RG350EX Review

Basswood is a comparatively lightweight wood, which makes it very comfortable for extended playing. With a good balance of highs and lows, basswood is right in between alder and mahogany in sound character.

Features:	9.3
Sound:	9.5
Action:	8.4
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9.2
Overall rating:	9.1
Users rating:	7.8
Comments:	52

overall: 8.4

Featured review by: Fate_of_Man, on december 19, 2005

Price paid: $ 450

Purchased from: americanmusical.com

Features: It's a solid guitar, made in 2004 in Korea. It has 24 jumbo frets, there nice lots of room for bends and vibirato. Wizard II neck. Its a bolt on neck real solid thou, held up pretty good with the bends I to on it. It has a cool shark tooth inlay they call it on the neck, it's got floyd rose copy bridge on it, the Edge III they call it. It's also got those lockin nuts to go with it. 3 pickups 2 hum and 1 coil, 5-way Switch with them. 1 volume and 1 master tone nobs. // 10

Sound: I play a lot of stuff from metal to clean, depends on how I feel. This guitar is for the multi style guitarist, with the 5 way Switch you get a big range in sounds, each position has a different sound its great. I have a Line 6 Spider 2 210 I play though, this guitar sings with all the different sound this amp has. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Was set up pretty good from the factory, execpt the cheap 42 gauge strings on it. The bridge pickup was a little loose I just tightend the screw no biggie. It was nice and clean with I got it no flaws. The action is low on the wizard neck so it buzzes a little on the frets 1 threw 5 but it doesn't come through the amp so no worries there. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Here's the catch on the hole thing. The guitar is cold natured. I got mine in the summer, did great stayed in tune very well. But when winter hit ahhhh, the strings don't stay in tune as long, I have to check it every other day, the intonation goes off about twice a week, so I have to fix it myself or go to the guitar tech guy in town (intonation is the length of the string from the bridge to the stringing nuts on the head). The nobs and bridge rust up or oxidized, Ibanezes do that for some reason. The strap buttons are solid, the guitar seems to me that it will last a long time if I dont snap in half this winter out of anger over the intonation. Dont use the wammy bar with this bridge tuning goes off right away. It plays very will when I jam with my friends, but if I played live during the winter have a backup just in case the intonation goes off and it will. // 5

Impression: This guitar fits my style perfectly. Wide range of styles and sounds. I have been playin for about 8 years and had this guitar for 9 months. I plan to get another Ibanez, the SZ720, its stringthrew with a fixed bridge so no intonation problems. I wished I had known about how sensetive it is to weather changes or I would have saved up move for one that had the orginal floyd rose bridge on it. If it was stolen I would be pissed very much because my last guitar was stolen and I had to work long days for months to get this one. But I might get this one again just to have one to pick up and jam. I love the sound on this guitar I just hate the bridge and the intonation problems. I would love to put a real orginal floyd rose on this instead of the cheap copy. It holds up very well in the summer just the winter and cold tempatures mess with the metal of the bridge. This guitar is very fast playin havnt had any complants from other people about feel and speed. // 8

overall: 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on march 22, 2006

Purchased from: A Remus Sound

Features: I won't bother listing the spec as you can get that else where. At first, the shift to 24 frets was difficult becasue I'd instinctively knew where they all were on my old guitar. When I bought the guitar, I also bought a small tuner, patch lead and strap locks (which I recomend). // 8

Sound: The Infinity pickups perform alot better than I was hoping. The neck pickup provides exactly what I was looking for, a smooth, mellow tone, which responds well to higher frequencies. I run it, usually clean through a Vox AD30VT amp, and the combination of the valves and these pickups works a treat. If I use a pedal, it is my Korg, but this impairs the overall sound quality, so I try to avoid it. Thebridge pickup has a lush sound which cuts through the mud of cheaper pickups. My favourite set upo at the moment is the single coil/neck pickup combo, with the tone down slightly. This is perfect for alot of Satch and tapping and just sounds great. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The bridge is set very far forward on the D string to achieve the correct intonation, I'll get an expert to look at this soon. The jumbo frets are fantastic, it is incredibly easy to play bar chords. I plan to replace the plastic scratchplate with a mirror finish stainless steel one in the near future which will greatly enhance its looks. The plastic one is alright but scratches easily and looks slightly tacky. For the small price, I think Ibanez should put metal scratchplates on as standard. There is practically zero buzzing when you are not playing. // 7

Reliability & Durability: This guitar can definatly stand up to the rigours of everyday playing. I havn't had a chance to play it live yet but I am perfectly confident that it will be fantastic. I replaced the standard strap buttons with schall locking ones which I got form the shop when I bought the guitar, I definatly recomend these as there is no way your axe will fall off, even with the oldest strap. The Edge III bridge performs fantastically under eventhe heaviest whammying. I rarely use the tremolo, but decided to go for a guitar with one for the rock solid tuning, which the Edge provides. // 10

