Ibanez RG421AHM-BMT

Ho comprato questo strumento perche' cercavo una chitarra con scala 25.5" e configurazione HH; inoltre, ricercando una fascia medio bassa di prezzi, ho optato per un hardtail al ponte invece di un tremolo/floyd. Tra le varie opzioni che si possono trovare sul sito ho optato per la Ibanez RG421AHM-BMT, dato che oltre ad avere scala e configurazione richiesta aveva anche i legni del manico/tastiera e del corpo che prediligo. Per ultimo mi colpito molto la resa visiva (ovviamente delle foto e quel poco che sono riuscito a vedere da varie recensioni in rete) della finitura.
Come sempre ottima la consegna di thomman, sia sul piano della velocita' di consegn sia per quanto riguarda l'imballaggio della chitarra.
Tolta dall'imballaggio si presenta in tutto il suo splendore! la finitura e' davvero fantastica, ci sono solo qualche piccole imperfezioni su alcuni dot segnatasti sul lato del manico e qualche piccola sbavatura della verniciatura. Ma poco importa data la fascia di prezzo.
I legni sembrano ottimi e anche il peso ha quel giusto equilibrio tra il troppo peso ed il sembrare un giocattolo :).
Sono rimasto molto colpito dalla cura che han avuto nella deposizione e rifinitura dei tasti (pur non trattandosi di una Premium/Prestige), tutti perfettamente livellati e nessuna punta "aguzza" sui lati. Inoltre mi ha stupito la facilita' con cui sono riuscito ad ottenere una ottima action (ovviamente questo e' molto personale) ed una buona ottavatura.
L'unica pecca sono le meccaniche, non troppo precise e tendono a perdere l'accordatura nel caso si eseguono bending molto "spinti".
Per il suono collegata all'ampli posso ritenermi soddisfatto (ovviamente dipende dai gusti :)) risultano brillanti in tutte le posizioni sui puliti, forse un tantino acidi rispetto al suono che mi sarei aspettato da degli humbucke, e si mantiene un suono ben definito sia con un crunch sia aumentando il gain. I potenziometri ed il selettore sono precisi e silenziosi durante i cambi.
In conclusione sono molto soddisfatto!

My first impression when I took this guitar out of the box was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! Ash body with see-through marine tone lacquer, thin maple neck, ergonomic body shape with a good balance and fantastic upper frets access. It looks and feels just beautiful and can make you absolutely happy with a 'new toy' for a couple of hours :)
The fretboard is really wide, which is still, after a week spent with this guitar, not absolutely comfortable for me. Frets are well treated with no sharp ends and no buzz. Initial setup was not perfect, but it took 15 minutes to make the guitar comfortably playable. Fixed bridge looks and feels solid and has no tremolo tuning stability problems fo floyd setup headache. Tuners are basic and do their job - they are not as stable as locking machines could be, but for home practice they are fine.
In general, buid quiality is decent for a basic-level guitar. I've noticed only a couple on scratches on the neck not far from a neck joint + frets needed polishing. Pickup selector and pots work fine.
As for the sound, it is really unique. The guitar is very resonant unplugged and has a lot of highs and bass. In my view the pickups do not fit the wood (body and neck) for this guitar: ceramic magnets give a lot of sharpness but have scooped midds while ash body and maple fretboard itself give quite sharp and dense sound lacking full 'mahoganish' mids. So as a result riffs sound very articulate and sharp, but overall the sound is not full, middy and fat as you expect, especially for leads. I suggest this guitar lacks a couple of good Dimarzio or SD pickups with alnico magnets, designed especially for bright ash-maple guitars.
My verdict: decent quality beautiful guitar that requires some sound improvement investment.

This is an instrument built with great care and precision. I have owned two Made in Japan RG550's and this guitar feels like it's on the level of those. The neck and fretjob is just great. The finish is stunning, the best looking guitar I have ever owned.
It came very well set up and I only did minor adjustments to the truss rod after changing to 009 strings.

I feel like a much better guitar player with this in my hands and I can play faster than on most other guitars.

I haven't made up my mind on the pickups yet. They don't sound bad at all but I feel like they can't match real Dimarzio's. I might keep them, not sure yet.

The only average thing about this guitar are the tuners. They absolutely work and kept the guitar in tune fairly well. But some big bends you might have to tune again. They also had kinda uneven resistance even if they absolutely worked without issues.
I swapped them out for Gotoh locking tuners (SG381) because I want fast and easy string swaps, and the Gotoh tuners definitely feel better than the stock ones also seem to stay in tune better.

Overall I'm kinda amazed with what you can get for your money today guitar wise.