My first S470 was a S470 FM (green) of 1981, its my favorite. Nowadays I have bought another 3, black, blue and brown not older than 5 years. I think that the older ones plays slightly lighter, older tremolo system. Tuning is not a problem. I use a Crate TD70 and a Marshall Valvestate 8080. I like the sustain and the heavy sound. The S470 plays so smooth, you can't resist him.

I just got this guitar a few days ago and played it in shop. It was so amazing. The sound was awesome. Im in love with the Zero Point Trem system. I recomend this guitar 100%. I mean come on, Herman Li plays the S470, so you know its awesome :]

I run this guitar through a crate vintage club 50, and it gives me just about any sound I want. It has great cleans, despite it's reputation for a metal guitar. I use it for prog, jazz, and some metal. The neck is very fast and thin, and is unfinished on the back so your palm doesn't stick to it. The trem system is a little bit of a headache, but if you're not in a hurry it's no big deal. Overall great guitar!

Over the years the S guitars have developed a reputation as being great for metal. They are great because the neck is so fast. It's thin and sleek and compels you to play faster. However, these guitars are also great for jazz and more mellow styles. I use the single coil for most Stones and Beatles songs. Positions 2 and 4 are great for blues and jazz styles. And of course the humbuckers by themselves let you rock out. Despite the thin depth of these guitars the sustain is comparable to my Les Paul. Yes, I've compared and it's true. Finally, it does take quite a while to tune a floating tremolo guitar such as this. However, once it's tuned, it stays tuned. Only minor tweaks now and then are needed between string changes. If I could only have one guitar, it would be this one.

The Ibanez S470 is an excellent guitar for a beginner or intermediate player wanting something to shred on (its great for other stuff too but this is a shred guitar nonetheless). Japanese and Korean S series guitars are equipped with the ZR tremolo, which is now one of THE best tremolo units on the market...its odd that it is not found on any other series of Ibanez's.

Korean models (such as the ones purchased through this website) lack in the quality department when compared to the Japenese models...The woods are bit cheaper, paint is a bit lower quality etc. Even though I love this guitar im not going to give it all 10's...come on! The guitar is very lightweight, which is great, but tone suffers because of it. Its something that wont be noticable for beginners but advanced players will want to change the pickups out immediately. EMG 81 works great in the bridge, but the 85 will sound muddy if put in with it in the neck position (try dual 81's or 81/86). Just because Zakk wylde has an 81/85 in his doesnt mean this guitar will sound like him! (remember he has a heavy les paul)

Positive: GREAT price, thin neck, lightweight, ZR trem, very easy to play on Negative: Tone isnt the best with cheap pickups and less dense wood than say a les paul or strat, only 22 frets, (horror stories of the ZR tremolo breaking)

For the price its an awesome guitar and worth checking out, its comparable to a Jackson dinky!

If they made a neck-thru prestige model of this guitar with 24 frets...omg..

*also the EMG SA can replace the single coil pickup. Ibanez S520ex is the same guitar but only has 2 pickups instead of the 3 but are higher quality. If you dont mind having a single coil and are replacing them with EMG's or some duncans etc, this is the better deal