Impression: I play all sorts of music styles from AC/DC to christian worship songs, and this guitar fits the bill. The body has a very in your face attitude with sharp cut outs and the jst black finish adds to this. If it was stolen, I would definatly buy it again as I think it is the best specced guitar for the price. I am not a great fan of Fender as I believe they are rediculously over priced, and they never change their style, where as Ibanez update technology and style annually. // 10

overall: 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on september 23, 2005

Price paid: $ 393

Purchased from: zzounds.com

Features: It's a 2005 Japanese Ibanez. Comes with 24 jumbo frets. 3 piece Wizard II neck, basswood body, jumbo frets on a bound rosewood board, Edge Pro III bridge, INF3 neck and INF4 bridge, INFS3 single pickup, available in black. 5-way pickup selector with a H/S/H pickup configuration. Double-locking system. // 10

Sound: It suits totally my music style. I play from really heavy rock and this guitar is a metal machine! I'm using a DigiTech RP200A and a Vox Patfinder and it sounds perfect! It isn't noisy at all and has a huge variety of sounds. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was a little too low from the factory but it was really easy to fix it with the manual it came with. It came perfect from the factory, the pickups came well arranged from factory. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I would use this guitar without any backup, I really trust it, everything in this guitar seems to be lasting almost for ever. // 10

Impression: I play heavy metal and almost every music style and this sexy guitar fits everything. I have been playing for 4 years and haver experienced with Strats, Les Pauls, SGs and this baby blows them away. I would buy it even if it was stolen. Good job Ibanez! // 10

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: unregistered, on september 05, 2005

Features: For over 15 years, the RG series has been the undisputed standard in guitars for the hard rock player. The Wizard II is 2mm thicker than the super-thin, super-flat Ibanez Wizard. Basswood is a comparatively lightweight wood, which makes it very comfortable for extended playing. With a good balance of highs and lows, basswood is right in between alder and mahogany in sound character. The jumbo frets offer easy playing for leads and chording. The fixed bridge design offers thru-body stringing for stronger tone and sustain. // 10

Sound: I play alot of '80s rock and this guitar is perfect for it, with the brige humbucker turned on. I am using a Fender FM212R for this guitar and the guitar sounds great, the amp has no effects but still a good sound. Sometimes the middle position of the Switch makes noise but other times it don't. The guitar has excellent sound and different tones with the Switch in different places. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was great when I played it first and I haven't changed anything about the setup of the guitar. The pickup are well adjusted for the guitar, there not too close to the strings but not too far away, the pickups are not very tight because you can move them with your finger but there not loose enough to fall out. There is a little chip of paint off the point of the guitar, not really enough to notice and the pickup selecter is a bit loose but nothing to worry about. // 8

Reliability & Durability: // 10

Impression: I play '70s and '80s rock and I couldn't ask for a better guitar. I've only been playing for about a year and I havent bougnt an amp yet, I'm using a relitaves Fender FM212R 100watt which has a pretty good sound. If this guitar was stolen I'd cirtantly buy a new one if I could. // 10

overall: 8.6

Reviewed by: SuperChicken, on december 10, 2007

Price paid: $ 504

Purchased from: De Snaar

Features: Manufactured in 2007, in Japan I think. Has a thin and flat bolt on 3 pc Wizard II neck about 20mm thick for more speed and playability, and it works! It has a bound Rosewood fretboard and it also has 24 jumbo frets, which make it easier to play. A solid Basswood body with a black finish. It has a beautiful flat mirror-like pickguard, that's why I like it's looks. And a nice pointy double cutaway. It has an Edge III Pro floating tremolo and locking tuners. And about the controls. A shiny Volume and a Tone knob, and a 5-way selector. The pickups are double humbucker/single coil/double humbucker. It came with some tools. Wrenches, the tremolo bar, a // 9

Sound: I usually play rock/metal, and it suits nicely with my guitar. I have to play Pop and soft stuff for my guitarlessons, and that is not a problem at all! I use it with a Roland Cube 20X amp and I use a lot of distortion. Usually I select only the bridge humbucker with the 5-way selector, and I love the sharp edge that gives to the riff. I don't have any complaints about the sound, although it's a bit thin sometimes. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I don't remember it that well how the setup was when I got it. But I've heightened the bridge humbucker. But that's just a personal preference, because I like a sharp edge in my riffs. But my tremolo bar is really loose! It just drops out of there. I don't use it anymore though, because I have had my tremolo blocked. I don't like floating tremolos and I don't use it much either. // 9

Reliability & Durability: As long as you don't smash it it will survive a gig. But if you yank the neck hard, you'll get a tremolo effect. The strap buttons are regular, but I would use a sturdy strap because the guitar fell on my toes once. I bought an Ibanez strap after that. The finish seems lasting, however it's got a lot of scratches on the back but that's normal with a lot of playing. Haven't really got scratches on the front, and it doesn't seem to wear off easily. // 8

