat, and a jackson everywhere I go. and switch guitars between every song or two. That's where this guitar comes in. I play through a Peavey Transtube 212 EFX(awesome amp for solid state). I don't use the neck pickup much, I use it in the bridge/middle position for rythems(using the tone and volume to control differant aspects of the sound. My brigde pickup I use for leads and solos. cranking the volume and the tone can cut through the muddiest mix and put my solo on top so at least I can be heard well. this guitar is the best. I may upgrade the pickups later but see no real reason to now.

as I said earlier this guitar is about 2 1/2 or 3 years old and has never needed a setup. Other than the setup at the factory. The only thing was the intonation on the G string. i fixed that my self in about 1 minute. It still plays perfectly, like new. I even went to my music store and played a brand new SA160. Mine was just as good if not better(I prefer a broken in instrument over new feel)
There is one small dent that you can only see in a glare. I have dropped this thing quite a few times and still needed no setup or visit to my local repair man. No quilted maple top or burst paint job ar any fancy junk. just solid black beauty.

I have giged heavy with this thing, and it has always been right there. The only thing that has been replaced was the strap buttons. The last ones pulled out, But it was only cause my friend tried screwing them tighter and ended up stripping the inside. but I wanted strap loks anyway. I would gig without a backup with this beast. I have before.

Never had any problems to deal with them. But if they are as good at customer support as they are with they quality of their instruments, it must be unbeleivable

I would buy a new one if anything happens to this one. I wish it had a EDGE tremelo but I'm buying another ibanez with one. Buy it, you wont regret it especially for 350.00 new

I bought this guitar about a year ago in Mississippi, and i origianlly wanted to look at some gibsons. After playing both i thought this was a better choice. Yeah, the gibson was overall a nicer guitar, but not by a lot, and then the fact that it costs over 1000$ more didn't help...haha.... so i really think this is a good guitar considering the price. I don't care for the pickups at the neck, so 90% of the time i leave it set on the bridge pickups.
what attracted me to it first was the looks. The one i got was like a charcoal gray. beautiful....really made it look hardcore....and its got the same body shape as a strat(hate fenders)...but hey....

The neck pickups are very noisy, but it disappears with a lot of distortion. I do like the bridge pickups a lot they put out a descent sound clean or dirty. The ibanez is ALRIGHT for clean sounds. Just make sure you dont crank the tone all the way up, because its really bright. Distortion is where it shines.

No complaints. Everything was put together right.

This guitars take'n a beating, and it only has one scrath on it.
The strap buttons are solid. The only problem i had with it is that the plug-in for the chord comes loose often.

Very good service.

Nothing really special about the guitar. Nothing really bad about it either. If you can't afford a Les Paul, PRS, Epiphone, or even a B.C. Rich.....dont settle for a fender!!!!! get the ibanez!!!!!
hahaha... you really cant go wrong.....nice axe

ibanez sa160,made in 2003, black, standerd everything

this guitar is great i love to play ska and punk music and this guitar sounds great with both, if u set it for only the single pick-ups it soundes great for ska but a bit more deeper the nmy old guitar that was and eipihone les paul special 2, and with just the double pick-up going it sounds great for punk or rock or and distorted music

the action is great most people told me for a guitar to stay in tune with a wammy bar u need a floyd rose bridge but this stays in tune great and its not a big ass bridge like the floyd rose its nice and small

reliability is great

great guitar

Not gonna waste space for this, everyhing has been said already. I would just add this - if it had fixed bridge, it would have been perfect. All tremolo designs, even high end ones in the market, are pure garbage.

I think you can play anything through this baby. Many different sounds can be extracted. I use it with Kustom Tube 12 and Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808, and sound melts like a butter! I had RG270 before, could not wait to get rid of Floyd Rose Trem. This one suits me just right.

Setup - excellent! I just had to lock tremolo bridge by tightening screws holding the springs all the way - and no more tunning problems! Paint job is really amazing, except inside the hole around the cable connector.

Yes, yes and yes. It will probably last forever.

Never dealt with them yet, don't think I ever will.

I've been playing for more than 10 years, but not very often and usually at home. This is the best guitar I have ever tried.

Tip: lock the tremolo as soon as you buy the guitar by tightening two spring hold screws under the plastic cover at the back of the guitar. Prepare to be amazed.

Made in 2000 in Korea this SA160 was bought from Mansons Guitars in Exeter, UK. Its standard SA but I have upgraded the pick ups. In the Bridge position I put a Dimarzio PAF Pro and 2 Dimarzio FS-1's for the Middle and Neck positions.

Due to the pick up change it is now a peach - the lead sound is every bit as full on as you would need for a blistering solo and knock it back to the combination of neck/middle/bridge is soon turns into a smooth but chunky dare I say it strat like sound. Perfect for me.

I cant fault it here, obviously it is not a JS or Jem777 type finish, but for its target market it is great, no blemishes or marks.

Ideal for live playing, thats why I bought it, quick string changes can happen. the tuning is stable, even when I drop the E to D for the odd song, and even if it wears, it can only add character and could be refinished should I want to but no, this is ideal for live work, not expensive, does the job. Now there's the million dollar question - gig without a back up? Yup! ever since I ditched Floyd Rose Trems I have that luxury!

Never needed it.

I run it through a Line 6 Flextone II and its a great combination, all the elements and sensible prices, when I get that elusive deal, I'll consider giving it a golden coat! Seriously, if your thinking of buying one and torn between say a Yam or Strat, go buy the Ibanez its the industry standard.

2002/03 model, red, reall y nice color and finish
2 single coil and 1 humbuckers
neck is very nice, extremly thin, and the action is low, maybe a little too low, but u can't hear the buzz when u trun the amp up
the neck and weight won me over though

i play everythin and anythin, the sound is brighter than i thought, i wish the humbucker delievered a bit of a richer (gibson, epiphone) sound but itz alright
i play it simply through a fender frontman 25r

the action is extremly low, thatz all i'll say, nope, had it for a few days, no flaws at all

lookz very studry
but i've only had for few days

if stolen, i'd probably get the same thing

A quick review for info that's already been covered; HSS, SAT30 bridge, 22 frets, rosewood (or some "dark wood") fingerboard, strat style body

Ever walked into a guitar store with a preconceived notion of what you wanted, and then changed your mind? That's what I did with this Ibanez screamer. I wanted to upgrade my "metal guitar". I had seen a dual humbucker with a Floyd Rose in my price range, but really wasn't all that keen on wrestling with the Floyd. Overall, great sound. Pickups have super output. Humbucker at the bridge is great for hard rock, and the single coils are not your typical strat single coils. Distortion sounds great! And when doesn't it?

Now here's where this axe shines. Ever get a new guitar and just gush about how great it is (for that matter, don't we all do that with any guitar?). This is one guitar I'm glad I found. The action and everything was great right out of the box, literally. I played one hanging on the wall, and they ended up saying there's an unplayed one in the back. They pulled it out of the box, slapped another spring on the trem to hold it down, and voila; no buzz, everything was perfect. That's the first time that's happened to me. Now, setup is a personal choice but this thing is a "10" from the go. Nice Candy Apple finish, frets are nice and smooth. The volume pot was a tad crooked but nothing I couldn't fix.

