diagrammatiks
Well-Known Member
Finally got a chance to go to the states and pick up 2 guitars that my buddy was holding for me. The third Ibanez I bought right before I left. It was waiting for me when I got back. Three new things in a week. Not bad not bad.
Here is one picture. I have no sunlight and my room is packed with baby things so this potato cam picture is all I got.
Left to right
Ibanez S5470
Ibanez SV5470
Strandberg Salen Deluxe
Some thoughts and stuff
Ibanez S5470 -
Pretty much bought this one a whim. I was just browsing my local classifieds when this came up. I think prices for these guys have stayed way too high due to rarity. But this one popped up for like 600 bucks and I bought it immediately.
Fit and finish is fantastic. It feels about the same as my old S1220. The only difference is the gloss finish. I actually prefer the more matte finish of the older S prestiges.
Pickups are ok. Fretwork and everything is great for a 10 year old guitar.
The edge zero II/zps is a bit weird. There are a lot of reports of sustain issues on this guitar. I'm not hearing too much of it on mine. I would definitely prefer the edge or lo-pro but this bridge isn't too bad. I really like the action of the bridge. It's much smoother then the knife edge action of the edges. But just knowing its made in china or somewhere...feels bad man. also seems very complicated.
Definitely pretty happy with this guy. Wouldn't mind picking up a 5570 or 6570 with the edge in the future. But again these guys hold their prices too well. Not very good value used.
Ibanez SV5470
Picked this up from @nyxzz Thanks for not liking this guitar man.
What value. 600 dollars or so and came with SD Holcombs. Even if the guitar was only average I'd be happy with that value. So much value.
That being said this guitar is the shit. Honestly, it's awesome. It's so awesome that I can safely say...Hey Ibanez screw you for discontinuing this guitar. And to everyone else...screw you for liking the AZ series more then this guitar. You are bad and your tastes are bad.
Fantastic neck and fretwork for a 10 year old guitar. The body and finish have seen better days but no big deal.
Trem was originally set up for down only but I reset it to float. Great tuning stability and action with the ball bearing design.
Holcombs - The holbombs are awesome. They are kinda like BKP warps but less dry and pissed off. They sound like garbage split though. Seriously, the worst split sounds I've ever heard and the stock SV5470 middle pickup is just the worst. Ya positions 2/4 and split are unusable on this guitar. I'm going to try and fix it by replacing the middle pickup maybe with a quarter pounder.
General Ibanez S series rant.
Ibanez has no clue what they are doing with the S series. It's like these things were someone's love child and then that guy got fired.
The S5470 has a three piece body. It's a 2000 new guitar with a three piece body. Why. The SV5470 has a one piece body and 2 piece top so clearly they can build these things with one piece bodies.
The SV5470 looks awesome. 3 direct mount pickups, binding all that jazz. The S5470 has pickup rings. Why? Clearly they aren't necessary. Ibanez sells the current 6570 with 2 pickup rings. Come one Ibanez its 2019. Don't sell a 2k+ guitar with pickups rings. Jeez.
Oh well. I think I'm the only person left in the world that likes the S anyway.
Strandberg Salen
Yay this guitar gave me a boner the second it was announced.
The Good - It's a headless tele. +9000 points. Quality and fit and finish isn't any worse then my other Strandbergs.
The side dots are mostly straight. Biggest flaw is a chip in the side pocket wall where the neck meets the body. Looks like it was messed up and then they decided screw it and just finished over it. If this was a new guitar I'd definitely email them about the quality...but it's used so screw it. But this is definitely one of those flaws which is a bit glaring because there's no way you could do that yourself to the guitar during normal usage.
The Bad - It's heavy. It's much heavier then it should be. I mean it's not super heavy but it's comparable to both my old Anderson Hollow T and my buddies Anderson. On paper it should be way lighter. Granted it's alder and maple so in theory it should be a bit heavier then my swamp and maple strand bergs. But it feels significantly heavier.
Pickups - these pickups are bad. Suhr makes bad pickups. There I said it. I've used a number of their pickups and played a number of their guitars. Just sterile and bad. Do not like. I'm replacing them with a set of Andersons. I replaced the bridge already. Much much better.
ok that's it. Lemme know if you guys have any questions.
