German Electric Guitar Brands For Sale (2026 Update)

Great buying experience! CME does a tremendous job checking the guitar over and making sure it’s totally right. This Fender short run exclusive was exactly what I was looking for! It does what a Jazzmaster is supposed to do … once you take the time to dial in your setup! The setup is a bit tricky for sure because everything has to be balanced and intonated just so to prevent the strings from buzzing on the adjustment screws OR on the bridge itself. It also helps to have the absolute tiniest amount of relief possible in the neck and to raise the bridge and angle it to the sweet spot for ideal string vibration and a high enough break angle to anchor the strings within the slots. Once you do these things and set the pickup height, the guitar truly sings, rocks, plays great, and stays completely in tune, even with serious tremolo arm use! My pickups are set to spec: 3.5 mm on the bass side and 3.2 mm on the treble side. If you aren’t comfortable doing a detailed setup, be prepared to locate a professional. I have set up MANY Fenders so I was able to do it myself in a couple hours of tinkering. The 65 pickups sound amazing! Cleans are shimmery and huge. Dirty sounds are fat and ringing. Perfect for indie and shoegaze styles. You can also roll off the tone for a darker, blues or jazz lead tone and, unlike the original jazzmaster bridge, the strings will stay PUT and allow you to pick hard and bend as much as you like even with 9 gauge. No need for a rhythm circuit in my opinion. This wiring setup keeps it simple, lowers the cost, and still gives you the full Jazzmaster experience. Buy one before they are gone! Love it!Joseph

Mine arrived looking beautiful but had a lot of hum/noise and I figured it had something to do with the pickups or 1 meg pots. I opened it up to shield it and the bridge ground wire was never soldered to the ground wire on the pot. After soldering it I plugged it back in and it was silent. I went from thinking it was ok to being my favorite guitar at the moment. This guitar looks, sounds and plays great and its priced very low too. It nails that classic Jazzmaster tone and does what a Jazzmaster should do. Before you jump into the Jazzmaster pool understand that these guitars require tinkering with. Saddle rattle can be fixed by adjusting the screws on the saddles. They tend to loosen and tighten when changing strings and if they're even slightly uneven they will rattle. Another way to fix this is to shim the neck so there's a slight backbow to it like a Les Paul. This will increase the break angle and put more pressure on the bridge preventing rattle. Using 11's or 12's helps too but the nut on these ones is perfect for 10-46. The 4th position is actually very usable and I find myself using this position more than I thought I would. This is a great guitar at a great price and CME is the gold standard in online purchases. Besides the ground wire mine came set up perfectly and almost in tune. The ground wire was never even tinned so I know it was never attached but again, it took me 5 minutes and 0 dollars to fix. I'm sure had I complained they would have fixed it for me. I bought the Silver Blue Metallic. The Shell Pink was definitely my favorite color but I wasn't secure enough to buy a pink guitar.john g.

I just received this guitar today. There is a lot of negative talk about the noiseless pickups, but it sounds phenomenal to me. Many complaints include that it sounds too "dark", but it sounds terrific through my 1966 Bassman. There is a tremendous range of fantastic tones that are possible with this guitar, but it is definitely not for metal. It gets a great tone for classic rock, alt rock/indie, jazz, funk, and stoner rock. I've gotten a great Gilmour tone to Hendrix to QOTSA, and it honestly doesn't take long to learn the guitar's wide tonal capabilities. The neck plays so well that I found myself inspired to get into new sonic territories and genres. I own a lot of guitars, and this is my favorite one currently. It's my pick over my Les Paul Traditional, Telecaster, Ibanez S Premium, and the others. Do yourself a fiver and try it out with an open mind. Don't listen to the naysayers. This thing rocks!The Hammer

Overall: I bought this brand new from zZ! It came quite swiftly. It was packaged good and no damage was observed! The guitar was not ready to play right out of the box. I had to adjust the bridge and the truss rod. Once I changed the strings, and got the guitar set up…I was really surprised how good it actually plays! The neck is one of the best feeling necks that I have ever played on! It is slim and fast. The finish on this guitar is really nice! I got the red sunburst. It's a poly finish and very pretty! The craftsmanship is really good for a mid priced guitar. The hardware is really nice and quite durable! I like the fixed bridge. The tuners are really good and it stays in tune well! The electronics are good. Decent Pots and knobs! I was surprised how good the pickups sound! I use a Blackstar HT40 Club amp, and this guitar sounds great through it. The guitar has a five way switch that allows for humbucking and coil tap sounds! The tonal options are very versatile. You should be able to use this guitar for Any genre you want to play! I really am pleased with this guitar! It looks great, plays awesome, and is very versatile. I wouldn't hesitate to take it on the road as my main guitar…it's that sweet. You get a lot of guitar for a very good price!Michael

