Ibanez PN1 Mahogany - Natural High Gloss Reviews

I bought this to leave out and grab since the cost was so low. My thoughts now are I will still leave out for quick moments of inspiration, but after playing this guitar for a while I'm very pleased for the reasons I was hoping for. It's really cute. The setup from the box leaves me smiling. Fingerstyle or strumming with the fingers is going to make this little guitar a grab and go whenever the mood strikes me. Sitting around with a few friends singing songs, I will have no problem bringing this guitar out. If the people in the 55-point inspection made this play so well right out of the box, I thank you.

Received this beautiful guitar today in the mail my wife Jessica ordered this for me for Christmas love how beautiful it is and is sound is bold

All I did was tune it, and it was ready to go. It came with a hex wrench for my truss rod plus a saddle and nut just in case, but I don't think I'll need them. Good sound, and VERY easy to handle while I watch movies or take guitar lessons online. I saw a few minor complaints lower down this list, but Ibanez must have read them and made improvements. Mine was fine. My dreadnaught was too big to hold while I sat on my Lazy Boy chair watching lessons online, The PN-1 is great and it's beautiful. Thanks to my friend, Paul Eckert, who is always helpful.

All I did was tune it, and it was ready to go. It came with a hex wrench for my truss rod plus a saddle and nut just in case, but I don't think I'll need them. Good sound, and VERY easy to handle while I watch movies or take guitar lessons online. I saw a few minor complaints lower down this list, but Ibanez must have read them and made improvements. Mine was fine. My dreadnaught was too big to hold while I sat on my Lazy Boy chair watching lessons online, The PN-1 is great and it's beautiful.

For the money this is a nice little parlor guitar. The finish on it looks clear and smooth, the neck has a really nice smooth feel. It has held its tune so far and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a nice inexpensive parlor guitar.

Just got this lil GEM; and I'm in total shock. Spent 10 minutes lowering the saddle and now it's in intonation. I did not have to do any fret work and now I have a GREAT couch guitar and can leave my Taylors in their cases and not worry about them getting scratched while I watch football and do some strumming. As usual Bob was spot on about this lil GEM and it is exactly what I wanted and needed. Ordered this on a Friday night and got it today Wednesday. SWEETWATER ROCKS||||||||||||||||||

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and have owned several acoustics over the years, many of them costing much more than this little guy. But I recently hurt my shoulder and needed something smaller to keep my shoulder in a more natural position. I didn't really expect much out of this - I have an Ibanez tenor guitar which set my expectations for a quiet and thin sound. But I was very surprised by both the volume and the sweet and full tone coming from this laminated, lower-end guitar! Fit and finish are nothing to get excited about, but are all good where it really counts - neck and fretboard are perfect! I agree with those other reviews that say the stock tuners are junk, but I swapped in some Grover Sta-Tite 14:1 tuning machines and am in love with this little thing now! It seemed almost wrong to spend so much on the tuners when the guitar was so cheap, but I'm still under $ after tax with new tuners and a set of strings, so I'm not gonna complain! I hesitated a long time before dropping bills on another guitar, but I am so glad I did! This is my absolute favorite couch/camp guitar, and may be my favorite guitar overall right now. I feel silly gushing over a guitar with these specs, but in my hands and to my ears, it's worth a lot more than what you may read about it here! Absolutely delighted!!!

When I recieved the Ibanez PN1 I had to set it up, but what the heck, you pretty much need to do that on any acoustic. Now the action is perfect and I like being able to just toss it into my SUV and head to the cabin.

I bought this for my daughter who is just learning guitar. Her arms were not long enough to learn on her dad's instruments, so we were looking for something smaller with good sound. This guitar fit the bill perfectly, and after just a month or so she is already enjoying her practice! As soon as I placed the order online, I was contacted by the friendliest customer care rep, and was assured I would always have someone to reach out to should I need any help. That little extra personalization is hard to find anymore, and I very much appreciated that.