Impression: As I said before, this guitar goes well with any style. I've been playing for 3 years, and I own a bass (an Ibanez BTB200 IPF) as well. There is one thing I hate about this thing. The floating tremolo! When you want to drop the E string, all the other strings go up. So by the time you tuned it, you're sometimes litteraly tuning for more than an hour before you got it right. That's why I had my tremolo blocked, and I don't regret it. Because I play in alternate tunings, like Drop D and stuff, it's taking really long to tune. And my tremolo bar is really loose. It just drops on the floor when you even move a little bit. But I don't use the bar anymore, so I don't care that much. But other than that, it's just good quality. A good guitar for novices and advanced players! It would survive a world tour. // 9

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: Rectification, on february 13, 2008

Price paid: $ 450

Features: Made around 2007, in Indonesia. The neck is 25.5", Rosewood fingerboard with Sharktooth inlays, 24 frets. Black Metallica finish with a silverish pickguard. Superstrat style, basswood body with an Edge III floating tremolo (No matter how many people say this bridge sucks, I still don't believe them). There are 3 IBZ-INF pickups, double humbuckers and a single coil; with 1 volume and 1 tone knobs along with a 5 way lever Switch. Of course, because of the floating tremolo this guitar has a locking nut. // 9

Sound: I play a lot of kinds of music, from Heavy Metal to Classic and everything in between. I run this through my Marshall VS256 130W amplifier, and I say it sounds badass. I get a crazy overdrive with the neck/bridge pickup, or a smooth acoustic sound with the single coil. The sound on these pickups is tremendous, best stocks I have ever used. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up really good at the factory, no flaws or anything. Everything was routed perfectly, the only adjustment I had to do was with the Edge III bridge. I had a hard time trying to set up the bridge at first because I wasn't really experienced with floating tremolos. As I said, black metallic finish with a silver pickguard. The action was pretty good, it's pretty easy to slide all around the neck with these frets. I needed no adjustment with the action, apart from the tremolo arm hitting the volume control. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar would totally withstand Live playing; the hardware can last for years if you know how to maintain it right. The strap buttons are really solid, and the lightweight of the guitar doesn't leave me worried that it would fall from my hands. I can depend on this guitar 100%, I would use it at a gig, but of course, you cannot rely on only 1 guitar at a gig, even if you are sure that nothing would happen to it. This guitar seems that it will last for a lot of time, but only if the owner knows how to maintain and keep good care of it. // 10

Impression: As I've said, I play a wide variety of music styles. This guitar is the best match for all those that I have tried so far. I've been playing for more than I remember, I also own an ESP EX model. If this guitar was stolen I'd probably get another model or brand (Just for a change), but I totally rely on this axe. I love everything about this guitar; apart from setting up the bridge, which is a common problem with most people. I'd totally recommend this guitar for anyone, because this has been a great buy for me. Of course, I cannot give this guitar a 10, because no guitar deserves a 10/10; it is only a matter of opinion. Remember that this is just my own opinion, a lot of other people probably have other opinions about this, this is just to help you with your decision if you want to buy it. // 9

overall: 7.8

Reviewed by: georgez, on july 28, 2008

Price paid: € 443

Purchased from: Thomann.de

Features: The guitar is made in Korea. It has 24 jumbofrets on it and Wizard neck which is very thin. It is fast to play and won't get thicky even with cocacola. RG350EX is made of basswood and I think it's good. The bridge is EdgeIII which is kinda pricy. It's very good and reliable. The guitar has one wolume and one tone controls. There are 3 pics, two hums and one singlecoil. Theyare Ibanez's Infinite. Tuners have locks which is a real twobladesword: in the gigs it remains the tuning well but you also need a key to open them if changin teh tune. They send me gigbag and strap with guitar. // 8

Sound: This guit suits to my music well though it's a real heavyguitar. I play rock and pop and prog. I use Yamaha Amps, Marshall VS 80v, Fender FM212r. As effects I use Dunlop wah. This guitar is not noisy, it's almost dead silent when not playing. The sound depends on the pic you're using but mostly the sound is rich. The variety is from church to satanworshippingmusic. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Guitar is beautiful piece. The factory settings were good, only cheapstrings were bad. It has very "cool" outfit. The sharp cuts of Strat lines and jaws in teh fretboard. I don't like how it is. I don't like this kind of heavyguitars anymore but it has been mine for one year now and things change in year really much. // 6

Reliability & Durability: Guitar is good at gigs. The tune remains same 'cause the locks. Only if you must change tuning it's bad. I will be using some backup for badluck but I trust in this guitar and think it will last long. I borrowed this to my friend who's git was broken and he used it without backup and it worked out fine. If you don't have to change teh tuning this will be good gig-git. // 8

Impression: I play pop, rock, prog etc. This guitar suits into em all fine, but it's sure a heavy guitar. I've been playing 4 years. If this would be stolen I think I won't get another. I like this very much but there are millions of better guitars out there. I don't like this usual colors and I don't like the heavylook of this. This will be very good guitar for heavyguitarists. I used to play deth and on it this was really good! // 7