Right out of the box this guitar was setup and ready to shred. I love the Wizard III neck and the Pearl Black Fade Metallic looks so good. I've been an Ibanez player since 1999 and played many models. The RG421 is up there with the best of them. The Quantum pickups are excellent, so no need of changing them. I own many RGs and this one has become my go to guitar for any style of music. I can't put it down. Well worth the price. Thanks Ibanez for another good sounding quality guitar, and AMS for the quick ship!Louie

This guitar is the epitome of world class craftsmanship. Every single detail is attended to with pristine precision. The playability is unmatched and quality unsurpassed. I own many quality guitars ESP Japan made, Gibson USA made. But there is just something special that makes me only want to play this guitar. Well done Ibanez this will be a lifelong keeper. Better then I could imagined or expected and I expected a LOT at this price point. Did not disappoint. I purchased the stallion white and it is breath taking in person. It has a pearlesque look which I love. If you are on the fence don't hesitate you will not be disappointed. This is top notch quality in every way and don't know how it could get better. A+++++Joe

I dreamed of having a guitar like this after seeing a cased Ibanez Jem about twenty years ago. Words cannot describe the disappointment I experienced after finally having them money to get something like this only to have received a dud. I bought this because the Pia looked so much more dignified than the Jem. I was excited to play this after reading so much about how Ibanez uses the highest levels of craftsmanship and standards for their top of the line guitars. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they've lost credibility with me. Here's why: – The frets were so sharp that I worried if cut myself. – The whammy bars (it came with two) were not tightly fit into its tremolo. They would make a clicking sound as they loosely rocked back and forth using some vibrato. – One area of the guitar was not finished being painted (or so it appeared). – The body was not smoothly sanded down as I could visibly see imperfections in the wood as light shined on the paint. I ended up finding another person on YouTube doing a review who experienced the same problem with the whammy bars along with some other issues. I wish so badly this guitar would have been the last I would have ever purchased.David

It is a great privilege to leave the 1st review for this guitar at Guitar Center. It is my 1st personal review at guitar center as well. First, it is a little surprising to see this review will be the 1st since this guitar has been released for half a year. But whoever reads this, right now is 2020, the pandemic year, and we do not know how soon this is going to end, maybe next spring, maybe even longer. Probably that is the reason. Please let us remember this difficult time that many people lost their lives, many people got laid off, we might get another recession… I am a Steve Vai fan, I made this impulse buy at this difficult time, but not regretting it. The PIA is fantastic, absolutely the best guitar I have ever played so far, although I handed on a few more expensive ones. I compare it with Farreri. It is just smooth on every cover of the guitar. Fingerboard and neck are just gorgeous. Frets are stunning. If I use one word to describe PIA, it is going to be "Harmony". Handsome but beautiful, energetic but soft, Yin and Yang. It is very light, but still holds a decent amount of weight (not as light as the Herman Li's guitar, that one is a little too light from my point of view). The newly designed Dimarzio Utopia pickups, together with the pickups covers are sweet and beautiful. It is interesting they named it Utopia, as the ideal society, but also like U to Pia, maybe it is part of the reason for the name of this guitar.Zens Tone

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

First a much deserved word about Musicians Friend. Having made numerous purchases in the past year (5 guitars, two amplifiers & two sets of powered monitor speakers) hats off to Musicians Friend. They are professional, courteous and a pleasure to purchase from. They truly have treated me like a friend over the last decade and a half. My guitar arrived in pristine shape, no issues, of course. For me this is a beast of a guitar and cannot be beat, not even close, at this price range, nothing I've played compares. Love the sculptured maple top and head to toe creamy binding, simply beautiful. The setup was very good, slight string height adjustment, neck did not need adjustment and pickup height was good. Someone is paying attention with quality control. The neck is fast, silky smooth and easy to navigate, I can accomplish sweep picking with this guitar. Coil split is always nice with humbuckers adding to the available tone palate. Everything works and works well. Check it out if in the market for a very nice modestly priced guitar. Doubt you'd be disappointed.Stratocasterplusplayer

