Ibanez Prestige RG5121 - Dark Tide Blue Flat Reviews

An unassuming color scheme hides the true nature of this guitar (see below) although the contrast with the mahogany body is quite striking as is the multi-ply neck.

Flawless finish across all surfaces, smooth ultra-fast neck (super wizard neck), quality hardware including a secure jack socket. Stainless steel frets are a must have for me. This guitar is made for heavy adventures, rip, sweep, shred and tap away ! The output from the Fishman pickups is aggressive and this defines the sound from RG5121. This may limit the musical spectrum however this guitar will excel at hard and heavy. If you are a classical left hand position player (thumb in the center of the neck) then the thin flatness of the neck will instantly appeal. This is the opposite of a 50s neck Les Paul. I agree with the other reviewers in that this is a guitar for playing and playing hard. I still have my 1997 RG250 and I will hopefully have this guitar for the next 25 years.

I've been playing shreddy prog metal for over a decade now and this is by far the best guitar I've played, and for

Thoroughly impressed. First, I've been wanting to add a made in Japan Electric to my arsenal for a while now and this was my choice. Right looks, color, and price point and my experiences with lesser quality Ibanez guitars so far have all been good. I don't see PRS or Music Man quality here, but it is definitely on par with USA Gibson and Fender models. My first set of Fishman pups. They lean more towards Gibson sounding but not the same. Definitely not getting Fender tones here IMO, zero quack. Sustain is superb. I like the Super Wizard HP neck about an 8.5 as opposed to the Wizard 3 neck which is a full on 10 for me. The color is great. In low lighting it looks matte dark graphite black. Only in medium to high lighting do you see the dark blue tide. Setup by Sweetwater was great, low action the way I like it. The description says this guitar has a push pull volume control for voicing, it does not. It instead has a mini toggle switch and the use of that switch produces only subtle not dramatic changes. I've become a fan of hardtails and this one is no exception. The case it comes with is fantastic. I don't like metal but think this guitar would do just find playing it, it also does just fine playing Zeppelin and also sounds phenomenal clean. Was out of stock but got it in a month or two on pre-order. Matt Stockburger helpful as always.

This is one of the best playing guitars I have. I have always loved the prestige line. The build quality on them is phemomenal and especially this one for the drop tune metal. Get one!! You will not be disappointed.

Needed a workhorse for the studio and received a Beast instead! The build quality exceeded my expectations. This thing is simply stunning, and feels that way too. It feels like i'm playing a fixed bridge Jem7v. The fixed bridge allows me to quickly change tunings when jumping from project to project. Locking tuners are solid. Makes changing the strings every other week super quick. You'll spend more time cleaning the fretboard than actually putting the strings on. Highly recommend locking tuners for anyone that changes strings frequently. The Fishman pickups were a gray area for me but man do these things scream out leads. Whether through a Marshall, Legacy 3, Orange...etc the clarity is impressive. I found myself even reaching for this axe over a MIA Strat for some clean tones. The neck & mid position sound great and the bridge pickup can sing or scream through a warm tube amp. Very impressed with versatility in a studio setting. Also feels good playing for hours on end, its light & well balanced.

Thanks to my Bro EJ for the recommendation and also to my sales rep Dustin for helping me narrow down the options.
Keep Shreddin \m/

I'm blown away by this guitar. I have owned many guitars from $50 to $3000, this is one of the best I've ever had. I had it PLEK'd before sending it. I was a bit hesitant about the Fishman pickups, but they sound great in a wide variety of amps and settings. After it arrived all I had to do was tune it up slightly and it was ready to go. The sustain on this thing is absolutely incredible. Anyhow, this is a top-tier guitar. Thanks Tyler M., this was a great suggestion.

I'd like to start this off by stating I have not owned or even played hundreds of different guitars. I've owned around 10 Schecters, 3 or 4 PRS's, an Ibanez way back in 2008, and various others. I've been a Schecter Fan boy most of my life, but recently their QC has been lacking, which lead me to checking into Ibanez. I can't even begin to put into words my love for this guitar, which I've named "Ultima" (based on Cloud's Ultimate Weapon from Final Fantasy VII, given it's absolute ability to do whatever it wants to. And yes, It plays Advent One Winged Angel nicely). I can shred with it, super fast. Changing positions is rather fluid when I compare it to my PRS SE 24. There's absolutely no drag on this thing. The only negative i've found so far, is that there's a bit of fret sprout, but I'm certain that's due to me living in the Mojave more than anything. A trip to a luthier fixed that. This guitar is an absolute dream, its so easy to keep in tune and it's action barely changes a millimeter from the 1st to 24th frets. The bridge is my favorite of all time, it feels like a Floyd Rose without the headache of a floating bridge. I've only had the guitar 4 months at the time of this writing, and I've already put more hours on it than my PRS, and it's quickly approaching the same level of use as my 10 year old Schecter Damien. Whether you're shredding, playing jazz, jamming some power chords, playing guitar hero, strumming along at a campfire (ok, an acoustic is better there)playing at a dance club or a metal festival, this guitar won't let you down.

Shout out to Jay Lawson, the best sales engineer of all time. He takes the time to answer ALL your questions, and is more than willing to go out of his way to find the answers if he doesn't have them at his intimidate disposal.

First off, always a big thanks to Damon and the team for getting these things out to me.

This is my first Ibanez Prestige and everything from the case to the hardware on the guitar screams quality.
About the fishmans. These things scream! Super Hot but still Very Clear for bigger chords which i like a ton.
If you're looking at this guitar then pull the trigger and grab it!

Build quality, playability, and QC are all top notch. For those who don't know, a matte finish guitar will get a shiny spot where your picking hand sits. No big deal for me. I ended up selling it eventually because I didn't love the pickups. Probably the most articulate pickups I've ever played, very bright, but I didn't love the sound, and they aren't very flexible. The tone knob has very little impact on the sound. The two voices don't offer much variation. The pickups don't do clean tone well. If you want a nu-metal, djent kind of sound these might work for you, or they would probably be decent for an 8 string. I prefer passives, or even EMGs. Obviously my preference, so this didn't factor into my rating, but I did take half a star for a lack flexibility.