Have only had a couple of days. I did play it the morning after I bought it and it was still in tune, despite repeated wammy bar wankage the night before.

Hopefully they won't be needed.

This is a sonically great guitar; you can get a great range of tones. I also own an Epi Les Paul Standard and Fender Hwy 1 Strat. So I have a collection that can suit a lot of styles. This Ibanez is a great add to my "herd."

Solid body, strat-like shape, chrome hardware, very thin neck, 22 medium frets, Ibanez-made S/S/H pickups.

Slim body, light weight mahogany, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, made in Korea, bought in December 2001.

Ibanez SAT30 non-locking trem, sealed tuners.

Mine was in black finish, though later Ibanez came out with many beautiful colours as well.

I have used this guitar with a variety of amps and effects, and it has served me well in all occasions.

To start with, the pickups are a bit noisy, yet much less noisy than any other guitar in this price category I have tried. With a typical practice amp they may sound a bit weak, but with a proper amp (concerning wattage) they sound fantastic. They can give very delicate sounds in a wide tonal range, ranging from almost acoustic strumming to heavy blues, from jazz/funk to classic metal or really heavily distorted stuff.

Sustain is surprising for such a light guitar, thanks to the mahogany body. Still some styles will sound better on a more appropriate guitar, for example neoclassical on an RG, but the versatility of this guitar exceeds everything I have seen so far.

My style combines acoustic rock, classic rock, heavy metal, hard blues, and this guitar fits the bill right. The sound is lacking with some heavy stuff, but the guitar does sound very versatile.

The guitar was setup pretty well when I bought it. The action was really low, but there was some buzzing. I am in the habit of tuning one flat (Eb), and when I did so everything came to be 100% right. Minor intonation adjustments were also needed, but there were no flaws concerning the finish or the electrics or anything else.

This is a solid piece of guitar, the hardware is of very good quality, and I would depend on it even without a backup. I can't comment on the finish durability, as I take great care of the guitar anyway. The pickup selector looks like a weak point, but other than that everything looks very reliable. The sealed tuners are problem free and the guitar stays in tune for really long time. This is not the case if you use the whammy, but even then the tremolo (a Wilkinson-like one) is pretty solid for a non-locking one unless you abuse it a lot.

The 1-year warranty holds for electric parts only. I haven't dealt with Ibanez, but their local representative (where I bought the guitar from) has been very helpful and I often visit them to ask questions. I didn't have to deal with them for something serious (like a need for a repair), but I have bought parts for my other Ibanez gear and had a positive experience.

In lack of a hard test (like having to get something repaired) I can't be absolute, but generally the local Ibanez representative is friendly and gives good vibes. Their care for the instruments they sell is obvious and I enjoy visiting them.

The Ibanez site however leaves a lot to be desired. If you select "USA" from the menu you get access to support stuff like wiring diagrams etc, but if you select any other country you don't get this stuff.

The manual accompanying the guitar is clear and explanatory, though I would like more details included.

Harmony Central reviews made me buy this guitar, so now I return the favour. This is an almost perfect guitar (for my budget). At an affordable price you get a good quality instrument, with a slim neck, a slim body, very thin and light and elegant. There are a few weaknesses, for example the pickups could have less noise and the pickup selector could have a more solid feel, but still this is in comparison to much higher price ranges.

By today's standards there are other guitars that also represent good value for money and can get a 10, but this was for me, destined to become my sweet baby.

Made in Korea 2002. Similar to a Strat style body only meaner looking. Not rounded. Very sharp. It's a pretty nice design, with 22 medium frets, laminated black top, 1 volume and 1 tone knob, a five way pickup selector switch and s/s/h pickup configuration.The body is made of mahogany, and it has a maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard. It has the new Ibanez floating bridge, which is fairly easy to adjust and a pretty good tremolo system. It has non locking tuners, but they still hold tuning really well. I don't use the bar much. I have put my guitar down for the night, Picked it up the next day and it was still in tune. Got to LOVE that. This thing really holds tune.

I play rock and metal. I like everything from Grungy rock like Alice in Chains/Jerry Cantrell, Nickelback, UPO, Default, Seether, STP, Soundgarden, Audioslave, Dust For Life. Also, Heavy and southern dirt rock like Down, Pantera Zakk wylde's BLS, Pride and Glory, Book of Shadows, COC, Brand New Sin. some Goth and industrial like NIN and Type O negative. Some Nu-Metal like Stereomud, Boy Hits Car, Sinch and Full Devil Jacket. These just some of the bands I listen to. I play my Ibanez with a Marshall lead 15 micro stack. some of the pickup settings are noisy. Some are not. You may get a slight hum. You have 5 to choose from with the 5 way pick up selector. It really isn't a big problem. You have a variety of sounds to chose from. I think this guitar can play any style but I think it is best suited for rock and metal. It is WELL worth the price. Made and sounds better than the price indicates.

The action was PERFECT when I picked it up at guitar center. Perfect height felt great. Pickups where adjusted a bit high for my taste. So, I lowered them. No biggie. Everything else was perfect. The action, fit and finish. Color is black. Very dark looking guitar.

I have had it for nearly 1 year. I do not gig. This is my hobby. Fanatical at times. One time my strap gave out and the guitar hit the floor. Aaaarrrggg!!!! However, No damage. I was surprised. Very durable. This guitar may not play like a Les Paul or a PRS. But, It is well worth the $340 I paid for it. This thing plays like a $500 or $600 guitar. Reliable.

I have never had to deal with Ibanez directly. However, My fiance purchased an Ibanez guitar for me from guitar center. Can't remember the model. It was white with a Spawn painted on it. It was a surprise gift. She knew I liked Spawn. It had the Floyd Rose. I hated the Rose. Nothing but trouble with that AX. Guitar center told me it was NOT under warranty because she got it as a close out sale. I explained to them I have spent a lot of money with guitar center. They agreed to take it back without hassle. That was really cool. I got credit and picked the Ibanez sa160 and never looked back. It plays like a more expensive guitar.

I've Been playing for a year. I've Been around music and musicians most of my life. If I lost this guitar, it would be worth buying again. My favorite thing about this guitar is the feel. It just feels good in my hands. From the second I picked it up. It felt right. I give it a 9 due to the price. As I said it isn't a Les or PRS but for the money it is incredible.

This guitar was made some time in 2002, in Korea. It's a pretty standard design, with 22 medium frets, laminated top, 1 volume and 1 tone knob, a five way pick-up selector switch and s/s/h pickup configuration.The body is made of mahogony, and it has a maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard.It's got a sort of strat shaped body, though it's probably closer to the Ibanez S series than anything else.
It has a fairly standard floating bridge, with Ibanez's new bridge design (which is much easier to adjust the intonation with)and a pretty good tremolo system. It has non locking tuners, but despite this, they still hold tuning really well.I got some strings (ernie ball power slinkies- that was a bit of a mistake; I'll tell you why later).

