Ibanez SZ520

[Spudman]

Ibanez SZ520QM. Bloody amazing.:master:

:AOK:

 

[warren0728]

man that looks sweeeeet :AOK: .....is she yours now?

ww

 

[Algonquin]

Beautifully designed guitar Spudman.

I love the staggered 'String Through' pattern. I have Ibanez envy!

Play it in good health.
:beer:

 

[SuperSwede]

oooo.... nice! :AOK:

 

[Spudman]

I have yet to find a guitar that has a wider pallet of tones. It does Strat, Tele, thick jazz, crunchy rock.
In some light it's flame purple an in other light it's brown sunburst. Very cool. It hangs just right too. I'm amazed.

 

[Dreadman]

Damn nice guitar.

I bought a purple one new several months ago and liked it so much I immediately bought a used blue one. Stunning looks and truly a charm to play and hear. Very nice price also.

 

[Spudman]

Damn nice guitar.
Very nice price also.

Right on both counts. What gauge strings do you have on yours Dread? How do you like the feel of the scale length?

I've been playing these at the importers for quite a while, over a year at least and didn't like their prices. I just waited for the right deal and I'm certainty glad I went ahead and got one.

I've also checked out the new SZRs and there are some slight differences but they are still a great guitar very much like the SZ. They sound huge! That was my first thought after plugging in the new SZR. My second thought was "this is sure a pretty blue finish."

High quality and great value.:AOK:

 

[just strum]

does it have two volume and one tone or one volume and two tones?

Dread I forgot that you bought one (now two), sounds like both of you guys are really pleased with the purchase. Very nice looking guitars.

 

[Spudman]

Two volume - one tone.


With the switch in the center position it activates only one coil in each pickup. And the way they are voiced it allows with the two volume knobs to get such a wide variety of sounds it's pretty incredible. Coming from a guy who has owned around 75 guitars I'm saying this guitar has a lot of voices. A lot!

The pickups have quite a bit of sparkle and that helps to get into the Tele and Strat aural zones but with the tone knob you can tame that brightness and really get the guitar to sound almost like anything. The thick maple cap may help add some of that brightness too. I also notice that the pickups stay clear as the volume is decreased. Very pleasant.

At first the string tension threw me off. It's 25.1 inches. Gibson is 24.75 and Fenders are 25.5 so it is different feel. Once I got accustomed to it with 10s I could really hear its voice and became very confident when I attacked the strings. Oh, and the low end sustains for days.

 

[bigoldron]

She's definitely a GASSER! As President Jimmy Carter once said, "I look upon her with lust in my heart." The SZ's are on my "one day" list. Of course, I've heard somewhere that the Washburn X50's are basically the same guitar. Don't know for certain about that, but they're both classy axes. Keep on rockin', Spud! :dude: :rockon:

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Looks beautiful, and I am sure she sounds it too. Could her name be "Barney"? Flame purple Barney . . .








No really, that looks like a really sweet guitar. So many to choose from these days, and so many nice reasonable ones too. No need to spend really big, it doesn't seem. Nice!

 

[Spudman]

Looks beautiful, and I am sure she sounds it too. Could her name be "Barney"? Flame purple Barney . . .








No really, that looks like a really sweet guitar. So many to choose from these days, and so many nice reasonable ones too. No need to spend really big, it doesn't seem. Nice!

Nice try with the save but you're still dead. We'll be doing Baldy again...soon. Barney, pffffft!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

uh oh. Wha, wha! You're the one that said flame purple! uh oh, yikes!


(ducking, slithering quickly away).

 

[Dreadman]

Right on both counts. What gauge strings do you have on yours Dread? How do you like the feel of the scale length?

I've got 10's on both. The purple one is tuned to E and the blue one tuned to D#, which I like a lot on most electrics.

Interestingly, the purple one weighs 7-1/2 lbs. while the blue one is just 6 lbs. - a very noticeable difference. No sound difference that I can hear though.

I've always gone back and forth easily between Gibson and Fender scale lengths so this one (being near the middle) was comfortable right away for me.

It really feels like you a very high quality instrument in your hands and all for as little as $300-$350 (new, old stock).

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I've been meaning to ask you about your new avatar Spud.

A real beaut, I'm happy to hear that she sounds as good as she looks.

 

[oldguy]

Really nice guitar, Spudman. Congrats on your new Ibanez, and kudos to you for waiting to get it at the bargain price you were comfortable with.

 

[Spudman]

Really nice guitar, Spudman. Congrats on your new Ibanez, and kudos to you for waiting to get it at the bargain price you were comfortable with.

Bargain price is definitely what happened here. I really got lucky. The stars must have aligned or something that day.

 

[just strum]

Boy, based on the comments made by you and Dreadman, this must be one of those "great find" type of guitars with a lot of bang for the buck.

The thread is just another GAS creator left behind by fretters that know their guitars. I'm going to have to stop reading it, since we all know what it leads to.

 

[Dreadman]

You know me Strum, I never give high praise where it isn't due. This really is a lot of guitar for a little price.

Spud, can I ask what it cost you?

 

[just strum]

You know me Strum, I never give high praise where it isn't due. This really is a lot of guitar for a little price.

Spud, can I ask what it cost you?

When you noted you went out and acquired a second one, that says a lot. Plus I've read enough of Spuds posts that I get the impression he definitely is not an impulse buyer.

 

[Spudman]

Spud, can I ask what it cost you?

4 Bad Monkeys and a set of XL120's.

 

[Dreadman]

Yup, that's a deal. :AOK:

 

[Sblack]

Thw SZ series is one of Ibanez's best playing and sounding guitars made in a long while. I cannot believe they are getting rid of the SZ for something more modern looking and MIC. This happened to the SC series as well. I had an SC420BC and it was the Holy Grail for me. Too bad I sold it on eBay while chasing tone. Keep that SZ -- awesome find.

 

[Spudman]

The SC420 was the first Ibanez that made me say "whoa! now that's a great sounding guitar." I have an SCR220 that I absolutely love too. I played with this band out of Nashville and they were snickering at it when I started to play with them then after a few songs they said "ya, I guess that sounds all right." duh! :bravo: