giannifive said:
Hi all. I just picked up my first 7 (an RG7420 I got cheap). The serial number starts with F99, so it's a '99 7620 neck and the guitar was (probably) made in 2000 (since the RG7420 was only made from 2000 to 2002). Anyway, it's one-piece maple with a scarf joint, but no bubinga stripe. This seems odd to me, because I've read that the RG7s had either three-piece maple necks or one-piece with bubinga stripes. Does anyone here have a '99 RG7 neck they could look at for me and tell me what type it is? Do people find multiple-piece maple necks to be more stable than one-piece? Especially flatsawn maple, like the one I have
Couple things -
1.) my old '99 7620 also had a one-peice maple neck. This was the norm until about '00, as I understand.
2.) Actually, there's no difference between a 7620 neck and a 7420 neck - there was a lot of rumours going around about "7420s with 7620 necks" but really this is because both initially came from the japanese factory, and the necks were interchangeable. It makes sense - if you have one factory already set up to produce 7-string necks, and you want to make a more "affordable" version, you're not going to build a factory from the ground up, are you? So,y ou don';t have a 7420 with a 7620 neck - you have a 7420 with a Ibanez Wizard 7 neck.
3.) Actually, as I understand quartersawn is the one that's supposed to provide the most stability, based on "one peice neck' arguments.
4.) I've heard the relative merits of both debated ad nauseum. On one hand, a laminate neck isn't prone to flexing along the grain in the same way as a single peice neck, and can provide more structural rigidity. On the other hand, laminate necks of different species (or even peices) of wood can expand and contract at different rates, providing
less structural rigidity. My personal feelings? I prefer the appearance of a laminate neck, but realistically it's not a holdup either way - if I like a guitar, I'm not going to get too concerned on whether it's a one peice or three peice neck, as a properly built neck made by either method should provide an excellent amount of stability.
-D