Totally stoked on this purchase. I was looking for something solid with an inexpensive price point and came across this Schecter. I've never owned a Schecter before so I was unfamiliar with them but they put some serious quality into this instrument. Feels good in my hands and plays really fast and it looks fantastic. I do recommend upgrading the pickupups but if you're just looking to play around the house with this, it's set up and ready to go. Highly recommendableSmooks

I understand why people call this a beginers guitar. Some the components are cheap and the guitar felt unfinishhed. I own 8 guitars. All of them are higher end Made in America guitars. This guitar caught my eye solely because of looks. I decided to purchase it as a project guitar. After receiving the guitar it needed to be properly set up. I straightened the neck, leveled and radiused the fret board, re-crownded the frets, filed the fret ends and rolled the edge on the neck binding. I proceded to replace the bridge with a Graph-Tech Resomax NV2, and the tuners with Schaller M6 ones. I replaced the tone capacitor with an Orange Drop NOS .027 UF. The pickups are versatile and offer a wide variety of sound. I now have a guitar that has a fast articulate neck and fret board, great tone and sustain all for $160.00 in parts and my labor. This is no longer a " beginers guitar" . The guitar has great bones and was easy to convert to a guitar that you would pay over $1000.00 dollars for. Good job Schecter!Hodigity

I wish I had purchased this a long time ago. It was a champ right out of the box. This is one of the very few times in 50 years of buying guitars that I actually purchased an instrument and not a project. I’m amazed at how well it was set up to rock from the get-go. AMS must take great care of their stock because this was perfection in a box when i got it. Crisp and clean, aesthetically astounding. The sound encompasses everything I look for but i got it in this one guitar. Rough and rugged tones for grinding out ripping leads, sweet mellow tones for ambient music, unmatchable warm and hot tones for clean country and soothing jazz. You just cannot beat this guitar in quality and sound in this price range! You gotta get one of these!DC Collins

I’ve read almost every single review on this model and the overall take was hit or miss. Well I musta lucked out because this thing plays great! I had no paint blemishes, was smooth around the monkey grip, frets level, neck relatively straight and after a home set up, twice oiling the fretboard, with a fresh set of Super Slinky’s dropped down half a step she was solid. Tremolo unit not as bad as I had read or expected. The bar will get loose after use but I’ve got it holding tune very well. You can’t pull the bar up like the big brother Jems without an almost immediate fret out and the obvious answer is raise the bridge but then the action is too high to enjoy playing. Pickups are really decent. They clean up well. Was probably the main factor over the White or Black. The White Jr just looked and felt plain in comparison. After owning a JEM7v and playing a thousand gigs on it this is a nice little reminder of what fun that was!Ryan

Purchased in Westminster, CA Sam Ash store. Had a hard time locating these in SoCal stores. Their online store said it was in their inventory, but it was not on display. Bryan, my sales rep, located the guitar and setup and tuned as quickly as possible. He located an amp to suit my style and plugged me in. He was very attentative, well spoken and enthusiastic – asking questions that were very helpful. Big shout out to Bryan for all his heolp and personability. This Jem Jr in Pink acheived all the tones I was looking for in one guitar from clean to shred. Pretty sturdy and stayed in tune quite well even after thrashing the trem bar to see if I could get a string to break. No fret edges, though the fretboard was dry (oiled then neck at home). No scratchy pots or finish issues. The weight was pleasant and easy to carry around. Got a great deal from Sam Ash and their service was good and meaningful and I left with a sense of a solid purchase. Will visit this store again and I recommend the Jem Jr if you can't afford the upper end Jem guitars.BaconFire

Excelente guitar. I´m very dissapointed about the factory setup. For the price, I was expecting at least a playable factory setup. Instead it was with a really high strings action, pickups height totally out of pattern. And the finish wasn´t flawless. I has a little detail by the end of the scale. Besides that, Tumbstone Hard case is amazing! I was expecting more of the ESP inspections before it left the factory. By the way, the guitar was packed in the original box yet.Rodrigo