Here is one picture. I have no sunlight and my room is packed with baby things so this potato cam picture is all I got.
Left to right
Ibanez S5470
Ibanez SV5470
Strandberg Salen Deluxe
Some thoughts and stuff
Ibanez S5470 -
Pretty much bought this one a whim. I was just browsing my local classifieds when this came up. I think prices for these guys have stayed way too high due to rarity. But this one popped up for like 600 bucks and I bought it immediately.
Fit and finish is fantastic. It feels about the same as my old S1220. The only difference is the gloss finish. I actually prefer the more matte finish of the older S prestiges.
Pickups are ok. Fretwork and everything is great for a 10 year old guitar.
The edge zero II/zps is a bit weird. There are a lot of reports of sustain issues on this guitar. I'm not hearing too much of it on mine. I would definitely prefer the edge or lo-pro but this bridge isn't too bad. I really like the action of the bridge. It's much smoother then the knife edge action of the edges. But just knowing its made in china or somewhere...feels bad man. also seems very complicated.
Definitely pretty happy with this guy. Wouldn't mind picking up a 5570 or 6570 with the edge in the future. But again these guys hold their prices too well. Not very good value used.
Ibanez SV5470
Picked this up from @nyxzz Thanks for not liking this guitar man.
What value. 600 dollars or so and came with SD Holcombs. Even if the guitar was only average I'd be happy with that value. So much value.
That being said this guitar is the shit. Honestly, it's awesome. It's so awesome that I can safely say...Hey Ibanez screw you for discontinuing this guitar. And to everyone else...screw you for liking the AZ series more then this guitar. You are bad and your tastes are bad.
Fantastic neck and fretwork for a 10 year old guitar. The body and finish have seen better days but no big deal.
Trem was originally set up for down only but I reset it to float. Great tuning stability and action with the ball bearing design.
Holcombs - The holbombs are awesome. They are kinda like BKP warps but less dry and pissed off. They sound like garbage split though. Seriously, the worst split sounds I've ever heard and the stock SV5470 middle pickup is just the worst. Ya positions 2/4 and split are unusable on this guitar. I'm going to try and fix it by replacing the middle pickup maybe with a quarter pounder.
General Ibanez S series rant.
Ibanez has no clue what they are doing with the S series. It's like these things were someone's love child and then that guy got fired.
The S5470 has a three piece body. It's a 2000 new guitar with a three piece body. Why. The SV5470 has a one piece body and 2 piece top so clearly they can build these things with one piece bodies.
The SV5470 looks awesome. 3 direct mount pickups, binding all that jazz. The S5470 has pickup rings. Why? Clearly they aren't necessary. Ibanez sells the current 6570 with 2 pickup rings. Come one Ibanez its 2019. Don't sell a 2k+ guitar with pickups rings. Jeez.
Oh well. I think I'm the only person left in the world that likes the S anyway.
Strandberg Salen
Yay this guitar gave me a boner the second it was announced.
The Good - It's a headless tele. +9000 points. Quality and fit and finish isn't any worse then my other Strandbergs.
The side dots are mostly straight. Biggest flaw is a chip in the side pocket wall where the neck meets the body. Looks like it was messed up and then they decided screw it and just finished over it. If this was a new guitar I'd definitely email them about the quality...but it's used so screw it. But this is definitely one of those flaws which is a bit glaring because there's no way you could do that yourself to the guitar during normal usage.
The Bad - It's heavy. It's much heavier then it should be. I mean it's not super heavy but it's comparable to both my old Anderson Hollow T and my buddies Anderson. On paper it should be way lighter. Granted it's alder and maple so in theory it should be a bit heavier then my swamp and maple strand bergs. But it feels significantly heavier.
Pickups - these pickups are bad. Suhr makes bad pickups. There I said it. I've used a number of their pickups and played a number of their guitars. Just sterile and bad. Do not like. I'm replacing them with a set of Andersons. I replaced the bridge already. Much much better.
ok that's it. Lemme know if you guys have any questions.
