The Ibanez AZ 2402 has now been with me for a full year, and I thought this would be the perfect time to do a proper follow-up.
When you first review a guitar, you can talk about build quality, features, and first impressions. But after living with an instrument for a year, you start noticing different things. You find out what actually matters in day-to-day use, what keeps impressing you, and which little annoyances never really go away.
So in this post, I want to share what it has been like to own and use my Ibanez AZ 2402 in Pearl White Flat for a year.
I have used this guitar a lot in the studio, including recording an EP with it. I have also used it live in a big production in front of thousands of people. That gives me a pretty good idea of what this instrument is like beyond the honeymoon phase.
What Still Makes the Ibanez AZ 2402 Great?
The short version is this: I am still really happy I got this guitar.
It still looks fantastic, it still feels great in the hands, and it is still one of the most comfortable guitars I own. The neck profile, the overall setup, and the way the whole instrument responds just work for me. In many ways, this is exactly how I would want a dream guitar to feel.
That comfort is a big part of why I keep reaching for it. It is one of those guitars that simply gets out of the way and lets you play.
My Biggest Complaint Is Still the Tuners
One of the negative points in my original review was the tuners, and that has not changed.
I understand what Ibanez may have been going for here. Keeping less mass on the headstock makes sense on paper. But in practice, I still do not like these tuners.
Changing strings with them is just not as practical as it should be. Inserting a pick into the tuner slot and then twisting it is not a fast or convenient system. Compared to more traditional locking tuners, it feels unnecessarily complicated.
With standard locking tuners, you can usually get a broken string changed very quickly, which matters if you are playing live. With these, the whole process just feels slower and more awkward than it needs to be.
So yes, after a year, the tuners are still my least favorite thing about this guitar.
Did the Tuning Stability Get Better?
This is where things got more interesting.
When I first got the guitar, it did have a bit of trouble staying in tune, especially when using the tremolo. That was something I noticed early on, and I know I am not the only one because quite a few people have asked me about it.
But over time, the tuning stability on my guitar clearly improved.
My guess is that the self-lubricating nut needed some time to settle in. After using the tremolo regularly and tuning the guitar a lot, the whole system started behaving much better. These days, I really do not think about tuning stability with this guitar anymore.
In fact, looking back, I have probably not worried about it for at least seven to nine months.
So while the tuning was not perfect at first, my experience has been that it got better with time.
The Neck Has Been Incredibly Stable
One thing that has genuinely impressed me is how stable the neck has been.
Living in Finland means guitars go through pretty serious changes in temperature and humidity throughout the year. Some instruments handle that better than others, and this one has handled it really well.
I have barely had to touch the truss rod at all. I basically set the guitar up once, and it has stayed in a really good place since then.
That kind of stability matters a lot to me. A guitar can sound great and feel great on day one, but if it constantly needs adjustment throughout the year, that becomes annoying fast. Thankfully, that has not been the case here.
What Happened to the Fret Ends?
In my original review, I mentioned that the fret ends were slightly sharp.
That issue has pretty much disappeared.
I cannot say for sure why. Maybe it is just natural wear. Maybe the tiny sharp edges settled down over time. Maybe I stopped noticing them. Whatever the reason, the fret ends feel much nicer now and have not been an issue for a long time.
They could still be a little more rounded if I am being picky, but this is no longer something I think about when playing.
That is actually interesting, because Ibanez AZ guitars usually have very good fretwork in my experience. This one felt like a slight exception at first, but over time that concern faded away.
The Tremolo Has Been Excellent
The tremolo on this guitar has been really good.
I have not had any real issues with it, and I have grown to like it a lot. It strikes a nice balance between vintage feel and modern practicality. It is simple, smooth to use, and easy to adjust when it comes to intonation and string height.
I have also had people ask whether my tremolo arm gets squeaky, and the answer is no. Mine has worked just fine.
Overall, I think the tremolo fits this guitar really well. It feels reliable, musical, and easy to live with.
Do You Need Strap Locks?
For me, not necessarily.
I do not play live all the time, so I have not felt a real need to replace the stock strap pins with strap locks. The strap buttons are nice and wide, and for the amount of standing use I do, they have worked just fine.
If I were gigging heavily with this guitar, I would probably install strap locks. But as things are right now, I have not felt the need.
Do I Actually Use the Alter Switch?
This is one of the more surprising things I learned over the year: I really do not use the alter switch.
The standard five sounds of the guitar are the ones I keep coming back to. Those basic positions are strong enough that I do not really feel the need to go hunting for more.
That does not mean the alternate sounds are useless. In a live setting, they can absolutely get you into convincing thinner, more spanky territory. When I used this guitar in a large Christmas production, it was great being able to go from a full bridge humbucker rock tone to something leaner and more mid-scooped without switching guitars.
That kind of versatility is genuinely useful on stage.
But in my own playing, I just do not find myself reaching for those alternate sounds very often. In a recording situation, if I want a true Tele-style or Strat-style sound, I would still usually grab the actual type of guitar that is built for that.
So while the feature is useful and the guitar is undeniably versatile, the alter switch is not really a big part of how I personally use this instrument.
Am I Thinking About Swapping the Pickups?
Maybe.
Not because the stock pickups are bad, but because I am starting to feel like the guitar could do something even more useful for me if I changed what the alter switch does.
I could see myself experimenting with a pickup set that keeps the versatility but gives me alternate voices I would actually use more often. Something with split options or a more inspiring second layer of sounds could make this guitar even more interesting.
At the moment this is more of an idea than a plan, but it is definitely something I have been thinking about.
Ibanez AZ 2402 Review After One Year – Final Thoughts
After a full year, I am still very happy with the Ibanez AZ 2402.
It plays great, sounds good, feels incredibly comfortable, and has proven itself both in studio use and in a live setting. The neck has been impressively stable, the tuning situation got much better over time, and the fret-end issue I noticed early on is no longer something I think about.
The tuners are still the weak point for me, and I personally do not get much use out of the alter switch. But even with those complaints, this guitar has absolutely earned its place.
This is one of those instruments that feels easy to trust. And that, in the long run, is probably one of the best compliments I can give any guitar.
If you are considering getting an Ibanez AZ 2402, I hope these longer-term observations helped. And if you already own one, I would be curious to hear whether your experience has been similar.
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