Ibanez SZ520 Electric Guitar Review, 2003 model

The quilted maple is stunning

I couldn't find a great deal about this particular model of guitar when I searched so I thought it deserved a more in depth story/review.



Mine was made in the World Music Factory in Korea in 2003 - a factory which produces brands such as BC Rich, Chapman, Dean, Gretsch, LTD, PRS SE and Schechter.  This model was made at the time just before Ibanez started producing the vast majority of their guitars in China.  2003 was the first year of production for these guitars and the line gained new pickups in later years.  The ones supplied with mine are the original 'SZ' pickups, which are stamped with 'Ibanez' on the back.  I took them out of the cavities to have a look and check out the magnets. Although the Ibanez Wiki page says these pickups have ceramic magnets, mine has an alnico magnet on the neck pickup and a ceramic on the bridge.  They are wired for independent operation of the coils and the SZ has the rather nice feature that when the pickup selector is in the middle position, both pickups are in single coil mode, so you get that nice twangy telecaster sound, a feature I really like.  I like the tone of both of the pickups and don't think I would swap them out for anything else, although they are quite trebly.

Beautifully executed neck join

The neck on this guitar is a real joy to behold and especially to play.  I have quite a number of Ibanez guitars and I have never been disappointed with the playability of the necks.  For those who like clutching a baseball bat it may feel a little slim, but I personally like that.  The neck is three piece mahogany, with a volute at the nut end.  It benefits from a very straight string run from nut to tuner.  Mine appears to have a bone nut, which is very well cut indeed and the fret work is excellent and smooth, with no obvious high frets, and nicely smoothed off fret ends.  Not bad for a 14 year old guitar.

The neck on this example has no divots or dings (except for some slight wear marking in the rosewood in the first three fret positions.)  The real joy is in the neck join which is beautifully smooth and rounded, allowing complete access to all the upper frets.  The scale is a rather unusual 25.1", which gives the guitar a unique voice, somewhere between the classic Gibson and Fender scales, just slightly longer than a PRS.  The inlay has grown on me, I would never choose this, but it is well done, and the side markers are abalone, which is a nice touch of luxury.

Showing the thickness of the maple cap

The strings run through the body in 'compensated' holes and over the Gibraltar III bridge.  I likethese bridges, they are much more comfortable than a tunomatic, and just as adjustable.  The hardware is all nickel plated rather than chrome.  The downside of this is that the nickel on mine has worn off the bridge at the low E end.

The top of the guitar is of an extremely high grade quilted maple veneer, one of the best I have ever seen, superbly bookmatched.  This veneer is applied to a very thick carved maple cap, which is partially revealed to form the body binding.  This makes for a classic sounding guitar, that is relatively light to wear.  The body is very well balanced with no neck dive when being played.

The guitar sounds amazing when I roll the tone off a bit.  The pickups deliver a lot of power, though I haven't had them up on the multimeter yet to determine just how much.

What Ibanez did with the SZ is to fill a niche that none of my other guitars can quite reach, the unique combination of pickup choice, coil split, maple cap, scale length, playing comfort, stunning looks, make this guitar one of the unsung and underrated heroes of guitar history.  But I am not complaining, with a different name on the headstock, and less innovation, I would never have had the joy of buying, playing and working on this beauty.