IYV IDN-126 Double-Neck Solid Body Guitar, Trans Red

I was initially drawn to the IYV 6/12 String Electric Doubleneck because of the return policy, which made me feel more at ease about purchasing. Before pulling the trigger, I had played a coworker’s IYV Les Paul and was impressed that it performed on par with many Epiphone models I’ve tried, but at a fraction of the price. When my Doubleneck arrived, the setup was almost perfect right out of the box. The neck was dead straight, the intonation was spot-on, and the action—though great for most players—needed only minor adjustments to match my preference for an extremely low setup. A single fret around the 15th did sit slightly high, but it didn’t affect my overall impression or prevent me from achieving a comfortable playing experience. The pickups turned out to be quite good, even for a self-professed pickup snob like me. The 12-string side runs a bit bright, but it maintains a chimey, vibrant tone without getting shrill. The 6-string pickups are a touch compressed and boxy on clean settings, yet they respond well to overdrive and sound perfectly serviceable, likely thanks to the ceramic magnets. I personally lean toward darker, mid-heavy pickups, but for this guitar an Alnico 5 or 6 might be my choice for upgrading, but that’s a purely subjective call. The guitar itself is undeniably heavy and exhibits significant neck dive, both of which are common with most doublenecks. It can feel like wrestling an albatross while standing up, but the eye-catching factor is huge if you’re looking to make a statement on stage. The Trans Red finish looks gorgeous, and the overall playability is impressive once you adjust to the extra weight. My only real issue was a small crack in the 12-string nut, but considering the affordable price and the fact that the nuts are inexpensive plastic, it didn’t bother me much—I planned on swapping them out eventually anyway. For anyone seeking a doubleneck without breaking the bank, this guitar is a great buy. It’s perfectly playable as is, and it also offers an excellent modding platform if you’re inclined to personalize it further. I have no regrets about purchasing this model and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wants that classic doubleneck look, feel, and sound at an accessible price point. I can't believe I got a double neck that is playable for the price of a pedal or a good set of pickups.

I was very surprised when I bought this guitar. Now the first one came with a broken tuning knob. But Amazon had no problem returning it I received a new one in three days. This one was in great shape. The guitar looks amazing. it plays comfortably; it sounds better than it should at this price. I really can play this on a gig without changing anything. The only upgrade I would like to see from IVY is better tuners. They are a bit sloppy feeling. It is heavy, as I would expect, and a little top heavy. But it is a fantastic value. I love it.

I was apprehensive about this purchase but knowing I could return if needed I decided to buy it and I'm very glad I did. I've always wanted a double neck but didn't want to spend over a grand just for something that looks cool. I have I think 28 stringed instruments and have been playing for 52 years (I suck but it's still fun) The guitar is playable right out of the box, just needed a tuning. The action is just slightly high but isn't uncomfortable to play as is. the tuners seem good enough and feel consistent, none are loose or too tight, time will tell if there are tuning issues but I don't expect it to be a problem. The 6 string nut was a bit high and needed to be cut deeper. The 12 string plastic nut was at the correct depth except for G strings which were high, nut is kind of a mess and should be upgraded but works for now. (specs on this guitar are nowhere to be found, even on the IYV website there's nothing). The pickups sound good and the switches and pots function as they should. These are the same brand pickups that AIO and Wolf guitars use, I will likely not change them (even though I mod everything I get my hands on). I didn't check the size of the pots because it doesn't make any difference, if the pots are smooth and linear, that's all that matters, resistance is resistance, size will not effect tone (40 years working in electronics so I know what I'm talking about). That said the resistance of the pots will matter, so I still need to check if they are 250K or 500K, humbucker pickups should have 500K pots or they can sound a bit dark. They sound good but I've only play it enough to test functionality. The quality of the guitar overall is pretty good, no sharp fret ends, necks feel good, guitar is not heavy. Seems solid, neck joints are good, finish looks nice, inlays look good, binding for the most part is good (except for areas pictured) This guitar is not perfect but the few defects are all cosmetic as shown in the pictures and are not that noticeable unless you are looking closely. List of things I'm going to do to this guitar: 1) Clean it, it came dusty and with fine sawdust on it. It also has wax here and there that has dried to a white powder. 2) change the strings, strings are a bit rusty and obviously cheap but are usable. 3) Polish the frets, they are dressed nicely but are dull and would benefit from a nice polishing. 4) Oil the fret boards, they are very dry and need a good oiling (I use mineral oil because the expensive lemon fret board oil is just scented mineral oil, read the label if you must). 5) adjust the action and check/adjust intonation, the neck relief looks about right with no dead or buzzing frets yet, but adjusting the action will weed out any problem frets. 6) I might see if I can swap the pickup covers to the 12 string pickups. I don't know why but all Asian built double necks have the open coil pickups on the 12 string side which is not correct. Final thoughts; I think this guitar is well worth buying and although not perfect it is a very good value for the money. Everything that matters is decent on this guitar and I'm sure it will be in great playable condition long after I'm gone. If I paid the price of a well known brand double neck I would return it for the cosmetic flaws, but at this price I don't expect cosmetic perfection, it just needs to play well, sound good and look decent. For me I'm very happy with the purchase and can recommend this guitar, I know that it can be a crap shoot with budget guitars and I don't know how consistent the build quality is, so I can only base a recommendation on the one I have. The packaging was adequate and I had no shipping damage at all, was shipped USPS which I thought was strange for a package of this size and value.