I play a bit of a mix match of everything, rock,punk and metal are probably my main styles though.I also play quite a bit of blues, sometimes with a slight country influence, and a little jazz too.My current setup is the SA 160 through a Boss DS-1 Distortion and a Boss BF-3 Flanger, into a Marshall AVT 20. My previuos amp was another Marshall, an MG15 RCD and dear lord it was dreadful! The hum on the pickups was really loud and the sound was filled with a lot of excessive twang, which seemed to drown out everything, especially on the bridge humbucker.However, the new amp changed all that...
Now the sound is wonderful! The neck and centre sinle coils together produce a really nice warm, full, bluesy tone, which is definetly one of my favourite sounds on the guitar.Add a little flange and things get really interesting: you can do really funky kinda leads or a seriously cool sweeping distortion, when combined with the DS-1. The bridge pickup offers ideal ground for metal and hard rock.Trust me distortion is what this pick-up really loves.The bridge can still produce a little hum at times(when the tone is cranked), but with distortion you won't notice.The clean is capable of a nice twang, provided you don't over-do the tone.I'm thinking about changing the bridge pickup, and possibly replacing in with a DiMarzio or maybe a set of Duncans, but I havn't decided on that yet. I'll probably change it in a few months...

The factory set-up was pretty good, I can't complain. The pick-ups could probably do with being adjusted, but that's nothing a good guitar tech can't fix.The action is great!Not too high or too low.
The body is fine, no flaws or visible markings I can see.I got the Noble Grey finish(altough if I were buying it again, I'd go with the quilted maple version).The pick-up selector is a little noisy, but this isn't really the kind of guitar you'd switch pick-ups with in the middle of a song.The tuners are very stable and really hold onto tuning by the balls!It is a little prone to going out of tune if the tremolo gets over-used, but once you don't swing out of it, it's usually fine.

I have giged with it a few times and it really did a great job.The finish and the hardware are extremely solidly built and could probably withstand a 4 megatone blast!The strap buttons are really solid too(unlike my old Ibanez GAX 70-those were a real pain in the ass!).As I said above,I had problems with strings.I'm by no means a beginner(I've been playing a good while), however my old guitar had a stop-tailpiece an tune-o-matic bridge, which would accept virtually any gauge strings.In my lack of framiliarity with this kind of bridge, I got a set of 0.13's,not realising it was set-up for 0.09's! The tension of the thicker gauge on the strings caused the bridge to lift up as far as it goes!Thankfully after about two days I realised the problem and got it fixed, so that was ignorance on my part, not the guitar's fault!

As I said,I got it set-up again and it works perfectly now.It came with a 1 year warranty, but I don't expect I'll need it.When I got it fixed, the job was free and the guys in the shop were really helpful.

I've been playing for a good few years now, and have owned 3 other guitars: a 1989 strat(which was an amazing guitar, but unfortunately wasn't mine), a Rockson strat copy(fit to be a door stop!) and an Ibanez GAX 70 (a nice guitar, though it left a few things to be desired...) and this is definetly my favourite.If it were stolen or lost I'd probably get this again, although in the qulted maple finish, I think(the noble grey isn't really that nice). When I was looking for a neww guitar, I looked at a Jackson S 20 also (or at least that's what I think it was called..) and this blew it away! The sound and upper fret access were much better,by comparison. The only thing I'd really like is a better bridge pick-up, but I'll probably change it soon anyway.Trust me this guitar is a real keeper-play one and you'll understand!

Esta guitarra tiene dos capsulas simples y una hambucker, selector de 5 posiciones, el cuaerpo es de caoba y tiene puente flotante su cuerpo es similar a la serie S a un precio mucho mas economico.
tiene un look espectacular y muy buenas terminaciones el unico punto negro es el puente flotante, una mala Idea de Ibanez a mi juicio este no es ni un tremolo estandar ni floyd Rose y desde que la compre que he tenido problemas con la afinacion e incluso la tuve que mandar a que la calibraran y me tuvieron que bajar el puente dejandolo como un tremolo estandar.

La mejor palabra para describir el sonido de esta guitarra es versatil, yo toco desde Pink Floyd hasta Rush y el sonido que necesites lo puedes encontrar, la capsula del puente suena exquisita, muy calida y con muchos armonicos tono exelente para el Blues y esas sutilesas que uno a veces busca, la capsula Hambucker tiene una gran salida y me satura tremendamente las distorciones, es ideal cuando te quieres esuchar en un solo porque te sube el volumen lo unico malo es que el tono no es muy bueno, tiene muchos medios y pocos agudos y bajos al tocarla acustica es asqueroso, pero al combinar la Hambuquer con la single del medio no suena espectacular y esa es la posicion que yo mas ocupo.
Yo toco con un Fender performer 650 de 65W, tengo un Boss DS-2, Chorus/Flanger Ibanez CF7, Electro Harmonix Small Tone y Zoom 505 que ocupo para afinar y algunos esfectos de modulacion y esta guitarraha ha sido un complemento espectacular.

Con lo unico que he tenido problemas es con el tremolo y a mi me gusta ocuparlo pero la estabilidad de afinacion que te da el tremolo que trae es malisima incluso yo le puse un resorte mas porque traia dos y no ubo caso hasta que tuve que mandarla a calibrar y por ahi quedo mejor pero nunca al 100%

Como digo el terminacion de fabrica de la guitarra es bastante buena para el precio que se paga yo le modifique el tono porque no me gusto, yo queria algo mas parecido a una Strato y parecia mas una RG asi que cambie el Condensador de 22nf por uno de 68nf.
Tambien al disminuir el volumen iba perdiendo agudos, bueno eso no es nada nuevo a todas las guitarras que no tienen este arreglo les pasa, asi que le puse en paralelo con el pote de volumen un condensador de 0.1uF con una resistencia de 150K tambien en // y ya no pierde mas agudos.

Hasta ahora no se me ha soltado nada ni salido algo no he tenido ningun problema de ese tipo y tengo la guitarra hace como un a?o.

Bastante buena la pagina de Ibanez e incluso estan los diagramas de circuito de varios modelos, aunque no esta de este. en todo caso no he recurrido a garantia ni a nada por el estilo.

Muy buena guitarra y para ser de origen Koreano, de las mejores diria yo, muy versatil, de sonidos calidos, debe ser porque el cuerpo es de Caoba creo yo porque realmente hace la diferencia. Me gusta mucho la configuracion de Capsulas y lo unico que le cambiaria es el puente y le dejaria un tremolo estandar ya que para los que quieran Floyd Rose esta la lnea S. Bonito dise?o, muy liviana 22 trastes Jumbo.

yo creo que voy a tener esta guitarra unos 2 o 3 a?os mas y la voy a cambiar por una Jackson DK2 que se parece mucho a esta y el cuerpo es de caoba pero con Floyd Rose.

nothing super special but it has just what it needs.

i will play anything fun. the pickups are poo... change them sucka's. i use what ever effect i want(why does it matter?)i have not found it to be noisey. good sound when you get rid of those pickups(really just the bridge sucks but it souds like it is trapped in a meddal box or something.with original pickup you better stick with distorted crap. i like it alot... i love it... wish it had a better paint job though.(worth buying)

everything with this gutar fits nicely make take a few days to get used the the size of the neck but it's all good.mine had no flaws.

it all seems very durable. if you got the amp for it it can go with live playing. the plastic handle on my selecter switch fells off but who really cares? do you? good paint job. i think it is very dependable. Rock solid baby!

never delt with.

this guitar kicks ass in my opinion. change the pickup and your good to go. i think mine will last a very long time.For the price it is the shya.

