IYV ISSY-200NA Strat Solid-Body Electric Guitar, Natural

**JUST A FOLLOW UP** I spotted this again on sale and scored it paying with Amazon points of just $100.18! Now, the first one's figuring actually improved as it aged an really stands out better than when it was fresh, but this one's grain figuring is amazing! It looks like a fumed eucalyptus quilt and is exactly the pattern I had be desiring recently and planning to order some fumed eucalyptus veneer. The construction just like the first and my other IYV is flawless. Much like the first, I will have to router a bridge cavity and plan to refinish it in green, but I will keep these guitars with me until the day I put back into the Earth. IYV has really outperformed everyone in the current market I don't care what brand, model and pricing you're referencing. I swore this was my final year buying guitars as I'm about to finish building my own and continue doing so, but if I spot more models from IYV I will bend that rule and buy them. **Read onto my original review and you'll get a lot of good information** A very well-made guitar. I play at that sought after elite level of shredding, arpeggios and sweeps, blues, 2-hand touch like the thing is a piano, so I have incredibly high standards, but am not actually a snob as my headline jests. I buy a lot of cheap guitars from $50 up to $400, have owned in the many dozens of guitars, still own some very expensive models, dozens of budget models, and can do extreme custom work in regard to woodwork, hardware, building custom active circuits and in some cases, modifying the pickups themselves extensively. Out of the box it's a very nice-looking guitar with zero cosmetic flaws, but I would have liked for the tiger stripe flaming to be as outstanding as that which is pictured. It's not an issue at all. The neck depth thickness is equivalent to an acoustic-electric rather than a heavy metal shredder so often paper-thin necks; this is ultimately irrelevant to me. The hardware is very good quality and well chromed. I prefer satin or black, but still have no complaints. The pickups are very high output, raunchy, groany, good "wah-like" bend and twang with very sleazy and in your face pinch harmonics. A perfect starting point for the active circuit I will build and install in it. It has a headstock that matches my Johson super stratocasters I've owned for nearly 20 years, and a few other off-brand guitars I still own. It's a design I have always really liked. I needed another daily player because ATM, for all the guitars I have, the majority are in the operating room and after a serious injury 3 years ago to my shoulder, I've not caught up with them and quite truly haven't had the patience in light of the injury to grind through the work required. Taking a fancy looking $65 junk-brand guitar to the performance of a $1000 name brand build is far from impossible, but it's also several hundred dollars of my own labor, with the advantage being only about a $30 investment for usually a better bridge(unavoidable), and my custom-built active electronics. This doesn't need any hardware upgrades and the pickups are ideal for my intentions, but without the modifications, would still easily be as good as a set of Duncans, Gibsons, Dimarzios and so on. I don't get wrapped up in brand mythology. It comes with a MFR. stamp that looks quite respectable and like the brand may in fact command much respect in another decade or so, and though I've read some negative reviews, this guitar is picture perfect out of the box in performance and appearance, and needed very minor hardware adjustments. My only complaint is no fret markers on the board, only side markers, but I will buy a fancy set of stickers for this desire. In the long term, there's a very good chance I will strip the finish off the body and rub on a red or a green dye before resealing it, and potentially thin the neck out, but I have some hollow body Les Pauls that are it's equivalent, and I've never had an issue shredding metal on those so maybe this one will remain at this thickness depth. Anyway, I was eyeballing their PRS style clones before jumping on this one instead because it's a neck through, the torch stripe graining, and the Wilkinson tremolo, so in a few months, may very well jump on one of those models after I've finished up several long standing project guitars. This was purchased in the hopes that it would be worthy as a daily player without mods so I have some variety at the moment, and took 20 minutes to determine I made a wise decision and am not disappointed in any measure. I looked at some budget model Jacksons and Ibanezes when I reviewed this one, but their features were a major turn off. Bolt on necks, crappy vintage fulcrum tremolos, boring finish options etc., and they would need a lot of labor and the bridges upgraded to satisfy me. I definitely made the right call and Christmas came early for me. I now have another high end additional daily player that doesn't need any grueling upgrades.