Overall: I was thinking about buying an ESP LTD for a while, and when I saw this guitar I was just blown away by how it looked, and the features it has. I'm happy to report that when it arrived at my home( which only took one day, thank you zZounds and fedex) I was even more blown away. The action is perfect out of the box, it's super lite, it plays faster than almost any guitar I've ever played, the Floyd Rose is top notch, and since I've stretched the strings and locked it, I hasn't gone out of tune once, and the sound is just mind blowing. I was a little nervous when I saw the body wood type was alder, being most of my guitars are mahogany, I thought the low end response would be affected. But I'm happy to tell everyone, it sounds like a beast. And of course the emg pickups are always incredible in my opinion. Plus it comes with the coolest case ever. It's got a tombstone motif on it. There's not enough good things I could say about this wonderful guitar. I was wailing sweep arpeggios all day on this bad boy, and every note was clear as a bell, no matter how fast I was playing. I highly recommend this guitar to anyone who's a metal aficionado. You won't be disappointed.Rob

I have bought several guitars in the 100 to 300 range. I was surprised on the quality of this guitar and felt it was superior to many other brands in this range. From neck joint to fret polish & leveling and finish this guitar is quality except the tuners, however the guitar stays in tune and rarely goes out. The neck is not a Fender Strat or Tele neck so don't expect it to play like one, Its its own thing. It is not wide at the nut so if you need a wide neck at the nut it may not be for you. I find it fine and would not consider it narrow. The neck is slightly fatter than a Squire neck but it is still a C shape and a bit thicker as you go up the neck to higher frets. It plays great. Its set up well for Rock and Blues playing, neck adjusted with a light bow and strings set low (but not to low to buzz). Bridge saddles are stainless steel and this make the strings ring out bright and loud even when not plugged in. Intonation was spot on. Frets are tall enough to allow for string bending (there not super low). As regards pickups this is a personal thing. Pickups are very basic and do okay, one may want to upgrade them to ones own liking other wise there fine.pchapm

I was hesitant when ordering the guitar, but after I received it worry washed away from a single glance. I'm not good at instruments, I never played anything than doing ukulele club when I was a kid so I didn't expect myself to buy a guitar. It's delicate and beautiful, feels great to hold and sounds just as good. I do not regret buying this guitar at all, in fact I'm greatful that I'm able to own it. I strive to become great at playing it, little by little . Thank you!Nazma B.

It's a beautiful guitar and really well made. I bought it for my 9 year old daughter and she loves it. I don't know anything about guitars as I'm a pianist myself, but her guitar teacher was absolutely delighted with it. It's definitely worth paying the extra for the upgrades. I can definitely see it lasting her as it feels really solid, and the knobs and twiddly bits etc feel really solid. I genuinely can't get over how nice it is. Makes me want to learn the guitar myself!Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Absolutely love the guitar. Color is a lot more subtle in person than in pictures online. Plays smooth right out the box, looks and feels amazing. Neck is quite similar to a strat but gets flatter near the neck. Only reason I didn't give a 5 star review is because when I unboxed it and inspected it there was a scuff on the headstock. It isn't noticeable from a distance but definitely something I'm not happy about. Other than that it plays great, looks great, feels great 🙂Julieanne

This has got to be the most value I've ever seen in a budget instrument. Out of the box it was set up good. Finish was perfect. I purchased the ruby red version. Stock pick up is aggressive and hot. Tremolo works as it should. Although I ain't a big user of them I can dive like EVH does on the first record with this thing and it comes back up in tune. Many people prefer something better but this works perfect for me. The only flaws I could find was one of the drill holes on the back plate was not lined up correct and a screw fell out. Not a big thing because I have take. It off for access to the springs and to change strings. The hardware is not the best. The screws on the claw stripped a little when I was taking it out for whammy use. Over all a very enjoyable guitar. Incredibly hot sounding and fast. The look is great too. I don't plan on upgrading anything just yet. Many buyers of this do hot rod them and that's also a very cool thing. Maybe in the future I'll consider some upgrades but stock is fine. I'd trust it on a stage no problem. Get them before they all go! There's a reason why very little of them are on the used market. For this price you cannot go wrong! Maybe if a yellow one of these was to come along I'd be all over it. Would definitely buy again!Cris w

I wish I had purchased this a long time ago. It was a champ right out of the box. This is one of the very few times in 50 years of buying guitars that I actually purchased an instrument and not a project. I’m amazed at how well it was set up to rock from the get-go. AMS must take great care of their stock because this was perfection in a box when i got it. Crisp and clean, aesthetically astounding. The sound encompasses everything I look for but i got it in this one guitar. Rough and rugged tones for grinding out ripping leads, sweet mellow tones for ambient music, unmatchable warm and hot tones for clean country and soothing jazz. You just cannot beat this guitar in quality and sound in this price range! You gotta get one of these!DC Collins

