Has genetic engineering reached the electric guitar? Japanese manufacturers are now expending their research efforts on developing new strains of trees, so the story goes. To match production demands they need timber that grows rapidly but remains stable with a decent grain structure — no point having a forest that springs up overnight if it enjoys the consistency of a damp sandwich.

These fast bloomers are vaguely related to the alder family, apparently, but pass under the umbrella term of "basswood". And the Roadstars use it. And it works fine. And so does this intro.

These two guitars are examples of the Roadstar series II, both sharing a familiar American body design though with chunkier corners. The RS135 has three single coil pickups, a scratchplate and will henceforth be known as the white one; the RS225 has two humbuckers and shall be dubbed the red one — a deep wine red, in fact, and excellent finishing/paint jobs in both cases as you'd expect from oriental perfectionists.

They also share the same one piece maple necks attached to the bodies via four bolts and a back plate. They're rakish, comfortable and fast (silk finish on the back, slick lacquer on the front) and are assisted by medium height frets with a fairly thin bead. All praise to the Ibanez production line which has set the frets well. The necks grow slightly plumper as you slide towards the octave, but no complaints at all in this department.

Where I did start to wince was with the controls. The Roadstars have one volume and one tone control each — slinky looking black knobs with rubber surrounds. They look great on the red one, but awkward on the white one.

The controls themselves are a little loose for my liking, but the major drawback is that the pickup selectors (toggle for the red, five-way slider for the white) are too easy to reach when you don't want to and not easy enough when you do.

In other words, you're likely to knock them accidentally when scrabbling for the volume control, but when you are deliberately intent on a fast tone change the knobs get in the way.

The bridge is one of the neatest designs I've eyeballed in many a moon. It's a two parter. The strings pass up through the back of the body, into the tremolo block, surfacing behind the chrome saddles before travelling headstockwards. This main section of the bridge then floats. The front part of the plate on which the bridge is mounted presses into the restraining groove of an additional chromed bar bolted to the guitar itself. The bridge is suspended in mid air, held in check by the tension of the strings on one side and the tremolo springs on the other. Yes, a very old technique, but tidily executed by Ibanez.

The series II Roadstars feature snap-in tremolo arms (they lock into place with a push rather than being screwed into position.) They're much faster to fit and, surprisingly, tighter and more responsive in use. There's no wobble before the bridge begins to move.

The arms runs parallel to the strings, finishing just short of the neck pickup, so it slots comfortably into the palm of your hand while you're visiting string with plectrum.

Many pencils must have died to bring us the Roadstars since all the nuts are made from graphite, the material you find in the average HB. It exhibits less friction, reducing the occurrence of sticking strings and consequent erratic tremolos. Not as reliable as a locked trem system à la Floyd Rose, but smoother than plastic?? Yes, I'd reckon so, though I don't know if it will wear as well.

Trusty Ibanez machines appear on the headstock, but are sited too close to each other — your fingers get tangled. Liked the string trees to keep the E, B, G and D under control and the triangular strap buttons for faster release — small but attentive details.

In "operation" the Roadstars perhaps don't sparkle as highly as their finish. In both cases the sounds they put out are dependable and workmanlike with an accommodating range of basic tones. The red one (humbucker, if you remember) is quite hot and middly for a set of twin coils. Some eastern humbuckers can sound woolly but the Roadstar's are clear and well rounded, though tampering with the tone control muffles rather than changes them. I preferred it to the RS135.

Here the three single coils, all encased in white plastic, are significantly lower in output. In the neck and middle positions the Ibanez turns in a bright, punchy mouthful. I found the tail coil thin and brittle, but it would at least be heard above the rest of the band. The amp would need tweaking to add some beef for the fuzz box to work on.

The out-of-phase selections (on the second and fourth positions of the slider with an extra toggle switch to turn them off) are again representative of the Knopfler beastie, but the honking effect wanders from string to string, losing impact on the B and top E. A noticeable drop in top end as well, which seems a little strange.

Sturdy performers, faultless production, a good trem and fine value if only the pickups lived slightly more exciting lives.

IBANEZ Roadstar II
RS135: £199 RS225: £212