Headless Guitars Ibanez Quest Q54W, Q547, Q52 and QX52
Parallel to the trend of vintage guitars, the popularity of modern headless instruments is also growing, with which e.g. the Stranberg or Kiesel brands and various small manufacturers are finding success. Ibanez started producing headless instruments in 2021, when it first introduced the Quest series, which it has now expanded to include the Q54W, Q547, Q52 and QX52 models with almost identical construction but different pickup configurations and, in one case, an increased number of strings.
The common denominators of this collection are the glued roasted maple and bubinga necks, the nyatoh body, the ergonomically shaped AANJ joint, the roasted birdseye maple fretboard bearing 24 stainless steel jumbo frets plus luminescent position markers set into its edge, and the hardware consisting of a string clamping system behind the zero fret and a Mono-Tune bridge with independent segments and tube tuners.
The quartet of instruments also received similar controls of common volume potentiometers, tone pot, five-position footswitch and a lever switch linked to the dyna-MIX9 or dyna-MIX10 systems, which significantly increase the possibilities of combinations of pickups and their disconnected coils, which of course adds to the sonic versatility of these guitars.
The most affordable Q54W variant in Copper Metallic Matte with white pickguard has a Wizard C profile neck and Q58/S1/S1 passive ceramic pickups in HSS configuration. The Q547 in Cosmic Blue Low Gloss Transparent finish is a seven-string version of the Q54W, adding a poplar top, Wizard C-7 neck profile and Q58-7/S1-7/S1-7 pickups. Both the Q54W and Q547 have a standard 25.5-inch scale length.
Available in Flat Black or Metallic Gray Matte, the QX52 features a slimmer Parallel Wizard neck profile, genuine mother-of-pearl position markers, angled frets and a pair of Q58 humbuckers. The Q52 version, available in Antique Brown Stained or Blue Low Gloss lacquers, is essentially a six-string variation on the Q547, except for the two Q58 pickups. These were designed specifically for use in headless guitars, providing a clearly defined sound with a frequency-balanced tone, and optimum expression when plugged into digital modellers was also considered in their development.
All instruments are supplied with a quality padded gig bag and service keys, and D'Addario EXL110 strings are strung from the factory. The dyna-MIX9 above systems are found in the Q54W / Q547 models, while the dyna-MIX10 is integrated into the QX52 / Q52 versions. Official European prices should start at around 1100 euros.
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