I’ve read almost every single review on this model and the overall take was hit or miss. Well I musta lucked out because this thing plays great! I had no paint blemishes, was smooth around the monkey grip, frets level, neck relatively straight and after a home set up, twice oiling the fretboard, with a fresh set of Super Slinky’s dropped down half a step she was solid. Tremolo unit not as bad as I had read or expected. The bar will get loose after use but I’ve got it holding tune very well. You can’t pull the bar up like the big brother Jems without an almost immediate fret out and the obvious answer is raise the bridge but then the action is too high to enjoy playing. Pickups are really decent. They clean up well. Was probably the main factor over the White or Black. The White Jr just looked and felt plain in comparison. After owning a JEM7v and playing a thousand gigs on it this is a nice little reminder of what fun that was!Ryan

Purchased in Westminster, CA Sam Ash store. Had a hard time locating these in SoCal stores. Their online store said it was in their inventory, but it was not on display. Bryan, my sales rep, located the guitar and setup and tuned as quickly as possible. He located an amp to suit my style and plugged me in. He was very attentative, well spoken and enthusiastic – asking questions that were very helpful. Big shout out to Bryan for all his heolp and personability. This Jem Jr in Pink acheived all the tones I was looking for in one guitar from clean to shred. Pretty sturdy and stayed in tune quite well even after thrashing the trem bar to see if I could get a string to break. No fret edges, though the fretboard was dry (oiled then neck at home). No scratchy pots or finish issues. The weight was pleasant and easy to carry around. Got a great deal from Sam Ash and their service was good and meaningful and I left with a sense of a solid purchase. Will visit this store again and I recommend the Jem Jr if you can't afford the upper end Jem guitars.BaconFire

Overall very good fit and finish. Mine did have some fret buzz in one small spot on the fretboard. But, its a very light, well-balanced guitar that is comfortable to play. Neck is not as thin as I expected, but it's not chunky by any means. Pickups are on the hot side and are very warm in tone. The switching is very flexible and will give you configurations that can sound like not just a typical HSS guitar, but some HH and even Tele tones too.David L

I bought the black and gold edition of this guitar and I was pleasantly surprised when it sounded so good and looked absolutely stunning! My only problem with this guitar is that the pickups look a little tarnished or rusty but it doesn't affect the tone but other than that it's definitely worth the money.Angel

I purchased this guitar as an intermediate player. I had the tech at GC do a set up on it. It looks, sounds and plays great. The workmanship out of he box was very good. Very nice fret work, no sharp edges. Very happy with this guitar. Just keep in mind that to get its full capabilities it will likely need a set up but this is common with most any guitar you buy. I would definitely buy this guitar again.Michael

I have several Ibanez, some of them being slightly on the higher end of the mid-grade lines. I didn't need an inexpensive Ibanez, but the looks of this Gio caught my eye and I had been pining for it for awhile, but everyone was either out or on preorder. When I saw this marked as used and $40 less than the regular price, I jumped on it. I expected some cosmetic wear maybe, since it was used, but when it got here two days after I ordered it, it was still in the original wrapping with the plastic on the pickguard and pickups. I don't think it was ever touched. Everything was set up very well right out of the box. The pickups aren't great, but they aren't bad. The neck and fretboard feel fantastic and the blackout finish of it all is what really sold me. The body is polar, so it's a bit lighter and that makes it feel a bit cheap, but it scream and I'm really diggin it. Proaudiostar is 3/3 for me.Scott W

A great humbucker pickup guitar for beginners. Has great tone and feels smooth to play. Only issue was the action, which was too low when shipped and caused lots of buzzing. Had to increase it by quite a lot to get a good feel – a beginner might not know how to do this. Guitar looks amazing, makes me want to play whenever I look at it.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Qualité et finition irréprochables.Etui mallette tres soigné.Mais le manche est bien trop fin et plat pour moi ,malgré les avis que j'avais consulté qui annonçaient un radius plat de 12 certes mais un profil bien plus "vintage" en main que le wizzard usuel de la marque.Je reste perplexe par le choix des 10 positions promises :pour moi elles sont tres inhomogènes entre elles donc cela rend l'instrument inutile pour moi .Je préfère 3 ou 5 positions bien azimutées que les 10 proposées.Les positions 2 et 4 ,dites intermédiaires ,sont un échec selon moi.Que ce soit en mode humbucker ou coil split.Ravi d'avoir pu l'essayer néanmoins.Elle me faisait vraiment rêver.grunblatt g.