Noah, I know you doubted my gear selection abilities but understand, I am a seasoned rocker and love to rock. I proudly say this guitar does in fact rock, and I believe it will continue to rock as long as I keep rocking as a true rocker rocks from within.

I love the small size of this guitar, perfect for chilling out and rockin' on some licks. I will admit, the "fit and finish" of this guitar is not that great but the quality of the binding does not make the rocker. The fret work is even, action out of the box is a bit high, I have yet to adjust it because I know doing that will in fact.. not make me rock any more or any less. The price is perfect. The sound is good and balanced considering the small size of the body. Would be a great option for a young rocker, but rockers of all ages can still make beautiful music, but only if the beautiful music is inside of you. Goodnight!

I have an expensive electric guitar that I bought to learn to play guitar but I never practiced because it was a hassle getting it out and putting it back, plus I spent most of my time messing with the mustang amp and all the cool settings so I decided to get an inexpensive guitar that I could sit beside me at all times and pick up and practice without a hassle so I bought this parlor guitar. To my surprise it’s beautiful and perfect size for me since I have small hands. I don’t have to push the strings down hard in order to make a good sound like on some other acoustics. It is a good sounding guitar and loud. It is amazing the sound that comes out of this guitar. I love this little guy and my only regret is that I didn’t buy him sooner. I want to buy everyone in the world one of these. It is the best guitar for the money. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the price go up. It is worth more than what I paid.

A parlor guitar had been on my list for a number of years and the closest I had up till now was a 3/4 size classical. This Ibanez mahogany model not only sounds great but plays very well also. I just got it today but so far I think it won't need any adjusting from me at all. I might have preferred the looks of the spruce top model (after a bit of aging) but this mahogany makes chords sound great and single notes sound very musical. This one will live by my bed and go with me on trips. It would have to cost more for me to give it less than 5 stars.

Amazing little guitar... actually stays in tune..and comfy to play..was not sure for price point..hoped for best and was prepared for worst.. absolutely amazing!!! Got this as a travel guitar for spring and summer....so I am never without a guitar ...so I can leave my main acoustic home and protected from hot cars and camp fires...this should serve me well...

I purchased the spruce top version about a year ago after searching for a small body guitar but full width neck. This guitar stays in tune very well, sounds like a dreadnaught and is very comfortable to play. Everything about it feels and sounds like a full size guitar but without the bulk! Easy to pick up and play anywhere.

My review is based on the $ that one pays for a travel, parlor, or mobile guitar. I read the other reviews and this is my impression. Ibanez necks are famous for being fantastic and this one that's joined to the body at the 12th fret is no different. Sweetwater had the strings tuned down a half step and all I had to do is put my tuner on headstock and turn the machine heads a small amount. It went right in tune and stayed there while I strummed for half an hour on the first day. I was thinking it sounded kind of cheap for some reason. Did I mention it comes with an extra saddle, one extra bridge pin, and a cheap strap? Sweetwater packed it real good, double boxed, and the guitar box actually has a handle so it can double as a case until you get a real one. Sweetwater also threw in an extra set of srings and a candy assortment, this sort of treatment goes a long way with me. On the second day I was thinking that I might change the strings, I tuned it up and it stayed there again, there is not a thing wrong with these machine heads. I got out an assortment of picks and started trying them out, using lighter gaged picks made a huge difference for me so there was no need to change strings now. This thing began to sound great and the volume it has is wonderful. Blues? No problem, it actually has plenty enough low end. When I ran a slide over it, it sounded real good. Strumming on this thing is a breeze, especially now since the lighter, more flexible picks produced a better sound for me. The stiff pick on the first day did not produce the nice tone my ear was looking for. The Mahogany Top PN1 sounds as good as any other guitar. From a technical stand point, I really have no gripes. It actually sounds very good, looks very good, and is a traveling guitar. If you decide on one of these spanish peanuts, adjust your playing technique and give it a few days. Once you cozy up to it, the more you will like it and want to go show it to your friends.

