“Engineered from the ground up”: Ibanez issues its answer to Ernie Ball and Abasi Concepts with the Alpha Series – its most progressive guitar design to date

Ibanez has debuted an all-new electric guitar lineup that’s been officially badged the Alpha Series – and it could be a landmark launch for the storied metal guitar brand.

Available in seven- and eight-string iterations, the Alpha instruments are arguably Ibanez’s most ‘prog rock’ guitars to date, bringing a distinct contemporary flair to a lineup that’s otherwise rooted in traditional shred and metal.

With a space-age double-cut silhouette, ergonomic contours, Fishman Fluence humbuckers and more, they are quite clearly inspired by current trends that have recently emerged in modern progressive guitar design.

In other words, they are giving serious ‘Tosin Abasi’ vibes. After all, Abasi – who famously worked with Ibanez on a prototype signature guitar before he left to start up his own company – has been at the forefront of the progressive metal guitar music and making for the past few years.

With Abasi Concepts, he innovated models such as the Larada and Emi. He then partnered with Ernie Ball Music Man for the Kaizen.

But that is just one example of how certain progressive minds have pushed the boundaries of modern metal guitars. Strandberg should be mentioned. So too should Kiesel, Aristides and even the Ibanez Quest series.

So, yes, the prog guitar world is going through a phase of rapid development at the moment. It’s no surprise, then, that Ibanez has elected to channel these trends and design cues into a neatly wrapped package that looks to be its most progressive launch to date.

“The Alpha models blend cutting-edge features with thoughtful ergonomics, leaning heavily into concepts that optimize tone and playability,” explains Ibanez, describing the Alphas as “engineered from the ground up”.

As such, the Alpha guitars feature a space age basswood body, which is joined by a ‘Parallel Wizard AS’ five-piece walnut and maple neck.

Since ergonomics and playability are key here, the body has been “engineered for extreme comfort” whether standing or seated, with a forearm cut and “innovative lower body carve” to accommodate various playing positions. It’s a similar school of thought we’ve seen from the likes of Strandberg.

There’s also a new three-bolt neck joint design, developed for robust joint strength and upper fret accessibility, as well as a back-mounted output jack for a “cleaner stage profile”.

Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers are used across the board here, and are paired with its companion Fishman Fluence Voicing switch for multiple tones. Other appointments include multi-scale setups – 27.2” to 25.5” for the seven-string, 27.5” to 25.5” for the eight – jumbo stainless steel frets, and Gotoh MG-T locking tuners.

Iron Pewter, Nebula Shift and Coral Mirage are the finishes on offer. The seven-string has an estimated street price of $1,899, while the eight-string version sits at $1,999.

To put that into perspective, they're competitively positioned in the upper-mid-priced prog guitar market, sitting neatly between the $4k Ernie Ball and $899 Sterling Kaizen models, and roughly in the same ballpark as the Strandberg Bodens.

The Alphas also benefit from having the Ibanez machinery in its corner, helping to further bring these progressive design cues even more into the mainstream.

Head over to Ibanez to find out more.