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Jik2, on december 06, 2007

Purchased from: Audiophile

Features: The RG350EX's box has the words "made in Indonesia" at the bottom so it was probably made there. It has 24 rosewood jumbo frets with sharktooth inlays, basswood body, in a certain encyclopedia website, it says that the RG series are based on the superstrat concept, so this is a kind of superstrat, I guess. It also has an Edge III locking tremolo and a locking nut, a really cool metal pickguard and the INF3, INFS3, and INF4 pickups. The package comes with some allen wrenches, a guitar lead, and a black tremolo arm. It's just a minor bummer because it came with no manual whatsoever so I had to go to the official website to get a PDF copy. // 9

Sound: I play old school licks, study shred guitar, and play a little bit of metal. I really like the coil splitting where you can split the humbuckers into single coils and combine them with the middle pickup for a brighter tone. I find it versatile, as the tones produced by positions 2 and 4 are really great for "sounds like" acoustic guitar playing, though they're not comparable to real single-coil tone. I understand why the INFS3 hums because I know it is really a single coil. I don't use it much anyway, unless I'm on the clean channel. I'm using a no name amplifier with a crappy overdrive channel but I am pleased with the sound the guitar produces. What more if you use a Fender Showman amp (my bandmate owns one, by the way)? I am satisfied with the INF pickups even though some people avoid them like measles. I won't replace them, at least not yet. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: When we bought the guitar, it had a fairly high action, but I never bothered to lower the strings because I'm used to high action anyway. Besides, lowering the strings too much toward the body would allow them to get stuck with the pickups and the frets whenever you pull up on the trem. A lot of guitarists here at UG claim that Edge III is crap, and that it goes out of tune very quickly. Because of such claims, after buying the guitar and getting home, I started abusing the trem, pushing and pulling on it until I loosened the strings. I retuned every string which went out of tune as I abused the trem even more. After a few hours, I finally noticed that whenever I pushed the trem bar down to perform a divebomb, the strings would have perfect tuning every time. The problem was that every time I pulled up on the bar to make the harmonics scream, the lower strings go out of tune. I figured out that maybe the friction points of the guitar weren't allowing the bridge to consistently return to the neutral position where the strings would be in perfect tune. I decided to place a drop of oil on the points where the two stud bolts touch the tremolo, then swung the trem bar up and down to let the oil flow through the contact points. After that, my guitar always returns to perfect tuning whenever I get violent on the tremolo. The only thing I wasn't able to remedy was the tremolo bar stability. Whenever I push and pull on the trem, the bar would start slipping out of the hole. Though it won't completely pop out of the holder, it really gets annoying when you have to push the bar back down just for it to stay there. The body contours are really comfortable and whether you play sitting down or standing up with a strap. No problem at all. There's a very slight problem I've encountered with the neck joint. Every time I get wild with the Edge III, the neck would produce a cracking sound, but maybe it's just with this particular guitar. I may have this checked by a technician. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I believe this guitar would withstand live playing but the owner must be very careful with the bridge finish. The manual says that chemicals from sweat can corrode the bridge finish, so it is ideal that the player has a cleaning cloth ready for wiping the bridge in between songs. The strap buttons are very stable and don't loosen up although the guitar is comparatively heavier than my previous guitar. I think every guitar can last a lifetime if the owner treats it with care and respect. The black finish is great which goes well with the pickguard, but I think it's fairly thin because I can see the wood grain when light hits the body, albeit very faintly. However, I don't think the paint would peel off from the body very easily. // 9

Impression: The guitar is really made for me! It is just right for my type of tunes and styles. I have been playing for 2 years now and this is my first locking tremolo system, and I think it is great. Maybe I should have asked for a manual when I bought this guitar, but I guess it's fine now. I'd be really upset if this guitar gets stolen because it took me three years just to earn half of what this costs. It may take me six years just to get the money again, and by then this particular model may have phased out by then. // 9

overall: 9

Reviewed by: b@u3r_h0rst, on june 05, 2006

Price paid: $ 554.4

Purchased from: Local Dealer (Amptown)

Features: This one's a really solid Japanese built monster with 24 jumbo frets, a solid basswood body in somekinda Stratocaster style with the floyd-rose-tremolo-copy called "Edge III" as bridge and a maple neck (Wizard II) with rosewood scale (white borders). 2 hums and a single (Ibanez house brand) in combination with a 5-way switch get a great sound out of this wonderful piece of wood. The pickguard is aluminium-colored and the mechanics are cosmo black. // 9

Sound: When I heard the sound of this guitar first, I couldn't believe how great it sounds in clean and overdrive settings! The sound fits perfectly to play heavy metal and hard rock (for example Metallica, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden) lead guitar. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: I bought the guitar in a music store, "Amptown", in Hamburg(Germany) last week. It was set-up perfectly. The only thing this guitar has is the tremolo. If it's used too hard, it destroys the tuning. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Although I would never play a gig without a backup, I would trust this guitar. It seems to be very solid and reliable, the strap buttons are made to stand even hard situations and long gigs, the body-finish is good and last but not least it holds the tuning a long time (if you don't use the whammy too often). // 9