The Ibanez PN1 pretty well decked out for such an inexpensive guitar. I love the shiny finish and the faux soundhole decoration. It even comes with a forward strap button already installed. The fretboard has plenty of room for finger picking yet not so much you need susquach paws to chord. It fits in your lap just right and is light in case you need to strap up and stand up. The tone needs some time to grow up but a pair of K & K Electronics pickups and an equalizer might just do the trick. If you are looking for a decent throw-down, travel guitar, or a beginners fingerstyle guitar you can't do better than a PN1

I got this because I occasionally do historical reenactments, and it's based on one of the "full-sized" guitars that was used from about 1830-1900, before 000, Dreadnoughts, Loar archtops, and Jumbos were introduced in the early 1900s.

It is 12" wide at the widest part, equating to the early Martin Size 2. (Size 1 was 12.75" wide, size 0 was 13.5" wide. All three sizes were made before the Civil War, but the Size 1 and Size 2 were far more popular.)

I would have preferred the "OPN" version with the satiny surface to this shiny version, but I got it on an open box deal, so this is what I got.

The guitar needs a little adjustment out of the box, although it is playable as is.

With the existing strings, the tone pretty much centers around the upper midrange, which would be fine in a living room, or or even an open, reflective space where the bass carries more anyway. If you're surrounded by Dreadnought players playing root position chords, your high end may actually stand out. (If you were able to snag the now-discontinued AVN3, which has the same profile but a solid face, it would be better, but they're nearly impossible to find.)

Outside, it sounds relatively weak at the moment, though its size makes it a great guitar for camping. Plus, even plywood-topped guitars can improve with age.

For beginners, it would be much better than so-called half-sized or 3/4-sized "starter guitars," though you might want to put nylon strings on it for a true beginner. It comes with "light" steel strings starting with gauge 12, but the nut's a tiny bit high, so even though I play to keep steel strings on it, I plan to file the nut when I restring.

Lots of folks who get these have better guitars, but they like being about to noodle around on the guitar while sitting in an armchair or recliner, which is tough to do with, say, a Dreadnought.

I also plan to sand down the glossy face and sand the logo off the peg head, but that's because I want an old-timey look, not because those are bad in and of themselves.

- Paul Race, Creek Don't Rise

nice guitar if you put on new tuners

This guitar has a more pleasing and fuller sound than I was expecting. Very nice looking also and good action straight out of the box. The fret edges are a little rough but acceptable for this price range. Very sweet little guitar with a big voice

I bought this small guitar to do historical 1800's type music at small events. I did have to file down the fret ends and polish to gritty frets, put good strings on it it sounds pretty good and more comfortable to play than my dreadnought. I am tempted to try nylon strings on it. I am sure this is a good beginners guitar,too.

I once owned an early 1880s "George Washburn" parlor guitar by Lyon and Healy with a wonderful, rich resonance which I used for museum work, so when I saw this I did a double-take, as it's basically a dimensional repro of that model, except this one has gears and not friction pegs. And noting how the dimensions put the hole so high up into the middle of the strings, I just had to get one to experiment with. At this price, why not?

So glad I did. This is being touted as a sort of second-string travel guitar because of its size, but it is a LOT more than that. It's surprisingly heavy, built like a brick, so you can kick it around, and not surprisingly it has a quiet tone, as most parlors do, though can put out if you lean on it. But it's very even and extremely resonant, like it has a built-in echo chamber, so the sound swells after each note (if you let the strings ring). Even, accurate neck as per Ibanez usual, so easy to play. It would be a companionable instrument, if you stopped there.

