Ibanez PN12E - Vintage Mahogany Sunburst Reviews

I have a dreadnought guitar and a Jumbo size guitar, but I felt the need for a smaller size acoustic guitar for song writing and working out songs.

I have always had great success with Ibanez instruments and Sweetwater's quality; this is no exception.

It's described as a Parlor guitar, but it's roughly the size of an OM guitar.

Quality, tone, playability, and projection are all top tier.

I would definitely buy this again.JL

Bought this guitar to write with. Looked at a few different brands and gave this one a shot. The tone is incredible for the cost of this guitar. I would almost put this guitar up against my Taylor as far as tone is concerned.

The axe I got looks much different than the picture, it's nearly all black but it's very pretty. Plays like a champ, especially on an amp. Great value and sound for the price.

I didn't have very high expectations for this instrument other than knowing the great quality Ibanez always incorporates into their guitars regardless of price point; but I wasn't prepared for how truly wonderful this instrument sounds and plays. I've been playing for over 50 years (finger style) and have never seen a low price point guitar that performs as well as this one.
I needed a guitar that I wouldn't be concerned about when just noodling around in the backyard, on the porch, etc. so I wouldn't put my Martin or other high cost guitars in danger. I figured with the ibanez brand and low cost I should be okay for a knock around box. I was more than pleasantly surprised. Build quality is excellent although there are some small finishing flaws that are only cosmetic. What do you want for $...?
Tone quality, play-ability and overall construction are excellent. I am partial to the warmth of Mahogany as a tone wood and this little baby did not disappoint. I highly recommend this guitar if you are looking for an instrument for casual playing or certainly for a beginner's guitar. Very easy to play, low action and NO fret buzz anywhere right out of the box. Highly recommend this little puppy.

Came set up, ready to play. Perfect size for traveling.

I received this guitar about 2 months ago for finger-picking Delta Style Blues and have been very happy how comfortable it feels playing it unplugged. Last Sunday I was invited to play a outdoors gig with a country bluegrass band, I plugged it into a fender amp and this little guitar has tone tone tone and no feedback problems, tons of nice fat tone. A very cool guitar I will be playing though an amp more often

I got this guitar so my wife could learn on something not too expensive but yet reasonable quality. When it arrived I, of course, had to get my hands on it. She just LOVES it. My first impression was, gee that's pretty.
I have been playing for 30yrs and have a small guitar shop size collection in my home. I was very impressed with the great action and playability of this little parlor size guitar. I plugged it into a PA system in my family room(yes in my family room). The amplified tone is even and smooth. The tone adjustments are VERY responsive. Super clean! The tuner, while touchy, dead on perfect!.
If you want a inexpensive guitar that carries the load, look no further. A word to the wise, get the professional set up done that Sweetwater offers. I had Elixir strings put on it because they are the easiest on virgin fingers.
Once again Sweetwater, amazing service thanks Christian for placing the order...you guy are the best even if you do cost me a lot of money. Hahaha

I lead worship every week at my church and I was needing a back up to my main acoustic, which also happens to be an Ibanez (artwood series). When I first played one at a shop, I was really impressed with how full of a sound it has. I also like that it is a little bit bigger than other parlors I've played because I'm 6'3" and it doesn't look like I'm playing a kid's guitar. The electronics are okay, nothing to ooh and ahh over, but they work consistently. My only gripe is that the tuners aren't the best and that I find myself tuning more on Sunday mornings than with my other guitar. I might replace them eventually, but otherwise it is a great guitar for the money. I got mine barely used at a local shop for a great deal, but I wouldn't have minded paying full price for one. Other parlors in this price range don't seem to give you near what Ibanez did with this one.

i have had my ibanez pn12evms parlor size guitar for 1 month now.and everyday i love it more and more.the looks,playability,and sound are incredible.it is well worth the quite small price tag cant be beat.i have 3 electrics and only the one acoustic and i havent played one of electrics since the arrival of my ibanez.it is that good...i love this guitar.

just got my pn12evms.i could not be happier with my purchase.plays excellent,sounds great,looks beautiful.every bit as good as a martin i had years ago.my overall experience was fantastic.i have ordered 3 other guitars from another music company over the past couple years.all were poorly set up,rusty strings,ect.i found the company i will be dealing with from now on.Sweetwater.they did me right.thank you all!!!

