Mephisto! – 2006 Ibanez S470DXQM Red Viking

Some guitars arrive at The Stray Chord looking like they’ve been through hell. Mephisto appears to have brought some of it with him.

Built in Korea in 2006, Mephisto is an Ibanez S470DXQM finished in the spectacular Red Viking, with a vivid quilted maple top that makes subtlety somebody else’s problem.

The Ibanez S-Series has always been an exercise in seeing quite how little guitar Ibanez can get away with giving you. Its mahogany body is astonishingly thin and beautifully sculpted around the edges while retaining considerably more depth through the centre. The result is exceptionally comfortable without sacrificing the substance and sustain of its mahogany construction.

Mephisto pairs this with Ibanez’s slim Wizard II neck, a bound rosewood fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets and the distinctive S470DX wave inlays, which flicker down the fingerboard like little mother-of-pearl flames.

An HSH set of Ibanez Infinity pickups provides plenty of versatility, from warmer neck humbucker sounds through clearer single-coil tones to the considerably less diplomatic bridge humbucker.

Then there is the ZR tremolo.

Ibanez’s Zero Resistance double-locking tremolo dispenses with conventional knife-edge pivots in favour of a ball-bearing system. It is paired with the Zero Point System to help the bridge return to centre and, viewed from the back, looks reassuringly like somebody has installed a small piece of industrial machinery inside the guitar.

Mephisto is now twenty years old and remains in genuinely excellent condition for his age. There are very light signs of previous use, but the Red Viking finish remains superb and its quilted top is particularly vivid.

As part of his rehabilitation, his frets have been levelled, crowned and polished, the fret ends dressed and fingerboard edges carefully rolled. His electronics have been checked and cleaned, his hardware attended to and his ZR tremolo properly set up.

He has then received a complete professional setup and intonation before being restrung and declared ready to cause trouble again.

The result is a beautifully preserved Korean-built Ibanez S-Series with one of the most interesting tremolo systems Ibanez ever produced, an absurdly handsome quilted top and enough curves to make a Les Paul feel geometrically inadequate.

Mephisto has been rescued, he’s been restored, and now he’s ready to make a deal with somebody new.

Your soul is entirely optional.

£425 will do.

Specification

Model: Ibanez S470DXQM
Name: Mephisto
Year: 2006
Country of manufacture: Korea
Finish: Red Viking
Body: Mahogany with quilted maple top
Neck: Wizard II
Fingerboard: Bound rosewood
Frets: 22 jumbo
Inlays: S470DX wave inlays
Pickups: Ibanez Infinity HSH
Bridge: ZR Zero Resistance double-locking tremolo
System: Ibanez Zero Point System
Nut: Locking
Condition: Excellent for age
Adoption fee: £425

Restoration & setup

Full fret level, crown and polish; fret ends dressed; fingerboard edges rolled; electronics checked and cleaned; hardware attended to; ZR tremolo system set up; full professional setup and intonation; freshly restrung.