But why stop there? That hole being so high up lets you put a pickup where you can't on an electric or a large acoustic, effectively at where the 17th fret would be, where the strings are putting out way more bass and lower harmonics than you normally can get at. The result is thunderous, and packed with all that harmonic echo now amplified. With a magnetic pickup (use a clip-on humbucker, not a single-coil) it sounds better (and actually more acoustic) than most acoustic guitars with built-in under-bridge piezo pickups. It's really like some kind of surprise orchestra, hard to believe it comes out of this baby box sitting there in your lap.

Any problems? The gears are terrible, swap in some high-ratio ones to save your fingers. It comes with medium-to-heavy strings (which with the 24 ½" neck scale still have plenty of give for blues and the like) but I put on full heavies 13-62 and it's great. But you may want to fool with the setup a bit, as you can get a very flat, almost electric-style action if you spend a little effort. But, all that harmonic echo really makes you notice the pitch problems that all second strings have, where ancient (just) and modern (tempered) tunings most noticeably clash (by a whopping 14 cents on the third), particularly on a first-position A chord. You need to get its notch in the nut as low as feasible without buzzing, so just pressing it down to fret it doesn't sharp the note even more. I even filed down the top of the saddle (just a bit, to get it out of the way) and put a small piece of a nail behind it under the string between the saddle and the 2nd string peg to lengthen it, a la a Tune-O-Matic bridge, and together the problem was solved. BTW, you can do that on any acoustic with a fractious 6th string (or any other) that sounds too sharp at the 12th fret, basically creating a new individual saddle piece behind the original, held in by the string itself.

So, all in all, this little baby is a miracle by design, great unamplified especially for funky blues -- remember, country blues was created on instruments like this (see Blind Blake's picture, among others), before jumbos came into being during the 1930s. It has that strangely hollow (to us today, used to dreadnoughts) sound created by both the instruments and the recording equipment, so anything you play on this has a sort of built-in pre-authenticity. And when you listen to it quietly, there is this ghostly ring of harmonics which turns out to be a giant cathedral of music lurking within, if you just put a pickup to it.

I bought one of these about a year ago to put a high G Nashville tuning on. That didn't work out the best so I tried a regular set of light gauge phosphor bronze and that wasn't great either. I think the little body and short scale just choked under all that pressure. I've heard of old Martins requiring a low tension silk and steel set of strings so I started looking for some to try. I got a set of LaBella 710M medium silk and steel low tension strings and man what a sweet little guitar I have now!!! Gauges are 12-56 but with the shorter scale and the silk cores on the wound strings, it just seems like a perfect fit! I love em!!!

Let me start by saying I am a long time amateur guitar player with a love for playing guitar as well as setting them up and doing minor repairs. I have high but reasonable expectations regarding guitar quality and out of the box setup.

I purchased this guitar for my pre-teen granddaughter who has learned to play three & four chord songs to accompany her singing. She gravitated toward a parlor guitar that I have because of its comfortable size. So I began looking for an entry level parlor guitar for her with a standard scale length, as that is what she has been use to. I have an Ibanez Artcore hollow body electric guitar that was flawless regarding fit and finish and was perfectly set up from the day I bought it new, so my expectations were high as I chose this Ibanez brand parlor guitar. As always Sweetwater was great to deal with. Both their website and customer service were very nice, as I have come to know and appreciate.

I received the Ibanez parlor guitar right on schedule. Being that this is cold weather season, as recommended, I let the double box instrument acclimate to the indoor temperature for 24 hours before opening. It was packed very well. The guitar itself was rapped in a thin foam bag inside of its original angled Ibanez box which also contain hang tags, owners manual, truss rod Allen wrench and an additional bridge saddle and extra end pin. The Ibanez box was then heavily bubble wrapped inside of a larger outer shipping box. The box had the well advised bright green warning label to not open for 24 hours after receipt. The guitar was just as pictured with a glossy finish over the mahogany top, back, sides & neck, with eye catching herringbone inlay around the top binding. Overall a very pretty instrument. It was nearly at concert pitch. I tuned it and played through several chord progressions and checked the action up and down the neck. The neck was straight and very playable with no buzzing or any fretting issues. However, I felt action was too high both at the nut and at the bridge, especially for a beginning player. I did not want high string action to be a difficult or uncomfortable deterrent to enjoyable guitar playing. Because I have the tools and the ability, I made the necessary adjustments. (otherwise I would have had to hire it done). My only other complaint of Ibanez (and this may seem insignificant to some) is that both strap buttons, the one on the back of the neck heel and the one on the bottom end of the guitar, were installed about 1/8" off-center. This of course does not affect the functionality of fastening on a guitar strap. It's just a visual pet peeve of a job not done quite right when it could have just as easily been done properly.

