Guitar Tricks Insider Gear Reviews of 2017 | Page 25

ELECTRIC GUITAR
With a street price of $1,300, the
RG1070PBZ certainly isn’t the cheapest
kid on the block; but it delivers the same
great tone and feel that we expect from a
$2,500 instrument. It has an outstanding
set of features including some classic
DiMarzio pickups to suit the wild design
and not a fault in sight.
FEATURES
The insanely hot-looking RG1070PBZ,
dressed in a charcoal-black burst finish,
features an American Basswood body
capped with a Poplar Burl top and
matching painted headstock. If your tastes
are a tad flashier, opt for the equally
stunning cerulean-blue burst finish, which
is comparably mesmerizing.
The 25.5” scale Wizard neck is a
gorgeous, 11-piece design featuring
stripes of different exotic woods rather
than one or two big chunks of your
common maple or mahogany. You might
be surprised to know that this design isn’t
just a superficial thing of beauty. Multiple
strips of wood, glued together, form a
significantly more dense/solid neck than
a traditional one- or two-piece neck. As
such, the neck should be less susceptible
to moisture-induced intonation changes
(though there is still an adjustable truss
rod for control over the neck’s relief).
While on the thin side, the neck has just
enough of a fretboard curvature to remain
comfortable for marathon jam sessions.
The dark fretboard is made from wenge
and capped with offset, mother-of-pearl
inlays, and luminescent dots mark fret
locations along the top edge of the neck
for easy viewing on a dimly-lit stage.
SOUND & PLAYABILITY
Ibanez didn’t hold anything back in the
design of the RG1070PBZ. Sonically, the
guitar is as world class as any hard rock
or fusion-minded instrument you’ll find,
featuring a trio of delicious DiMarzio
pickups: Tone Zone humbucker in the
2017 GEAR REVIEWS
GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER
25