-1 humbucker, 2 single coils close to noiseless I won't even change them out, they sound just right for what I want.

-Maple neck with good solid bridge hardware, also has decent tuners.

-bridge seems to be set a little far back but anyone can get used to it quickly.

-Set up well when I bought it without buzz and has good sustain. Neck feels great, easy bends!

-First Ibanez I have owned, now I know I will own more.

-Good looking aggressive strat shape with excellent finish (Quilted Maple)

Very versitile guitar without hardly any noise off the pickups. Pickups are on the bright side generally But all the switch positions give you different sound with which to work with. Nice sustain.

No flaws that I can see, Although my dealer didn't give me a whammy bar with it. Action is perfect! Really nice hardwardware for the money. Great Neck. I like this guitar more for playablitiy than my 2k Strat.

no problems, Seems to be very well built.

I've heard good things....

This is the best guitar I have owned and for the money it's incredible! I have owned around 15 guitars now and I like this one the best. Right now I also own a high end Strat. This guitar blows my expectations away. A real steal for the money. I urge all serious players to own this beauty. A very versitile axe.

22 fret mahogany neck, sleek S series body, volume and tone knobs, detatchable tremelo bar, humbucker on the bridge. two single coil pickups in the neck and middle position, multi-piece staggered bridge

this guitar well suits punk and metal music. I use it with a NOBELS OD1 overdrive pedal and a RANDALL JAGUAR amp. The humbucker gets good bright tone (perfect for lead) and the single coil pickups get good deep tone.

the guitar was set up very well. pickups and bridge were adjusted correctly. there were no flaws at the time of purchase

Good solid hardware, strap buttons are large and solid, its a dependable guitar and i would use it at a gig without a backup.

22-fret mahogany body , one of the best 5 slot and one
volume and one tone knob the floyd rose is a pain to take the strings out and the whammy bar completely unecissary unless your too lazy to slide your fingers the only other thing you could ask for is dimazio pickups

i just got the guitar so really cant rate itbut so far it works perfect for punk (what i play mainly) and unbelivably rage against the machine with a cuople of pedals

guitar set up perfect the fretboard is fast as hell and it slides and works like a dream

this is nly my second guitar but it seems like it could suvive a hurricane.the only way i could imagine the knobs coming of is doing what i like to call the infamous nirvana and through the guitar up and let it smack you in the face and hit the floor the strap buttons in a perfect position i havent played a gig but when i play with it in my band it hasent even come out of tune once

culdnt care less

this guitar is th closest thing to perfect for a average price guitar and would be great for beginners to pros and guitar gods

made in korea
22 medium frets
mahogany body, thin S body.
mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard
thin, fast neck
1 tone knob, 1 volume knob
5 way selector
as2 single coil in the neck and middle position, ah4 humbucker in bridge
black finish
Satellite 30 trem, non locking

after some mods, sounds very good for my style. i play mainly death metal. stock pickups weren't too bad, but are kind of muddy and weak (their stock). bright tone. after adding an EMG81 in the bridge position, and 2 EMG SA single coils, it's cabaple of good cleans, and savage distortion. mahogany body is very warm sounding. i play it through a crate mx120r.

i bought it set up well, low action. it was all in good shape. i have raised action greatly, to compensate for low low tuning, and it sounds very good now and plays very smooth. neck is very nice. finish is beautiful. it is light-weight yet strong.

quite reliable. finish should last as long as i own it. i would gig without it, since it's my only axe.

n/a

after some customization, i am very happy with this guitar. the quality is much higher then the low price-tag. i like this guitar better than many other high-priced guitars.

Korean Made, 22 fret, no pickguard,Mahogony body with quilted maple top in amber finish, S/S/H powersound pickups, 5 way selector switch, one volume, one tone control. Mine came with a soft gig bag and a Marshall G30RCD, picks, really good strap and lead, and an alum key. The Tremelo is an Ibanez made SAT30, quite similar in appearance to a wilkinson trem, and boy does it hold tuning like a god!!!

As mentioned, playing through a Marshall G30RCD(nice practice/possible home recording amp), no effects as of yet, no footswitchable gain, which is a bugger. On clean, you must play it through the neck pickup, casue the mid just soudns like crap all the time and the humbucker sounds like you're playing ythe guitar in a tin can. On the neck its sounds nice and smooth, does a good reproduction of clean American Hi-Fi music liek another perfect day. put distortion on(the G30RCD has it in spades), mnust be played though humbucker and you get a really swampy muddy sound which is fantastic for grunge and metal, but no so good for punk, which is what i mostly play. you can't get good early propagandhi sounds out of this, which is annoying

perfect, no buzz, even on the single coils, only flaw it teres a 1 mm gap between the end of the neck and the body, but that migh tbe deliberate, i dunno. the woods are all fantasticly smooth and pretty, dark rosewood and beautifly mahogony

all the hardware looks solid as hell, this thing is build like a brick shithouse. i dont gig yet but i wouldn't use a backup for this, its looks geourgoeus and i really dont think this it gonan let me down

dunno

This is an amazing guitar, starter guitar price for what really is a semi professional piece of work

Korean made, 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body, S/S/H config. 1 Volume, 1 tone control, 5-way switch. Standard SAT-30 tremolo, no locking nut.

I play mostly rock and progressive type music. Satriani, Creed, etc. I currently am going through a Marshall VS65R, but I have played this guitar through a Line 6 Spider, Marshall DSL, and Vox AC30. The guitar has very good tone for the price level. The humbucker gets good gain and is pretty quiet for a stock pickup. I can get good sustain and harmonics even with the nice light contoured body. The neck single coil is a bit noisy but has a decent sound. The middle pickup is noisy and worthless. I just screwed it all the way down to keep it out of the way. I like the the fact that it doesn't have a lock nut because I like to use alternate tunings and don't use the tremolo at all (I don't even remember where I put the bar). The bridge keeps good tune for my playing style but I don't know how well it would do with heavy tremolo use. The tuners have been good to me, like I said I use them a lot to tune to an open D, drop D, all flat, and they keep their position great. All and all this is a very quality guitar for the price. I have no reservations about playing with it out or in the studio. Only possible change would be putting in better DiMarzio pickups.

I like the action set pretty low, with the medium frets I can get down pretty low before it starts buzzing too much. With a little tweaking to the bridge rockers you can get just about any action you want. I also like the finish on the guitar, I got the grape color (looks blue to me).

I have only had the guitar about a month but I have had no problems with it at all. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out on a gig.

I haven't dealt with them.

As I mentioned above, in this price range you will be hard pressed to do any better. I played the entire Ibanez S-series before I bought this guitar. Other than the different hardware (Floyd Rose, DiMarzio pickups), the high-end Ibanez guitars felt no different. I don't use the tremolo so a Floyd is a pain in the ass to change strings, tough to retune, and I can change the pickups for $50 if I want. So unless you really bang on the tremolo, I don't see the need to blow more $$ on a higher priced model. Save your money and buy a better amp. This guitar is a real player.

