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Ibanez S7320 7-String Electric Guitar
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Ibanez ZR 7-string tremolo bridge, with frictionless arming and fast return. It has a 3-ply maple neck, and the Ibanez AH for 7-string humbucker pickups.
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Searched Ibanez S7320 7-String Electric Guitar in Reviews
Fantastic 7-string guitar for the money! 
| Sound |
I bought my Ibanez S7320 back in the summer of 2008 with full knowledge that I would be changing out the pickups. There was a guitar that I'd had my eye on for quite a while, the Ibanez UV777 "Universe", which I got to play once. That guitar fetches quite a premium price. I'd heard GREAT things about UV777's DiMarzio Blaze pickups and I'd felt that I might be able to put together the perfect guitar for my 7-string desires for about three times less cost.
It turns out I was right. First, the feel of the guitar: The neck profile is a Wizard II, with the thicknesses at 19mm at the 1st fret, and 21mm at the 12th. Plus, it is 43mm wide at the nut, tapering to 56mm at the last fret. The Universe, on the other hand, has the same thickness but is wider at both the nut (48mm) and last fret (68mm). To me, the S7320's narrower neck is a bit more comfortable to play than a Universe as I don't have to stretch as far when wrapping my entire hand around to hit the low strings.
The body profile of the S7320 is just what you're used to with all "S" guitars: Thin at the edges, and thick at the middle. This makes the weight of the guitar very light, another thing that contributes to its comfort. However, you might be thinking that the lower body mass is going to take something away from the sound. Well, you might be in for a surprise here.
I'd fitted my S7320 with the Blaze pickups and was blown away at the sound quality. The neck pickup gave me just want I wanted, a really warm but full tone when on a clean channel and a very fat bluesy tone when distorted. And the bridge pickup was where I found a little bit of heaven. I've tried this guitar in a few configurations, going through my Digitech GNX3 and my Boss GT-10, both going into my DAW directly as well as with the amp simulators off going into my Blackheart Little Giant stack. On various high gain patches in both units I was able to get an amazing, thick, full screaming sound out of this slightly-modded guitar. What I'd noticed immediately were harmonics that were almost "automatic". When picking the B string at the twelvth fret and giving it a bit of left-hand vibrato, I hear a nice harmonic that starts to sing which ran chills down my spine the first time I heard it. It was then that I knew my S7320 was a keeper. It doesn't seem to have any lack of sustain either, so I don't believe the thinner body is hurting things here. The other pickup switch positions also yielded nice results on some clean tones.
When I want to add a very fat, metal-sounding crunch to one of my songs, this is my "goto" guitar for sure.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The guitar had already been set up from the factory very well. I lowered the action just slightly and found my sweet spot. The intonation seems just fine. The ZR tremolo was a really nice thing to experience. Having that hinge makes the trem movement really smoothly. Plus the stiffness adds some stability that I'm not used to with my other guitars that have the Edge Pro. The Zero-point system will be rather nice if ever want to change string guages, as the adjustment on the springs can be made with turning one single dial. (I don't see myself moving away from my 9-46 Super Slinky's, though, as they sound great to me.) Changing strings is easily done with this bridge also.
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| Reliability & Durability |
Mainly I'm using this guitar in my home studio. I might gig with it at some point, as I do have various 6-strings as backups. Gigging without a backup? I'd never do that with any guitar that has a tremolo. But the guitar is well constructed, the parts are high quality and it has been reliable so far.
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| Liked about it |
Harmonics
* Comfortable neck
* Very thick sound
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| Didn't like |
I'd love it if it were available in some other color options other than black & white.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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