Ibanez Neck Profiles?

[PFDarkside]

I think when I get back into town I'm going to head over to GC to play a bunch of guitars to get more familiar with a wide range of neck profiles. When it comes to Ibanez guitars, what currently available guitars have what profiles? It seems I've heard of Wizard I, II and III as well as the Jem profile. For example, X Guitar has Y Profile, etc. Which one of you Ibanez fans are in the know?

 

[nienturi]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

Generally, ibanez has two popular neck profiles on their guitars; Wizard and Wizard II. Prestige class guitars have wizard type necks and generally low-end guitars have the wizard II. They are similar but not too much. WII's are more like a D-type and wizards feels more of a C-type, IMHO. Wizards are a little bit thinner and slightly flatter (Wizard radious=430 mm, WII's=400 mm) than WII's.

Moreover, ibanez, also, have some other neck concepts on "wizard" like "Super Wizard", "Prestige Wizard" and "original wizard" (that have been pronounced for the reissues of RG550).

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

No such thing as a Wizard III, not sure what the person that told you that was smoking!
And by waht Nienturi meant, was the neck profiles of the RG, S and SV series guitars. The SZR and SA has different profiles.
On more specifics, the all prestige RG series guitars are Wizard neck, both trem and fixed bridge. Non Prestige models have the Wizard II.
The S series has the wizard II neck, but here's the catch. Despite the fact on paper it's the same as the Wizard II on the RG non No such thing as a Wizard III, not sure what the person that told you that was smoking!
And by what Nienturi meant, was the neck profiles of the RG, S and SV series guitars. The SZR and SA has different profiles.
The RG prestige models have the Wizard I, while the non prestige models make do with the WII neck.
Current S series models also have the WII, but here's the catch. Despite the fact on paper it's the same as the WII on RG models, the S series Wizard II is actually a different, chunkier and IMO less comfortable shaped neck. This has been a common complaint since the 22 fret S series were stopped being produced with the Wizard I.
Now the Wizard I is available on one S series, the S 5470 prestige, which has been a welcome thing for many long time S series fans.
The Wizard II is also on the X series guitars SV series, and there are 7 string variations of the Wizard Neck as well, the 7 string Wizard I and II.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

Thanks for the clarification guys, and finally where does the JEM fit in there, slightly larger than the WII?

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

This should help some.

http://www.jemsite.com/jem/necks.htm

 

[nienturi]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

@HughesJB4;

Do you feel differencies between some certain guitars like RG1570 and RG2570? Actually, im not sure why and im also suspicious about myself, sometimes and for some guitars, i feel differencies on necks. For instance, i felt better on RG1570 than RG2570 and felt more greater with RG550 with original wizard.

IMO and for my hands, original wizard (the one one the guitars like all RG550's, all RG770DX's and others before "prestige" label had come. IMHO, best era for ibanez guitars is the years between 88-94. Rest are good, too. But this era was stunning...

 

[nienturi]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

Thanks for the clarification guys, and finally where does the JEM fit in there, slightly larger than the WII?

Jem necks must have slightly greater in width of the last fret region (22-24). You can check this link;
http://www.jemsite.com/jem/necks.htm

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

AFAIK, the original Wizard neck on the 550s 770s etc, were a touch thinner than todays Wizard necks and you have to realise the old necks didn't feature the volute (the small bump near the top of the neck near the headstock) that is a major neck break/crack preventation feature. I would go far enough to say it's the volute or the lack thereof that is making the main difference in feel between the old school and new school Wizard necks.

 

[nienturi]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

AFAIK, the original Wizard neck on the 550s 770s etc, were a touch thinner than todays Wizard necks and you have to realise the old necks didn't feature the volute (the small bump near the top of the neck near the headstock) that is a major neck break/crack preventation feature. I would go far enough to say it's the volute or the lack thereof that is making the main difference in feel between the old school and new school Wizard necks.

You are right about the volute advantage on todays wizards. But even with their disadvantage, i'd go for the original wizard By the way, if i build myself a wizard neck, i'd go for 5 piece laminate neck with slight volute and org. wizard profile. :bowdown:

 

[pinto79]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

There used to be Wizzard I, II and III necks in the Japanese market. The I and III were the same specs as the US I and II respectively,a nd the Japanese II was in between.

The Jem is dimensioned like the Wizard II, with the flatter radius of the I and a rounder back, less D shaped.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

The Saber/Radius' had Ultra necks which were the chunkier version of a Wizard I. I forget what the Power models were called but I think they were thinner than the Wizard, but not quite what we now call a Wizard II.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

I believe the Super Wizard is still available in the Japanese market on the J-Custom models, but good luck getting one outside Japan. It's possible, but it ain't easy and J-Custom are boutique expensive stuff as well.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

From what I recall, the 80's Wizard necks were thinner, and they experienced too much warping. So Ibanez made then a tiny bit thicker, and used better techniques in the wood selection/construction to avoid warping. At first they used quartersawn maple necks, now it's only used on the high end ones such as JEMS. Instead they've used 3-5 piece laminate necks to make the necks stronger, add a volute, and sometimes use different woods (maple/bubinga/maple) to stengthen the necks.

