Ibanez RG350mdx Review
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General Information
Original Author: The Uncreator
Weapon: Electric Guitar
Make: Ibanez
Model: Rg350mdx, Rg350dx, Rg3503ex
Playing Style: Progressive, Metal, Blues, Some Classical.
Price: $399-$499
Price Paid: $570 (w/ tax - 2006)
Sound
Riffage: 7.75 With the stock pickups installed the sound is surprisingly versatile. By no means will this excel in every genre, but it handles Metal/Rock excellently. Fast thrash metal, epic power metal, to classic vintage style rock tones, it carries all these fairly well. I have even tuned down to B standard (with proper equipment adjustment and string changes) and it even did this fairly well, enough to jam around on. If you were to record though, low tunings like this probably wont be as beefy as they should. The cleans are just how I like them, shimmering chords that have that "pop" to them. This may not be what everyone desires but in my applications its worked splendidly, but that also brings up a slight limitation. By using the neck pickup your chords will fatten up on the clean side, but maybe not as satisfactory as some would like.
Lead Work: 9.0 This guitar to me, is a lead guitar. Sure, it handles riffs well - but the naturally low action and thin neck lend itself beautifully to lead work. Bends are effortless, as the fretboard feels great under your fingers, very smooth and polished. The aforementioned thin neck allows your hands comfort with large stretches and fast runs, and the 24 frets allow shredders to have full access to all their desires. The floating bridge allows for massive dive bombs, crazy vibratos, and anything else you so wish it to do.
This guitar also handles more diversely in this medium, it produces bright and warm leads for epic choruses, smooth, round tones for fast fretwork. Dirty, scratchy tones for some good ol' blues, and even a certain "elasticity" that gives it a very classical guitar feel.
Feel
8.0
Its the perfect weight for me, not too heavy but not too light. I need a certain amount of weight in the body so I can really dig into some bends and vibrato, as I tend to shake the whole guitar sometimes. If you want a super-lightweight guitar, or a heavier one, this will probably not meet those needs. Rather, its fits nicely in the middle. With a guitar strap, the weight doesn't distribute as well as some other models, rather its almost entirely focused on one shoulder, how I wear it anyway. (High up) So after a couple hours of wearing it standing up it will wear on you.
Equipment
The locking nut works beautifully, keeping the guitar ever in tune. The EDGE PRO III bridge takes a lot of flak for being less reliable, however, this is not the case if you take proper care of it. I had to change the basic nuts and bolts on it two years after I bought it cause they were stripped (that though, is my fault), other than that, as long as you play it at least once every day or every other day for awhile it will stay in tune. If you leave it sit without playing for too long, the guitar will drop a half-step or so down.
The bolt-on neck is a bit of a problem, it does hamper any really thick sustain you might get out of it. However, Change out the stock pickups and this becomes much less of a problem. Sure, its a bolt-on so its going to have this problem to some extent, but a nice pair of custom pickups of your choosing and it shouldn't bother you to any real extent.
Overall Impression
A superbly built machine with understandable flaws, this is an excellent lead guitar, especially for recording I find. Changing out some stock equipment will greatly improve the sound, but its stock setup is pretty well versed in enough ways to make it highly enjoyable and easy to play. I paid $570 with tax when this came out, now I believe it is only $400, so it is pretty affordable as well.
