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.