IYV-IRK-300 Semi Hollow Electric Guitar 3T Sunburst (IYV)

Hello everyone. First of all, let us get this out of the way. When someone purchases a guitar (whether it is used, refurbished, displayed model, with minor imperfection, or a new one) at some point you are going to set the action, set the intonation, treat the fret board, file the fret ends, replace/modify the knobs/switches/bridge/strings/pickups/neck/etc. to your preference. It is no difference when you buy your vehicle. Eventually, you are going to change/add/replace/modify items on your vehicle to your liking. And that is fine. With that said, please do not count these components as a negative criticism towards these guitars. Let us just focus on the guitar itself. With minor tuning and neck adjustments, these guitars are ready to play right out of the box. As you know, minor tuning and neck adjustments are common with any guitar you purchase. The finish, quality, and construction of these guitars are awesome. The headstock is eye-catching. The neck is straight. The frets do not have dents/divots and are smooth (no sharp edges). The fret board is fine. The body is beautiful. The joints/seems are connected to satisfactory. The hardware (pickup selector or switch/output or input jack/volume & tone knobs or controls/bridge/pickups/pick guard/tuners/electronics/screws/nuts/strap buttons/fret or inlay markers/fret nut) are nice, functional, and tight. There may be some small blemishes or cloudy finishes here and there, fret board might have some kind of dye on it, but nothing really significant that would cause you NOT to play the guitar immediately. I’ve made NO modifications or changed any components on this guitar and had no major issue with feedback noise, guitar getting out of tune from hours of play, components getting loose or not working, breaking strings, electrical issues, etc. Again, everyone has their option on what they consider feedback, guitar out of tune, components getting loose or not working, breaking strings, electrical issues, etc. And that is okay. It also varies on the equipment (amps/stacks/pedals/cables/etc.) you use and how you play these guitars. In conclusion, these guitars are attractive, feel great, look fabulous, sound terrific, entice you to play them and definitely fun to play. I am sold, and I am a HUGE fan of the IYV Guitars! I wished I could have purchased the earlier models when they first came out. If I had the money, I would buy all the IYV models. For an electric guitar under $200.00 and with no shipping fees, these guitars are an excellent investment! I will say it again. Not only are these guitars gorgeous, but they are also a pleasure to play. I hope IYV will continue to produce new models or have older models available because I am excited in purchasing them in the future. Thank you IYV Guitar company/staff for producing this magnificent product!

I’m actually impressed! I have a friend who I recently got started with guitars. He really admired my FireGlo Rickenbacker 330, which is easy to understand since it is a stunningly beautiful guitar. So for Xmas I decided I would get him this relatively inexpensive guitar. My main thought was that it would be a great piece of wall art for his office and an incentive to keep learning to play. I had actually watched several videos on this guitar and all of them indicated that while the bridge pickup was pretty decent, the neck pickup always sounded totally dull, muted and low output. But I have to say that in the last week that I’ve been “testing” and setting up my friend’s new guitar, I am actually pretty impressed! Both pickups sound pretty decent and have an appropriate sound for each location. Now I’m not saying that this guitar sounds anything like my Rickenbacker, nor does it match any of my Strats, Les Paul’s or others. But I will say that it does have decent sound in all 3 switch settings and sounds like a pretty decent guitar. Which for the price is somewhat amazing! Overall the fit and finish is really pretty danged good! It is a nice looking and feeling guitar. Not just for a “cheap” guitar, but for any under $1000 guitar. Didn’t have any fret sprouts (which many reputable brands do have nowadays), the finish is well done and even the tuners are reasonable. And pretty inexpensive to swap out a great set of Gotoh Locking tuners if you plan on keeping and using this. I have to say that I was expecting a lot less. Been playing and collecting guitars for decades and this one is really fun to play! Obviously not going to replace my Ricky, but I’m sure my friend will really enjoy this! Assuming he keeps up his lessons! 😂

Guitar arrived well packaged and in good condition. Finish is reasonable with a few blemishes but nothing significant. Plays really well, good neck (needs an oiling) and frets are reasonable but could use a polishing. Surprisingly good tone from the pickups, with some characteristic chime from this sort of guitar. Setup ie action and intonation spot on, no need for adjustment at all. Pickup height needed adjustment. Bridge and hardware are reasonable quality and the electronics work well. No hum or feedback when played on a Fender gtx 100 amp. Weak points are the tuning heads and strings which are low quality but can easily be changed out. Overall very good value for money, and actually irrespective of the cost it is just a very decent guitar.

With Rickenbacker being perpetually, frustratingly behind the times, it's tougher to get a decent 50's/60's semi-hollow than most other guitar styles. Without much competition, my expectations were tempered, but Beatles fans on a budget can rejoice, because this is a remarkably nice instrument for so little money. The looks are great, and not only are the colors lovely, but it has no real flaws anywhere. It feels quite decent, is well balanced, has a nicely shaped neck, doesn't have too much flex anywhere, has reasonably smooth fret edges; it's just a plain good instrument, top to bottom. The strings it came with should be changed right away, but once you do, the sound is lovely, with no need to swap the stock pickups. It's just a bit jangly and bright as it should be, and the pickups are a little lower output than most humbuckers, without being weak enough as to require rebalancing your amp and pedal settings. The bridge isn't quite as convenient to restring as most modern designs, but doesn't really hold you back. The tuners would benefit from being replaced with a nicer set, but are definitely good enough to work with. All in all, I'm thoroughly impressed and very happy to finally have a Rickenbacker styled guitar without spending an arm and a leg.