The nuts that came with this guitar were plastic and cut terribly. The 12 string was extra bad. There was no way to intonate the G strings because of the poor slot cuts. The nut looked bad. Spiral strands of plastic hanging from the slots. It looked like they cut them with a rough hacksaw. I replaced the nut with a bone nut (cost about $6 but I couldn't find the correct size on Amazon. I ended up getting it from the retailer that sends candy with your order. I then had to sand it down a bit to get the string level lower, but now it plays and sounds really good. For what I paid, it was worth the little bit of extra work. Changing a nut is not difficult at all. Check out a few YouTube videos and you'll see that you can do it. When you change the strings, it will only take a few extra minutes including sanding the bottom of the nut down. Just make sure you score the bottom of the nut before you remove it so you don't peel the finish off when you pop it off. Not a difficult upgrade really. The necks are thin profile but wide. Comfortable to play. There were some dings under the finish that you can see if you tilt the guitar to the right light angle. Straight on, they are not really visible. The 12 string headstock is a more compact version than Gibson or Firefly. It looks better in my opinion (it doesn't look like a Crickett bat), but tuning is a little tricky as the tuners on the 12-string side are small, but a bit close together. The Destiny pickups have a dark sound that is unlike my other guitars. One of the reasons I opted not to send this back is because I really liked that sound. The sound is rich. I play this side by side with a Firefly double neck and the 12 string side on the IYV sounds deeper and richer using same amp and settings. I had never played a double neck before. I didn't know if I would like it. I love it. I like the Firefly a lot, but there's something about this one that feels like a higher quality guitar in spite of the flaws. I would recommend this for those who like working on guitars or who are interested in learning how to work on guitars. If that's you, I think you're going to like the results. If you are looking for something playable straight out of the box and aren't interested on working on them, that's very understandable. This one is not for you. **EDIT** Having said that, after playing this guitar for a year and a half, the tuning stability has only gotten better over time. Every time I pick it up, it's still in tune. I was also able to lower the action lower than I would have expected, including the 12-string side. I have added that 5th star because this guitar is actually something special. That opinion comes from extensive experience with it now. Well worth the price of admission.

A really nice guitar for not that much money. I got a double neck kit to build my own. This IYV guitar is only about $50.00 more than the kit was. I am very happy with the quality.

I've been eyeballing a doubleneck for a while now but I don't have $8-10K to drop on a Gibson EDS-1275. This one caught my eye. I had never heard of IYV guitars before so I YouTube'd a video of a guy demoing an IYV guitar (not this model but enough to give the viewer an idea of the quality) and then I saw that this guitar had decent reviews so I took a chance and pulled the trigger on buying it. It arrived boxed pretty well: plenty of packing foam around the body, protection on the strings, etc. The body had some sticky substance on it in some places but nothing I couldn't remove with a Clorox wipe and not enough of an inconvenience for me to dock it a star. I tuned it up and it held tuning pretty well. It was set up well enough out of the box to play. Running it though my practice amp with my metal distortion pedal, both the 6-string and the 12-string neck seemed to hold distortion pretty well and the 6-string seemed to have plenty of "crunch" when I played metal riffs on it. I may consider swapping out the stock pickups at some point (I'm an tinkerer and I tend to mess around with my toys) but so far I see or hear nothing wrong with the pickups that come installed in the guitar. It played pretty smoothly for me but everyone's preferences are different so I can't speak for everyone in terms of setup. I've owned and played Fender, Epiphone, Jackson, Yamaha and BC Rich guitars and, honestly, I don't see any less quality from this IYV guitar than I do with any of those bigger name brands I mentioned. If you're looking to fool around with a doubleneck and aren't sure if you'll like it (or simply don't have a massive budget), I would recommend this guitar. Edit: after owning and playing this guitar for a few months, I finally decided to change the strings on it after a few other reviews recommended it and I will definitely say that it makes a HUGE difference in the sound. I put a set of Ernie Ball strings on each neck (Ernie Ball has always been my go-to brand for guitar strings but, again, preference is subjective and you also may have to order a 12-string set since your local musical instrument retailer may not carry them) and both necks so much better with new strings. I still won't dock my reviews a star, though, because a lot of guitars come with the bare minimum when it comes to strings.

I am a working musician who plays every weekend. All of my guitars up till now are high quality brand names, Gibson, PRS, Fender all American made expensive instruments. The guitar arrived in a cardboard box with minimal packaging materials but no damage. The good: The finish is nice binding on the neck and headstock are clean looking. Both necks were very straight. The fret ends were finished nicely with no sharp edges. All frets were level. Intonation is pretty good out of the box. The bad: The strings are junk. Rusty and dead sounding. Definitely needs a good setup. The frets were very tarnished and needed polishing. The fret board was super dry and needed a good coat of oil. The nut on the 12 string side is plastic and poorly cut with rough edges. Not sure why they would use bone on the 6 string side and not on the 12 string side. Action needed adjustment. Strings were way too high. Some unfinished or poorly finished spots on the headstock near the nut. Does not affect playability. No case. Hard to find one to fit it. It is HEAVY. The Eh just so so. The pickups are basic humbuckers. Not impressed by their output. The 12 nut was not secured and was sliding around loose. Nothing a drop or two of glue didn’t fix but still. Overall a great guitar for the price. I immediately pulled the pickups and replaced them with Seymour Duncan JB / Jazz combos on both necks(cost more than the guitar did). Dropped the strings to an acceptable height and replaced the strings. Played it for half of a show on Memorial Day. 2+ hrs or so. Sounds as good as my Gibsons if not better. If you have a little know how and can set up an instrument I would highly recommend this guitar. I may get one of the Les Paul style ones to toss around on stage and leave the expensive guitars at home going forward.

I’m absolutely speechless. I don’t know what other people are whining about, mine came playable right out of the box. Strings are fine and tuned right up and held tune after stretching them a little. I couldn’t see the action being any lower. No fret buzz whatsoever. This guitar is not just a novelty, it is very well made and sounds incredible. The pickups are incredible as well. You don’t need to modify anything on this instrument. Right out of the box. Unbelievable value.