The Ibanez SAGE series of Acoustic guitars is aimed at beginners but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that although it is a budget guitar it certainly doesn’t play like one and it comes with a built-in tuner all for the incredible price of AUD $395 or GBP 129 in the UK. The SGT is available in 2 body shapes, the Dreadnaught as per this review model and a Jumbo. The SGT120E is available in Honey Sunburst or Vintage Brown Sunburst and has a Spruce top and Rosewood Bridge & Fretboard with Black & White Perloid Block Inlays. The tuners are Chrome Ibanez Smooth Tuner AS which do the job perfectly and the nut & saddles are made from Ibanez’s proprietary material Ivorex II while the bridge pins are Ibanez’s Advantage Bridge Pins.

It is pretty much impossible to fault a guitar at this price point that sounds, plays and looks as good as this guitar, it doesn’t have an onboard preamp so that you can plug directly into a P.A. or recording interface but that is what helps keep the cost down. Although this guitar is manufactured in Indonesia the quality is very high, I reckon if this exact guitar had come out of the Japan factory it would have a price tag double or triple what this guitar is worth, it just goes to show how far the budget Ibanez manufacturing process has advanced.

I’m eager now to try some of the higher end Ibanez acoustics, although worried that it may lead to another attack of Guitar Acquisition Syndrome!

http://www.ibanez.com