HowieJams
Well-known member
If you have been following my journey to this guitar, it started when I was responding to another Forum Member's thread about which HSS Stratocaster type of guitar to buy, he wanted a SuperStrat, but with traditional tones.
My recommendation was a Fender American Ultra II HSS Stratocaster, I own it and love it.
As other members chimed in about Charvels and other such 24 fret guitars, I started thinking maybe I want a 24 fret SuperStrat type of guitar, not a shredder guitat, vut definitely 24 frets.
I didn't want a very thin neck, I tend to like medium size necks, like Gibson 50s or 60s style necks.
I ended up choosing the Ibanez AZ2402 Prestige model in Peal White.
The guitar arrived on Wednesday and I waited 24 hours while it acclimated to room temp.
On Thursday I finally opened it and it was a beauty, but wait, there is a chip through the wood.
I called Sweetwater and they have more arriving later this month, so they will contact me and I will choose the one I want, weight and fretboard figuring of my choice.
I asked if I could hold on to this one until the new one arrives and they said no problem.
So now I get to play it, finally!
Out of the box the action needed to be tweaked a bit, after that it felt great.
What now, it has 10-46s on it, on a 24 fret SuperStrat guitar?
I only use 9-42s, I was surpised, but even more surprising was how good it feels with 10-46s.
Don't get me wrong, I am going to switch the new one to 9-42s, but all of my other guitars I had to get the 10-46s off immediately, even my 24.75" scale Gibsons.
The neck profile must be amazing for this to be this good with 10-46s, it is a 12" radius and feels like a D shape with decent shoulders, very comfy, it feels fairly beefy to me, a lot like my Fender American Ultra II HSS Strat neck.
Tones - This really surprised me in a good way.
It has 10 different tones thanks to a 5 way blade switch and a two way toggle.
Out of those 10 tones I love 6 of them, the other 4 I will never use.
With the toggle switch down I like Positions 1,2,4,5 and with the toggle up I like positions 2 & 4.
In the videos I explain what those tones are.
The single coil tones (Positions 2 and 4) are amazing, different, but as nice as both of my Fenders.
The humbucker tones (Postitions 1 & 5) also amazing, right there with my Gibsons.
Today I am posting two videos, one to a backing track and one of just the guitar by itself.
I am using my Soldano Astro 20 since it has 4 different ranges of tones from clean, to blues, to crunch, to solo high gain.
Over the next few days I have a bunch of more videos and shorts I will load on to YouTube of this guitar and amp, they will be 3 minute videos of each specific tone.
I don't think I will add them here, just keep on eye out for them if you are interested.
I think the other vids are better than these, but I had to pick two to load now.
Early to say, but I tihnk this could be my main guitar, it does everything.
Now for the bad...
The Gotoh Style Locking Tuners suck compared to all of my other locking tuners that use a thumbscrew on the back, but I will get used to them.
On my first jam to a backing track it snapped the High E string down by the bridge in a not very aggressive bend, either the 10g stock strings suck or more likely it is a sharp spot on the saddle.
Now I am a bit gunshy, I rarely break strings.
Update 7/12/2026
As for the locking tuners on the Ibanez, now that I know how to use them, they are actually pretty good, not worth swapping out.
I find the only issue is getting the old string out, you need to unwind until the hole is facing down towards the bridge, then just use you pick and turn the notch in the tuning peg counter clockwise very slightly, then just keep unwinding, the peg will not move. After a bit the string will release.
For restringing, just put the string back though and start winding. If the string won't go in the hole, put the pick in the notch in the tuning peg and turn it slightly counter clockwise again and then pull the string though and start winding.
Here are the videos
My recommendation was a Fender American Ultra II HSS Stratocaster, I own it and love it.
As other members chimed in about Charvels and other such 24 fret guitars, I started thinking maybe I want a 24 fret SuperStrat type of guitar, not a shredder guitat, vut definitely 24 frets.
I didn't want a very thin neck, I tend to like medium size necks, like Gibson 50s or 60s style necks.
I ended up choosing the Ibanez AZ2402 Prestige model in Peal White.
The guitar arrived on Wednesday and I waited 24 hours while it acclimated to room temp.
On Thursday I finally opened it and it was a beauty, but wait, there is a chip through the wood.
I called Sweetwater and they have more arriving later this month, so they will contact me and I will choose the one I want, weight and fretboard figuring of my choice.
I asked if I could hold on to this one until the new one arrives and they said no problem.
So now I get to play it, finally!
Out of the box the action needed to be tweaked a bit, after that it felt great.
What now, it has 10-46s on it, on a 24 fret SuperStrat guitar?
I only use 9-42s, I was surpised, but even more surprising was how good it feels with 10-46s.
Don't get me wrong, I am going to switch the new one to 9-42s, but all of my other guitars I had to get the 10-46s off immediately, even my 24.75" scale Gibsons.
The neck profile must be amazing for this to be this good with 10-46s, it is a 12" radius and feels like a D shape with decent shoulders, very comfy, it feels fairly beefy to me, a lot like my Fender American Ultra II HSS Strat neck.
Tones - This really surprised me in a good way.
It has 10 different tones thanks to a 5 way blade switch and a two way toggle.
Out of those 10 tones I love 6 of them, the other 4 I will never use.
With the toggle switch down I like Positions 1,2,4,5 and with the toggle up I like positions 2 & 4.
In the videos I explain what those tones are.
The single coil tones (Positions 2 and 4) are amazing, different, but as nice as both of my Fenders.
The humbucker tones (Postitions 1 & 5) also amazing, right there with my Gibsons.
Today I am posting two videos, one to a backing track and one of just the guitar by itself.
I am using my Soldano Astro 20 since it has 4 different ranges of tones from clean, to blues, to crunch, to solo high gain.
Over the next few days I have a bunch of more videos and shorts I will load on to YouTube of this guitar and amp, they will be 3 minute videos of each specific tone.
I don't think I will add them here, just keep on eye out for them if you are interested.
I think the other vids are better than these, but I had to pick two to load now.
Early to say, but I tihnk this could be my main guitar, it does everything.
Now for the bad...
The Gotoh Style Locking Tuners suck compared to all of my other locking tuners that use a thumbscrew on the back, but I will get used to them.
On my first jam to a backing track it snapped the High E string down by the bridge in a not very aggressive bend, either the 10g stock strings suck or more likely it is a sharp spot on the saddle.
Now I am a bit gunshy, I rarely break strings.
Update 7/12/2026
As for the locking tuners on the Ibanez, now that I know how to use them, they are actually pretty good, not worth swapping out.
I find the only issue is getting the old string out, you need to unwind until the hole is facing down towards the bridge, then just use you pick and turn the notch in the tuning peg counter clockwise very slightly, then just keep unwinding, the peg will not move. After a bit the string will release.
For restringing, just put the string back though and start winding. If the string won't go in the hole, put the pick in the notch in the tuning peg and turn it slightly counter clockwise again and then pull the string though and start winding.
Here are the videos
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