Signature Tones vs the Ibanez ICHI10

[@Richie_117]

Love this guy, he’s funny, informative, and is developing a totally healthy obsession with this Ibanez 🤣 Keep on rocking brother! 🤘

[@RUSTY-A-L]

Thats it I'm buying an Ibanez Ichi10 you should get a commission!

[@realkylehooks]

I just like sharing my experiences with certain guitars. If I ever do get a deal or partnership or something, I promise to still give genuine opinions

[@RUSTY-A-L]

@@realkylehooks Keep up the good work and you will!

[@devanshroyal8372]

I've been rocking one for over a year now, and it's a really impressive guitar. Still not over how light it is. Great video!

[@daphnemichelejoyce427]

I first saw ur ichi video a little while back cause i was curious how it compared to my q52 (and prolly like a lot pf people) started watching more of ur videos, and im really glad i did. Ur a killer dude, keep it up

[@justinorprecio3094]

I hope the Ibanez folks are watching so you land any sort of deal/partnership with them Currently planning to buy this and the Q547 too (for the low chugs 😅) Cheers! Justin from the Philippines

[@TemkaUwU]

after looking at the options. Im also saving for one lol. this guy has sold the q line so well

[@chuckfinley3152]

You could start Kyle’s all natural relicing service

[@realkylehooks]

@@chuckfinley3152 customers even have their choice of what color suit they want to stain the guitar

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

It’s so funny you would bring that up. During the other video he uploaded about the ICHI10’s feature set, I kept thinking about how it was naturally relict from Kyle‘s actual sweat. People pay an arm and a leg to get Gibson or Fender guitars advance aged that way, but our man here has a regular performing gig where it just takes place on its own.

[@benchinho]

I hope you keep us updated about the new pickups...

[@realkylehooks]

@@benchinho the day I get the guitar back, I'll make a video on it.

[@matthewjohnloren1995]

This is a great explanation of the sounds you can get with this guitar! Thanks!

[@lordgraga]

FYI, a Freeway switch could give a strat the same tonal options as the ichi.

[@everythingbobbywolfe]

I can't believe I'm considering ones of these now 😂 Btw, I'd look into voice over work. You have the voice for it. You can't teach that kinda timbre.

[@dreamscuba]

Great video. Very humorous. I have the Q52 and it is very versatile and so easy to play and stays in tune for eons.

[@AlmostGrewMyHair]

That Orville SG with the tremolo is fucking awesome.

[@realkylehooks]

@@AlmostGrewMyHair thank you. It's an '89 Orville by Gibson. It has Gibson pickups, "The Original". I got a sweet deal on it in 2020.

[@notmyrealname2516]

I’ve got an Ibanez Q54 that I bought specifically for interstate travel. Different use case, but I’m glad to hear that the ICHI can fill a live show role pretty well.

[@juanignaciopozzi7412]

i got in loved with the ichi10 thanks!

[@rkharper]

Duuude, you're selling me a guitar I don't even need! Very goid videos and you're a chill dude, way to go. And a new subscription too!

[@realkylehooks]

@@rkharper we all need more guitars, even if our wives say they'll leave us if we get another

[@lyonleo7150]

I like the look of the ichi.

[@BudoReflex]

Make more videos dude. You are very entertaining.

[@robertmitchell2178]

Great review, thanks a lot.

[@petermoss208]

Is the Epiphone an import/reissue or American/Japanese made?

[@realkylehooks]

@@petermoss208 the Sheraton or the Crestwood?

Take a look at the Squier strat contemporary. There's a trem and HT (which I have) models and it's got some interesting switching options: 1 is humbucker out of two singles, like the Ichi10. 2 is middle only, but it sits closer to the bridge than on a regular strat. 3 is middle and neck, strat style. 4 is all three on and 5 is neck alone. It's cheap, not heavy and makes a good workhorse.

[@Mokeri21]

it never even crossed my mind that people would consider the ichi an ugly guitar, to me it’s always been beautiful

[@charlesbyrd2452]

sir your mustache is incredible

[@realkylehooks]

@@charlesbyrd2452 thank you. I grew it to distract from my incompetence as a guitar player

[@laurenceede6881]

Have you tried a Strandberg? The new Boden Essential (no fanned frets etc.) might also work for you.