I have been playing this guitar for the past month. I play about half an hour every single day. Since then the strings have settled in very nicely. I may have to tune just one string every other day or so. The fit and finish of this little gem is flawless. It plays beautifully, you will not be disappointed. Nice little snazzy built in tuner that works superbly. I did plug it in into my guitar amp just once to make sure that the pickup works and it does. Chris Jenkins was my sales engineer and he is a true gentleman!!!!!!!

I really can't say enough about this little guitar the Tone, the Playability the Looks
And the Sound it's Great for sitting in your chair and playing. I bought one as a gift and have recommended it to others .
You absolutely cannot go wrong with this little beauty!

Really Fantastic Guitar !!! I was surprised how fat and mellow it is - this thing really has a powerful voice even unplugged - and this is coming outta a comfortable sweet lil' Parlor. Sits on my lap but not to small for large hands. Really solid build, great tuners, nice second strap button already installed!! Sexy dark Sunburst and immaculate glossy finish - $199 WHAT?!?! The action on this thing is as perfect as it gets right outta the box?! - a $30 luthier savings !!! Thanks Sweetwater!!! Glen you never steer me wrong!!

I love this guitar, the sound is sweet, the finish is perfect, the tuner is great, the size is perfect, the projection is fantastic. I can't say anything bad about it, spot on !! I would buy another one in a second if anything happened to it. It looks even better than the pic, best buy I have made in a long time, thanks Sweetwater and Ibanez

I bought this for my 17 year old daughter for Christmas to learn on. I've never bought or hardly played an Ibanez before, but I'm very impressed with this guitar. As someone who is used to playing more high end acoustic regularly, I think the build quality on this is great. The only issue with it is that the fret edges were very sharp. I filed them down and now it's great. It is a very good looking guitar. Looks better than the pictures. For a small bodied laminated guitar, it has great volume and sustain and very easy to play after I adjusted the action.
Plugged it into my Pa and the electronics are pretty decent. Tuner works great.
Christmas is still a couple days away and I have yet to wrap it up cause I've been enjoying playing it myself. Lol. May have to get me one. I'm sure my girl will love it. As usual, Sweetwater delivered it quickly.

This is exactly what I wanted and expected. It sounds and plays great. I gave it a 4.5 / 5.0 purely for cosmetic reasons.

The fretboard was finished/painted after binding, so the binding has significant paint speckles up and down it. This makes it look like the fretboard is just brown paint on plastic. I had to re-open the product page to see if it was an actual wood board. Regardless, this plays and feels great, and the price was spot-on.

I really like this guitar. Much nicer than i thought it would be. Sound is very good. Nice size for my needs and the price is right. It just feels right. I have a Taylor that i really love, but found myself up all night playing this instead.Thank you Aaron.

I looked around at a lot of parlor guitars and very few offer electronics and a pickup and none for this price. It plays well and I like the slim neck and small body, it really sounds like a 40's guitar unplugged and has a nice clear even tone when plugged in. The only drawback for me is the notes on the tuner are so small I can't read them but I'm old and wear glasses and luckily have developed a good ear after 45 yrs of playing ; ) Great Gtr, I highly recommend it if your looking for a nice versatile parlor Gtr.

I came across one of these and really liked it for the sound, size and price. Nice little guitar to keep handy for strumming on the couch or, out on the back porch. Like some other reviews, the finish around the sound hold was not very good and there were some other minor cosmetic flaws. I was surprised that the strings were terrible and had signs of corrosion on them, action was bad and the saddle had to be knocked down quite a bit. Fortunately, my local luthier, Bobby Longo at Guitar Repair Services in Scotch Plains, NJ did a wonderful setup for a great price and got the guitar in great playable shape. All in all, good deal/guitar for the money.

I was looking for a "knock around" guitar that I wouldn't have to worry too much about when I take it camping. This guitar exceeded my expectations in both tone and playability. Nice guitar for the money.

I've had this for about 2 weeks. I love it. Had the Sweetwater set up. Action is good. Plays great. Responsive. Love the tuner. My only critique is the electronics doesn't provide a stronger response on the low E. Though this may be inherent to the smaller body. Otherwise this instrument is just what I wanted. A decent instrument that could dare to go where I wouldn't want to take my "good" guitars. We'll see how it holds up but. It is fun to play!

This guitar is just right for backup to my Ovation. Good sound.