My first experience was not good....Firstly , it didn’t show shipped for about 3 days,,then it suddenly shipped...though it was a bass guitar instead of a 6 string electric guitar...didn’t unwrap it , but looked like the same neck thru construction...sending it back today..this will undoubtedly lead to amazon sending me some used ,returned, b stock, flawed , guitar that I will also send back...then maybe a couple weeks from now I’ll actually get my new iyv guitar...will review upon receiving the instrument I ordered.. Not what I expected....sent the bass back , Amazon refunded my account later the very day I shipped it....so I pulled the trigger again....this time it shipped within 30 hours of order and I received it 3 days latter via UPS.... Wow is all I can say.... Beautiful top, bone straight amaranth fretboard with medium jumbo frets, tuners are pretty decent, looks like it does have a bone nut, and the pick-ups are good as long as you don’t pull them too close to the strings. I set this guitar up multiple ways giving it a lot of neck bow and then absolutely zero neck bow and this neck is a great neck it enjoys and plays well being set almost bone straight with almost no relief the internation’s are very very close straight out of the box , doesn’t hold tune extremely well but I got a feeling that’s because the strings are cheap and this thing is like a very high-quality guitar that has just went through first of the last stages of finishing before it goes to the custom set up shop and the frets are a little dirty and could use some buffing and the nut needs to be cut slightly better I’d say after that this guitar would stay in tune even while using the Wilkinson tremolo.the pick ups sounded the best just barely raised above the pick up ring and the bridge pick up is very bright and very grinding if you get it too close to the strings it gets very muddy also, the neck pick up however is absolutely completely gorgeous sounding whether it’s close to the strings are far away and the knobs on this thing are as good as any $600 jackson or ESP guitar they are very loose and very smooth the three-way switch seems to be pretty good quality , all of the plastic covers on the back are countersunk perfectly into the body and it looks gorgeous,. I would say if you were willing to do a little bit of work or even take this guitar to a decent place to have it professionally finished and set up for maybe $100 bill ,for less than $350 you would have a quality neck through guitar that sounds pretty good would hold tune well enough and would be gigable live and will probably last a lifetime ... I am not sorry that I paid $236 for this guitar whatsoever even though I am going to drop a Floyd rose locking tremolo on it and put a brass nut on it and put a lock nut behind that brass nut ,by the way it does have a 42 mm nut on it but if you were going to cut another nut for it a 43 would work on it ..I am going to put the neck pick up in the bridge position and then put a couple of extra mini switches between the volume and tone knobs ,and put a mini home bucker rail pick up closest to the bridge in the neck position and then put a nice alnico vintage single coil in the neck position directly next to the fretboard ,I may put a five way switch in it after that ,that way I can pick and choose between which pick up in the neck position and I’m sure that that neck pick up and the bridge position will be very warm and fat and clean with lots of harmonics and dynamics and I’m going to put a push pull pot on the tone and run it series or parallel for a big P 90 kind of sound or the hum-bucker sound...get these while you can ,,mod or not ,,,we’ll worth the money...

Another excellent guitar from IYV. I’m giving the guitar 5 stars even though the guitar had one minor issue that was easily remedied. This guitar has a Wilkinson WVS 50k 10.8 saddle bridge. It can be kinda complicated to set the action and intonation compared to other 2-point tremelos since the saddles do not have internal springs. You must first loosen the top allen screw in order to move/raise/lower the saddles then tighten the screw back down. I was able to find a you tube video and then actually swapped the bridge to a black one since I had decided to put black hardware on it before purchasing. I want to stress everything works well on the guitar. The neck needed 3 turns to correct the bow but once done, the guitar plays, looks, and sounds amazing. The guitar has some weight to it similar to one of my Gibson Les Paul’s. The finish is gorgeous. The neck and fretboard are very smooth and comfortable to play with absolutely no sharp fret edges or any dead/buzzing spots. The neck is neck-thru which creates excellent note clarity and sustain. This is an amazing guitar to mod out which is the route I’ve taken. The original Alnico 5 “Destiny CNC Wound” open humbuckers do sound decent especially for a lower priced guitar. The machine heads do work properly and hold tune as do all of the electronics. The guitar has a well-cut bone nut, not a cheaper plastic one that’s usually found on an inexpensive guitar. I installed a set of Dragonfire ceramic hot red Shadowbuckers, swapped the bridge to a black one as previously stated, swapped out the machine heads for black locking ones, and swapped the chrome knobs for black ones. The bridge studs are chrome since I decided not to replace and the black ones would not thread into the original studs for some reason. I play metal and wanted hotter ceramic pickups which is why I swapped the pickups. The stock pickups are great for rock and blues. All in all, I’m extremely happy with my purchase. I’ve been looking at this guitar for a while so I’m very happy I finally made the purchase. This is my 5th IYV guitar.

