“The new Ibanez guitar is exceptional, won’t be too expensive… I am pretty excited about it”: Pat Metheny’s new signature jazz box is out now – and the Charlie Christian-inspired pickup is star of the show

Ibanez has launched Pat Metheny’s much-anticipated signature guitar, and it is an affordable option for any player looking for a pro-quality jazz guitar that was designed for a contemporary great but inspired by a jazz icon.

Available in Black or Natural Amber finishes, both with a “low-gloss” finish, the PM3C is a single-cut, single-pickup hollowbody on which the signature pickup is the star of the show, offering the players – Metheny included – a taste of Charlie Christian’s early electric guitar tone. The tone in question, is from his ES-150, and one of the earliest examples of an electric guitar pickup. 

Mounted on the neck position, the PM Special single-coil is custom-wound for that Christian tone. When asked if it would sound a little like Christian’s ES-250, which had recently been brought out of storage and demoed by the likes of George Benson and Julian Lage, Metheny told MusicRadar that he and Ibanez were going back even further.

“Charlie’s ES-250 that George played is actually the third generation Charlie Christian pickup,” he said. “It’s great, but my focus has been on the earlier generations that were featured on the ES-150. In essence they are the first single coil pickups, and my whole life until recently was in the realm of humbucking pickups. Both have their advantages.

The world was given a sneak preview of the Ibanez PM3C at NAMM 2024, in January, but no launch date had been confirmed. Having road-tested it, Metheny promised us it was coming soon and he is as good as his word.

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“The new Ibanez guitar is exceptional, won’t be too expensive, and will offer a lot of players a window into that zone,” he said. At £1,399/$1,599, he’ll get no argument here. These are made in Indonesia and offer a lot of guitar for the money. 

Metheny has been with Ibanez for a long time now. But this is something different. Here we have an all-new headstock shape, new signature inlays on the bound ebony fretboard. 

With a body of spruce on top, maple on the back and sides, the PM3C is a twist on the usual all-maple recipe we get on Metheny’s more expensive humbucker-equipped PM200NT signature model. The neck is glued in and comprises a three-piece design of maple and nyatoh.

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It is also equipped with a Gibraltar Performer bridge, which allied to the very classic VT200 tailpiece should enhance sustain and intonation. The hardware is finished in Titan Gold. Very nice, but there are a lot of nice details.

The 22 medium frets have been given the Artstar edge treatment. Ibanez lists the neck thickness as a relatively mainstream 20mm at the 1st fret, filling out to 22mm at the 9th. With a 24.7” scale length and 12” fingerboard radius we’d expect this to be very approachable for all your comping and soloing needs.

For more information, head over to Ibanez. It ships in a gig bag and pre-orders are now open at Ibanez dealers worldwide.

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In other Metheny news, the jazz legend has just released his new album, MoonDial, via BMG, on which he plays a baritone nylon-string guitar in a custom tuning to extend the instrument’s range. 

You read all about the making of MoonDial and how the Linda Manzer baritone inspired the process in Metheny’s interview with MusicRadar.