Impression: I started playing the guitar two and a half years ago. I decided to play heavy metal and hard rock and I'm happy that I got this guitar, 'cause it fits to my gear (80W combo amp + multieffect-pedal). The only thing it could have is an original floyd-rose-trem, but nothing's perfect. // 9

overall: 8.6

Reviewed by: unregistered, on may 26, 2006

Price paid: $ 400

Purchased from: Local Store

Features: // 10

Sound: Okay, the neck humbucker is awesome for leads. So warm and smooth. I use the bridge humbucker for mostly rhythm, but I do occasional leads with it. I hate the middle single coil, it hums like nobody's business. I use a Carvin SX half stack and this guitar can cover anything except extreme black metal (of course, why don; t you just buy a 7 string for that). // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was setup better than I expected. The tremolo was not floating when I took it out, but it didn't pull back, so it didn't go out of tune when I used the tremolo. I set it up to float now, and it still holds amazing tune. The Edge III trem's are something else, man. The action was crazy low when I got it. I raised it to my preference and there is no fret buzz, but the 19th fret has a dead note under the A string. The frets are huge, so I'll go get them dressed, but this shouldn't be happening on any guitar of any price. Wang-Chung didn't do so hot of an inspection, I guess. But other than that, no problems. Oh, one of the screws that holds the locking nut in fell out because it wasn't tightened. // 7

Reliability & Durability: Nothing so far, frets are lasting fairly well and the tremolo still holds tune, so I know it's not having any functionality problems. // 9

Impression: I play any form of Rock (classic, metal, blues) and this guitar does it all very well. I must admit, I'm glad Steve Vai plays Ibanez's because I would've never picked this axe up. I'm a definate Ibanez fan and just sold my Jackson DK2 Dinky to buy a Ibanez RG350DX so I have one in black and white now. Good axes for $400 and are definately the perfect intermediate guitar, no matter what genre you play. Give them a try, they're worth it. // 9

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: unregistered, on november 15, 2006

Purchased from: Tom Lee

Features: The Ibanez that I bought was made in Korea, in 2005. It includes 24 jumbo frets with a Wizard II neck (super easy to play on). It's a beautiful guitar, I went with the white color instead of black since I have so many other black guitars already. It's got a floating bridge (locking nut and all, basically an Ibanez version of floyd rose) and it plays amazingly great for an Ibanez. It's got passive pickups, got the INF series, 2 humbuckers and and a single coil. It's got the INF3 humbucker for the Neck pickup, INFS3 for the single coil middle pickup and my most favorite pickup of all time the INF4 for the bridge pickup. It has 2 knobs (volume+tone) and a 5 way selector Switch. The guitar came with a very good whammy bar, allen keys and a set of extra 42 gauge strings. In my opinion this is the best guitar in my fleet of guitars. // 9

Sound: I play mostly metal, in fact that's actually all I play. Mostly Lamb Of God (if you're looking at newer bands) to Slayer or Metallica. The tone on this baby is the best I've ever heard. I swear to god if you Switch the pickups on this (specifically the INF4) like that one guy said in a previous review I will bludgeon you to death (just kidding =P ). Trust me, I have a lot of guitars and a lot of pickups, the INF4 literally beats the crap out of my EMG configuration on my Warlock (EMG 60/85). All that and it's not even an active pickup! This guitar is perfect for pinch harmonics (as long as you don't switch out the INF4 that is). The action I might also add is super low w/ absolutely no buzz, it's perfect. It's as if you were "gliding" across the fret board when playing. Very very good action on this guitar out of the "box". Right now my practice amp does it justice, which is the Line6 Spider II 112, but once you plug it into my Peavey JSX head/cab combo or my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, prepare to blown away. Perfect tone. The INF3 is my only complain, if you want to Switch that out go for it, you can't get the more deeper/warmer tones with that pickup, but for distortion/overdriven the INF4 is fantastic. There's a lot of variety when it comes to this guitar, hell I could play acoustic through this thing if I wanted to buy switching to the middle pickup. And definitely, the sound is very bright and vibrant (when you're using the bridge pickup). // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: Action wise, as stated before, was perfect. I didn't have to adjust it, in fact I'm so used to the action on the Ibanez I had to lower the action on my other guitars or else it just doesnt't "feel" right. I did have to elevate the INF4 a wee bit to get the perfect sound out of it, but otherwise it was awesome. The thing is, whenever I buy a guitar, I always finetune the pickups, so far out of all my guitars, this one required the least amount of finetuning (a whopping 45 seconds) to get just right. There were absolutely no flaws to this guitar, after some contemplation I decided to "set" the bridge so tuning wouldn't be a problem (lots of palm mutes in what I play). So I added 2 more springs on the back (there were 3 originally), but divebombs are still possible, you just can't yank back on the whammy bar. But this is not a flaw at all, just personal preference. Everything about this guitar is perfect, I would pay 600+ dollars for this one if need be. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Live playing? Absolutely. No doubt about it, in fact my band and I are gonna putting on shows come January and for sure I'll be using this. This guitar was built to last, I've accidently dropped it once already, not even a scracth. Strap buttons are godsends in my opinion for this guitar, they're so rugged it's laughable to compare them to my other guitars. I would definitely never use any guitar w/o a backup, but this one I will make a special exception, it's such a sexy looking guitar but best of all, it plays insanely good. // 10

