IBANEZ’S PLAYER’S PLAYER

Ibanez is one of the biggest guitar brands in the world, and with good reason: they’ve continually placed themselves at the forefront of guitar development ever since entering a new age of innovation in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Since that shred-tastic era, they’ve given us the Edge family of double-locking vibratos and back-routed bridge cavities, the first production seven-string guitar, hybrid fretted/fretless basses, never-before-seen finishes, and some of the first baritone instruments geared towards metal players.

And, lo and beyond, they’ve managed to drop our jaws yet again. Ibanez introduced the AZ Series at Winter NAMM 2018 with a solid series of standard and signature models – that was impressive enough as is, but this year, the company has really upped their game with even more AZ models. Here’s a little look at what makes these guitars so cool.

The AZ series was developed with the idea that it’s a ‘ player’s player’ guitar: an instrument that combines the playability of classic Ibanez high-performance guitars with a more boutique vibe. Ibanez AZ Series models are modern workhorse guitars with high-spec features like Gotoh locking tuners for optimum tuning stability, and Dynam-MIX pickup switching for a more authentic sound in single-coil mode when you split the humbucker.

The range includes models in both the Prestige and Premium series, with tonewoods including

American basswood bodies with quilted maple tops, roasted maple necks and Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups. These pickups grew out of the Seymour Duncan Pegasus and Sentient set, but are revoiced and fine-tuned to hit all the sonic targets the AZ is specifically aiming for: enough power for high-gain applications, but with enough restraint for great clean and mid-gain tones as well.

There are other player-friendly features like hard-wearing Stainless Steel frets, TUSQ XL nuts, and Luminlay side dots which glow in the dark.

For 2019, Ibanez has expanded the AZ range with new signature models for Timothy Henson and Scott LePage from Polyphia (who were instrumental in early prototype development for the AZ range), Mario Camarena and Erick Hansel from Chon, and longtime Ibanez artist Andy Timmons, whose new model recasts his existing Ibanez signature in the style of the AZ line.

Timmons’ model features a Wilkinson-Gotoh VSVG tremolo bridge and DiMarzio ‘ The Cruiser’ single-coil-sized humbucking pickups. The other new signature models have Gotoh T1502 bridges and unique pickup options. For example. Henson’s model has custom DiMarzio THBB pickups, LePage’s has a DiMarzio SLM custom humbucker at the bridge, and Camarena’s has a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro bridge and a Tele-style Hyperion at the neck.

Also new for 2019 is the Marco Sfogli signature model in a new Fabula Green Burst finish. Sfogli is known for his work with Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie, and has also worked with Aussie drum legend Virgil Donati.

So who is the AZ Series for?

Think of it as a guitar for players who need an axe that will keep up with intricate fretting-hand phrasing, and can cover a huge variety of tones for all sorts of different gigs.

It can swing from fusion to full-on shred, to djent, blues, and all the way to jazz – thanks in large part to the versatile pickup selector options and the decision to use more open-voiced pickups that present an enhanced version of the guitar’s own tone, instead of trying to put too much of their own stamp on the sound.

And the neck is very comfortable for advanced playing techniques or simple chording, depending on the gig. And for those who grew up with the pointy neon Ibanez guitars, the AZ is a great reason to stay in the family, even if you want something a little more mature than Roadflare Red or Desert Sun Yellow (not that those colours aren’t all kinds of awesome).

It’s clear that the AZ is going to be in the Ibanez line-up for a long time to come, and it’ll be very interesting to see where the line goes in the next few years – might we suggest a Steve Vai AZ based on his legendary old ‘Sticker Strat’?

But as it stands, the AZ has quickly established itself as an instant-classic Ibanez guitar.