Like everyone else I've been enjoying this golden age of budget guitars that we are currently in. I've had a chance to play quite a few of the sub $250 guitars out there. Most are made in China and have a very similar all around feel to them. The weight, playability, level of finishing etc. are all very similar. Perfectly good guitars with minor compromises but you can instantly tell one when you pick it up. The IYV ISSY-200 is a completely different animal. From the instant you pick it up still covered in the white foam bag you can tell from the heft that this not a typical budget guitar. And when you pull the bag off you will be amazed at how beautiful the guitar is. The five piece neck and neck through design make you feel like they have screwed up and shipped you the wrong guitar. At first glance it looks like a $1000 guitar. On close inspection it has some minor blemishes here and there but for a little over $200 who cares? The fretboard was surprisingly dry and dirty on mine from what I guess is the roasting process. Not a big deal to clean up but it was in stark contrast to the rest of the guitar. The setup out of the box was pretty good. I lowered the action slightly but required no truss rod adjustment. When tuned up the Wilkinson is perfectly parallel to the body and looks great. The frets are not polished but play in quickly. The neck itself is a little thicker than the modern Ibanez/Schecters which I like but I don't find it a problem. The fretboard is fast and comfortable. This guitar is on a much higher level than any other budget guitar I've come across. I have no idea how it is possible to build this, ship it from Vietnam and get it to my doorstep for a little over $200. I recommend everyone get one of these now as I can't believe the price won't start heading up. BTW the one I received is much darker than the pictures I have seen. So I'm not sure if that's a change or a one off. Either way I love the way it looks.

It really is a cool guitar at a ridiculous price. I like finished necks this one is alittle chuncky but very comfortable for my big hands. I bought it expecting to have to do a ton of work to it. I was hoping the quality of the body was good enough to get a good guitar out of it. I am happy to say it needed no fret level, had good action, and trem was setup good. The pots were scratchy and trash the pickups seemed okay, tuners were bad bad. I changed the pickups, Pots, knobs, tuners and input jack. The bad Trem is limited because of pocket cut it hits the body pulling back on it idk why they made it like this. It Still has a lot of travel but wtf. Small imperfections on body and finish nothing bad at all. The low e tuner cannot sit flush because of headstock design. It still works perfect but sits slightly askew because of headstock curving up to nut before it should best way I can describe flaw. At the end of the day I was so impressed I wanted to buy another immediately just to have around or give to the nephews

i got this on sale, CHEAP. like well under $200 cheap. i didnt expect much. i was blown away when i got it. no. its not a $1500 guitar, but for the price, its AMAZING. very decent fit and finish, NO SHARP FRET ENDS!! (one of the worst issues ive found with any bargain guitar) SMOOTH FINISH. ive bought $800 name brand guitars that had horrible runs in teh clear coat, this one was impeccable. good weight, good balance. if youre one of those people that have to change out pickups on everything because you cant tune your equipment to get the sound you want, youll probably do that weather the pickups are good or not, so no use commenting on that. but they are your average middle of the line pu. theyre no dave mustain livewire active pickups, but not trash like esp/ltd likes to use either. i will keep them becasue i know how to adjust my amp to bring out the tones i want. (do better, guitarists) my big complaint is the plastic pickup rings are warped and need to be replaced. merely aesthetic - ill be replacing them with metal. the fretboard will probably get a light leveling, which i had already planned to do because it is a cheap guitar, but other than a truss rod adjustment out of the box, it is absolutely flat enough to play as is. im giving 4 stars mainly because of those ugly warped pickup rings, slightly because of the 2 very, very, ever so slightly high frets that need dressed, and needing a truss rod adjustment out of the box, although the last one is completely understandable considering it has probably traveled through SEVERAL different temp and humidity cycles between the maker and me. if youre like me and enjoy tinkering with guitars as much as playing, youre losing money not buying this thing. imo, if youre a beginner, IF you plan on having someone knowledgeable set it up, this would be a great bargain beginners guitar also. did i mention how pretty it looks? (again, assuming you ignore that disgusting pickup ring) gotta love the natural finishes.