Mahogany body, S/S/H-pick-ups and a very special tremolo bridge called Satellite 30... doesn't hold tuning as good as a Floyd Rose, but better than standard bridges. Besides, I've also found it annoying how difficult and long the process of changes strings and tuning them is on a Floyd Rose. I actually like this new trem system and guitar alot!

The only thing I miss is a neck-humbucker instead of a single pick-up...

I'm actually a bassplayer and bought this bass for homeplaying, so I didn't care that much for the sound! It's a standard Ibanez with a cold, grainy sound when the switch is set at the bridge pick-up (the humbucker). But, unlike RG-models, this guitar can also give you some really fat'n'rich tones just by turning and twisting some knobs! I've never really liked the RG-models and that's probably why I bought an SA-model instead!

I use it with a Peavey combo-amp (as said, for homeplaying only) and a Boss Metal Zone pedal and the sound exceeds the price! Although, you do get alot of feedback when using a great amount of distortion with the neck pick-up...

The guitar was set up perfectly, but that's really a personal issue and tastematter, right? When I bought the guitar, the volume knob was too tight and I could barely twist it, but I got it fixed in a couple of seconds... other thean that I was content.

However, I did have too tightened the bridge due to low tuning, but that is something you would have to do by yourself anyway!

I've never played live with this thing, but I do think it would last a whole gig without breaking down. The finish would probably wear off after intensive gigging, but that's a normal thing with "low-priced"-mahogany guitars.

The strap-buttons are stronger than others on guitars I've owned and that's comforting to know. I would depend on this guitar live, but I would bring a back-up if I had one.

Never dealt with them.

The Ibanez S-series are usually expensive and contain a lot of features like the slim, but phat body, Floyd Rose trem-system, etc... The SA-series as reviewed here is more or less a low-budget version of the "S", but has almost everything like it, except the trem-system! Instead it has a new-patented trem called Satellite 30. For the low price you get a pretty good guitar with versatility and a quality name on the headstock. If this guitar was stolen, I'd buy a bass instead since I'm actually a bassplayer, but I would be p*ssed off.... all in all, this is a great guitar for a low price and is perfect for both beginners as well as pro's!

22 medium frets
mahogany body
1 tone knob, 1 volume knob
Pickups: as2 single coil in the neck and middle position, ah4 humbucker in the bridge position
black finish
Satellite 30 bridge
SA mahogany neck

I play a little of everything, but the stuff I write is comparable to Alice in Chains, A Perfect Circle, Cold, Creed, and Smashing Pumpkins. I use it with an Ibanez Chorus/Flanger and a Boss Phase Shifter, Equalizer, Noise Gate, and Octaver to a Line6 Spider. This guitar rules! I love the heavy, distorted sounds through the brige humbucker and the clean sounds through the single-coil neck pickup is amazing. You can play practically any music through this guitar!

The guitar feels great. My first guitar was a Squire Strat, so I've gotten used to the double-cutaway design, so this guitar fits me like a key! Everything feels like the guitar was custom-made for me.

I've only had it a short while, so I can't answer this.

Never had a reson to deal with Ibanez directly.

Pardon my French, but I fucking love this guitar, man! I originally got an Ibanez RG (at the time I was unaware of what a pain-in-the-ass a Floyd Rose tremolo was), but brought it back, saw the SA and fell in love. This guitar is a definite keeper! If it were ever stolen, I'd hunt the bastard down, shove this guitar up his ass and then kick it for putting it out of tune.

Ah, the guitar. Manufactured in Korea I believe. It has 22 medium-sized frets with a laminate top. The onboard controls included volume and tone pots (as if you need any more) and a 5-way pickup selector switch. The pickup configuration is H-S-S and I dig that because it opens up a tonal range not possible with some other guitars (even some top-end planks out there). The stock pickups are Ibanez "powersounds" and sound rather shrill at times, which can be great at during some songs! Also, if the highs and mids are up too far, some hum becomes audible, but for the most part, I barely crank the mids (too snarky for me). This can be cancelled out with the tone pot and the amp EQ. The HUM/SING combo is my favorite. Great for quirky Beatles rhythym and quirky Pink Floyd stuff (even Radiohead stuff too). Turn on to the bucker' with an overdrive and you reach blues/rock/grunge haven. Add a chorus pedal and add some midrange to achieve a John Petrucci type sound! the neck is maple I believe with a rosewood fretboard and is quite playable (not only that, but fun to play!). Great frets. No buzz. Double-cutaway (gorgeous curves). Very light and thin. The bridge is a floating trem which I rarely use except for surf-style dips (with minor chords....drool) and not much else. It rarely goes out of tune even when I bang on it. The tuners are pretty basic. I plan to get locking tuners on there to achieve some deeper dives with the tremolo arm (I can't surf-bend all the time!). It's a great piece of wood! Great looking finish as well! This is far from a beginner instrument. Call it intermediate, I call it fun.

I currently play a mesh of pink floyd, radiohead, foo fighters, jazz, blues and jazzy folk shtuff (think dave matthews). Naturally, a guitar has to cover a lot of bases for it to be acceptable to me. This did it. I try to minimize effects but I use an Ernie Ball volume pedal (couldn't survive without that), A Korg tuner, an Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer (love it), and a Zoom 507 reverb (I know, I know. It sounds great thru my rig though). All this plugged into my TubeWorks TD-752 100W 1x12 tube combo amp. It's noisy when you want it to be, but hums a bit when the highs on the guitar or amp are maxed. Back it off and you should be fine. The humbucker is fairly bright and produces great artificial harmonics. The H/S combo produces a lush background suitable for arpeggiating chords (clean or overdriven). I'm planning on replacing the pickups in the future. Possibly EMG's or DiMarzio's. Not quite sure yet though. The guitar is simple. This is how it should be. I get all the sounds I need with what I have. (Intersting note: I've tried other SA-160's and they didn't sound nearly as good as the one I have. Wood makes a difference!)

The guitar setup was great. Good action, no buzz. The frets are good, but I've played better (on Gibson SG's for example). It didn't necessarily respond well to lighter guage strings, but I prefer medium guage strings anyway (.10's)for versatility as I play advanced chordal things and solo as well. The pots have gotten a little noisy, but nothing a good tech at a guitar shop can't fix. The selector is a little noisy at times, but not really. Everything has noise though. Other than that, it looks and plays great!

This is my main guitar other than my Dean RSE Exotica Acoustic/electric. It feels very solid. The finish is THICK. Couldn't chip it with a power drill. The strap buttons come a little loose, but this is very easily fixed. I depend on it. For now, this is my number one.

never dealt with Ibanez.

I've been playing long enough to know that it's not the gear you have, it's the songs you write. You could write a song by pounding on a desktop and yodeling and if it sounded good and you would have a good song.Again it's not so much the medium as it is the message. not to say you shouldn't care about your gear. Tone is very personal. It must be innovated, not emulated. If lost, I might buy it again. I might get a Yamaha Pacifica 112. I really like those too (great necks). My favorite features? Versatility. Tone. Playability. Everything else is in the fingers, and all after that is an afterthought or mere coloration. All in all a great sounding, affordable hunk of tree.

