My New Guitar!(Pics+Comprehensive review)

Apologies for bad photos, I haven't had much of a chance to get good lighting yet.

This arrived yesterday, and since then I've already played it about 7 hours, hehe.

It's an Ibanez RG 7421 and if you didn't spot it already, is has.........7 strings:P
Completely stock so far.
It's a 1999 model finished in Cherry Fudge finish with a basswood body, and these guitars are relatively uncommon, since the guitar was only produced from mid 1999 until 2000 and of the two finishes it came in (Black and Cherry Fudge) Cherry Fudge is AFAIK the less common of the two.
There are some small dings and chips in the body and an extremely small ding in the headstock, but otherwise nothing major that would impact the structural integrity of the guitar.
It's evident the guitar was extremely well looked after.

It features the Ibanez Wizard I 7 string neck, which is 19mm thick at the first fret and 21mm thick at the 12th fret.
Fingerboard is made of Rosewood.
For those of you accustomed to guitars like Les Pauls with the 1950s style rounded neck, the thinness of the neck on this Ibanez would come as a great shock and on top of that the back of the neck has a quite flat profile, a severe contrast to the rounded necks of 1950s Les Pauls.
The scale length is 25.5 inches, as you would have guessed perhaps, so it's easy to get into since it's the same scale length as your typical Fender Strat, although due to the fixed bridge the tension is a slightly bit higher than that of a 25.5 inch scale guitar with a tremolo.
The width of the neck at the nut is 48mm and goes up to about 66-67 (I haven't measured it exactly yet, will update when I do) mm at the 12th fret.
The fretboard radius is 430mm, which is quite flat and feels significantly different to the vintage Fender Strat fretboard radius of 184mm.

As for the playability of the guitar, it's absolutely astounding.
For a 10 year old guitar that has been preloved, it looks like it was played for about 3 years at most and then put away in a closet. The frets are still in great shape with just a bit of wear and the action is extremely low.
Bending and wide vibrato is incredibly easy with the tall jumbo frets and large fretboard radius and it's an absolute pleasure to play lead guitar on this.
It's just so effortless to play and it beckons you to try out more technical playing.
Because of the beefier neck compared to a 6 string, the quite resonant body and the fixed bridge design, the sustain is pretty amazing. Even with the extremely low action, this thing has extraordinary sustain, beyond what I imagined and it easily beats my 6 string guitars for sustain and none of the 6 string guitars my friends own can top the sheer amount of sustain and body resonance on tap

The machine heads are non locking Gotohs and despite their non locking nature, they are keeping in tune surprisingly well, but it's no match for my Brian Moore Guitars I12000 series which has amazing Sperzel locking tuners.

The neck joint, which I didn't take a photo of yet, is the awesome Ibanez design, the AANJ (All Acess Neck Joint).
Look it up on google to get an idea of what I mean.
It's so much more comfortable and inviting than the clunky Fender block heel neck joint.
As you can see from the photos, the cutaways are quite large and that helps upper fret access too.

As far as electronics are concerned it's all stock as I've mentioned.
5 way pickup selector with the following positions:

Position 1 :Bridge Humbucker
Position 2: Both humbuckers on split coil mode, with the two inner coils of each humbucker being used to ensure it's still hum cancelling.
Position 3: Both humbuckers at once
Position 4: Neck humbucker in parallel
Position 5: Neck Humbucker

The pickups are stock Ibanez pickups, the bridge being the V8-7, neck being the V7-7, and whether they are alnico or ceramic, I'm not sure right now and when I find out I'll update it.

They aren't bad pickups, but they are not the kind of pickups you would use if you want a serious professional tone.
The low B string gets a bit muddy at times with high gain and in general the pickups are a little too dark for my tastes and needs. They come across as being a little dull sounding, but for stock no name pickups, they are still far better than the sort of pickups you get in the really cheap Ibanez guitars.
Having playing the RG 7321, which is essentially  a cheaper variant of my guitar with cheaper pickups, I can safely say my 7421 sounds better due to the superior pickups.
However, rolling off the treble on the tone knob and switching to the clean channel actually got my some pretty good jazz tones for a solid body I must say, warm and deep sounding, the only niggling thing is the lack of sparkle and the lack of high end due to the pickups being too dark as I mentioned earlier.
They are surprisingly high output, actually nearly as hot as the  Seymour Duncan JB bridge in my Brian Moore Guitars I12000 series guitar and they have a decent amount of overtones going on so there are some nice harmonics in the sound, but again, they are not quite as good as a real brand name pickup.
Very quiet in humbucking mode, no problems with grounding noise or anything, which I was very happy about.