Impression: For the type of music I play it is perfect, anyone that plays metal should consider getting this guitar. I have absolutely no regret or second thoughts on this guitar, it was the perfect buy. If it were stolen I would go find the SOB responsible and beat him to a pulp, if it were lost I would def. buy it again b/c for 400 dollars this guitar is simply the best deal you can find. I love the way it looks (it's white) and I love the way it plays. The only thing I hate about this guitar is that I don't have a good enough case for it. Favorite feature for me would be the fact that pinch harmonics are stupidly easy to pull off on this thing (I love the INF4, thanks to this guitar I discovered that pickup, I didn't even know what an INF pickup was before I bought this). // 10

overall: 10

Reviewed by: Warheart1188, on december 04, 2006

Price paid: $ 400

Purchased from: Georges Music

Features: The manufacturing date and location are unknown to me, I was too busy having fun with this guitar! The RG350EX sports an amazing Wizard II bound maple neck (though I prefer Prestige necks) with 24 extra jumbo frets and on rosewood fingerboard with skarktooth inlays. The basswood body has a black finish with a mirror pickguard-how cool is that?! This axe comes equipped with DiMarzio designed Infinity pickups which sounded amazing to my suprise with a H/S/H setup for many tonal possibilities. The Edge III bridge is amazing, way better than any Floyd Rose I've ever used. From the dive bombs with aplomb to pulling the bar to raise notes, this guitar stayed perfectly in tune. // 10

Sound: The combination of the basswood body and the Infinity pickups gave me an amazing tone through my cheap Fender 100 watt amp. I mean, it doesn't compare to playing something like, say a JEM through a Marshall stack (which sounds like you're in heaven) but this guitar provides a tone I'll be satisfied with for years to come. The sound it gave provided many tones from metal to rock to bluesy tones. And the addition of a single coil in the middle provides other tonal possibilities. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was low enough to not have any buzzing and just right for shredding. The strings were like .10's with is good for someone like me. The pickups were set up just right as well. There were no flaws what-so-ever with this particular guitar and the mirror pickguard made it well worth the money. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar seems like it won't die. The guitar is light but it feels like it can withstand anything, it's so durable. The hardware wasn't cheaply made and felt just right. If I had only this guitar, I'd be happy. It's very reliable and I can always depend on it. // 10

Impression: Overall, I love this guitar. I play mostly shred/speed metal material and this guitar is perfect for it. But I also play blues, rock, jazz/fusion, classical and this axe is well suited for all of those as well. The mirror pickguard, the Wizard II neck and the Edge III bridge are what I love most about this guitar. It's so versatile, only it's looks can dissuade anybody from buying it ('cause it lokks like a metal guitar). // 10

Comments

[pieman777]

wooo this guitar kicks ass!! i had it for 6 months and it still sounds great!

[pjhartin]

I bought this guitar a few days ago, thanks for writing these reviews, it persuaded me to part with my money, to get one of the best guitars ive ever played. The floyd rose bridge is fecking awesome =)

Sheer brilliance

[Agent_00Funk]

Im definately gonna pick one of these up. Might switch the pickups to EMG when i get some more money XD

[Canucks_]

I´m going to buy a RG350EX soon

[slashwyldepage]

LOL CHRISTIAN WORSHIP

[Xistel]

Agent, i belive u cant put emgs into this guitar, begause of its thickness. i recommend seymour duncan

[Adimantium]

I have had this guitar since May...and i have had nothing but maintenance problems out of it....its a great guitar, it has wonderful sound for metal and an awesome neck...but this guitar needs to be remodeled due a few structural errors....its very cold sensative...and it doesnt stay in tune all that long...awesome guitar though...theres worse out there

[pxr5]

Owned for one month now and apart from the tacky scratchplate and the usual tuning hasstles its very playable. even at very low action you get buzzless clear notes even on chords (this is after a minor tweak to the truss rod to achieve silly low action). i cant fault it. my first ibanez this and i got what i wanted, except some cosmetic blandness.

[pxr5]

By the way, to the guy that said he uses this guitar through an rp200A multi effects processor, well i bought one of those 2 weeks ago and it sucks bigtime. i think you must have a great amp cos on my humble laney linebacker its very weak. my other effects are great so i dunno why, but i wasted £100 there i think.

i use this guitar through a jimi hendrix wah pedal and a GEQ pedal and its got amazing sustain. if it was all about sustain it would wipe the floor with any other guitar ive had over 20 years.

[Icebolt]

i'm getting this guitar soon, looks good, i been playing for over a year now and its gonna be my second guitar, i love ibanez! they rock!

[nightwatchman01]

hey I've been playing acoustic for well over 6 months now, and I want to make the switch to electric. do you think an Ibanez RG350 or maybe an Epiphone Les Paul standard or custom would be better? versatility is not the most important but it still is a factor. any suggestions will be much appreciated.

