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Ibanez Q52 Electric Guitar - Antique Brown Stained

Item ID: Q52PBABS
Ibanez Q52 Electric Guitar - Antique Brown Stained
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Ibanez Q52 Electric Guitar - Antique Brown Stained Reviews

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Nyatoh Body, Maple/Bubinga Neck, Maple Fingerboard, 2 Humbucking Pickups, and Mono Tune Bridge - Antique Brown Stain

Part of Ibanez's boundary-pushing Quest series, the Q52 vaunts a headless design built from the ground up to maximize tone, performance, and playing comfort. While this solidbody electric guitar is extremely lightweight, its ergonomic nyatoh body resonates with rich, woody tones that belie its compact profile. Technically minded players will be blown away by the zero-drag feel of the Q52's Wizard "C" neck, and its heat-treated bird's-eye maple fingerboard is as playable as it is visually appealing. This headless guitar's made-to-measure pickups exude amazing levels of articulation and definition that are bolstered by Ibanez's acclaimed dyna-MIX10 switching system. Rock-solid hardware, including a custom string lock and innovative Mono Tune bridge, ensures easy string changes and ultra-reliable, stage-worthy performance. Stainless steel frets round out the Q52's generous features. If you've been hunting for the perfect headless electric guitar — or even if you're considering your first headless instrument — the Ibanez Q52 is guaranteed to unlock unlimited creative possibilities.

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February 3, 2026

Q53

By David C. from FL

A nice, sweet guitar. Slight neck adjustment required but over-all fine instrument out of the case.

January 18, 2026

Checks All the Boxes

By Ken L. from Rhode Island

My Ibanez Q52 arrived in perfect condition. The guitar looks, plays, and sounds great. Perfectly set up and very light (4.75 lbs). A real joy to play. This was my first Ibanez, probably won't be my last. Thanks Sweetwater!

November 5, 2025

My most easy and comfortable guitar !

By Peter N.

This is a well made, nicely put together electric guitar that weighs only 4 lbs.- 10 oz. It is very well balanced and I can literally play her all day long and I even hold it close to my chest as I sleep, whenever I wake up I play music at a low volume using anyone of my low power amplifiers. It's small size and light weight and overall design allows me to play all day and night without getting tired. That makes her kind of my dream guitar!
The color is very attractive and her shape is also attractive. She arrived perfectly set up and all I need do is to keep her clean and tune her up every time I play.
Trust me, this Ibanez headless electric guitar is so nice and comfortable to play you will love yours.
Now a few words about her sound: well she sounds good, the pick-ups have a nice character, all her tone and volume controls are located properly and are easy to adjust. If you decide to purchase one like mine you will absolutely enjoy playing more and for longer time periods-no need to rest because of her light weight and excellent size and proportions and comfort. The fretwork is excellent, no overhanging fret ends, no high frets. This electric guitar shall be your friend and she will allow you to enjoy making music more than any other electric guitar available. I have been playing guitar since 1968, that's 55 years. Music is pretty much my life. I'm grateful for a wonderful and understanding wife who has allowed me to turn our living room into a fully equipped recording studio and just about every kind of guitar and amplifier that is on the market today. Life is such a joy! - Peter age 75
P.S. I just want to mention Joseph Secu who is my Sweetwater Sales Engineer. You can reach Joe by calling 1(800) 222-4700 ext 1232. Joe has been with Sweetwater since 2004. Joe has worked with me since 2016 and he's knowledgeable, easy going and he has an excellent attitude and is very willing to assist you in learning about the gear that is available at Sweetwater.

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April 1, 2025

love the ibanez headless

By Julius S. from MOUNTAIN CENTER, CA

i have both the ichi 10 and the Q52. both excellent guitars, super light weight, very comfortable.
i will say that on the setup even with the saddles lowered all the way the action was a little high for my liking. i installed a .25 degree shim and they play great. nice low action, no choked bends, all notes ring clearly. i would recommend these guitars with confidence.

February 8, 2025

My Do Everything Guitar

By Sweetwater Customer

This is the first guitar I've purchased in about twenty-two years. Life got in the way and I hadn't played a note for about 12 years. I decided I had to get back to playing and after bringing all of my shredtastic metal-centric guitars back out of storage I was going to need something different to relearn.

The Q52 is the perfect everything guitar. It does everything very well. The range of tones are the widest of any guitar I've ever heard or played. The pickups stike a perfect balance of range providing the widest possibilities of sound to span many genres of music. I've heard people knock it for not doing "specific thing" as well as some other guitar that was made to do that very specific thing and they're just not getting it. The Q52 is an adroit jack of all trades. It will do warm bassy blues tones but also rock the oinch harmonics as well.

The neck is a true C shape but not overly thick. It allows even my sausage fingers to reach all the way around it and fret my fat pinky on the 6th string without muting the 5th. Lower down I can still throw my thumb around the back of the neck with my average sized pudgy hands.

