Brimming with high-performance 21st-century appointments, the Ibanez Alpha A528 was designed for uncompromising players with a penchant for high-octane technical mastery. This 8-string electric guitar is crafted from a solid slab of basswood, carved into a radical body shape that’s primed for high-speed ergonomics. Its 5-piece Parallel Wizard neck offers an incredible, zero-drag feel, and its multi-scale ebony fingerboard, bolstered by 24 jumbo-sized stainless steel frets, makes intricate finger maneuvers like tapping, fingerstyle, and slapping feel positively effortless. Ear-grabbing tones abound when you plug the A528 in, courtesy of multi-voice Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers. Furthermore, a Mono-rail G2 bridge and Gotoh MG-T locking tuning machines ensure spot-on intonation and tuning stability — even under profoundly primal playing conditions. Do you have a predilection for pushing technical boundaries? Then pick up the Alpha A528, and we guarantee that you’ll have a difficult time putting this state-of-the-art extended-range riff machine down.

High-speed Parallel Wizard neck

The Alpha A528 was built for high-level, technical playing styles, evidenced by its Parallel Wizard neck. Crafted from maple and walnut, this ultra-stable 5-piece neck is 0.75 inches thick throughout its entire length, offering amazing playability for players who prefer a higher playing position. Moreover, its multi-scale ebony fingerboard ensures superior string tension and intonation, facilitating easy execution of tapping, fingerstyle, bass-inspired slapping, and other complex fret-hand aerobatics. This 8-string electric guitar is also equipped with jumbo-sized stainless steel frets, which ensure long-lasting durability and effortless note bending. The guitarists here at Sweetwater have found the A528 to be incredibly versatile — it offers a zero-drag playing experience for technical metal, jazz-rock fusion, and any experimental genre you throw at it. If your personal style involves challenging playing techniques, the A528 will permit you to play cleaner and faster than you ever thought possible.

Multi-voice Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers

The Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers in the Ibanez Alpha A528 deliver the most sought-after humbucking tones, ranging from modern active to high-output humbucking. Unlike most wire-wound models, Fluence pickups serve up this massive tone arsenal without noise or inductance issues. Additionally, Fishman Fluence Modern humbucker pickups provide you with a choice of two distinctly different voices for each pickup, which you can change via the dedicated Voicing switch. The A528 also brandishes Volume and Tone knobs, as well as a 3-way lever pickup selector switch.

State-of-the-art bulletproof hardware

Ibanez specified their excellent Mono-rail G2 bridge for the Alpha A528. Unlike single-body bridges, each Mono-rail saddle is completely separate from the others. This does two things for you. First, since they aren’t connected, the saddles create minimal sympathetic vibration. This prevents unused strings from ringing. Second, each saddle is double-anchored, allowing energy to transfer efficiently between the string and the body, giving rise to astonishing clarity and sustain. Beyond that, the A528 comes outfitted with Gotoh MG-T machine heads, providing you with a high-precision 16:1 gear ratio and advanced locking performance for absolute bulletproof reliability.

What Ibanez Says...

As its very name, ALPHA, signifies a beginning, this Ibanez series is no exception. The Ibanez Alpha is forged for the modern, cutting-edge guitar player, boasting an array of truly unique and contemporary features. Its ergonomically designed body silhouette and contours deliver an unprecedented, immersive playing experience. The Ibanez Alpha won't just change how you approach playing; it will open completely new horizons for your music..

Parallel Wizard AS 5pc Maple/Walnut neck

This Parallel Wizard AS neck has a more rounded shape towards the bass side, while retaining its even thickness of the 21mm across all positions. This asymmetric shape provides a more comfortable grip and natural feel that makes techniques like sweeping and string skipping much easier. The combination Maple/Walnut neck offers tonal clarity and superior attack.

Ebony fretboard

Ebony fretboard Ebony produces tight lows and mid range with a strong attack in the high end and features a quick response and rich sustain.

Jumbo Stainless Steel frets

Stainless steel frets boast excellent corrosion resistance. The wide and tall fret-type offers a quick response and effortless articulation when playing chords and clear tone when playing single notes.

American Basswood body

The American Basswood body delivers a natural and flat tone.

Fishman® Fluence™ Modern Humbucker Alnico / Fluence™ Modern Humbucker Ceramic pickups.

The Fishman® Fluence™ Modern Humbucker pickups provide an aggressive tone and a powerful attack without excess noise.

Gotoh® MG-T locking machine heads

The Gotoh® MG-T locking machine heads achieve incredible tuning stability, cutting down string-changing time

Mono-rail G2 bridge

The Mono-rail design transfers string resonance to the body while limiting string-to-string interference and provides superb note separation; The innovative Ibanez Mono-rail G2 bridge is also capable of string-through or top-loading string installation.

Fishman® Fluence™ Voicing switch

The Voicing switch allows the pickups to switch from a modern, active high output sound to a crisp, clean and fluid sound.

Ergonomic Elbow contour

The Alpha's elbow contour is sculpted to form a slight scoop right where the player's arm touches the body. This design improves playing position and comfort which helps further stabilize the picking hand

Neck Joint

The Alpha series features an innovative, three-screw neck joint design, which utilizes two screws mounted within an oval-shaped stainless-steel plate and one additional screw driven directly from the body into the neck. This unique construction ensures joint strength while improving access to the high frets and enhancing overall playability

Ergonomic rear body contour

The upper side of the body back has a long sculpted contour running the full length of the upper horn. This design naturally angles the guitar slightly upward when held against the player's body, which also angles the fretboard. This angle efficiently enhances fretboard visibility and the guitar's playability, requiring minimal effort from the player and allowing for more focus on playing

Flat body edge (lower side)

The lower side of the body is made flat and wide, providing a large and stable contact area between the guitar and the player's leg, preventing the guitar from unwanted movement or slippage, while playing sitting down

Rear output jack

The output jack is precisely positioned to ensure that it does not hinder performance, no matter the player's posture or playing orientation.

Luminescent side dot inlays

The luminescent side dot position marks make it easy for players to see fretboard position marks when performing on dark stages.