I just bought a 2001 Korean made Ibanez SA-160. Before i continue, let me get a few things straight. 1)i am not a beginner, i have been playing guitar like crazy for 8 years now. 2)i didn't buy this guitar because it was cheap. i have spent thousands of wasted dollars on the "big name" guitars out there. i have owned countless strats, a tele, a gibson les paul standard, a carvin, and i've played everything else there is out there. With that out of the way, i shall continue. The guitar has 22 medium frets. The fretwork is great. It's one solid piece of super light mahogany. I love it. It feels so nice. The contours of this guitar seem to merge with my hips. It has one tone knob, one volume, and a 5-way selector, which is very nice. Anyone who thinks they need more than that is kidding themselves. As if anyone in any audience is going to destinguish between more than five different tones...please. i can hear them now..."oh, did you hear how he had the tone knob set for the coil tapped humbucker in the neck position?? oh, that was nice." Whatever! If you can't make a guitar sound beautiful without a thousand different functions, then you need to practice a little more. :) okay, the guitar has a S/S/H pickup configuration. These are the stock Ibanez pickups, passive of course. They make this model with the AH series pickups, i believe, but i am replacing them anyway, so i bought it with the cheap ones. I plan on throwing in two EMG "S" single coils, and an 81. Once that is done, this guitar will be my all-time favorite guitar, no joke. The neck is super fast, maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The action was already set up really nice. You know how usually when you pick up a guitar brand that you haven't played much, it always feels a little weird to you? Well, when i picked up this guitar for the first time, it felt like melted butter in my hands. I couldn't believe it. I felt like i had been playing this very guitar my entire life. The finish is a beautiful Candy Apple Red. Unlike most Ibanez paint jobs which are thin and often chip, this is solid, detailed work. I haven't dropped it yet but i have read in other reviews how dropping it didn't even phase the paint job. The bridge is actually what first attracted me to the guitar. I have been playing a lot of Metal riffs lately, that is why i was looking at Ibanez in the first place. All the other models have the Floyd Rose tremolo, which i hate. then, there are the really crappy looking bridges that look like you could twist them in half. The bridge on this guitar is really solid. It boasts a string-thru body construction with a basic "strat style" tremolo. i took the arm off because i won't be using it. The tuners are Ibanez stock. Get this, i went in one day and played this guitar. It was slightly out of tune. I had the clerk hold it for me so i could purchase it in a couple of days. He took it down to the basement. Two days later when i returned, he went right down and got it. I sat down to tune it up and play it, and to my amazement, it was still in perfect tune!! These tuners are really solid and turn very smoothly. Don't think you are getting some cheap "squier" type tuners. I've had it home for quite a while now and it holds its tune very well. As i said before, the neck is wonderful...very fast/thin. I love it. This is the best guitar purchase i have made, period. But, it doesn't have a TON of features...hence, the lower rating. Features=Waste of $$$

I play Hard Rockalternative-Technometalpunk. That's the only way i can describe it. This guitar suits it perfectly. I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deville for my cleans, and a Peavey 5150II for my ear piercing thrash. The stock pickups amazed me. They are the best sounding stock pickups i have EVER heard. Nevertheless, i am switching to EMG's. Who wouldn't?

Now, here is where this guitar really shines, and in my opinion, the only place it really needs to shine. Everyone who is a serious player is going to buy the guitar for these reasons and then make changes to meet their personal specs. As i said earlier, the action and fit of this guitar are wonderful. DO NOT look at this guitar as a "beginner" model, shoddy, cheap whatever...it's a good guitar. If you want an ibanez, and you are going to change the pickups anyway, there is absolutely no reason not to get one of these. i played all the RG's, the universe, the Satriani, and i liked this the best.

This guitar is extremely durable. It has the thickest, nicest looking paint of any of the Ibanez models. I had an RG7620 sent to me well-packaged in the mail and when it got to me it was chipped all over the place. It was really brittle. This is much thicker...much,much thicker. I would definitely use this guitar without a backup. It's built like a tank. The knobs can't be wobbled, the bridge is rock solid, and the switchblade is nice and tight.

I've never dealt with them.

I'm a longtime player. I've played and owned them all. I know what i'm talking about. I will never buy an overly expensive guitar again. This guitar is perfect. Well, it will be once i get the EMG's installed. If it were stolen, i would buy the exact same guitar again, no questions asked. I love everything about it. I love the design, the quality, the sound, and the $$$tag! I compared it with every other guitar in New York Music's arsenal before i bought it. It doesn't have the luxury of a PRS, it doesn't have a plethora of control features like a decked out Carvin, and it doesn't have a Quilted Maple top with 80 layers of clear coat. It's a guitar, you know, the instrument that you make music with. If you want something to hang on your wall and impress people with...go shoot a moose.

Pretty good For a beginner/intermediate guitar. S-S-H pickups sound really good. Locking bridge allow MY guitar to rarely go out of tune. I don't use the whammy bar so thats probably why. 2 control knobs: one volume one tone. Mahogany body, really light guitar. 22 frets. REALLY THIN NECK. Could have a few more knobs though. I am judging this guitar by the price.

It suits my style perfectly. I play some punk rock and the humbucker sounds priceless believe it or not. Nice kick to the humbucker, simmer and calm are the single coils.

Beautiful guitar. Mine is candy apple red. Slim neck allows you to fly on that guitar. I got mine in perfect condition.

It withstands live playing to the max. I don't have strap locks and i find my self jumping around occasionally. Yes it has hit the floor a few times and has only left surface scratches that you actually have to look for to find. If i was a pro, I would pick this guitar to be my back-up if i had say.......an American Start or something. But at my age, I would say this is a loner.

Been playing almost 5 months now. Couldn't think of anything else for this guitar except maybe another knob or two for control. Stolen, Lost, thats a tear moment right there. If i could buy some strap locks, that guitar would be unstoppable.

This guitar was built in 2001 in Korea I believe. 22 frets, 5 way pickup switch, chrome knobs against a shinny black body. Looks nice. Ibanez Humbucker in the bridge, Ibanez single coils in the middle and neck positions. The guitar is Mahogany...I think. Whatever it is it's strong and light. It's shape is pretty much a strat-ish sort of shape. It has a double pivot bridge and non-locking tuners. It's not too bad a trem system for it's price. It stays relatively in tune for the most part, but too much whammy abuse will cause sharp notes and unfocused powerchords over time. Different string sizes, bridge spring tension (adjustable), and other stuff will change the severity of the aforementioned tuning problems. But overall it's not a bad trem system. Personally I fuss over perfect tune, so I'll probably lock the bridge somehow. Came with the standard tools, allen keys and the like, trem bar.

I like a classic hardrock/metal sound. I only really use the humbucker because I need the high output level. The other two single coils are pretty much a 'typical' single coil sound...so I won't say anymore about them. I must mention that I have raised my 'bucker to get higher output so tones and the like are subsequently affected. I find this pickup to be pretty crazy, tones of harmonic content and there is a real harsh-edge to the bright side of it. It's probably just that I'm use to my old axe which I had a DiMarzio PAF pro in. I'm thinking of putting one in this guitar actually. But to choose a reference the Ibanez humbucker is suited to that shrill Dimebag Darrell distortion, so drop to D and enjoy a new level of cowboy madness. Tone is a very personal thing, so you will have to hear for yourself really.

