Think ‘Ibanez’ and you’ll doubtless envisage a hirsute virtuoso pulling on a whammy bar with his teeth. So is it any wonder we expected superior performance from the RG320? Ignore the Ibanez blurb (“an army stands before the gates of the castle… in their hands they clutch their timeworn axes”) and drill down into a spec that makes a mockery of the RG320’s miserly price.

Basswood is a solid base for an unspectacular body design, but flair points are clawed back via the Wizard II neck, twin Infinity ’buckers and the Edge III vibrato that has wowed TG in the past.

Ibanez guitars are born to shred, and the Edge vibrato is designed to facilitate this. Skimming along the length of the Wizard II neck is totally natural and the Edge feels like an extension of your arm, soaking up the abuse to deliver some spectacular sonic mind-trickery.

Verdict

The RG320 is no slouch in the tone department. Thanks to the trademark Ibanez pickup switching system, it’s possible to split the Infinity humbuckers any which way: alongside the buzzsaw tones you’d expect, we were able to dig out funky quacks that recalled a good Strat.

4 Stars

Pros: Value, versatile, shred-friendly.
Cons: Slightly derivative looks.