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Hatsubai « 7 string RGA model »
Published on 01/27/12 at 16:51Ibanez is kicking off the year with some awesome RGA models, and this is one of them. They've been neglecting us seven string players for quite awhile, and it's nice to see them step up their game and release a Prestige RGA model. The guitar features a mahogany body with a flame maple top, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, dot inlays, an Edge Zero tremolo, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this guitar was great. The frets were nice and level, and the ends were beveled nicely. This is a testament to the high quality Prestige fretwork that Ibanez utilizes. The flame top on this was pretty solid, but you couldn't really see it with the finish that they used, so it was kind of a disappointment. I'd like to see the figured wood some more, but this is merely a cosmetic thing. The bridge on this is very solid, and while there are a few things I dislike about it (locking studs aren't as good as the older ones, and the ZPS needs to be disabled for me to really enjoy playing it), it's a very solid tremolo that shows improvements over the older Edge Pro.
SOUNDS
The guitar features some active pickups in it with the EMG style housings. For those who don't know, there are two different routings for the 7 string pickups. You have your normal style passive routing and your active routing. If you have an active routing, you can't really fit the passive pickups in there without it looking a bit ridiculous. That means you're going to be limited in your pickup selection. Really, you can only use EMGs or Blackouts in this thing. Either would work great, but I recommend swapping the pickups as the stock ones are a bit bland and fairly thin sounding.
OVERALL OPINION
It's nice to see them offer a solid 7 string RGA model after all of these years. We've been waiting for ages to receive one, and Ibanez did a fairly good job. A lot of the seven string guys are complaining about the routes, but I don't think it's a huge deal unless you just have to have passive pickups. I'm one of the few that can use both without too much of an issue, albeit I tend to prefer passives for most genres.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this guitar was great. The frets were nice and level, and the ends were beveled nicely. This is a testament to the high quality Prestige fretwork that Ibanez utilizes. The flame top on this was pretty solid, but you couldn't really see it with the finish that they used, so it was kind of a disappointment. I'd like to see the figured wood some more, but this is merely a cosmetic thing. The bridge on this is very solid, and while there are a few things I dislike about it (locking studs aren't as good as the older ones, and the ZPS needs to be disabled for me to really enjoy playing it), it's a very solid tremolo that shows improvements over the older Edge Pro.
SOUNDS
The guitar features some active pickups in it with the EMG style housings. For those who don't know, there are two different routings for the 7 string pickups. You have your normal style passive routing and your active routing. If you have an active routing, you can't really fit the passive pickups in there without it looking a bit ridiculous. That means you're going to be limited in your pickup selection. Really, you can only use EMGs or Blackouts in this thing. Either would work great, but I recommend swapping the pickups as the stock ones are a bit bland and fairly thin sounding.
OVERALL OPINION
It's nice to see them offer a solid 7 string RGA model after all of these years. We've been waiting for ages to receive one, and Ibanez did a fairly good job. A lot of the seven string guys are complaining about the routes, but I don't think it's a huge deal unless you just have to have passive pickups. I'm one of the few that can use both without too much of an issue, albeit I tend to prefer passives for most genres.