Ibanez RG Fixed Components

The Ibanez RG Fixed Series is for the Metal player who wants the in-your-face Ibanez RG Metal sound without the hassle of a double-locking tremolo bridge.

A wide variety of pickups and pickup switching options provide all the Metal tone you could ask for while the Gibralter Standard fixed bridge gives you superb tuning stability along with great sustain. In addition, like all Ibanez RG models, the Ibanez RG Fixed Series uses the thin, ultra comfortable and fast Wizard necks that are a shredder's delight. Let's start by looking at the necks.

The Ibanez RG Fixed Series Necks:

The RG Fixed series uses two necks: the Wizard II-7 and the Wizard III. Let's have a look at them.

Wizard II
Ibanez 5-piece Neck

Like all the Ibanez Wizard necks, the Wizard II is wide and thin with a virtually flat fingerboard. The Ibanez Wizard necks are famed for being an ultra-fast shredder's dream. The Wizard II features a 5-piece Maple/Walnut construction with a bound Rosewood fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets, dot position inlays and a 25.5" scale length. The 5-piece construction technique provides a very strong durable neck because it has two pieces of walnut running the length of the neck sandwiched between three pieces of maple, also running the length of the neck.

The remainder of the Wizard II's specifications are: 43mm wide at the nut, 56mm wide at the last fret, 19mm thick at the 1^st and 21mm thick at the 12^th fret. The fingerboard has a 400mm radius which is about as close to being totally flat as you can get.

Wizard II-7
The Wizard II-7 is the 7-string version of the Wizard II and shares the Wizard II's features and specifications with the exception of being wider in order to accomodate the 7^th string. Where the Wizard II is 43mm wide at the nut and 56mm wide at the last fret, the Wizard II-7 is 48mm wide at the nut and 68mm wide at the last fret.

Wizard III

Ibanez Wizard III Neck Back
Again, like all the Wizard necks, the Wizard III is wide and thin with a virtually flat fingerboard and is a shredder's dream. The Wizard III is a 3-piece design featuring a wide "bubinga" maple strip in the center sandwiched between two pieces of maple on either side. The grain of the bubinga is perpendicular to the grain of the side pieces which makes the neck resistant to warping and very strong and stable. The Wizard III has a 25.5" scale length with fingerboards either of Rosewood for a slightly darker tone or Maple for a brighter tone. The fingerboards sport 24 jumbo frets with black dot position inlays on the Maple fingerboards and either pearl dot or sharktooth position inlays on the Rosewood fingerboards.

Ibanez Wizard III Neck Sharktooth Inlays
The remainder of the Wizard III's specifications are: 43mm wide at the nut, 58mm wide at the last fret, 19mm thick at the 1^st and 21mm thick at the 12^th fret. The fingerboard has a 400mm radius which. again, is about as close to being totally flat as you can get.

Ibanez RG Fixed Series Pickups:

The Ibanez RG Fixed Series uses three series of pickups: the Axis(AH) series of humbuckers, the INF(Infinity) series, which contains both humbuckers and single coils, and finally EMG H4 humbuckers.

AH27
The AH27 is the 7 string version of the AH1 humbucker and is used in the bridge position. The AH27 has a full bass sound with Alnico 5 magnets providing excellent clarity in harmonics and individual notes.

AH17
The AH17 is the 7 string version of the AH1 humbucker and is used in the neck position. It provides a very responsive and full sound. It's a medium output pickup with lots of character and is great for chording.

INF2
The INF2 humbucker is used in the bridge position and has an enhanced midrange output. It sports Alnico 5 magnets for individual string clarity and has excellent dynamics.

INFS1
The INFS1 single coil provides nice single-coil snap thanks to Alnico 5 magnets and is designed to be used in the middle position with the neck and bridge humbuckers in the split position.

INF1
The INF1 humbucker is used in the neck position and has Ceramic magnets which make the INF1 very versatile and responsive with warm classic tone and added output.

INF3
The INF3 humbucker is typically used in the neck position. Ceramic magnets provide the dynamic sound needed for outstanding chording and rhythm.

INF4
The INF4 humbucker is usually used in the bridge position. With Alnico 5 magnets, the INF4 is a brilliant lead pickup with a warm sound and great harmonics.

EMG H4
The EMG H4 is one of EMG's most popular pickups. Combining the power of the EMG 81 with the simplicity and tone of a passive pickup, the H4 is well balanced, with tight bass, glassy mids, and crunchy highs. The H4 accomplishes this by by utilizing over wound coils loaded with ceramic bar magnets, all fully shielded for minimal noise. The H4 is usually used in the bridge position where it shines with excellent range, responsiveness and sweet harmonics. If you're looking for a powerful modern Rock or Metal sound, the H4 is a great choice.
EMG H4A
The H4A is a very versatile pickup endowed with warmth, body and clarity and is perfect for everything from Blues to Rock to Metal. The H4A has very well-balanced, with solid bass, pronounced mids, and fat highs. The H4A uses vintage wound coils loaded with Alnico V bar magnets, all fully shielded for minimal noise. The H4A is usually used in the neck position in conjunction with the H4. Together they provide a great balance of tones. The H4A's superb clarity, full body, and delicate responsiveness provides the perfect complement to the H4's powerful sound and tone.

The Gibralter Standard Bridge:

Ibanez Gibralter Standard Bridge

The crowning feature of the Ibanez RG Fixed series is the Gibralter Standard fixed bridge. The Gibralter Standard is one of the best fixed bridges on the market. The Gibralter Standard combines rock solid construction along with a string-thru body design to provide great tuning stability along with fantastic sustain. The Gibralter Standard features a very low profile design with smooth saddles which gives you maximum playing comfort. You can go as hard core as you want without worrying about flaying the skin off the palm of your picking hand. In addition, the saddles are individually adjustable which gives you a lot of room for fine tuning. The Gibralter Standard 7 is the 7-string version of the Gibralter Standard.

Pickup Switching:

The last thing I want to cover is the pickup switching. The Ibanez RG Fixed Series guitars all have either a humbucker-humbucker pickup configuration(HH) or a humbucker-single-coil-humbucker configuration(HSH). The Ibanez RG Fixed models feature 5-way and 3-way switching but it works differently for each pickup configuration. The switching combinations can be a little hard visualize so I wanted to give you a diagram(courtesy of the Ibanez official site) for each so that you can get a clear picture of each switching scheme. If you click on each diagram a bigger graphic will open in a new window.

HH 5-way Switching

One thing I want to clarify here is how the parallel configuration for the bridge humbucker affects the sound. When the coils are wired in parallel it effectively combines the output of the coils and doubles the output of the pickup.