The 80's necks were also raw wood that was oiled. They sometimes has warping, so Ibanez began to use a satin hard finish instead.

This doesn't apply to the high end ones such as Jems. They already have the better woods.

 

[MetalMike_II]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

From what I recall, the 80's Wizard necks were thinner, and they experienced too much warping. So Ibanez made then a tiny bit thicker, and used better techniques in the wood selection/construction to avoid warping. At first they used quartersawn maple necks, now it's only used on the high end ones such as JEMS. Instead they've used 3-5 piece laminate necks to make the necks stronger, add a volute, and sometimes use different woods (maple/bubinga/maple) to stengthen the necks.

The 80's necks were also raw wood that was oiled. They sometimes has warping, so Ibanez began to use a satin hard finish instead.

This doesn't apply to the high end ones such as Jems. They already have the better woods.

just to add
the biggest thing of which I'm aware that they did to solve the warping problem in the multipiece Wizards is to have the grain of the center piece perpendicular to the grain of the other pieces

the Wizards I've tried are maple/walnut and maple/wenge. Bubinga?

from a research standpoint, not my experience, the various Wizard dimensions seem to be a source of confusion (ex: Wizard III, Wizard Prestige) due to poor documentation, or too much of it, many changes in dimension and naming over the years, and made more confusing and difficult to catalog because of what's available in various locales - ex. Japan vs. U.S.

I certainly don't have all the Wizard dimensions straight. There are more than just 2 Wizard profiles. I've tried to organize it all for myself but failed. I'll read the above posts again but it's still confusing

it all seems to change every year. I just play em and see if they feel good, etc.


off topic

hey, the upside to what I typed about all of Ibanez's changes - so many that I could never keep track of it all - is that Ibbies seem to always mutate and evolve (trems for instance, they've had a great many, always improving. Check out the Edge Zero), unlike, say, Gibbies

/ot

 

[nienturi]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

I believe the Super Wizard is still available in the Japanese market on the J-Custom models, but good luck getting one outside Japan. It's possible, but it ain't easy and J-Custom are boutique expensive stuff as well.

Super Wizards are still on some jems, too. Like jem77brmr and new Jem7vbk and jem7dbk have super wizards not jem necks.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

just to add
the biggest thing of which I'm aware that they did to solve the warping problem in the multipiece Wizards is to have the grain of the center piece perpendicular to the grain of the other pieces

the Wizards I've tried are maple/walnut and maple/wenge. Bubinga?

/ot

In the mid 90's, until they changed the RG5xx line to the Prestige RG15xx line, Ibanez used a 3 piece (actually 4 piece if you count the scarf joint head stock) neck on their Wizards- a wide piece of bubinga down the middle, surrounded by 2 pieces of maple. I had one, the neck was super stable, never needed adjustment over the 12 year period I had it, but the guitar overall was on the bright/thin side tonally.

After that came the 3 piece "prestige" wizard neck with the volute and no scarf joint

 

[varlogtim]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

No such thing as a Wizard III, not sure what the person that told you that was smoking!
And by waht Nienturi meant, was the neck profiles of the RG, S and SV series guitars. The SZR and SA has different profiles.
On more specifics, the all prestige RG series guitars are Wizard neck, both trem and fixed bridge. Non Prestige models have the Wizard II.
The S series has the wizard II neck, but here's the catch. Despite the fact on paper it's the same as the Wizard II on the RG non No such thing as a Wizard III, not sure what the person that told you that was smoking!
And by what Nienturi meant, was the neck profiles of the RG, S and SV series guitars. The SZR and SA has different profiles.
The RG prestige models have the Wizard I, while the non prestige models make do with the WII neck.
Current S series models also have the WII, but here's the catch. Despite the fact on paper it's the same as the WII on RG models, the S series Wizard II is actually a different, chunkier and IMO less comfortable shaped neck. This has been a common complaint since the 22 fret S series were stopped being produced with the Wizard I.
Now the Wizard I is available on one S series, the S 5470 prestige, which has been a welcome thing for many long time S series fans.
The Wizard II is also on the X series guitars SV series, and there are 7 string variations of the Wizard Neck as well, the 7 string Wizard I and II.

Stuff like ^^that^^ isn't helpful. With a tiny bit of researching I found this link: http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_neck_types
... which lists Wizard, Wizard II, and Wizard III is types of necks on ibanez guitars - along with a _ton_ of other types of necks.

I stumbled across this article while trying to find out if there were shape differences (not just width/depth differences) in necks and what they are, if there are any ...

 

[varlogtim]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

I do not agree with the statement that "generally low-end guitars have the Wizard II."

The reason being that the JEM guitars have the same size necks per: http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_neck_types

JEM's have been by some very well guitar players, such as Steve Vai (http://www.guitargeek.com/steve-vai-guitar-rig-and-gear-setup-1999/),

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

You're arguing with a 7 year old thread, half the people in this thread havent posted in years... In the past Jems DID NOT use wizard II's... though the cheesy indonesian ones do now. So when it was posted the statement was true.
The ibanez wikia your posting didnt even exist in 2008 and your berating people for not doing research? Come on

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Ibanez Neck Profiles?

I always liked the radius on the S-series guitars, but wanted it on my RG.