[@Herfinnur]

He has

[@georgeghleung]

I will be eyeing a QX, since the Wizard C is too thick for me (got used to Wizard neck)

[@albertpsaros4988]

Ive owned a lot of guitars and my ichi10 instantly became my number 1. The only negative is that most people say the guitar looks ugly. Honestly who cares when ot feels and plays like it does! So glad to see someone who loves his ichi like i do

[@realkylehooks]

@@albertpsaros4988 I actually like the look, but another thing to consider is that people come up at shows all the time asking about the guitar. A Strat may as well be invisible. Everybody knows what a Strat is, and nobody cares. You show up with a weird headless guitar, and people will be curious

[@JohnSmith-in1tt]

Have you tried a jazzmaster? Super comfortable body, pretty lightweight, rhythm circuit for jazz, neck PU sounds like a strat, middle position is great for funk, bridge PU is super twangy like a tele, it’s super bright and will always cut through a mix and it has a whammy bar too

[@realkylehooks]

@@JohnSmith-in1tt I love a good jazzmaster. The length and weight are problems for me. The overall length of a Jazzmaster is 40" and weighs like 8.5lbs. The ICHI10 is 31" and 4.5lbs.

[@JohnSmith-in1tt]

@@realkylehooks fair enough man. You’ve obviously done your research. Enjoy the Ibanez, I think they’ve been making some incredible and under appreciated guitars since the AZ series came out

[@alxndrthree-dh2yl]

I just cannot stop thinking about this guitar... ive been playing on my dads les pauls SG, which looks deceivingly like your gibson (it is modelled after it, after all.), and while im barely any time in, just you talked about the diving head and how the ichi10 doesnt dive had my head in the clouds thinking about not bumping my wrist on my knees when playing high frets... i hope i can afford one some day.

[@RomanSotoCello]

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who has had this experience with the Q series! My Q54 has been my go-to for going on a few years! I’ve got a few killer custom guitars from Chafin, some killer Schecters, other Ibanez etc but I ALWAYS prefer playing the Q!!!! Unmatched comfort, tuning stability and reliability. Now if only they’d do a version with a trem…. Ha

[@realkylehooks]

@@RomanSotoCello we had a show last night, and I brought out the SG. The thing straight up rocks...but then it kept going out of tune, and the neck dive was bothering me, and I was getting too close for comfort to the sax player...I ditched the SG after one set and went back to the ICHI

[@HipsterNgariman]

A side question entirely, but what is your take for side dots? I see you've put tape, do you think it's the ideal method over drilling luminlays or fluorescent nail varnish ? I fear tape might just get in the way when playing, but since you play 4 hours a night, I assume you wouldn't use it if it did

[@realkylehooks]

@@HipsterNgariman I use gorilla tape, and I'm amazed how well it stays on there. It took about half a gig to get used to it. I feel the tape, but it's not enough to get in the way. I almost prefer it in a way over dots because I get tactile feedback about where I am on the neck whenever I'm not looking. Long term, I plan to use a Dremel to make notches to put in some phosphorescent acrylic paint I got. No little dots. Big notches for best visibility

[@gustavosophia]

Excellent video and seems like an excellent guitar. The tone difference IMHO were mostly too much bass and slightly weaker mid-range, in the ICHI10, compared to the reference guitars. I often find that Ibanez guitars with stock pickups have a more mid-scooped sound compared with Gibsons and Fenders at similar pickup positions. I saw another video of yours where you changed the pickups for vinteras and it clearly improved the too-much-bass-slightly-weak-mids situation. For another possibly simpler option than swapping pickups, a simple eq pedal (like a ge-7) at the beginning of the signal chain (i.e. before any overdrives) should probably do the trick of getting a sound closer to your references. At least if you're not using a fuzz face -- fuzz faces change character if there's a low-impedance pedal between them and the guitar, so in that case the eq pedal trick might not work. If you ever try something like it, I'd definitely enjoy seeing the video. Anyhow, great channel, keep up the great work!

[@realkylehooks]

@@gustavosophia thank you for the compliments and advice! On my stage rig, I think I've got the EQ dialed in pretty decent on each sound. For the videos, I like to leave all EQs at 12 o'clock so we can hear the natural tendencies of the pickups and guitars.

