NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Dr. Vegetable

Dr. Vegetable

New member
I scored an amazing guitar yesterday for dirt cheap money. I had never even heard of the ADC120, which was apparently only in the Ibanez catalog for one year - 2007. It is an X-Series guitar, though this one looks a lot like an ART with a string-through-body and a set of "hot rails" style Ibanez pickups. It is almost spot-on to the specs I laid out in the other thread for My Signature Guitar: Mahogany body & set neck, 1 tone + 1 volume + 3-way selector, Iceman-style headstock and very cool star inlays in the rosewood. And it plays astonishingly well, too. I haven't even cleaned and re-strung it yet, because I can't put it down.

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This is the second Ibanez model from that time period that I think is absolutely amazing, and that the company discontinued far too quickly IMO. Does anyone else out there have one of these? How much more black could it be?
 
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Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Congrats sweet deal. Ibanez has some really good stuff. It is their Flagship models the RG that I am not fond of. I have grown to love the SA series.

Edit: Thats another thing I dont understand why do they discontinue these great models.
 
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Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

I'm with you on the RG, though that didn't stop me from buying a few of them back in the 80's and 90's. The SA is an improvement. But for my money, the SAS is amazing (when you can find one).

I did some googling on this guitar, and it seems like they don't come up for sale often but when they do the going rate is consistently sub $200. And it's an amazing guitar.

What was/is Ibanez up to? This is a great set of designs that they killed after only one year. The VBT700 (neck-thru vee!!!) also was only sold in 2007. The Darkstone was introduced in 2009 and killed in 2011. Three of my favorite guitars, and each no longer available. WTF??!?
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

I've never seen those either (no surprise, given the cornucopia of Ibanez guitars over the years). How are the pups? Neck profile?

Know what you mean - my favourite Ibz models were killed off nearly 30 years ago :laughing:, so I'm not holding out hope. There are lots of cool and obscure models out there, like the RT and RV series, the R442 (an alder bodied Radius with non locking trem) etc. Had an opportunity of snagging this rare (Japan only) beast early in the year for a good price, but, like a fool, passed it up. Hard to even find pics of it.
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Btw, Dr, do you happen to have any old Blazers in your collection? Like the BL550, for instance?
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Strangely enough, I find some of the 70's and 80's Ibanez to be easier to find than some of this recent stuff. I don't have any Blazers. I have a couple old Artists and a few Roadstars, and of course the Destroyer from that golden era. My first electric was a 1978 CN250 which is the root of my Ibanez fanaticism. (I'm trying to engineer a group photo of all of these that doesn't end with a horrible domino accident that reduces them to toothpicks.)

The neck on the ADC120 is "very slightly" chunky by Ibanez standards, and the fingerboard seems roomier than your typical Wizard. Feels kind of like the SZ neck to me of everything I can compare it to.

The pickups are great. Of course this guitar was born to sound dark, but the neck is somehow hotter than I expected, and so they balance well with each other. It can be a nice bluesy round tone at low gain, but it distorts nicely while still staying clear. I've been playing it tuned to D, and it sounds huge. All three pickup combinations are immediately useful. Ibanez bills it as a metal guitar, but it is capable of a lot more (less?) than that.

Sounds great, and I'm still on the cruddy old strings. I need to play this in a setting where I can really crank up...
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Dr. Vegetable said:
Strangely enough, I find some of the 70's and 80's Ibanez to be easier to find than some of this recent stuff. I don't have any Blazers. I have a couple old Artists and a few Roadstars, and of course the Destroyer from that golden era. My first electric was a 1978 CN250 which is the root of my Ibanez fanaticism. (I'm trying to engineer a group photo of all of these that doesn't end with a horrible domino accident that reduces them to toothpicks.)

The neck on the ADC120 is "very slightly" chunky by Ibanez standards, and the fingerboard seems roomier than your typical Wizard. Feels kind of like the SZ neck to me of everything I can compare it to.

The pickups are great. Of course this guitar was born to sound dark, but the neck is somehow hotter than I expected, and so they balance well with each other. It can be a nice bluesy round tone at low gain, but it distorts nicely while still staying clear. I've been playing it tuned to D, and it sounds huge. All three pickup combinations are immediately useful. Ibanez bills it as a metal guitar, but it is capable of a lot more (less?) than that.

Sounds great, and I'm still on the cruddy old strings. I need to play this in a setting where I can really crank up...
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That's true - you see the Musicians, Studios, and Artists for sale all the time. Yep, the green CN with the flying fingers pups, I remember you showed that.

Just looked at the specs and the pups appear to be A5, and the guitar itself is MIC. Does it have a contoured heel or is it like a LP? Someone is selling one locally for $325.
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

The neck heel is not contoured. It is more like the shape of the ART100 heel, which is sort of like the LP. Not my favorite heel shape, but it only really matters when I think about it. Yes, this was Made In China.

I don't know what the exchange rate is between $USD and $AUD these days. I haven't seen one of these listed for more than $180 USD, but I also have not found many listings for them. That being said, this is definitely a better build than that price would imply. If you have the opportunity to buy one locally, I'd at least check it out.
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Dr. Vegetable said:
The neck heel is not contoured. It is more like the shape of the ART100 heel, which is sort of like the LP. Not my favorite heel shape, but it only really matters when I think about it. Yes, this was Made In China.

I don't know what the exchange rate is between $USD and $AUD these days. I haven't seen one of these listed for more than $180 USD, but I also have not found many listings for them. That being said, this is definitely a better build than that price would imply. If you have the opportunity to buy one locally, I'd at least check it out.
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Our $ has tanked, so it's now about 91¢ US :gurmpy:. Guitars are by default more expensive in Oz anyway. Not into single cuts personally, but knowing Ibanez, it's probably going to be damn good for the $$.
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Ashurbanipal said:
Our $ has tanked, so it's now about 91¢ US :gurmpy:. Guitars are by default more expensive in Oz anyway. Not into single cuts personally, but knowing Ibanez, it's probably going to be damn good for the $$.
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I should also say, $325 is closer to what I would expect to pay for a guitar like this. But it's a bit on the high side for this particular model, for whatever reason.
 
Re: NGD:Ibanez Arondite ADC120

Dr. Vegetable said:
Does anyone else out there have one of these?
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I have one, bought on Gumtree for £110 a couple of months ago. I haven't cleaned or restrung mine yet either, for the same reason as you! I have to watch it carefully - my son has decided it's the best guitar we have, which I suspect in the long run means I'm on the lookout for another one.......
 
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