Unbelievable quality for a low price. In tune and set up out of the box, had to tweak the lower E string and she played like a dream. Nice quality locking tuners! The neck is fast and smooth, the finish is high quality - it almost glows in the dark. I'm super impressed and encourage you to buy one if you are considering one.

3 stars out of box. 5 stars after dressing frets/fretboard, bridge height and new set of D Addario 09’s, value/quality Ratio far exceeds that of any prior budget bargain guitar I’ve purchased. $145 Black Friday. There’s a Couple finish defects as others have stated. But very minor. A couple random cosmetic black specs under clear coat. Surprised that The tuners felt as nice and are perfectly fine. It easily holds tune after string stretch. Difficult to re string the treble side of trapeze. The string holes are tucked far under and is very difficult to run the string thru. Also, have to strum and pluck gently Or the string will skip off of bridge saddle.

The bar is continually being raised on these cheap guitars from overseas. This IYV Rickenbacker copy is great and an unbelievable value at a buck sixty five. Cosmetically, the fire glow finish is beautiful and the matching paint job on the headstock & back of the neck is classy. The guitar came set up well. Intonation was almost perfect. I had to adjust the low E string a bit. Neck is straight. Frets are perfect. Guitar plays well up and down the neck. Neck is a little narrow. String spacing is a bit tight. Tuners are good. Guitar stays in tune even with aggressive playing. Nut is plastic but slots are cut to the proper height nice & low. The tailpiece and bridge design is quirky but functional. The tailpiece is floating and only attached by the strap button. It relies on the string tension to keep it straight. The bridge is a tune o matic style but it is not attached to the guitar at all. It sits atop a metal plate and relies on the sting pressure to keep it in place. When I took the crappy sounding strings off to change & oil the fretboard, the bridge came tumbling off onto the floor. The slots on the individual bridge saddles are cut shallow. If you bend aggressively the strings will probably occasionally slip out of the groove in the saddle. Out of the box, the neck pickup was considerably louder than the bridge which makes me think they use the same pickup for both positions. Both pickups come set low with a lot of space between the pickup & strings. I tried to raise the bridge pickup but the screws just loosened & the pickup height didn't change so I removed the pickup and discovered the pickups are screwed directly into the body (like a tele neck pickup). There is foam rubber glued to the bottom of the pickup which establishes the height so you can lower the pickups by screwing them down but loosening just makes the pickup all wobbly. I remedied this by putting a piece of foam in the pickup cavity and replacing the pickup so it sits higher. With the strings back on, I adjusted the height so the volume matched the neck. The pickups have a unique sound and I dig them. Real Rickenbacker pickups are single coil but I think these are humbuckers because they are very quiet. Bridge pickup is bright and sounds better with the tone rolled back a bit. Neck is warm and fatter. Guitar sounds best with both pickups on, using the neck volume like a tone knob to blend in more or less of the warmer neck tone. Pickups tone is nice & clear. Pummeling them with distortion yields a cool funky lo-fi kind of vocal growl with no squealing or feedback. If you want a guitar that looks and sounds different than most other electrics, this one is a good choice.

First one came a few days ago..but it seemed already well played .tuned it up..jangly vibrating strings and terrible buzz...so I sent it back and replaced it with one that came today..it also seems played or handled somewhat already ( 😂)and has the general surface blemishes but nothing too bad... overall, I love this one..the neck plays great .no string or fret buzz. I'm glad I took the chance. You should too..it a beautiful guitar that cleans and shines up nice. Action is perfect out of the box. This one's a keeper. If you order one ..hope they send you a good one!! It was worth the risk... especially since I don't really recommend anyone buying a guitar unless they've played it.

Steppenwolf and the Beatles have never sounded so good. A bit of fret sprout was easily fixed... I should have changed the strings, but I'm having too much fun with it out of the box.

A great ric substitute.looks good,plays good.

decent quality, well worth the price, thanks brighton shop

What a great guitar plays awesome looks fantastic one great deal!!!

In my experience, inconsistent QC is one of the things that go hand in hand with buying inexpensive guitars. One can be nearly perfect and the next one, not so much. What makes this guitar good value is less to do with price versus quality and more to do with the relative lack of options for a Rick-styled guitar. If this were a Strat or LP style guitar, at this price point there are lots of options and as a result, I'd be less forgiving of an imperfection in the finish or some fret sprout or a high fret but for a Rick-styled guitar, I do forgive those things. The finish on mine was perfect and it sounds great. It had a number of frets that weren't fully seated and after addressing that I ended up doing a full fret level, crown and polish. I swapped the tuners (and I usually don't unless they're really clunky). Also not a fan of these bridges but they're part of the vibe of guitars like this so it's fine. In conclusion, you may get a perfect one or you may not. Even if you get one that needs some TLC and don't feel comfortable doing the work yourself, it's probably worth it for this style of guitar (certainly you'll spend way less than you would for the guitar this is styled after).