[Jrsnyder881]

I have this guitar for about 2 years and only had to tune it once i dont have any probs at all with tuning the pickups are weak though and the screw that keeps my top pickup in keeps falling out so keep that in mind if you plan on buying it

[DaBlackE]

nightwatchman01 wrote:

hey I've been playing acoustic for well over 6 months now, and I want to make the switch to electric. do you think an Ibanez RG350 or maybe an Epiphone Les Paul standard or custom would be better? versatility is not the most important but it still is a factor. any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Try the LTD EC-400, Viper 400 or the Wasburn X50.

[beeboshain]

Jrsnyder881 wrote:

I have this guitar for about 2 years and only had to tune it once i dont have any probs at all with tuning the pickups are weak though and the screw that keeps my top pickup in keeps falling out so keep that in mind if you plan on buying it

i get this aswell but its not much of a problem

[METMAN]

if i were to recomend any other pickups other than EMG's it would have to be DiMarzio's they are great also!!

[Chad11491]

Agent, i belive u cant put emgs into this guitar, begause of its thickness. i recommend seymour duncan

that's about the most retarded thing i've ever heard, you can put EMG's in this guitar, the thickness of the guitar makes no difference

[METMAN]

this is true the thickness makes no diffrence in the pickup you put in it it would just sound deeper and they are no thicker than a start as far as i can see, so there is no difrence.

[MetalheadA7X]

I'm just wondering

Doesn't every guitar sound good through a dual rectifier??

I have the INF1 and INF2 in my guitar and they are the better versions of the INF pickup

hey still suck

Thats why i have my EMG at hand

[theBONErocks]

I've heard that the Edge III systems, are horrible. Is that true?

[METMAN]

see told you you could put emg's in one i have a emg h4 hz in my rg470

[ShadowsFallFan]

This guitar is exactly the same as an Ibanez RG370DX, except with a silver pickgaurd.

[ShadowsFallFan]

pieman777 wrote:

wooo this guitar kicks ass!! i had it for 6 months and it still sounds great!

LMFAO

[MESAexplorer]

ShadowsFallFan wrote:

pieman777 wrote:

wooo this guitar kicks ass!! i had it for 6 months and it still sounds great!


LMFAO

Haha, wait about 6 more months of moderate to heavy use and that trem is gonna depress you miserably. I got to try out one of my freinds just like this one, about 2 years old...the Edge is dead, very sad : (

[muivirt]

i'm using it and it rocks big big major major giant giant time!!!!!

[High_o]

that's about the most retarded thing i've ever heard, you can put EMG's in this guitar, the thickness of the guitar makes no difference

i dont know exactly but the guy who said they are too thin was probly talking about the battery not fitting.

see told you you could put emg's in one i have a emg h4 hz in my rg470

aren't they passive? if so, the battery hole wont matter, so of course you could fit it in

[Spawn2]

The Edge trem does suck, if you want a good reliable one: take a new Ibanez S-series guitar for a spin, I've got the S470dxqm, it rocks my world!!!
I'm hoping they'll release an RG series with the ZR trem, that would be great...

[daytona2134]

I have a RG370DX I bought when they first came out about 2 or 3 years ago and I have thrown it across the room a bunch of times into the wall and it did not even dent the guitar, It did bash the wall in, I found out the next day ha. These guitars can take a beating and and still play like new for years.

[IzRG350]

I bought this guitar at American music and love it. I was a little put off at first at the idea of putting new strings on a guitar with a floating tremelo but it only took me a few minutes. Go buy one.

[Vertigo-fly]

I have had this guitar for around a year now. It is my fourth guitar and it is the best guitar i have owned. It is so versatile and i just cant stop playing it, I would recommend this guitar to any guitarist.
Its awesome for sweeping and shredding, with the right amp and right sound, one of the best Ibanez's you can buy =)

[Takv]

OK!!! Great infortmation. In some weeks i will buy it. Thanks a lot! You make me know the specifications like no one! The Ibanez catalog don't tell anything about the experience. I'am from Chile, and i give to us some information: In the Ibanez website is a link to japan information of the ibanez instruments and accesories. There we can see (selecting elecrit guitars -> Rg Series -> RG350EX) 3 different hardware models of this guitar. Look the specifications and you get the answer about the tremolo problems. Select the best model. Backside the guitar we see the model.

[Build An Army]

I bought one of these about a year ago. The only annoying thing i found was when you wanted to re-tune after changing the strings or re-tune when wanting to play in a Dropped note (because of the tremelo). Still an Awesome! guitar to play and learn techniques on. It is however annoying that everyone is buying an RG now-a-days but i cant blame them \m/

[wolflord1]

Im gonna buy this beautiful guitar! I sold My Hamer Explorer to buy this axe, and what a fortunate thing, in music shop that i planed to buy this guitar have lovered prices about 20-30%!!! Im gonna save 130 euros! Wooohooooo! In few days it will be mine!!! I must buy a hardcase for this guitar, im ganna take a good care of this beauty!

