The Q52 is a Q series headless solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 2021. It is made in Indonesia.
The Q52 features an ergonomic, compact, light-weight and resonant nyatoh body bolted to a roasted maple and bubinga neck with a 24-fret roasted birdseye maple fingerboard with mother of pearl step off-set dot position markers and luminescent side dots. Components include a pair of Q58 humbucking pickups, and individually mounted Mono-Tune bridges.
For 2022 the magnets in the Q58 pickups were changed from alnico to ceramic. For 2024 the fret material was changed from Jescar EVO gold to stainless steel.
The Q52 employs a dyna-MIX10 switching system (see diagram below) with an "Alter switch" toggle which allows the user to access ten distinct tones. The Alter switch appears to tap one coil of the humbucker (as opposed to a traditional coil-split which disables one coil completely) to achieve a sound similar to a single coil without the drop in output which typically accompanies a coil split. The video below offers a sample of some of the tones available.
The Q52PB is a similar model with a poplar burl top. The Q54 is a similar model with HSS pickup configuration and different finishes. The QX52 is a related model with slanted frets.
