bubinga stripes and one piece maple necks

[fazehans]

has anyone noticed that the one piece maple necks on rg7 strings is alittle thicker and in my opinion a nicer neck than the thinner 3 piece necks with the bubinga stripe down the center??

i think the 3 piece is to thin its becomes uncomfortable but the 1 piece without the stripe is thin but has just enough roundness to it to be comfortable

has anyone else noticed this? ive heard all models made before 1999 on rg76 and 74 have the 1 piece and after 1999 they switched to the stripe.

[Ferrous Lepidoptera]

I think that's largely a matter of personal preference. I actually like the super thin wizard neck such the one found on an RG520QS with the bubinga stripe the best of all the necks I've tried. But I may be in the minority, because it seems the high end Ibanez guitars typically have thicker necks. (Or maybe it's just for durability? Don't want that expensive guitar getting a crack by the headstock?)

One thing I've noticed is that the older one piece (excepting headstock scarf joint) wizard necks (e.g. on my 1991 RG570, and 1991 S540) have very nice pieces of wood used in their construction. Very tight, straight grain, no knots, just perfect. Later necks don't have such nice pieces of wood, or seem built up from smaller pieces of nice wood. (e.g. my 3120' and neck seems glued up like a butcher block of smaller, very nice pieces, and my 520QS's have the bubinga stripe. My RG8670 has the most interesting neck, seems to be carved completely, including the headstock, from a single very large glued up block of a maple/bubinga/maple/bubinga/maple sandwich,

I don't think these glued-up necks are inferior, probably they are actually superior, but maybe it shows that a single really good piece of wood is getting hard to come by?

Just something I've noticed.

[sepsis311]

My rg7ct has the stripe, the neck feels the same thickness as my rg7621. I would like to say the ct has a thicker neck, but i wouldnt know unless i measured it.

[jski7]

My 7620 (without stripes) and my K7 (with stripes) feel a little different . Not too much , but it is noticeable . I prefer the K7 just a little more , IMO .

[jim777]

I *LOVE* the one piece neck on my 7620, but couldn't play the 3 piece UV777Bk neck for more than half an hour at a time due to it's thinness. It made my hand hurt, so that guitar had to go. So, without having measured them, the 7620 feels a bit thicker and far more comfortable to me for long periods of time. The 7620 feels more like an earlier UV to me. I haven't had the opportunity to compare older and newer 7620s/1527s though, so I can't speak to that.

[Drew]

I haven't gotten to A/B the one peice and three peice 7620 necks, but I can make the following observations from personal experience:

1.) I prefer the looks of the three peice necks - if playability is the same, I'd prefer one of those.

2.) By the book, the original RG7 neck and the UV neck are identical, as measured by width, nut thickness, and thickness at 12th fret. However, my old-style one-peice UV neck ('891 UV7PWH) has a much smoother curve to it's profile than the '99 RG7620 I also own - the UV's neck is more of a smooth C, while the taper on the RG7 is a sharper D. Also, the frets are different - the RG has jumbo frets, while the UV's are medium. Between these factors, the UV seems to "feel" thinner, but a visual check seems to suggest that they're identical thickness. So keep in mind when comparing different models that profile and fretwire can affect the feel of a neck as much if not more than it's thickness - I believe most Ibanez seven string necks are 19mm at the nut and 21 at the 12th fret.

3.) I'm also not a fan of super-thin necks - I had some wrist problems from the Wizard neck of the RG-520QS I sold to cover my 7620. Beautiful guitar, but the neck was just too thin for me to be comfortable, and a bout of tendonitis was the result. Although, it's worth saying that it really made me focus on cleaning up my playing posture, and maybe the thinner neck wouldn't be a problem these days.

-D

[Paul Secondino]

THe construction process (1 piece or3 piece) doesn't really effect the sanding process. So It's mainly Ibanezes development department that decides what each guitar's profile should be.

The main thing is get the guitar with the neck that you like. I agree that the Universe is a really thin neck. I prefer the neck on my 2027x.

Another thing to consider is overall neck quality. I've been a big fan of necks that do "not" use scarf joints. Scarf joints are only a method used to build guitars for less money. Everything about a scarf joint (Ibanez style) is begging for a problem somewhere down the road. I;ve seen atleast a dozen necks that snapped at the scarf joint (mostly from abuse or dropping) But I've owned and seen guitars from Ibanez and even warmoth where the scarf joint causes fret level problems.One of my luthiers has had to relevel one of his warmoth necks because the headstock moved differently than the rest of the neck ala Scarf-itis as he likes to call it.

I must admit that my old RG 7620 had a great feel to it and while having a scarf joint, still remained a ver stable neck. But for long term quality, I wont ever rely on a scarf joint.

[BillyVII]

hey Paul ...I am the guy who purchased a 727 Carvin off you man what's up...Glad too see you again hehe!!! I agree the Scarf or Buttar Joints I believe some old timers call them. do not alway remain true ,especially when intonation is set up...Scarf joints are notorious for hairline cracks too!!!