Ibanez S520-WK Weathered Black

excellent handling, excellent quality, anytime again

Black, double locking tremolo, ash body and maple neck with rosewood (polisander) fretboard. That is, what I require as basis from guitar.

WOOD
Very good combination of woods. Despite light weight and extremely shaped (slimmed) body this guitar sound very well from wood, and has great sustain. Playing it I have a feeling I do play on full-bodied guitar with much greater mass.

FINISH
Flawless. Guitar looks great in hi-gloss paint. Neck is mat, and very pleasant when playing.
Frets are properly crowned, but fret ends are not nicely processed (although, there is no sharp metal, that can cut your fingers) ;-)

HARDWARE
Good tuners and Edge Zero II - great tremolo (when set up properly!) - same tremolo is mounted on S1070 Premium. I will repeat - great tremolo, when set up properly. Invest some time, or go to professional, experienced luthier.

PICKUPS/ELECTRONICS
The electronics are standard for Ibanez HSH guitars. Volume and treble pots with 5 position Ibanez switch, that performs also coil tap on humbuckers in 2nd and 4th position.

Pickups are creating the worst element of the guitar. As the single coil is acceptable, the humbuckers are muddy. They have relatively strong signal, but they are losing notes selectiveness. But - they are perfectly acceptable as “start”.

PLAYING COMFORT
Great.
Thanks to the body shape, the guitar lays very comfortably. There is no problem with hurting ribs or belly.
The neck has great profile, allowing very fast playing, but also for easy thumb rest, when playing heavy riffs.

NEGATIVES/TO DOs
Cleaning was first.
The guitar required a solid cleaning. Especially the fretboard was covered in dirty dust. I used lemon oil to clean the fretboard, and then spent some time cleaning/polishing the frets. This is absolutely required if you ever do any string bends and are used to keep your hands clean.

Next thing is set up.
The string action was way too high, so I adjusted it (that part is relatively easy). Next was intonation. This part was also required and not that easy, as you deal with double locking tremolo. Either you go to experienced luthier, or read/learn a bit and buy Ibanez intonation tool (E-Jack).

Pickups.
I replaced the pickups immediately. Since 40 years I am using mostly DiMarzio pickups, and I also replaced the Ibanez with DiMarzios here.

SUMMARY
Very good guitar, well crafter but not properly set up and intonated. You may tune it, plug to amplifier and start playing, but if you’re serious about playing a bit of initial work is required. Intonation and string action must be set. Also - installing some better pickups is very beneficial for this guitar.

PS
I am playing for 40 years and I was also building guitars. I do all customizations for my guitars by myself. If you are not experienced, I recommend you use profesional luthier or shop service to have your guitar properly set up for you. The money you spend on the set up will allow you to play better or learn faster and more correct.

The guitar ? A "little dream" and the service ? The guitar was perfectly adjusted and tuned. And since I picked it up myself at Kirstein's music store, the trepidation about possible transport damage (DHL/DPD) was not an issue. By the way, for all customers from Munich - a nice trip.