AZ is the result of several years of testing, with many of the world's best guitarists as test pilots, with the goal of producing the ultimate players player guitar. So an extremely good-sounding, easy-to-play and stable instrument that you should be able to play basically all styles of music with. Roasted/baked maple necks for stability no matter how you tour the planet and wherever you play. Stainless bands to make them almost indestructible and feel smooth and well-polished no matter how much you play. A perfectly functioning stand with an arm mount that won't loosen no matter how much you wear and pull on it. And all this with "TON" written on the forehead, No specs in the world mean anything if it doesn't sound amazing, and this one does, it sounds better than amazing.
The series is available in two versions with 24 or 22 fret necks. 24 band versions with HH pickup configuration and 22 with HSS or SSS.
The AZ neck is a modern neck with what Ibanez calls an oval C profile. A 1-piece Prestige neck in S-TECH treated maple. S-TECH is "nitrogen-heating-treatment" of wood and is a further development of what is usually called roasted/baked wood. Which in Swedish means in short that the wood undergoes a heat treatment in a nitrogen-filled heating process to remove water and resin from the wood. It makes the wood light, stable, durable and completely unaffected by changes in humidity. The wood also becomes waterproof and therefore does not need to be varnished. These properties make the neck extremely resonant, light in physical weight and with loads of singing sustain (the same properties that really good old wood can sometimes have). A clear timbre with unmatched note separation. The guitar sings in a completely different way than the corresponding untreated wood and is several hundred times more stable. The neck is finally treated with oil, which gives the guitar a well-recorded wooden feel, forget about sticky varnish to get stuck in.
Neck profile.
Ibanez calls the neck AZ oval C, which describes it quite accurately. C with a little more shoulders would also fit well. It is noticeably thicker than how Ibanez usually have their necks, but for that reason not fat or clumsy. 20.5mm at first band and 22.5 at band 12. It feels modern and accessible at the same time as it feels traditional and familiar. The radius of the fingerboard is a perfect compromise to be perfect for both chords and soloing. Transition between fingerboard and neck is softly rounded called "rolled fretboard edges", which gives a very smooth and recorded feeling.
The body.
The body is designed to be comfortable and without sharp edges so that you can both stand or sit and play for hours on end. The rounding of the edges is softer on the back than on the front. The neck meets the body with Ibanez's new Super All Access Neck Joint, which is a further development of their well-proven All Access Neck Joint. SAANJ makes the entire neck extremely accessible without cutting too much wood and starting to have a negative effect on the tone.
These are new Seymour Duncan pickups named Fortuna. Nicer, more vintage-smelling pickups than the other models' Hyperion pickups. Think mics with lower output more angled towards clean and less distorted sounds. You get a larger dynamic range with wider frequency response. They are not better pickups than the Hyperion, just different pickups. The pickups are passive pickups with alnico magnets.
A compound radius fingerboard, from 228mmR to 305mmR. The other AZ models are 305 across the entire fretboard. Simply explained for those who are not so familiar with radius numbers and meaning. Radius is the curvature of the fingerboard, how flat or arched it is. In general, most guitarists find that flatter fretboards are better for soloing and less flat makes it easier to play chords. The N version's fingerboard is therefore less flat than the previous AZ models' fingerboard. The N version is compound sanded, which means that it is more arched at the first fret and then gradually becomes flatter the higher up the neck you go.
Ibanez T1502S Tremolo
GOTOH HAP®-M machine heads. The tuning screws are GOTOH® MAGNUM LOCK® which are top of the line lockable tuning screws with height adjustable string posts (so you can get perfect string pressure over the saddle for optimal sustain and tone)
• AZ Oval CS-TECH wood Roasted Maple 1 pc neck.
• Age body.
• Rosewood fretboard w/Mother of Pearl dot inlay.
• 22 frets.
• Jumbo Stainless steel frets w/Prestige Fret Edge Treatment.
• Bone nut.
• Super All Access Neck Joint.
• Luminescent side dot inlay.
• Ibanez T1502S tremolo bridge.
• Chrome hardware.
• Gotoh ® Magnum Lock machine heads w/HAP
• Seymour Duncan Fortuna (S) neck pickup.
• Seymour Duncan Fortuna (S) mid. pickup truck.
• Seymour Duncan Fortuna (S) bridge pickup.
• Non-recessed bridge cavity.
• Compound Radius Fretboard (228mm - 305mm)
• Hard case included.
The neck:
• 648mm/25.5" scale.
• Width at saddle: 42mm.
• Width at 24 bands: 56.4mm.
• Thickness at first band: 20.5mm.
• Thickness at 12 bands: 22.5mm.
• Compound Radius Fretboard (228mm - 305mm).