AZ - Players Player Project
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 polished no matter how much you play. A perfectly functioning stable with an arm mount that won't loosen no matter how much you tug 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 AZ neck is a modern neck with what Ibanez calls an oval C profile. A 1-piece Premium neck in roasted/baked maple. The wood is roasted in a vacuum oven, which drives all liquid and resin out of the wood, making it extremely stable if almost completely insensitive to weather and humidity. Sound-wise, it makes the wood behave like old and dry wood, with more resonance, sustain and tone. This is the same roasted technology that has been on the market for a few years now (which is different from the S-TECH roasting that the Prestige versions have). The guitar sings in a completely different way than the corresponding untreated wood and is several 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. The Ibanez T1502 Tremolo Stand is a further development of the GOTOH 510, one of the world's most popular non-locking stands. Ibanez thought "is this the best out there or can it be improved?", and it did. The T1502 is based on the 510 and built by GOTOH, i.e. modern 2 pivot style with lockable bounces. The updates include a better, and completely play-free, arm mount (snap in with adjustable pressure. The arm can be replaced with an Ibanez Ultra Lite swingarm). T1502 has the same string spacing as 510 narrow, 10.5mm isf 10.8mm.
Specs:
• AZ Oval C Roasted Maple 1 pc neck.
• Roasted Maple fretboard w/White dot inlay.
• Luminescent side dot inlay.
• Jumbo Stainless steel frets.
• Graph Tech® nut.
• Gotoh® MG-T Locking machine heads.
• American Basswood body.
• Ibanez T1502 tremolo bridge (Gotoh).
• DiMarzio® SLM original (S) neck pickup.
• DiMarzio® SLM original (S) mid. pickup truck.
• DiMarzio® SLM original (H) bridge pickup.
• Gold hardware.
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.
• Radius: 305mmR.