When I got this guitar it was setup very well indeed. Action and relative string heights were...just how I like them. Intonation was perfect according to my chromatic tuner. I found no setup flaws in this guitar.

I think this guitar would be great for live playing. It's very durable and can take a real beating. I've smacked it into a few things accidentally and no mark or scratch is evident. Strap buttons are quite solid...much better than my last guitar.
I would use it without a backup. Not being able to afford two guitars is a good motivation for this.

I've never had to deal with the company, but I havn't had it all that long.

I've been playing for approximately 4.5 years.
If I lost it I would need psych treatment I think.

May favorite thing about this guitar is the ease of play. For some reason your fingers just glide over the frets.

A follow up after two monthes to my review below. This is a 2001, and is Korean Made. They must have some new QC Procedures out of Korea because this Guitar looks great, and The fit and finish is a good as any Japanese Ibanez I've seen.

The bridge sound is a little bright for my taiste, but this can be worked out with an EQ. The neck and middle Single coils have great tone.

The fit and finish were great, I had the it set up by a pro, and it plays great.

It has been solid.

n/a

I've been playing for over 25 years, influenced by Page, Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale ETC. I wish they would have used better Humbuckers in the bridge position.

Korean 2001.
22 fret, really dark wood fingerboard.
Volume, tone, 5-way.
S/S/H Ibanez pickups - Many people think they suck but I like them.
Passive electronics, I think.
Mahogany body, maple neck, maple top - Great, looks and sounds nice.
Double pivot tremolo - Stringing system has much thought put into it.
Non-locking stock tuners - They don't lock but they sure hold well.
Thin, flat, medium fret neck - Great neck! Not sticky, very fast.
I think it came with things but my store didn't give them to me.

The sound of this guitar, even with the excellent features above, is a real clincher. It suits any musical style, it's more diverse than a Les Paul if you ask me. I use it with a Peavey Blazer 15 watt amp. The guitar really works with the amp well, the tone of the amp is dark and mellows the guitar's brightness, but I'm gonna upgrade to a Peavey Envoy 40 watt just for the power and the second EQ. The guitar has a bright sound, but the maple top makes it sound great. I have no problems with the guitar's sound.

Excellent action. Medium height by my judging, but the strings are so light that they are no problem to get down. It plays incredibly fast, even with sliding. The pickups were good, but the humbucker was high so my guitar shop angled the humbucker lower and then raised it higher on the bass end. The only flaws are temporary, a little bit of white clearcoat residue in the neck's joint and a little in the input jack cavity. This stuff goes away if you brush it with your finger, so no problem, I just took it off the neck while I was changing strings. I don't know what bridge routing is, so I can't comment.

It's invincible. A few coins fell on it from my garage roof (long story) and the clearcoat on the top wasn't even scratched. The thing is a f***ing tank. I've heard a lot about Ibanez durability, and I bet I couldn't break the thing if I wanted to.

Never talked to them.

This guitar is one I'd recommend to anyone. If it were stolen, I'd find the person who took it and beat them to death with my amplifier. I love the tone, the clarity of the sound, and I hate how it's so easy to play. It practically plays for you. I just wish the tremolo was better and/or that it had locking tuners. For the price, this thing's amazing. Hell, price excluded it's amazing.

Korean, 22 Frets, volume+tone dials, 5-way selector, Ibanez S/S/H, mahogany body, stunning quilted maple top and clearcoat, SAT30 tremolo that's better than any I've used, cheap tuners, maple neck.

Great spec level for the price, best features are the genuinely high-quality pickups, great wood, nice tremolo, easy top fret access, and above all the beautiful top and finish. Whenever I walk into a room where this thing is, I brighten up.

Has an extremely bright sound. I don't ever mess with tone dials on guitars unless they're numbered, but turning your amp's high and mid down a notch or two fixes it. It's got good output on the single coil settings, and the split S/HB and HB settings are great for a switch to some slammin' lead. This guitar is very versatile.

Do yourself a favor:

Set this up with a good solid state amp. Clean channel, low 5, mid 4, high 5. Crank both guitar dials all the way. Switch to the middle pickup. Now play an open chord and use your wrist on the tremolo to vibrate it, really fast. Like a violin. With practise, you can attract hot girls that you don't know.

The setup was perfect. I think I'll get some 11's slapped onto this thing... I hate 9's... Pickups were not staggered, but every piece of hardware and every square inch of hardwood on the whole guitar was perfect. I don't think I'll ever buy something that isn't an Ibanez. I rate it 9 for those damn 9's and the unstaggered pickups.

I think this guitar is Superman. Some idiot swung my cable at me once and the connector hit the front. After removing him from the area, I looked at the part where it hit... No scratch. I don't know how Ibanez makes the clearcoats on their guitars so tough... They should make airplane canopies out of them. I would depend on this thing without a backup any day.

Not applicable. Never dealt with them. I don't expect too either...

If someone stole it, they wouldn't live long enough to get to the pawnshop. If I lost it I'd kill myself. The guitar is basically perfect, except for the bright tone. I compared it to an Ibanez AX220QM, Ibanez RG320, and some Mexi-Strat in the price range, using my Peavey Blazer 158 amp with all of them, and it beat the latter two down. It identical in quality and niceness to the AX though. I bought this one because of the single coils... The AX is not worse, just different. It lacks those beautiful singles but has a great neck HB. I'm gonna buy tha AX220QM next, they'll look so nice together. I rate this 10 for the price, but 9 overall because I wish the pickups were a bit nicer. But just like the guy says below... This thing is pimpin'. Final Note: It's REALLY easy to play. My twelve year old little sister sounds good with it.

2001 Korean Paid $389.
22 Frets
I got the quilted maple top which looks great!
1 Vol. 1 Tone 5 Way switch
Just like the others
Good Mohogany Body
I love the feel of the S Body
The Sat 30 Bridge is adequate, I have it locked.
Tuners are O.K..
Over all for a quilted maple top S body, this guitar look jewell, and the sound is an 8 out of 10. I'd pay 389. all day for this quitar

This guitar looks pretty cool.(black) powersound pickups(low end is sorta heavy top end isnt really fat but fat enough). The tuning and bridge really suck. Its not a terribly bad guitar but there is no point in putting a tremolo brige on a guitar that doesnt have locking tuners or a locking nut. Basically its the tuning problems that really bring this guitar down.

The bridge pickup isnt too bad.The bottom end is pretty decent. It can sound heavy if u wanted it to. The top end is not really fat but fat enough. THe single coils have a decent clean sound. They are not the best tho.

This one was well put together. No fret buzz or anything. Its only these really shitty tuners and bridge. It goes out of tune a lil easy for a 350 dollar guitar.

I think the reliability is pretty poor. I jam with the drummer of my band every now and then and the tuners suck ass. The bridge is a pain in the ass too. If u were gigging u should definatly have a backup, or have this as a backup.

I've been playing about a year and i havent really had experience with other guitars, but I kno a good guitar when i see one. I play this through a Marshall Valvestate30R. Doesnt sound that bad, EXEPT WHEN IT GOES OUT OF TUNE! I wish it had some locking tuners and maybe a standard bridge or even a locking nut too.
Bottom line its an ok guitar. Sounds decent, looks cool. If u have any extra money tho i'd replace the tuners and maybe put in a locking nut. Or if u dont like the pickups put different ones in.

