Ibanez S1520FB Prestige 2002 – Figured Bubinga – Made in Japan

The Ibanez S1520FB Prestige comes from a particularly good period for Ibanez’s Japanese-made Prestige range, combining the wonderfully thin and heavily sculpted S-Series body with a specification that still looks seriously impressive more than two decades later. The ibanez-prestige-2002 models are especially sought-after by collectors and players alike.

Made at FujiGen in Japan in 2002, this example uses a mahogany body topped with figured bubinga. The natural finish allows the dark striped grain to provide most of the decoration, and there is considerably more going on in that top when the light moves across it than first appears from a distance.

The S-Series body remains one of Ibanez’s cleverest designs. From the front it has the presence of a substantial superstrat, but the deeply sculpted back and remarkably thin edges make it exceptionally comfortable and surprisingly light in the hands.

The Wizard Prestige maple/bubinga neck is paired with a bound rosewood fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets and the distinctive blue S-wave inlay at the 12th fret. A matching figured headstock face and cream binding give the guitar a particularly handsome, slightly unusual appearance.

Pickups are the Ibanez QM1 neck and QM2 bridge humbuckers, controlled by a five-way blade selector with master volume and tone. It is a simple-looking HH arrangement with the additional switching versatility Ibanez were rather good at building into guitars of this period.

At the bridge is the excellent Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge double-locking tremolo, a low-profile development of the Edge design and one of the pieces of hardware for which Japanese Ibanez guitars of this era became so well regarded.

This is very much a player’s guitar rather than a wallflower. It has the scratches, scuffs and hardware wear to prove it, but it also plays beautifully — genuinely one of those guitars that feels like somebody loved it enough to keep reaching for it.

And there is another advantage to all that honest wear: you can actually play the thing.

You get the build quality, feel and character of a Japanese Prestige without spending every rehearsal terrified that a belt buckle, stand or careless drummer is going to put the first mark on it.

These guitars were built to make music, not to spend twenty years hanging untouched on somebody’s wall. This one has already had a proper life — and there is absolutely no reason it shouldn’t have another.

It isn’t collector-clean and it never will be unless you really like T-Cut and have far too much free time. What it is, though, is a gorgeous Japanese Prestige that has spent its life doing exactly what it was built to do.

Specifications:

Brand: Ibanez
Model: S1520FB Prestige
Series: S Series / Prestige
Year: 2002
Country of manufacture: Japan
Factory: FujiGen
Body: Mahogany
Top: Figured bubinga
Construction: Bolt-on
Neck: Wizard Prestige maple/bubinga
Fingerboard: Bound rosewood
Frets: 22 jumbo
12th-fret inlay: Blue S-wave
Neck pickup: Ibanez QM1 humbucker
Bridge pickup: Ibanez QM2 humbucker
Pickup configuration: HH
Controls: Master volume, master tone
Pickup selector: 5-way blade
Bridge: Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge double-locking tremolo
Hardware: Cosmo Black
Tuners: Gotoh
Weight: 2.9 kg
Case: Original Ibanez hard case

Condition: Well used, with numerous scratches, scuffs, general playwear and ageing/wear to the hardware. Please examine the photographs carefully as they form part of the description.