Ibanez RGA42FM TGF Electric Guitar - Transparent Gray Flat

This guitar was bought as a gift for beginner metal player. Needed some standard setup (truss rod and intonation) - now plays perfectly. Had some minor finish flaws (binding and a tiny ding on the lower horn) but acceptable in this price range, I guess... Overall impression positive - really cool entry level guitar. One caveat. Unfortunately, the shipping time was way longer than 1 day stated on the website. About a week longer actually. One star taken off :(

Beauty that's a beast

Overall:I am now in my 2nd day of ownership and I decided to set this extremely light and sexy purple (blemished) have not found one ...down long enuff to read reviews.and ya if I could find something about it I dont like... well havent!. What's there not to love at the reasonable price and the abilities this ax possesses. 5way and quantum is a nice pxkge.what. would one expect? At fraction of the price on those high dollar "others".. I feel pretty smart these days not emptying my wallet and can say. The wizard neck is so sweet jatoba fretboard is not only beautiful sustain harmonics....for days....VERY NICE..zZOUNDS AND IBANEZ....THANK YOU FOR. A GREAT DEAL ON A KEEPER....OH YEA AND WHY UPGRADE ANYTHING SEEMS TOVDEFEATCYHE PURPOSE AND UNNECESSARY IN MY OPINION. ... MoreOverall:I am now in my 2nd day of ownership and I decided to set this extremely light and sexy purple (blemished) have not found one ...down long enuff to read reviews.and ya if I could find something about it I dont like... well havent!. What's there not to love at the reasonable price and the abilities this ax possesses. 5way and quantum is a nice pxkge.what. would one expect? At fraction of the price on those high dollar "others".. I feel pretty smart these days not emptying my wallet and can say. The wizard neck is so sweet jatoba fretboard is not only beautiful sustain harmonics....for days....VERY NICE..zZOUNDS AND IBANEZ....THANK YOU FOR. A GREAT DEAL ON A KEEPER....OH YEA AND WHY UPGRADE ANYTHING SEEMS TOVDEFEATCYHE PURPOSE AND UNNECESSARY IN MY OPINION. BUT IM A TIGHTWAD.been a member of the ibz family for awhile and they never stop making great products with reasonable pricing.

Great guitar

Overall:First I have to say zZounds has the absolute best customer service over any online guitar store I’ve ever purchased from. The guitar arrived packed well, in tune, with a very nice setup out of the box. I was honestly surprised with the fretwork at this price. I once owned an $800 s series with worse frets out of the box. The pickups sound great for this priced guitar, even for an $800 guitar. The neck on mine is darker, more like chocolate brown, which is nice against the body color. Neck reminds me of roasted maple. Playability is great. I’d honestly be impressed if the price were $700. Great fit and finish. It’s my first RG. Owned an S series awhile back. Pretty sure I’ll be buying another RG with a floyd. But this is definitely a keeper. Great look, just ... MoreOverall:First I have to say zZounds has the absolute best customer service over any online guitar store I’ve ever purchased from. The guitar arrived packed well, in tune, with a very nice setup out of the box. I was honestly surprised with the fretwork at this price. I once owned an $800 s series with worse frets out of the box. The pickups sound great for this priced guitar, even for an $800 guitar. The neck on mine is darker, more like chocolate brown, which is nice against the body color. Neck reminds me of roasted maple. Playability is great. I’d honestly be impressed if the price were $700. Great fit and finish. It’s my first RG. Owned an S series awhile back. Pretty sure I’ll be buying another RG with a floyd. But this is definitely a keeper. Great look, just good all around. And definitely good for any genre.

Great guitar

Overall:Great guitar, as long as you understand what you are getting. First thing is the finish, it's a flat/satin. There's no wood filler or heavy clear coat, it's stained and maybe has a light/thin sealer on it. You can see and feel the wood grain, especially on the back and in the body routing around the horns. The FM top is as smooth as silk. I have no complaints and love being able to see the wood, as with no heavy paint they can't hide anything. The neck is great, it's thin but comfortable. It's a very thin D profile, you can feel the shoulders. It kind of makes it feel like a wide neck but honestly, I find it easier to play since it has a flat board 15.7" per Ibanez. It has jumbo frets not extra jumbo, so they aren't as tall as ESP/LTD frets. I'm not a fan ... MoreOverall:Great guitar, as long as you understand what you are getting. First thing is the finish, it's a flat/satin. There's no wood filler or heavy clear coat, it's stained and maybe has a light/thin sealer on it. You can see and feel the wood grain, especially on the back and in the body routing around the horns. The FM top is as smooth as silk. I have no complaints and love being able to see the wood, as with no heavy paint they can't hide anything. The neck is great, it's thin but comfortable. It's a very thin D profile, you can feel the shoulders. It kind of makes it feel like a wide neck but honestly, I find it easier to play since it has a flat board 15.7" per Ibanez. It has jumbo frets not extra jumbo, so they aren't as tall as ESP/LTD frets. I'm not a fan of EJ, so this works perfectly for me. I will say the Jatoba board is smooth and not grabby but doesn't look as nice as other woods. It's just plain looking, however I do like that it isn't as dark as Rosewood. The pups aren't bad at all and with a 5 way selector, there's lots of options. It can really do just about any style music. The tuners seem to hold well and adjust pretty easily, no crunchiness. The bridge is solid and is basically a strat hard tail type. It's not perfect, mine did have some stain on the back of the neck but it cleaned off easily with a damp rag and a little soap. Fitment of the neck to body is pretty good, no huge gaps or such. The binding looks great and has no issues. Action came set up pretty good as well, it was actually in tune (never had that happen) but it was tuned drop D flat to E flat. It's really a great guitar for tuning changes, which is why I wanted a hard tail. I have some guitars with tremolos and doing drop tunings can be a pain. It's really a great bang for the buck, plays great as is or makes the perfect platform for modding. For those not sure on Ibanez. This guitar has a super light body that looks like a cross between an S-body (strat) and a SG. It's light like the SG but without the neck dive. The quality is great, it's on par with the MIM strat and duo sonic I have. The best part is it's cheaper, I could mod this and still have less in it than a new MIM strat.

