Ibanez LGB30-VYS

The LGB-30 is a hollow body HH guitar with a fixed bridge and trapeze tailpiece. I didn't realise it was made in china, and my assumption was it was a MiJ model based on the fit and finish: it is literally flawless with perfect joins even around complex areas such as the neck joint binding. I decided to remove the pickguard from mine (which IMO took it from sublime to ridicolous) and used a little india ink to darken the screw holes. The neck and tailpiece inlays are beautiful.

It has a very comfortable neck, and while a thick guitar it doesn't dig into the forearm or belly like one may assume. The knobs have a rough surface on their top half and so are easy to turn. I had to lower the bridge a fair few turns after playing a while with the neck settled to get a good action, and I will proceed with a proper set-up down the road.

The guitar has Ibanez Super 58' pickups which are their top of the range humbuckers - they can sound raucous but typically fit best in the space between cleans and growly break-up. The guitar is supplied with flats and I've bought myself a set of Thomastik 14's to replace the stocks.

As a fully hollow guitar it does 'suffer' from feedback issues if you crank the amp and gain and stand facing it. I think it could have really benefited from the addition of a push-pull pot to split at least the neck pickup, as it's something of a no-lose prospect - a little onerous when you are paying north of £700 for the instrument.

It comes supplied with a fitted hardcase that looks excellent and is extremely robust.

I bought this guitar as I found myself playing more jazz gigs and my semi hollow guitar just wasn't giving me the tone I wanted. This guitar for the money is excellent. It is well built, nicely balanced, sounds fantastic and looks great. The hard case it comes in is very solid also.

What I liked about this instrument straight off was the neck and body size. I was blown away by the playability of this neck. It is really smooth, nicely rounded and fits nicely in the hand. The action was also perfect for me straight out of the box. The depth of the body also adds to the playability as compared to other archtop guitars it is thinner which makes standing and playing a lot less cumbarsome. It is also very light.

The super 58 pickups are fantastic and make it a very versatile instrument. The neck pickup is perfect for jazz and blues where as the combination setting and bridge pickup position lend themselves to a number of other styles such as pop and R&B.

I have found no real cons to this guitar. This is an instrument that will stay with me for a long time. An excellent guitar from Ibanez.