It’s hard to think of Ibanez without thinking of shredding. Ibanez guitars have been a staple of hard rock for decades. The company’s reputation for fast action, beautiful design, and quality craftsmanship make Ibanez one of the most trusted names in the music industry, especially among the hard rock and heavy metal elites.
Ibanez has been the home of masterful technicians like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for decades, and has become deeply embedded in the hard rock/progressive niche. But there is a new generation of progressive musicians coming up under the Ibanez banner, with a very strong jazz-fusion influence.
Tom Quayle and Martin Miller are solo fusion artists with new custom Ibanez AZ guitars in their names, which they have debuted at the 2018 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show in Anaheim, California this past week. Since fusion music largely intersects with the most technical aspects of rock, it’s no wonder that Ibanez is the preferred choice for fusion guitarists such as Quayle and Miller.
TQM1
Tom Quayle, a UK-based fusion guitarist, does session work as well as educational workshops and digital productions. His new AZ series TQM1 features strat-like cutaway, a humbucker pickup at the bridge and two single coils in the middle and neck positions (HSS). It is produced by Fujigen in Japan as part of the Prestige series.
The specs you need to know:
- Solid Body
- Gotoh T1802 tremolo bridge
- Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups
- S-Tech roasted maple neck and fretboard
- 22 jumbo stainless steel frets
- Abalone dot/luminescent side dot fingerboard inlays
MM1
Martin Miller is a professional fusion guitarist from Germany, with a background in performance, session work, clinics, demos and much more. He studied at the acclaimed Carl-Maria-von-Weber College of Music in Dresden after attending a music conservatory program, and has collaborated with dozens of international musicians in a number of different forums around the world. Miller’s AZ MM1 shares a lot in common with its TQM1 counterpart, but with an HH (rather than HSS) pickup configuration as well as some other differences.
The specs you need to know:
- Solid Body
- T1802 tremolo bridge
- Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups
- S-Tech roasted maple neck and fretboard
- 24 jumbo stainless steel frets
- Abalone dot/luminescent side dot fingerboard inlays
Both Quayle and Miller demoed their new signature gear at the NAMM show, making use of the instruments’ subtle features, especially the MM1’s sophisticated locking system in process.
Other than great music and impressive technique, it displayed a lot of promise for a new generation of progressive artists and technicians working under the Ibanez name.