The guitar sounds great acoustically. Crispy highs with a semi-boxy sound. The craftsmanship is just okay. Mine had some messy glue spots, a couple blemishes/nicks in the finish, and sloppy cleanup on the bridge. The saddle that came in the guitar had been horribly set up. Someone cut notches in it to try to lower the action resulting in unevenly spaced strings and uneven string height. The groove for the saddle had a big clump of glue on one side which resulted in improper seating for the pickup and saddle. Fortunately, it came with an extra saddle in the box. After sanding to the proper height, and cleaning up the groove in the bridge, I got it playing well. Overall, this is not a bad guitar. Just beware, you may need to take some time to set it up properly. Once again, it's only $200 and it has a decent sounding pickup.

I wanted dark, open pore finish in this model but chose Ibanez because their pickup system is high output and bright . I removed 2/64" from saddle, strung up with master class double wounds,and set to noodling.Fingers catching on first couple frets.
With a little TLC,AOK.
Compliments deep acoustic sound of The Loar arch top.
Worth every penny!

First of all let me say that this guitar plays well, has good intonation , and sounds pretty good . There are a few issues with it though . The electronics sound pretty bad and are distorted and produce a bad scratchy white noise when plugged in. My guitar came complete with pick scratches below sound hole and the neck binding which is painted on is scuffed and chipping off. That being said , you get what you pay for , and for the money , you get a gorgeous burst finish guitar that has good tone and is very playable. I would use this guitar to record acoustic tracks any time.

I bought this because I wanted an inexpensive parlor guitar to mess around with. It's a decent guitar for the price and nice looking as well, but I really wish I had thought a bit more about it before making the purchase. It was scratched up right out of the box. There are unfinished paint spots around the sound hole. It plays ok but the tone isn't very good. The neck is short and the upper frets are kind of dead.The plugged in sound is not very good. It sounds weak through my PA system. I understand that Sweetwater doesn't inspect lower priced guitars but I took a chance anyway. I should have waited and got something better. Oh well. Live and learn.

This guitar is truly sweet sounding (plugged and unplugged) and the action is nice. It really is amazing for the price. It has a narrower nut width than most standard acoustics, so I certainly recommend it for young hands, older arthritic hands, or anyone used to that width. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this guitar, but be aware that Sweetwater does not inspect guitars under $300 (understandably) so they won't pick up on the occasional lemon, and apparently I got one of those.

I was hoping the fret buzzing at the 7th and 8th frets was a simple fix, but my pro-luthier guy assessed it carefully and determined he would have to file all the frets and recrown them to make it right, adding significantly to my cost. I would be tempted to keep and and pay the piper for he extra cost, but this particular purchase was for an inexpensive travel guitar so this one is going back.

I really like the look and feel of this guitar. However, it's almost unplayable out of the box and here's the run-down:

(1) Action is very high and requires modification to the bridge. Not a deal killer at this price.
(2) Slots in nut are cut at an angle particularly the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings. Not a deal killer at this price.
(3) Loose tuners. Again, I expect these minor issues.
(4) EQ wiring not secured inside the body cavity. Things are starting to look bad like there was a new QC person on duty.
(5) Every accessible fret on the low-E side of the neck needs re-seated and glued. This is the deal killer.

I'm not a professional musician or luthier but c'mon! This guitar should never have left the factory in this condition. (1), (2), (3) and even (4) are things I expect in an inexpensive guitar but the poor quality of the fretwork is unacceptable in today's sub-three hundred dollar guitar market. I feel that once I get the frets set, leveled and dressed I'll have a nice guitar that will be fun to play. The road to that place looks long and expensive, though. First time I've been disappointed in a Sweetwater purchase.

I am 75 years old and have been playing guitar since 1955 and this is the worst guitar I have bought in my entire life. My very first guitar, a $16 Sears Silvertone that my dad bought me in 1955, played much better than this guitar. Because I'm getting older and not as strong as I once was, I bought this guitar because it had a good name, great advertising and light weight. I am very disappointed in overall quality and playability!

The finish around the sound hole is rough and not completely covered in finish. It is rough enough to actually scratch your finger on if you were dumb enough to rub your finger against the rim.

The sound produced is like listing to a guitar closed inside a sealed cardboard box. Lifeless, with no resonance at all, while playing plugged in, the preamp has to be turned up to the highest setting to get almost any sound at all. I also had to set my amp much higher than all my other guitars.

There was no attempt to set neither nut nor saddle height to a reasonable playing height. I didn't expect a quality setup, but this guitar is unplayable until a luthier setup is done. Ibaenez should be completely ashamed of this $ piece of junk!