[@gustavosophia]

Makes total sense! Thanks for it and enjoy this beast of a guitar!

[@hustlinc3540]

are the pickups humcancelling? tell us more about that bridge. thanks

[@failogy]

Now I have Q52. It can play wide range of music. However I still want a strat because some kind of sound Q52 cannot give me. Greeting from Thailand. 🙏

[@Reebster99]

Lol we gotta show Ichika Nito your vids

[@javierthewish]

Are you planing on doing a comparison between the two ichi guitars with strat pickupls and with series pickups?

[@realkylehooks]

@@javierthewish definitely! The shop says I am supposed to get my guitar back today, so that video should be out within the next couple of days

[@SebBrosig]

Very interesting video. A tool is beautiful more for what it can do than for what it looks like.

[@arsonne]

Got mine today!

[@realkylehooks]

@@arsonne whoa heck yes!!! How is it for you so far?

[@Shira2]

Id like to hear you compare it to a telecaster

[@HitmanMcGruph]

I'm getting an Ichi10

[@realkylehooks]

@@HitmanMcGruph YES!!

[@Gliese710_]

I prefer the way ichika’s talman looks, but I haven’t been able to play either because neither of the guitar centers near me have them for more than a day or so, and it’s always days I’m not able to go.

[@zaxmaxlax]

Is the midtown just a 339/335 with a flat top? Whats the difference?

[@petermoss208]

thanks man, im gonna steal that trick about the Midtown next time I’m playing with a songwriter. I got all of them…..😅.

[@javierthewish]

Very nice video.

[@cyprn6600]

Tbh id take a strat with that circuit just because of the looks lol

[@A7Tones]

Jesus chrsit man you just love this Ibanez

[@MFPUNKY]

This guy gotta be getting paid by Big Ichika Corp.

[@TheUncleshoes]

How can you have a guitar "back there", "including this one" that is in your hands? I kid, great stuff!

[@thepokebw10]

Now we'll just have to wait and see whether they release a tremolo version of that headless guitar for 2025. No guitar in your collection would be safe then! haha

[@minhnguyenminh1323]

thats it, i bought it :)) received it today, its like my SnowWhite princess

[@lolalucxyz]

I just wish it had a whammy. Now I'm stuck looking strandbergs at twice the price just because I can't imagine giving it up...

[@realkylehooks]

@@lolalucxyz it's a tough call style and price wise. At home just playing for my own enjoyment, I LOVE having a good whammy. On the road with string changes so often and tuning stability being so important, I kinda prefer no whammy.

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

Man, I thought the Ibanez had a floating bridge! No, the SG markers are trapezoidal, not rhombus. It’s interesting you’ve got three Gibson Midtown models. I thought of getting one in the finish of the one you actually wanted to fan out for us. Before I realized what I was really after for my “traditional Thinline” was a 1980 Yamaha SA-2000, I thought of getting a Midtown as a nifty alternative to a 335

[@RobTackettCovers]

"Whammy/ No Whammy...whatcha gonna do?"...that's why I haven't even searched out to try one out, because I play in a cover band...and if I got one of those, or something like it, I'd want it to have a whammy, because some songs, to play them in the ball park of how they were originally recorded, you need a whammy to do it. It confuses me a bit about this guitar, because Ibanez is like a whammy specialist company...not sure why this guitar doesn't have a whammy option...I like your demo's of it, though...thanks and hope you and yours are doing great!

[@realkylehooks]

@@RobTackettCovers just different strokes, I guess. I make a living mostly doing cover band shows, and the songs we do have never really required a whammy. With it being Ichika's signature model, it would make sense it would be tailored to his preferences. That said, I'd love to see a version with a whammy. I wonder if anyone has replaced the stock bridge with one with a whammy

[@RobTackettCovers]

​@@realkylehooks Yeah, that's a good idea maybe modding one with a headless trem that has the spring system built into it, so you don't have to do a bunch of routing in the back of the guitar...I'll research it out to see what is out there...hey, happy holiday season to you and yours!

[@ManOrWomanIDK]

6:18 vibrato pedal

[@semyonboyk0]

I only wish it wasn't recorded on a phone that compresses the hell out of audio. Otherwise, the video is super cool, I'm really considering ICHI10 now.