Amazing guitar, great pickups and very clean sounding. I have never played a guitar better than this, and I have played a few. It is definitely worth the money and is so versatile.Natasha B.

Sound: The sound of this guitar, with the JB bridge pup is totally awesome for hard rock and metal. Also, the SD cool rails in the middle and neck positions sound great. The neck pickup in particular really sings. The pickup compliment really makes this guitar outstanding. Features: Has a nice little wrench holder on the back of the headstock. Just keep a penny in your pocket in case you have to remove the wrenches from the holder as it is set up to tighten and loosen with a coin or a flat head screw driver. Ease of Use: There wasn’t really a learning curve for this guitar. Every feature on this guitar is quite intuitive. Quality: Very well made guitar. The Floyd Rose is great. Keeps it in tune better than any other system out there. This guitar comes with a FRT 1000 Floyd Rose trem. I think it’s fit and finish rivals that of the OFR. Anyway, it handles all the abuse I dish out on it, and stays perfectly in tune. Value: This guitar delivers everything that one would expect from a one thousand plus dollar guitar, and then some. Manufacturer Support: See my previous comments The Wow Factor: The finishes offered on this guitar are spectacular. I get so many compliments on the looks of my guitar. Overall: Wow, when I got my Kramer SM-1 the thing seemed too good to be true. The fit and finish was great. The nut was at the right height. The bridge height and the action was just right. I could pull up a mile. Beautiful color (orange). Frets were all level, and no pokey fret ends.As far as being too good to be true, well it did have a stupid flaw. Someone at the factory forgot to put a ground wire to the trem claw. I had to take it to the warranty repairman. Took the repairman 10 minutes to fix it. Four inches of wire and two blobs of solder was all that was needed. Warranty job, so fixed for free. Almost.After 6 months of ownership of this guitar, the warranty guy gave me a call to tell me that Gibson never paid him, and that he was going to submit the claim one more time, and that I was to pay him if Gibson didn’t. When I first brought the guitar to him for the repair, he wanted 50 bucks. I said hold on there man, this is a warranty job. He decided to do the job right then and there, even though he couldn’t get authorization that day.Anyway, I wound up having to call Gibson and told them what happened. They were apalled. Gibson customer service really isn’t that great. I’m still waiting on parts for another guitar from the for the last 6 months. Gibson did straighten the warranty guy out though, and they paid the repairman. Apparently the repairman didn’t submit the claim properly.Well aside from that one issue, the guitar is perfect. The blade pups for the neck and middle sound awesome and so is the HB bridge pickup. SD JB I’m told. This guitar, aside from my ground wire issue, was as perfect as perfect can get. If you are looking for a shred guitar, sheik one of these out. The placement of the neck in relation to the body just feels right, unlike my Jackson soloist, which feels foreign.Scott

Overall: after a thorough check of the guitar:the temolo system is of very poor quality.the knife edges of the tremolo system were badly bruised, as were the posts. the drive-in sleeves were very rusty and not hammered in properly.the mechanics were not properly attached and reils showed an idle travel of half a turnthe frets had strong scratches all over the fingerboardthe electrical system was laid in a mess, 4 cables came loose during the preliminary inspection, the 5-way switch had a loose contactall of the excavated shafts were not sanded, the electrical compartment was not shieldedwhy did i keep the guitar? because I am able to fix everything. and if i pull off the pu, it stays under 650 dollars for a lacquered body with a neck, that's oki installed a schaller lockmeister tremolo, schaller mechanics, a completely new electrical system, the frets dressed and polished, the shafts ground, the electrical compartment insulated, the misalignment on the nut fixed, a string retainer installed, new buttons installed.now i have a guitar that keeps the mood, sounds great and is the way it should be. I invested around $ 550 for this. so in total the guitar cost 1,600 dollars. I would have liked to pay directly if the manufacturer had offered it.I can't give you a recommendation out of the box because the guitar is not playable like this. maybe i get a lemon, but ther is no quality controll at all.Dirk

