Here are some pics of my new J-Customs. The 7 string is an RG8327 BBK and the six string is an RRG6 LY. So... both guitars came from this guy in Japan on ****, meestrsparkle. Great guy to deal with. Both guitars needed a setup when I got them - the action was so high both were unplayable, but all I had to do was lower the bridge on both guitars and everything was fine. Necks did not need adjustment at all - very straight. I could get the action extremely low on both guitars. Now that they are setup right, they are great playing guitars. The fretwork on both guitars is pretty amazing. I love the rounded fret edges - very easy to get very low action without buzzing frets or dropouts... From my experience, the fit and finish on these J-Customs is every bit as good as the top of the line American guitars like my Suhrs - I even find them a bit easier to play because all the Suhrs I've played have this tension issue on the first two strings that make bends hard...
On the 7, I made up a hybrid string set, so I've got heavy strings for the B, E, A and the rest are from a standard .009 set. IMO this gives me very heavy rhythm tones, but still playable for leads. The EMG 707s sound great. For 7 string guitars, I love the EMGs even though I prefer passive pickups in six strings. The 7 is pretty heavy - must be over 8 lbs... and has this really nice binding on the neck, which you can see in the pictures. The only thing I don't like about the 7 is the way the bar attaches to the Floyd. It is too low to the body for me to use the bar the way I like and I like a really loose bar that swings around - that I can just grab, use and then let go and it falls away. You can't set this bar like that. What I'd like to do is just replace the bar attachment with one like the Edge Zero on my 6 string. It would make the bar further away from the body and allow it to be loose and swinging... I'll figure that out.
For those who missed it when I posted it here originally, here is a bit of brutality with the 7 String and my Axe-FX:
7 String CLEEPAGE
The 6 string is amazingly easy to play because of the low action. Reminds me of my Suhr, except the strings are not as tight - very easy to bend, just like I like a guitar. The pictures do not do that Abalone tree inlay justice - it is really, really nice. I love how these Ibanez guitar have such deep cutaways that make it really easy to reach the upper frets. I haven't recorded the guitar yet, but I've played it through the Axe a bit and the tone is really smooth and mid heavy - sounds cool, but not sure about the pickups yet. I'll record something and see what my next move is. Here are some details on the Lemon Yellow 6 string:
Body...Lite ASH
Neck...5pc Maple/Walnut
Selected Rosewood fingerboard/430mmR
Bridge...Edge Zero
Neck P.U... DiMarzio/Air Norton
Mid P.U...DiMarzio /Blue Velvet
Rear P.U...DiMarzio /Tone Zone
Hardware...Cosmo Black
Finish...LY(LemonYellow)
On to the pics. First a couple of both:
RG8327 BBK:
RRG6 LY
Steve