[barry mc manus]

sex

[dale-banez]

hmm....I have one of these and it has a HSS setup and looks like its from the 80's...and its purple....weird

[Loghead910]

I might be buying pieman777's guitar(that is if he is my friend who I know owns this guitar and uses that alias on several websites) and I'm hoping it will work out well though I plan on using this guitar to play punk tunes instead of playing metal but I'm just learning and I want a nice guitar. I'm hoping that this will be a good playing guitar :

[praj888]

hey guys can u tell me hwich 1 is better!!the ibanez 350ex or the ibanez 350dx???

[confucius]

IN china we resist Japanese goods...

However still it's worthy of its price.

[BlisteringDDj]

I own an RG350EX, and it's a blast playing on!

[GoFoT9]

praj888 wrote:

hey guys can u tell me hwich 1 is better!!the ibanez 350ex or the ibanez 350dx???

well do you like the black one or the white one?? black/silver go for EX, but if u like all white like steve vai, get the DX... they got the same hardware and stuff, only the colour is the difference

[COBHC_inurface]

does the whammy bar screw into the bridge? i played my cousins RG370DXGP and it has a edge III bridge but the tremolo doesn't screw in and i'm planning on buying a RG5EX1 which has an edge III trem and i dont want to get one that isnt able to screw in. somone please help!

[tenaciousjp]

COBHC_inurface wrote:

does the whammy bar screw into the bridge? i played my cousins RG370DXGP and it has a edge III bridge but the tremolo doesn't screw in and i'm planning on buying a RG5EX1 which has an edge III trem and i dont want to get one that isnt able to screw in. somone please help!

no you basiclly pop it in, its alot better then the strat whammy bar where your there scwrewing it in for like 2 mins.

[tenaciousjp]

my friend asked me this the other day.he asked me if he could change the edge III for say a floyd rose on this guitar? to be honest im not the sure...it really got me puzzled, i never thought of it really...can you change it to a floyd rose or something different?

[Jik2]

Here in the Philippines, temperature change isn't a very big issue since the average temperature stays in a narrow range (from about 19-38 degrees Centigrade) so the expanding of certain things due to such occurrences are rare. My RG350EX stays in tune pretty well in our climate.

[naxo_udec]

i bought like 9 months ago and got offtune with the cold but beside that the guitar is sweet i can play from classic rock to heavy metal cause it has a very wide sound range

[shadowsofbodom]

I had a fender affinity squier strat as a starter guitar that I bought 2 years ago. I got the tension adjusted when i started playin for one step down tuning and added heavy gauge strings to the thing so it was ridiculous to play anything or bend at all. I went to a samash to try out some guitars recently and looked esp but wasnt really interested except for the floating bridge. Then I saw this RG350EX and I gave it a try. I could not even put the thing down. The sound was awesome, the guitar was so easy to play, and the bridge seemed amazing after having a fixed one on my fender. I still have the urge to play in lower tunings (with this one the high frets are unable to bend fully in lower tunings, i may need to lower the action or somin) but i can barely go back to fender after my discovery of this amazing guitar.

[Solan]

I bought this guitar today and have now played on it 12 hours and i wanna play more but girls you now them and dates. The guitar is awesome and it's really great. I will not buy a new guitar ever from now.
I will say it's a cross between a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson SG. You can play everything on and it are sounding very great the amp i bought with the guitar. An Roland Micro Cube!!!

[wmx428]

Bought it almost a year ago. Minor alteration made to avoid the edge 3 from causing me any probs. Solution? A completely blocked trem. Blocking a trem is placing a carefully sized piece of wood into the trem cavity between the tone block and the cavity wall. The wood holds the tone block in place and prevents any movement, making it, essentially, a fixed bridge.
No more tuning prob or worries... but no more dive bomb for me :-(

[Jik2]

Trem stability tip: for the springs to stay in good condition for a long time, spray some WD-40 on them, and they will tighten up again like they were new. Again, lubricate the stud bolts for them to stay slick and able to go back to the neutral position. After this, put some more WD-40 in the whammy bar socket to add some friction to the bar, so it wouldn't pop out easily. WD-40 is such a miracle!

[WhiteWTHStripes]

How big of a difference is there between the rg370 and the rg1570

[maszi]

just got one...I dreamed of this guitar for a while...really kicks big ass!

[anaki]

ive had this guitar for about 10 months now and it can be a fuken peice of shit when it comes to its tuning...you need to reset the tuning all the time because it goes out so often..the sales reps took it back to the factory because it goes out of tune so much and its been there for nearly 2 weeks now...apart from that its a fuken sik guitar and i love it..lol..very nice to play and the tremolo is sick

[doarcineva]

I have the following dillema: I have to choose between an ESP KH-202 ( with the lh-300 pickups ) versus an Ibanez RG350EX BK. Now the question is which would be the best choice. As in playing style I might add I do not even remember exactly what a guitars sounds like clean because I am too busy with distorted sounds, so as you can see I don't care about the clean sound. So which of these guitars is more well suited for minimal needs like mine - only distorted sounds ?