Korean Made 2000 Model Ibanez SA160. "Vampire Kiss Red," standard fulfrum tremolo bridge, generic tuners, one "Powersound" humbucking pickup, two single coils, 5 way switch, one volume, one tone. Medium sized frets, rosewood fingerboard, maple neck, lightweight mahongany body.

Has that trademark Ibanez sound: bright as hell. I've played this guitar through a 50's model (Unsure of exact year and model #, the amp does not belong to me) Fender tube amp. Clean the guitar sounds thick, but lacks midrange. But for the money it isnt terrible :)

I purchased the guitar from my local music shop, right off the rack. The action (in my opinion, everyone is different) is set way too high, adjustment seems to worsen this situation. The guitar buzzed at the first 3 frets, but at the time of purchase, one of the employees fixed that problem. The finish is excellent, I've dinged and knicked this sucker a lot, yet no scratches or dents. The mahogany body is lightweight and comfortable.

The fulcrum tremolo is terrible. Along with the cheap tuners, this guitar can't hold a tune worth sh*t. Occasionally the bridge will raise up too high or drop completely down, touching the surface of the guitar. Frequent trips to the music shop for alignment is getting to be a pain in the arse. I honestly never screw around with the bridge, as a matter of fact I rarely pick the thing up anymore, I lost confidence with this guitar.

Never contacted them.

If it were lost, I'd wouldnt care, this guitar has given me too much aggrevation. I've been playing for about 7 months and this is my third guitar. I loved the price i got on it, i hate the damn bridge & tuners, it's not worth the money to me, a guitar should be played, to be enjoyed, not sit in a case and collect dust. Very dissappointing! Please do not buy this junk heap.

alright i dont feel like explainging too much u wanna know the features read the other kids. lol really kick ass though

man i had the worst guitar before this a daneletro cool at first sucked quickly. and then i baught this and it was a whole new world i didnt even know about Joe Satriani when i got this guitar and after a while i noticed it looked alot like his and pretty much sounded the same too me at least all u others can be annoying and say its not but i play alot of satch songs with this guitar and sounds so damn close especially with my effects box, only thing is none of that insane whammy bar action lol oh well when i get my js model it will all change. so i give it a 10 casue i love how it sounds and feels compared to some other shit i played its a great like first guitar or a guitar to just have

i got it from guitar center everthing was perfect and if it wasnt perfect they ACTUALLY HELPED ME GET IT RIGHT!!! AMAZING. anyways only thing is its got this stupid floating trem not a full trem with all the locking nuts and shit which is pretty much pointless unless you feel like tuning the secong u touch the whamy bar but im planning on putting a standard bridge in then it will be perfect. which brings me to another point of mine was going out of tune alot mostly casue of the ay the bridge is and if u drop d or anyhting goes out casue no locking anything but buy a standard bridge and its fine and its even fine without still stays in tune jsut gotta tune it a couple times to keep it right. i like the pickups i get the screamin harmonics and gorgeous AH harmonics and all that fun stuff. ncie action i can play like any satch song on it pretty much with the speed. only reason i gave it a 9 was the bridge which doesnt even matter unless u use the whammy bar basically so u wouldnt even need to change it but im gonna so i can drop d and tune differently with ease.

yeah never had a problem solid definately man i got a black one GORGEOUS i love the way this black looks its so damn shiny no paint gone anywhere perfectly smooth i got some scracthes from picking but it happens when u got no pick guard and u cant see em so its all good no problems with the nec or anything everthing perfect. and no i wouldnt gig with it as my only guitar for the reason of it would be stupid to gig with only one guitar cause some thing can happen on accident so thats a stupid question. though it is reliable and i will use it in the school talent show so it has to be durable to survive my high school E- HALL aHHHHH!!! ITS INSANE

um never really needed anything anything i needed i got right off the bat at the store and they helped me so since i dont know ill give em a 10 no ill jsut put no opinion

im 15 i have been playing like 3 years i was nervouse at first when i baught it wasnt sure if i would like it but i got home and it kicked ass lots of output nice sound excellent guitar i think. and its not like a beginner guitar or nothing ya know anyone could use it i guess i dont know maybe orr maybe not whatever its great guitar

email me guys and tell me what u think of yours cause i wanna know if u agree with me

This thing is awesome, mine is vampire kiss red, and it's curved body shape is different from the practice series. It also is made of mahogany, a wood that is more lightweight, and easier to carry around. This guitar looks flawless, and is definetly a performance guitar. No mexi-strat could ever be better, dont listen to the other guy. Really active electronics, the humbucker slamms and the high output singles are kicking. an amazing guitar, and i've played Gibsons I thought were worse, and i've been playing for a while.

One volume, and one tone controls, and that's it for the look.

This thing sounds great, but it depends alot what amp you have. The mahogany really brings out the deeper end of the pickups. If you throw on a flange, your picking patterns will sound beautiful, and i am very proud to perform with mine. It sounds flawless.

Mine came in mint condition. The pickups and body were very well taken care of, and looks like pretty carefully manufactured, for Korean. Mine had no visible flaws. The neck hangs back, to keep the stings in line, but I like it better, because it doesnt get in the way.

This is definetly a performance guitar, and you will feel like a pimp just holding it. It makes the most insecure players feel awesome, becasue it plays so well it plays itself... yeah, man, it's not you, its the guitar. It is very solid, and you can really move with it, just don't slam down on the nice finish too hard, or keep polishing it, if your into that, and when you're playing don't trip on your cord!

Never tested company support, never needed it... you have 1 year, and 2 year options, they cover almost everything except for stupid mistakes that you make.

I love this guitar. I love the way I look with it. There are four colors, so you've got some choices to make, but everybody's different. You will be proud to own this pimpin' guitar. I compare this guitar to a lot of other Ibanez stuff, and this is one of the best out there, becasue it's not too expensive, and it's almost a flawless s-series, so get this guitar, becasue you won't be dissapointed.

Made in Korea. 22 Frets, Laminated body. It has 3 pick-ups (SSH) and 5-way selector. It's made out of mahogany.

I'm fairly new at guitar, I've only been playing for about six months, but this guitar is one of the better sounding ones that I've heard, compared at least to some of my friends guitars. I use it with a 25 watt fender frontman. the humbucker is loud and good sounding, i typically use the second setting, the humbucker and a single coil. This gives a decently rich sound, but not dull either.

This guitar just looks awesome. It's really small and lighweight, which I like, although some people don't. There are no noticable flaws in this guitar.

I've had this guitar for 6 months, and it has an few permanent smudges and a couble of scratches :( But it is pretty solid, with a quality finish. Everything is solid, and I could see this surviving live playing.

I hear it's good, but no experience.

I'm still a novice musician, but I wanted to put up something about this guitar, because no one else has! Overall its a quaility guitar for it's price. Honestly, a mexi-strat of an equal price is probably a better guitar, but i just like the bad-ass way this guitar looks, so i'm staisfied. When i get better, i want to get a really good ibanez.