The guitar is made in Japan in the same factory where they make the current day high quality Prestige series , and it's quite a solidly constructed guitar as is evident from the fit and finish, the resonance of the body,good wiring job and the fantastic fretwork and would make many cheaper guitars feel like toys in comparison

It's already replaced my Brian Moore Guitars I12000 Series as my main guitar, which considering how amazing my Brian Moore Guitars I12000 Series is, is saying quite a lot.
I like the basic nature of it, two pickups, fixed bridge and most of the time I only use positions 1 and 5 on the pickup selector, occasionally using the coil split mode in position 2 for cleaner sounds, but otherwise I never really use position 3 and 4, so it's really a plug in and play  and not have to worry about things like a tremolo or anything like that type of guitar, which suits my purposes well.


Keep an eye out, as this is going to receive some pretty serious modifications



Edited by HughesJB4 - March 03 2009 at 04:51

Send it back Harry - it's defective - some fool's put too many strings on it and turned it into a harp.

24 frets is very nice for metal, you'll like that. And I think a low 7th is much more useful than the high 7th that Steve Vai and Ibanez initially did.

errr....how about 10 strings..? 

N Ellingworth wrote: I must admit I have never got on with the wizard profile necks they are just too thin for me. Still other than that looks like you've got a nice guitar there Thanks mate  (although I'd probably swap the pickups). I've been looking at 7 string guitars myself recently but rather than the conventional ones I've been looking a baritone 7 string, that's F#BEADF#B. Of course it would be another custom build so I need to save up a lot of cash before I can even consider it.

A 4th down would probably need at least a 28 inch scale for that work well.
For me, the low B is low enough and I don't like the way extended scales sound on the higher strings, it causes them to sound too tinny and bright, even if at least it means the lower strings gain clarity.
A good option is fanned frets, where the scale length gets gradually bigger towards the lower strings, effectively making the tone more 'balanced' across the strings, so the lower strings stay tight and snappy and the higher strings still have a good thickness to them without becoming too bright.
For me 25.5 inch scale is pretty much perfect with 9-54 strings, it's got enough tension yet the scale length means I don't have to stretch anymore than I used to do with my 6 strings, which is extremely important when you play fairly technical stuff like me. I tend to find 27 inch scale guitars to be too demanding fretting hand stretch wise when I play in the lower strings (to be fair I barely notice the extended scale once I go past the 12 th fret though on a 27 inch scale guitar though, it feels similar to a 25.5 inch scale guitar) and the tension is just a little too much for me.




Edited by HughesJB4 - March 03 2009 at 18:24

Dean wrote: Send it back Harry - it's defective - some fool's put too many strings on it and turned it into a harp.       nice...

Thanks Dean

mystic fred wrote: very nice axe, Harry, but so many notes!

Thanks mate

Well, compared to my 6 string with 22 frets, it's only an extra 7 notes on top of that.

Mr ProgFreak wrote: Nice!

Thanks Mike

mystic fred wrote: errr....how about 10 strings..?    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2BOApUvFpw&feature=related

That guy is a bloody virtuoso, haha, definitely well beyond my abilities.
At absolute most, I'd play an 8 string guitar, but then again I'm not really into two handed tapping all that much either, so 8 strings would be enough.

As much as the prospect of a 7 string might seem a little scary, seriously, as soon as I picked it up, it just felt so right and the transition from 6 to 7 strings is extremely easy if you get the right guitar to suit you.
Yesterday, which was only the second day I'd had the guitar, I was already able to start incorporating the 7th string into scalar runs that aren't possible on a 6 string, and also I was able to do more chord voicings and chord shapes that just aren't possible on a 6 string.
It's easier to think of it as just another guitar really, with one extra string rather than some out of this world, daunting experience, yet it opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities.
I still play all the 6 string stuff on it fine, it just requires that you gotta be a little more accurate with your muting technique.

Sweet guitar Harry

The Pessimist wrote: Nice axe man, but wait is that... why yes, a 7 string. Beautiful. Been playing any METAL lately?

Thanks man.
Yeah, I've been starting on a few of the 7 string Dream Theater tunes for the time being, it's good fun.

MovingPictures07 wrote: That is really neat!

Cheers

Plankowner wrote: Sweet guitar Harry

Thanks dude

Rainbow colored straps for the win. One lovely guitar you got there mate.

I use Planet Waves strap as well.