[@realkylehooks]

@@semyonboyk0 sorry about that. I don't know anything about video editing. I can get a great recording of a guitar, but I don't know about recording video then syncing audio after

[@Andre-l6b7c]

Your mustache is awesome

[@realkylehooks]

@@Andre-l6b7c thank you. It distracts people from my poor personality.

[@mikelowden477]

...and just bought an ichi10

[@realkylehooks]

@@mikelowden477 that's awesome, man! I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

[@danielbarbieri8199]

I wish I could buy one ichi, but I can't spend 1000$ and 300$ more for a set of Lindy Fralin pickups, then 300$ more for s&h and taxes to Nicaragua. The internet is great, but it's hard to see all these beautiful things and not have the means to enjoy them.

[@LocallsYT]

I owned a brand new ichi10 from sweetwater for about 5 months, before trading it for one of the new strandberg boden essential 6's. I do miss the versatility in tones with the 3 single coils + alter swtich but the quality of the strandberg boden essential 6 is just unmatched compared to the ichi10 I received.. I think in the future I'll buy another one but this time used lol, for the time being I'm just going to modify this strandberg with new pickups to be just as versatile as the ichi10

[@brieselangintprod]

So the Boden's quality is worse than the ICHI10 or the other way around?

[@LocallsYT]

@@brieselangintprod other way around haha, if my ichi10 was perfect condition I wouldve had no reason to get rid of it. Mine was “inspected” by sweetwater, yet they shipped it to me with pretty obvious QC issues. My neck near the 5th fret was crazy rough like they didnt even sand it. My nut on the treble side was really low like they sanded the bottom of the nut far too much. And my bass side nut slots were also way too deep. This made doing a setup virtually impossible without making the action really uncomfortable. My fret ends were also sharp enough to catch on a microfiber towel everytime id wipe it down, fret leveling was also very inconsistent i probably had close to every other fret being high, some of them being really high. Mine was a newer model with the stainless steel frets and the frets were minimally polished. Like 90% polished at best, you could still see pretty obvious scuffing on them which led to bends feeling 90% smooth. On some frets they were like 99% polished though and those felt fine. Regardless, I still think even a best scenario ichi10 new with stainless steel frets will be worse than a Boden best case scenario. Far too many people who have experience the same thing as me with the ichi10, and just in general Ibanez’s indo manufacturing. I still have hope though, like I said ill prob pickup another ichi10 eventually

[@TheLegendaryHero-up4jk]

​@@LocallsYTкупишь себе опять подержанный Ибанез и окажется, что это тот самый, твой старый Ибанез, который ты когда-то купил новый. Ты узнаешь его по порожку и по нешлифованному грифу в районе 5 лада и по острым краям ладов. 😅

[@LocallsYT]

@@TheLegendaryHero-up4jk haha, yeah possible. But thats why id just make sure its not the same serial number as the one I originally had XD. Im thinking though of buying one of the new HSS models they just released in the “copper” pinkish color

[@HitmanMcGruph]

I have a Strandberg Stealth and I'm wanting the Ichi10

[@yotu9670]

These Pickups don’t really sound like their originals. I would definitely change them! But at least for rock is it good :D !

[@goatcheeze851]

im in love with your moustache

[@realkylehooks]

@@goatcheeze851 I grew it just for you

[@beyshore_]

ok

[@H43N]

its almost like guitars dont sound like anything, and the amp and speaker dictates tone..........

[@hiroprotagonitis]

theyre trapezoids

[@realkylehooks]

@@hiroprotagonitis thank you!

[@carlosfernandez3565]

Audio interfaces are like $100

[@carlosfernandez3565]

And guitar courses are even cheaper.

[@realkylehooks]

Oh yeah. I got me a good one. Focusrite Clarett+ 8Pre...but then I gotta mic up the amp, run it through to the DAW, import the video, line it up so it all fits together, just to make $0. I just hit record and have fun for about 10 minutes. Good enough.

[@realkylehooks]

@@carlosfernandez3565 Trust me, no amount of guitar lessons would ever make me a good player. I have no talent.

[@Dankehum]

Hey man since you mentioned you’re from Florida, have you ever heard of Chuck Schuldiner? Godfather of death metal