Great guitar for the money

Super thin and light weight. Came perfect right out of the box. Just a new set of strings and it was good to go. I love the finish as well. My only complaint is that the dot inlays are at the top instead of the center. Took awhile to get accustomed but was able to adapt. #sweepstakes

Great looking and very comfortable guitar.

It is an amazing a looking guitar with very good ergonomics. It has a very thin and comfortable neck and the body has an arch top and belly cut. It is a very light guitar with a little bit of neck diving, but anyway looks perfect, feels good, and is very comfortable to play. Ibanez quantum humbucker pickups sounds amazing. Highly recommended for any kind of player and any style from metal to jazz and fusion.

Great quality product with excellent customer service!

I purchased this guitar for my daughter and here I am always bugging her to let me try to play it. Very enjoyable instrument. Much better than the stuff in the same price range that we saw in the competitors store. Customer service was much better as well. Our salesperson was very friendly and knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend this store.

Lovely guitar

We gave PMT a spec and this was picked out for us, among other guitars. It was obvious this was what we were after.The neck is so comfortable. Everything feels solid. Tuners are smooth, no slack. Switches and knobs have zero play. Perfectly intonated out of the box. Stays in tune while playing and usually from day to day. I’m really happy with it.The action is too high but only slightly. Maybe a slight truss rod adjustment needed as frets 4 and 5 buzz a little, but perfectly playable and not noticeable through an amp.Bought so my 11yo can play more technical pieces. He’s already playing better and has more confidence because it is so easy to play. I wish I had one for myself. You get a lot of guitar for the price.

The best purchase i have made to date!

First off, let me say that without seeing this in person, once I received it the transparent purple burst is gorgeous. I was hoping it would be gloss finish like my rga42fm from 2010, but they've changed a few things with the new model, and I actually like the satin finish on the new ones. The upper horns are routed out on the front (think Paul reed Smith or the higher priced axion series), to allow for a more natural contour to the hand while fretting the higher frets. The frets are a little taller than I'm used to, but it gave the fretboard a feel like playing on a scalloped guitar, easier to move around. The best and most important thing about the new models is how light it is!!! I have never felt a lighter guitar and didn't know they could be this light. I never ... MoreFirst off, let me say that without seeing this in person, once I received it the transparent purple burst is gorgeous. I was hoping it would be gloss finish like my rga42fm from 2010, but they've changed a few things with the new model, and I actually like the satin finish on the new ones. The upper horns are routed out on the front (think Paul reed Smith or the higher priced axion series), to allow for a more natural contour to the hand while fretting the higher frets. The frets are a little taller than I'm used to, but it gave the fretboard a feel like playing on a scalloped guitar, easier to move around. The best and most important thing about the new models is how light it is!!! I have never felt a lighter guitar and didn't know they could be this light. I never liked les pauls because of their weight and steered more towards hamer, jackson, and previous years of ibanez. It blew my mind just how light and comfortable this thing felt to hold and play. The only con I found is because of the satin finish with no clear coat to add protection, it's more prone to scratching and dinging. This thing has more than a joy to play. I hope this review helped someone make an educated purchase.

Versitile Sound and Great Value

I'm primarily a bass player and have only owned an acoustic guitar for the past few years, but I wanted to get back into playing a bit of electric. I compared this against a wide range of other guitars and chose it mostly because of the simplicity and versatility of the electronics. It has a 5-way selector switch that drastically changes the tone from an almost acoustic-sounding bassy tone to a punk-friendly crunchy/squawky sound and everything in between. This makes it perfect to dial in a good tone for any song. The guitar is very lightweight. It has sort of a rough "semi-finished" finish - I would prefer a glossier body that stands up better to close visual inspection, but it looks good from a distance and I love the sound and the price tag.