Ibanez YY20 Yvette Young Signature Electric Guitar, Orange Cream Sparkle

For players seeking a truly optimized instrument for alternative tunings and exceptionally melodic playing, there are few guitars quite like the Ibanez YY20 Yvette Young Signature. Perfect for unlocking a new, modern mode of playing, this Ibanez offset sets course toward the cutting edge of guitar innovation.

As a multi-instrumentalist, visual artist, guitar icon and one of the premier and most innovative voices working in rock music today, there are many sides of Yvette Young to get to know. Her guitar heroism manifests across several spheres with her work as frontwoman of math rock band Covet, her internet fame as a maestro of tapping and open tunings, and as an entry among the 2023 Rolling Stone list of “The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. For players devoted to math and Midwest styles of playing, few modern guitarists rise to the occasion like Young as a representative on the most mainstream scale for their style of sound. Young’s virtuosic playing and affinity for Ibanez led her to this collaboration with the brand and resulted in a guitar that is distinctly her in style, sound and playability. With the YY20, the colorful world of Yvette Young comes to life for anyone to pick it up.

This Yvette Young signature Ibanez starts with an alder body shaped in an Ibanez Talman-style offset shape. Usually played in an up-close-and-personal manner, this alder body is designed to be comfortable and easily carried. Its double cutaway form inspires adventurous travels from the lowest to the highest registers possible across the 25.5” scale length while its unique contours slip easily into the arms. This alder body is matched with a maple neck fitted to a YY-type profile that measures .82” at the first fret and .86” at the twelfth fret for a consistent feel up and down the length. A rosewood fingerboard lands on this model and is punctuated by twenty-two Medium-sized frets designed to aid in articulate fretting and clarity in single notes – an essential element in Young’s melodic tapping style of play.

The YY20 breathes sonically with two Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro passive/alnico pickups. These single-coils play with an authentically vintage sound while remaining bright with a smooth treble response. Delivering the form and articulation needed for Young’s form of expansive riffage, the YY20 imparts the same impressive power to anyone to cross its path. Further hardware specifications on this model advance the state of play for players seeking those definitive finishing touches. A Gotoh GTC202 bridge lands on this piece and is equipped with six individual string saddles to ground strings for rock solid intonation. This bridge is matched at the guitar’s opposite end by six Gotoh MG-T locking machine heads that assist in string changing, enhance intonation and play an essential role in Young’s work with alternate and open tunings. Additional elements including a bone nut, a 12.0079” fingerboard radius and a Young-designed sticker pack compound upon this instrument for a fully realized signature model.

Always reaching for new highs in her melodicism and expression, Young’s footprint on the state of modern guitar has yet to be fully contextualized, but with the YY20, her mark is nonetheless plainly evident.