by Alissa Ordabai
– Sr. Columnist —
This year, Ibanez turned heads with a nine-string RG guitar. Factory tuning is E/B/G/D/A/E/B/F#/C#, but it obviously offers a wide range of down-tuning options. Basswood body, a quilted maple top and 28-inch scale neck, rosewood fingerboard with jumbo frets — make this a spectacular-looking instrument. Conceived not to bring in profit, but as a brilliant marketing move, and it serves the purpose of making nine-string guitars widely accessible at a street price well under a grand.
Each year, Ibanez also releases a new eight-string back guitar, slightly changing the specs, and 2016 is no exception. The new RG852-GK hardly is different from RG8, but the new model is made of basswood, not mahogany, and the bridge is heavier and more complex than RG8’s hard-tail.
The Ibanez RC2720 is an interesting one this year: it has the right color and the right looking neck for the fans of SG-type guitars, but features alder as material for the body and P90 pickups. Lately, Ibanez has been investing a lot into Roadcore series, including
Strat-alikes, Tele-alikes, and semi-acoustics, but an unpopular pickup choice makes this particular instrument a rather strange concoction.
The Ibanez Talman TM302 and TM1702M-TB are interesting Telecaster-themed studies, but are by no means the first attempts by Ibanez to explore this direction. The first endeavors took place in the ‘90s, but those guitars were soon discontinued. So here we have two new models. Both look cute, but who are the potential buyers? The same question arises in regard to the updated Ibanez George Benson signature GB10SEBS. It’s hard to imagine jazz players going to Ibanez as their brand of choice, no matter how impeccably elegant and well-made this guitar is.
While Fender, to this day, makes the most powerful advertising statements simply by displaying historic concert photos of Jimi Hendrix, younger brands rely on present-day celebrity pulling power to give their product maximum exposure. This year, Jackson presented a whole range of exciting signature guitars and invited a cluster of superstar players to give its NAMM presence an extra oomph.
Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth, Act of Defiance), Phil Demmel (Machine Head), David Ellefson (Megadeth) and Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) appeared Saturday afternoon for a buzzing autograph session at the Jackson booth. “We all grew up together,” Ellefson later said on the Jackson website about this get-together. “We are all kind of part of the same community. There’s a certain way we all play; there’s a
certain way we think.”
The team spirit was electrifying, and the new instruments were spectacular. Chris Broderick expanded his collection of Jackson signature guitars this year with new U.S.A. six- and seven-string hard-tail Soloist models: Chris Broderick USA Soloist HT6 and Chris Broderick USA Soloist HT7.
Broderick designed the original highly acclaimed Soloist series with Jackson Custom Shop Master Builder Mike Shannon. The new hard-tail models feature mahogany sides and back, quarter sawn maple neck, direct mount custom DiMarzio pickups designed by Broderick, himself, 12-inch-radius ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, 25.5 inch scale, Planet Waves auto-trim tuning machines and Ernie Ball strap locks. Oh, and did I mention that both, HT6 and HT7, look absolutely stunning in black, trans black, trans blue, trans red and trans white?!
Ellefson’s new U.S.A. Signature Concert Bass is available in four- and five- string models that feature alder body with black binding, handrubbed urethane finish, quartersawn neckthrough neck with white binding and scarf joint, 12-16 inch compound radius rosewood fingerboard, outlined sharkfin inlays, 21 jumbo frets, EMG humbucking neck (35CS) and bridge (35DC) pickups, five black domed control knobs (volume control, three-band EQ, blend), Jackson high mass bridge and Hipshot® open-gear locking tuners. Both models come in Satin Black or Satin Silver.
Another new Jackson signature model this year is Christian Andreu USA Rhoads & X Series Rhoads. Gojira guitarist collaborated with Jackson to create his version of the Rhoads design. It uses a custom Charvel MFB humbucker, 22 jumbo frets with a “G” for Gojira inlay at the 12th fret on the ultra-fast 12 -16-inch compound radius fingerboard of the mahogany neck. Jackson sealed die-cast machines and adjustable compensated strings-through-body create amazing tuning stability.