So overall Sweetwater did a great job. However, even for the great price of this guitar Ibanez could just as easily have done a better job of final assembly and setup.

This is a fun little guitar. It has a big sound for the size and price. Ibanez impresses with quality tone and good sustain on this size 2 hog. It plays well for fingerstyle right out of the box, but surely a set up will help out those who want to plectrum a parlor for some reason. There is plenty of saddle that can be sanded. There is a real vintage look to it. Herringbone trim, and binding that looks like maybe it was white at one point but spent 50 years in a smoky room, but of course it is a yellowish plastic that is designed that way, but adds to the old-timey aesthetic. ...don't expect a Martin here. The rosette is a sticker, the finish is uneven, and cloudy is some spots, it's all laminate so it weighs more than it looks like it should, by a lot, and wreaks of glue. Still fun to play and has a good midrange sound. How can you go wrong? Cosmetic issues aside this is a great value.

First, let me say that I like this guitar - it has it's purpose in my stable of acoustics. Also, a 2.5 star rating is between "Average" and "Really Good" based on Sweetwater's scale, so this isn't a negative rating.

First, the Good: price and size. I have a "full-size" parlor guitar that I absolutely love (a brand not carried by Sweetwater). I wanted a smaller bodied guitar that I could both use as a "beater" for playing outside at a park, camping, etc. The size of this guitar is perfect for this application. What you gain is smaller size, you lose in sound (it's just physics and really isn't a refection of build quality in my opinion). I think this is a tradeoff with any (really) small guitar.

Finish is decent given the price point. Is it perfect, no. But for the price, you have to have realistic expectations. The gloss finish is thick and the very thin top veneer looks great (I bought the mahogany version). The gloss finish on the neck was too "sticky" for me so I took some scotchbrite to the neck and took some of the finish off to suit me better.

The action was fine right out of the box and the neck was straight - no issues at all.

The bad: the tuners are terrible and you should plan on replacing them right away. They are cheaply made and very sloppy. Even with the initial string change to Elixir 12's, it would not stay in tune. I installed a set of Grover V97 - 18:1 gear ratio open back tuners, which is a huge and necessary upgrade. Budget about $40-45 for this if you do it yourself. (You'll also have to open up the existing holes on the headstock for the bushings and drill new screw holes in the back). You can save a few bucks and put in 14:1 ratio tuners, but the 18's are like butter - so smooth and precise...

Nut, bridge and bridge pins - pretty soft plastic. I immediately replaced the bridge pins with brass to add a bit more punch and sustain (and I had them laying around my parts kit). I haven't changed out the nut or bridge as it doesn't present any immediate ssues. Perhaps down the road I'll replace with bone or Tusq, but probably won't find the motivation...

I'm enjoying this guitar for acoustic blues - the nut is on the narrow end of the spectrum so it's a bit tight for fingerpicking, but definitely very playable. The caveat is that for me, it needed about $50 worth of upgrades and an hour of my time to set it up for me to begin enjoying it.

If I was looking to purchase a main guitar/daily player, this would not be it. My advice would be to spend some more money upfront and get something that has higher quality materials (solid top, better hardware), but like I said, this guitar tis a specific purpose for me.

Overall not happy. Nut slots roo deep, tuning machines are junk. I wish I had bought the Gretch jim dandy or the dirty thirties.