I think there are issues at the factory warehouse at IYV. The guitar looks very nice with the neck-thru construction. I wouldn't know though because I was sent the wrong item two times in a row because someone in their warehouse mis-labeled the shipping boxes - both BASS and GUITAR barcodes were on the shipping boxes. I've been in the market for a decent strat-style guitar with neck-thru construction and this one fits the bill - it looks like a great modification platform!

CONS: 1) Setup was horrrrrrrible! 2) Truss rod was never touched and I had to chip out excessive paint & gunk out of the hex/allen nut. 3) Tuners are gritty. 4) The 2-point trem uses a non-standard post spacing(62.5mm) and difficult to find another model trem(I wanted black hardware)... Btw, the stock trem work fine but I hate the FEEL of it while palm muting. 5) The nut is cut too low & frets out on the 1st fret. 6) Fretboard some kind of composite and kind of feels like a chalkboard. PROS: 1) It's neck-thru. 2) Pickups actually sound very good. 3) Price, I paid 93 bucks. 4) No sharp fret ends. 5) Neck feels familiar, like a MIM Strat. 6) Limited finish/paint flaws. NOTE: Don't expect it to look exactly like the listing photos. Mine didn't have a horizontal flame top, mine has a weak diagonal quilt top 😕 ** Finally, if you can PROPERLY perform your own setups, this might be a good choice, depending on price... If you can't, steer clear of these like the plague, unless you want to pay someone $100+ to set it up and fix it's quirks.

The tuners have 2 of 6 that are very sloppy with 1/2 turn on the button with no turn on the shaft. Must all be replaced. This is the first of 4 IYV guitars that have poor tuners. Plastic nut needs a bone. Fretboard needs marker inlays of some kind, on a guitar at this price in canada. The finish is very good and the wood grain is beautiful . the neck is a bit wide for an Ibanez copy.

Guitar Has a crack in the neck going from the top of the bridge pickup to down the bridge and has a the G string tunner is defect it skip when turning. I love my other Ivy maybe I got a bad one.. on this model..

I have been eyeing this gorgeous professional guitar for over a year from Canada. Amazon.ca finally was gracious enough to allow Canadian consumers a chance to get their hands on it at an affordable price that is way less than being offered by resellers looking for big profits. The guitar I received has a different fret board unlike the previous model which has a black ebony look. The new fret board looks to be made out of cherry wood, perhaps jojoba. I am not sure whether IYV would continue using this or I just got an abnormally. Anyway I am pleasantly surprised on how great the fret board feels. The frets are shiny smooth and professionally finished, no fret sprouts at all! The guitar is perfect, playable right out of the box! All I had to do was to tune the strings. I am grateful 🙏 that I received such a wonderful guitar. Thank you Inyen Vina (IYV) and Amazon!

Terrible fit and finish. Actual rust/crust on the frets. The plastic pickup rings and the back cover are totally warped. Looks like they were screwed on in 3 seconds with zero concern for the result. The tone knob just pops on and off. Looks great in pictures from a distance but terrible quality once you hold it.

Sharp looking guitar and feels great to play. Had to adjust truss rod and bridge, took me a few tries but very happy with this guitar. I have the action as low as I can get it with out any upper fret buzz. I do seem to have a slight buzz in the B string on the 13th fret but it doesn’t seem to carry through amp. Very happy with this purchase.