I am a novice so I can't speak to how this compares to other similar guitars and bought this for my daughter. In hind sight the floahting bridge was probably a bad idea for her as it's a difficult guitar to tune especially after re- stringing. The guitar did arrive mostly in tune and playable. After just a few hours of play I noticed the output jack was loose and had twisted the wire inside. I had to remove it twice to re tighten it in the first three days at which point I resorted to using locktight on the nut. Same issue with the internal nut that holds the wammy bar in place so it got the same treatment. My daughter loves the guitar so I can overlook the initial flaws and as they were pretty simple fixes, however, if you are looking for a first guitar you may want to consider something else.Tim

It's a great guitar for metal. The guitar is gloss black not flat or matte. Be Shure after you purchase to check the hardware. The nut for the input cable on mine was stripped out also it's hot all the time even when the volume is turned down. Turned down I mean and not off it's not dampend in tone just sound. You will need to buy a gig bag or Epiphone stile case the hardshell roadrunner case does not fit because of the length of the guitar and the tremalo. Other's have said it doesn't stay in tune keep in mind new string's stretch. I tuned mine 3 times then after the strings stretched it stays in tune. It's an excellent sounding guitar with great sustain. I jamm on it every night. I would definitely buy another. Hope this helps. Thanks.. Jeff…Jeff

There is plenty to like about this guitar, and I got it for the features I was looking for: locking tremelo, 24 frets, fast neck, 5 way pickup selector, and nice looks. My first impressions of the guitar was slight disappointment with how sloppy Ibanez was. The tops and bottoms of the frets needed to be beveled as they were pretty sharp, there was a noticeable nick on the fretboard, and there was a black smudge on the back of the neck. None of those was a huge deal. The main two issues I have with the guitar are that the middle pickup, the single coil, has such low output that the middle three positions are much quieter than the neck or bridge pickups alone. I do like the tone of the single coil in conjunction with the humbuckers, but those positions are somewhat useless considering how quiet they are, and I have ordered a humbucker to replace it. The single coil alone (middle position) has too much noise AND is too quiet. Not a big deal to replace a pickup, but why they are selling it this way, I'm not sure. The second issue is the volume control. Instead of a gradual swell, there is a sharp dropoff in volume at one point in the rotation of the dial, making it pretty much useless other than having it full on or all the way off. I am not sure if that is fixable, but if it is, I'll need to have that done as well. All that said, if the guitar had not arrived in such sloppy condition and the two problems were resolved, I'd give this guitar 5 stars.hickory spork

The Ibanez RG 450 or any of the RG's are with the exception of the factory p/u and electronic. capable of becoming one of the best performance guitars to own. The base Ibanez Floyd Rose system is fiddley but, after learning how to adjust/tune quickly becomes appreciated for holding tune no matter the severity of attacks you use with the tremolo. The Wizard(ll or lll ?) You would need to go to custom built to exceed the easy play and comfortable frets you will find on and RG. This recent RG450 I upgraded to equal the higher priced models by adding the De Marzio Tone Zone (B), Air Norton (N). And instead of going with the True Velvet. Added the Seymour Duncan Vintage Hot Stack for the middle position and added better electrics to even out the upgrades.. End result; This guitar plays and sound equal to guitars costing over $1,000.00!! Good bones! Yes this can be played well and many will find happiness with this as stock., and, will perform well against the competition dollar for dollar!ikeus

I used to own an '89 Ibanez VBK JEM that I regrettably sold to buy a gaming pc. I wanted to get a newer entry level RG so I could have a floyd,HSH superstrat in E standard. I've had this RG for long enough to know it's a keeper. This thing has the same feel and vibe of my old JEM! Minus the monkey grip and other features obviously. The neck feels fantastic and I only had to do very minor setup adjustments to my liking. I would have liked a rosewood or ebony fingerboard but of course this is the lower end model. The Jatoba feels good under the fingers, similar to rosewood but with a slightly lighter shade to it. Like most guitars you buy online mine came desperately needing some good oil and cleaning. The Jatoba fingerboard seems to require a bit more lubrication than rosewood. The neck binding is done well, not perfect but to a good standard. I do wish the trem was an Edge lo-pro… But again, this is the lower priced model. There is nothing wrong with the Edge tremolo, it stays in tune well with whammy bar abuse but it is one of the bulkier Original Floyd Rose style bridges. The stock Quantum pickups are among the best stock Ibanez pickups I've tried. They are hot but versatile. However I did swap them out with the classic Dimarzio Air Norton/Steves Special combo and a True Velvet middle. I do believe a higher end Ibanez will obviously sound better than this but for the price it really is hard to beat! Well done Ibanez and AMS!Nevin

Schecter just dominates in this class. I always like to wait a year to give reviews but it was hard to wait with this guitar.
From the fast, satin smooth neck, to the low action and the tuning stability, it's just hard to believe the quality in this price range. It feels every bit as nice as my pricier guitars and that's NOT hyperbole, it's the truth.

