The SJ500 features a full-hollow body design with a solid spruce top with ƒ holes and cream multi-binding on flamed maple back and sides with a single Venetian cutaway mated to a set-in maple and walnut neck with a 20-fret ebony fingerboard with cream binding and no position markers. Components include a single, floating Ibanez Super 58 humbucking pickup at the neck with gold cover, an ART-W bridge with wooden saddle and base, a tailpiece with wooden cover, a bone nut, a bakelite pickguard with rosewood veneer, rosewood knobs, and Ibanez tuning machines with ebony half moon buttons.
The SS500 is a similar model with a slightly smaller body and a less rounded cutaway.
The SJ500 was discontinued in 2014. It was replaced with the SJ300.