Ibanez RG421-MOL

A great guitar for the beginner looking for a light and good looking guitar, with a fast and easy to play neck.

Let's start this review at the top:

The headstock is quite small. It does however have enough left over space for a clip tuner, and maybe a fret wrap. But don't expect to have enough space to also store your capo on the headstock. The tuning pegs however are positioned far enough from each other to make turning them easy without hitting the other pegs.

The tuners themselves are ok for home use, but don't hold tune very well. If I where to use this guitar for more than just practise, and maybe some lessons, I would upgrade them immediately.

The nut is ok, but on the guitar I received it needed to be filed down a little bit, since it was set up way to high. The nut itself is quite ok though. It isn't anything special, but with a bit of lubrication it does what it should do. This guitar does suffer from a bit of harmonic by noises coming from the strings between the tuning pegs and the nut. A fret wrap however is a great way to dampen these noises.

The neck is simply lovely, as is with any Ibanez. It feels comfortable to hold, and the playability is amazing. A real neck to shred your heart out.
The fretboard itself is smooth to the touch, and the radius makes for a great shred machine. Chords on the upper frets however are a bit less comfortable due to the flatness of the fretboard.

The fret work was as good as can be expected on a guitar in this price range. I was however pleasantly surprised that on my guitar there weren't any sharp fret ends. The frets did need a polish though to make the frets comfortable to play.

The pick ups are simply meh... They sound very clinical, with a lot of sharpness in the mids and highs while the lows are very undefined. They are however very quiet when it comes to unwanted noise, which is a rarity in this price range.

The electronics however are by far and away the biggest issue with this guitar. On the guitar I received all the knobs where noisy when used, and the tone knob stopped working all together after a couple of months. I replaced the entire electronics for some left over parts, and this made a massive difference, both in the quietness when operating the knobs, as the sound of the guitar when it is amplified. (If you are looking for a great blanc canvas to modify, I would highly recommend this guitar after I got such great results with just left over parts)

The great thing about natural finishes, is that the manufacturer can't hide imperfections, or glue lines as easily as they can on painted guitars. On this particular guitars I can only identify 3 pieces of wood that make up the body. Which in this price range s simply amazing.

The body itself has a nice shape, with the bellycut making it comfy when the guitar sits on your lap. There isn't any real bevels or extra cut aways near the upper frets. However upper fret access is very good.

The strap buttons on this guitar aren't very good. Even a new strap slides easily on and off the knobs, so I replaced hem with strap locks, even though I don't use this guitar live.

I can only speak for the guitar I received; others may have a better experience. Mine never should've left the factory in the first place.

The bad:
The guitar was unplayable out of the box due to the uneven, corroded frets. I don't expect the manufacturer to polish the frets at this price range, but these were in really bad condition.

Because of the uneven frets, the guitar also had fret buzz in several spots, and the notes were dead at the first few frets. Adjusting the truss rod didn't help, as the nut had been filed too deep.

The tone knob sat too close to the body, scraping the wood when turned. It didn't affect functionality, but it was definitely annoying.

The truss rod cover it came with was designed for a reverse headstock. This means you can't open it without removing the screws because it opens in the opposite direction, and therefore hitting the tuning posts. You also can't replace it because that would mean drilling a new hole. This goes to show how superficial the workmanship and quality control was.

The good:
The electronics were nice. The wires were neatly packed and zip-tied inside the fully shielded cavity, the soldering was passable, and the 5-way switch and knobs worked fine (aside from the tone knob problem).

In my opinion, the pickups are solid for the price. They sound good enough for rhythm, but lack the clarity needed for lead playing. There was no audible hum, which was a pleasant surprise.

The neck feels good. It's smooth throughout and the neck profile is comfortable once you get used to it. The bridge and tuners worked fine, nothing bad worth mentioning here.

Additional context:
In December 2023, Ibanez decided to downgrade most of the RG Standard lineup. They removed the metal pickup covers, replaced the metal output jack with a "redesigned" plastic one, and switched the fingerboards from rosewood to jatoba. You can fact-check this by going on the Ibanez parts catalog.

You might get lucky and receive a great instrument, and you might even be able to keep exchanging it until you get one you're satisfied with. But for people who don't want to deal with the hassle, it may be better to consider another brand or something from a more expensive lineup.

It is surprisingly well built guitar considering it's price.

Headstock and Neck is standard quality of Ibanez. Very thin neck and quiet flat fret board is very comfortable. Frets are very well treated, there were no sharp ends on my guitar. But they need to be shined up.

Tuners are fine but I suggest upgrade. I already upgraded mine Planetwave Lockin tuners which lying around. I strongly suggest buying et least Gotoh SG-381 MG together with guitar(You need to drill headstock for installation) for the sake of comfort and tuning stabilty.

Pickups are just meh, which is normal in this price range, but surprisingly low noise. Parallel mode for Neck Humbucker in Position 4 is quiet interesting feature. Biggest downside is electronics. Mini pots are not best around, I suggest upgrade.

Overall It is beautiful, comfortable and good quality guitar. I am happy with the guitar.