The Q52 is easily, by far and away the most comfortable guitar I've ever experienced. It's thin, light, but still marvelously resonant, bright, and yet substantive enough that its relatively diminutive size isn't a hinderance. It's ergonomically a perfect balance. I can and do play it for hours without it wearing me out.

The construction is fantastic. The back of the neck is so wonderfully smooth with a satin like feel. The burl wood top is absolutely stunning and I'm very grateful Sweetwater let me pick the exact one I wanted. The frets are smooth and even, there's nothing sharp or uneven. The intonation is as close to set and forget as I've ever experienced. It stays in tune thrash and bend as I may.

Now, why not five stars? The volume pot has a rough spot when turning almost like it's binding on something and there is a tiny 2x2 millimeter sort of chip(?) in the burl top. It feels and looks like the burl itself had a tiny cavity and they couldn't sand it out without the smooth curve of the guitar being off. Personally, I don't care about the little chip, it's character from real wood and the burl top is stunning to look at. The knob grinding sensation is a forgettable eccentricity.

If you're on the fence, just get it. It's the perfect do everything guitar. A true workhorse. A comfortable and beautiful instrument.

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July 3, 2024

Amazing bang for the buck!

By Marc v. from De Pere, WI

I bought this mostly to be a guitar to take on the road when traveling for work or with the family. I am amazed at its quality, play-ability, and array of tones. It is not just a travel guitar...I play it along with my other guitars for all it has to offer. I highly recommend it.

March 29, 2024

Combined with a Spark Go It Can Do Anything and Go Anywhere

By Jon F. from Allentown, PA
Music Background: Retired electrical engineer gigging once or twice a month

I've been using an electric, instead of an acoustic, the last three years with my duo. For the last two years playing a Blue Q52. With a Positive Grid Spark Go in the gig bag it can go anywhere, be plugged into a PA or substitute for an acoustic guitar (the Go up on a table is louder than any acoustic). It's perfect for an airplane overhead bin and can be played comfortably when some restaurant stuffs our duo in the place of a four top. The tuning stability is fantastic. It can sit in my car's trunk under conditions an acoustic would not likely survive meaning it's there when it might be handy. To back up impromptu singing and finger style solo guitar at an unscheduled dinner party performance, combined with the Spark Go, it sounds great. I've asked and no one misses my acoustic.

At its price point it is appropriately well made. This one is about a pound lighter than the blue one which I'm surprised that I appreciate (~4.5 lbs., the older blue one was ~5.5 lbs.). Ibanez has made a few changes in these guitars over the last two years. The EVO frets that are wear free after two years, are now even harder stainless steel. Without EVO's tarnish the stainless feels a little smoother. The set screws in the locking nut are now larger flat bottom M5's instead of M4's (cheap to be had at an online hardware store and I think a good idea to have a few spares). Presumably accidental overtightening of the string locks is less likely with the larger set screws. Finally, the fret slot depth is like a Gibson rather than the deeper slots of many Asian made guitars. I suppose this is cosmetic, but I do like it.

The Dyna-MIX10 switching has a mode where the inner coils of the two pickups are combined in parallel. This simulates that Strat neck plus middle pickup tone reasonably closely (good for playing "Sultans of Swing"). It also has a useful two pickup Telecaster like option. The alt switch mode for single coil seems about right but the humbucker "power tap" doesn't appeal to me.

There are better gig bags to be had for headless guitars which offer more protection and/or a smaller footprint. I've tried a few and settled on one of them.

I like the feel of the brown finish and maybe the look a little better than the blue, but still wish they offered the straight fret Q52 in plain black...

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February 28, 2024

Light weight and a joy to play!

By Jonathan from San Francisco, CA
Music Background: Intermediate

This headless design from Ibanez is so light, comfortable to play, and holds its tuning so well (sometimes I pick it up and it has stayed in tune for a day or two), that I find it difficult to put down in favor of my other guitars. In fact, I literally haven't picked up my other instruments in months. I haven't charged the luminlay side dots, so don't even know if they work, but I love the tonal options of the guitar, the look and feel of the wood, and am embracing the "uniqueness" of the instrument (which took some getting used to). Highly recommend!

September 19, 2023

All around great guitar

By Matt from Massachusetts

I've had the guitar a couple of weeks now, and it's a fantastic instrument once you adjust to the missing head. The neck profile in particular is fairly unique, as it starts slightly thicker by the nut, but stays about the same as you move up the neck. This gives a nice full feeling for your open chords without feeling like a baseball bat for more shreddy stuff. The pickups are dynamic and articulate, and work well in conjunction with the 5 way and power tap switches to produce sounds ranging from bright cleans, to dark and jazzy, to hard rock.
My one knock against the guitar is more of a limitation of it being headless. You need to stretch new strings a bit before you clamp them down or else you might run out of adjustment tuning them to pitch. On the bright side, once you get it tuned up, it holds that tuning remarkably well.

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