If half stars were available, I might go 4.5 just because the active pickups, while honestly good, aren't "great".. But at this price point? I'm probably expecting too much because the feel and playability of the guitar keeps making me compare to higher classed categories.
That's a good problem.
I'd like to see schecter push their alternative passive pickup guitars more, just so the market would have increased availability.
I prefer passive and would love to add more Schecters to the collection.Joseph Clark

I love this guitar! It has a great sound for rock, metal and other genre music, but mainly for metal, it's so perfect. I actually traded a Ibanez Xiphos hp330, because I was tired of the floyd rose floating saddle bridge. Nothing against it, but it wasn't for me. The Ibanez had a great sound, played beautifully and definitely good metal guitar, but I wanted something with an easier bridge. I'm glad that I bought the Schecter when Guitar Center had their annual guitar a-thon sale, and I traded my Ibanez for the Schecter and didn't cost me much. For the money it's well worth it, it's a solid guitar, electronics are great, the neck is smooth and fast, the finish is awesome and a reall eye catcher. I'm very happy with the guitar overall. I also have a Schecter bass. The stiletto and I love the Schecter brand. I'll recomend it to anyone ,from the beginner to the experience player, you can't go wrong with this guitar.John

Let me start out by saying I'm a little bias towards Schecter. That being said , this is my 3rd and probably my favorite one. I currently own the demon-6 and have owned the Synyster Gates custom S , not my style so traded it in. The Omen Extremely is absolutely amazing sounding and my favorite out of the 3 I've owned , the pickups are way better than my Demon with active pickups , these can easily handle high gains without crackling or sounding muffled. I didn't really necessarily want the coil splitting option , but glad i have it. This guitar handles clean sounds very well and the splitting option gives the guitar a lot of versatility , the neck is perfect. It reminds me of my Ibanez's , very comfortable and easy to play , it's heavier than most of my other guitars but this just adds to the sustain you get out of this guitar. I got the magenta color , which looks pink to me since I'm color blind. That's all they had in stock but I don't care , it's fine and I play at home plus it throws in some color to my collection of mostly black anyway. I don't know how Schecter continues to put these out for the price , it's solidly built and feels much more expensive. The tuners also are very tight and hardly ever go out of tune , I will continue to purchase Schecter's in the future. I can buy 4 quality built guitars from this company for the price of one Gibson. I highly recommend the Omen Extreme to anyone on the fence , once again Schecter delivers!🤘Mike G.

First impression?s it looks well made (for the money) plays well, the fret board and action fits me well. I?m not as familiar with other electric guitars of this generation as I was comparing this one with my old Kay electric guitar I had over 50 years ago. I am impressed with the tone from the pickups though my Pevy practice amplifier. Time will tell how in holds up, I suspect it will do well.Fredrick

I am a experienced player who has tried a variety of guitars from all different price ranges and this was the first guitar I was lucky to get. For a guitar this cheap it played amazing. I don't know if I just got lucky but the guitar hasn't had many tuning and electronic issues. As of right now I use this guitar as my main. I am planning on putting in Seymour Duncan blackouts for a more fatter tone and louder and better sound. I really recommend this for any player at any skill level. It's good for any tunings and any gauge strings. I at one time had 13 to 65s and it still played amazing and doesn't take a lot of adjustments.Chase C.

I got this guitar plugged into my Bulgera V22 amp and immediately thought, this is blowing away my Fender Players Strat (MIM)…how can this be? I did have to adjust the string height was easy to do I figured eh? its new thats why I think its so great. Then I get on here and read the other guys review…saying the exact same thing, about his Fender MIM on the Bulgera V22 (which is an incredible amp by the way). I, like him feel it kinda sux my much more expensive Fender can't out do it. I'm gonna dare say after adding good strings? It may well give my EVH Wolfgang Special a run!…thats gonna sting. My first guitar was a Green inexpensive Ibanez, I traded up to the Fender MIM….and was disappointed. Ibanez is no Joke and for the money, you can't beat it.AJ