ibanez guys!

M

metalboy458

Inspired
aight i know theres probably a bunch of ibanez guys on here so ide figured ide ask yall. would it be a better idea to get an older 80s/90s era opposed to buying a new one? im more interested in getting a 7 string similar to the one vai has at around 3:30 in this video...
Rig Rundown - Steve Vai - YouTube

is that just an rg? but i think itd be cool to have one like his white jem but a 7 string. did they ever make anything like that?

also ive been looking into the s series guitars, and from what i understand they used to be called customs? anyone have any opinions on these guitars? also the 7 string versions of these.

any opinions/thoughts are welcome. thanks!
 
That's his signature 7-string line called the Universe. There are lots of Universes out there on Ebay. I believe the white one is called the Ibanez Universe PWH. Those are a bit pricey, however.

In my opinion, I like the older 80s/90s Ibanezes because of the tremolo. I like the Original Edge/Edge Pro style rather than the ones they are marketing nowadays (they made the change to avoid Floyd rose licensing). Plus I get them less expensively. I got an RG7620 which has the Edge style trem and it's solid. That's a pretty good quality guitar.

True Ibanez Customs are long gone... there used to be USA custom shop guitars but Ibanez put a stop to that in the late 90s or something. Now there are the high-end ones called the J-customs which are exclusively sold in Japan - real pricey. Right now they are being sold in the US for a limited time.

There are currently the good quality ones which are the Prestige line and another tier lower I believe is the Premium line. Both have 7 string versions.

Ibanez S series means Saber and RG means Roadstar Guitar. Its just different styles (bodies and necks). RG's usually have 24 frets while the S have 21 or 22.

If you find an RG 7620 for a good price, get it. I'm not into the new stuff Ibanez makes nowadays.
 
oh i thought the jem were vai's signature (shows how much i knew about ibanez lol). but thanks guys ill check out the universe ones on ebay. the 7 string in that video looks so sick though. i really want a white one but that exact one i so sweet looking. plus this is going to be my first 7 string and first ibanez. but thanks for all the info bammbamm.
 
Another vote for the Edge Pro trem. They're solid, easy to control, and their sustain is about as good as it gets for a floating bridge. The precursor to that was the Pro Rock'r, which is the most stable floating bridge I've every played.
 
No problem. Rex is right in that the Universe is Vai's 7-string signature. You will usually notice the Universe lettering in the headstock. Vai is one of the pioneers of the 7-strings. He did not invent the 7 string but popularized its use alongside Korn AFAIK.

You can usually tell JEM (Vai's 6 strings) from a regular RG by the lion claw or paw grip (hole) on the body and flamboyant colors (though some are just plain white like on the video.
 
well they call that 80s-90s time the golden age of ibanez. the best ibanez i have ever played is my 92 s470. if i took more care of it, i could probably put it up against my ebmm jp6 or suhr classic. i love the thing. dont waste your money on a new ibanez. the old stuff is dirt cheap and even if it wasnt, its simply better imo
 
bammbamm said:
No problem. Rex is right in that the Universe is Vai's 7-string signature. You will usually notice the Universe lettering in the headstock. Vai is one of the pioneers of the 7-strings. He did not invent the 7 string but popularized its use alongside Korn AFAIK.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Vai & Ibanez developed the Universe in 1990. Korn was formed in 1993


bammbamm said:
You can usually tell JEM (Vai's 6 strings) from a regular RG by the lion claw or paw grip (hole) on the body and flamboyant colors (though some are just plain white like on the video.
Click to expand...

watch out for the JEM555, they are of low quality. don't buy them! you should hold on the JEM7, JEM77 or JEM777 series (strangly enough, the 7 doesn't stand for 7-string but stands for the number 777, which is somehow a magic number for Steve. the first JEM (JEM777LNG loch Ness Green) had a production of 777 guitars.)

be aware that there are big price differences between the JEM models.

also watch out for cheap chinese fake copies.
 
I had two Ibanezes in the 90s. An RG565 and an S540 Custom. Both were great guitars and I'd recommend them to anyone. Ibanez has just released re-issues of both of these in the last year or so. Haven't played them, so I don't know if they hold up to the originals or not. The prices I've seen for the re-issues aren't bad though. Currently, my only Ibanez is a Jem 7VWH from 2008. I do prefer the tremolos on the older ones, but it's not a huge issue to me. Other than that, I love my Jem for speedster stuff and whammy bar tom foolery. Always fun do do that stuff every once in a while.
 
ok i stopped by this ma and pa guitar shop in san antonio and played a couple rgs and one jem. i just couldnt get into it. they just different feel right at all. but i stopped by sam ash and played an s series 7 string and it was great. so i may end up getting one of those guys. so are the older ones called customs? or was the dude that told me about them not know what he was talkin about? hah.
 
metalboy458 said:
so are the older ones called customs? or was the dude that told me about them not know what he was talkin about? hah.
Click to expand...
Some of the higher-end Japanese-made S-Series models had the words "Custom Made" inlaid at the 21st fret.
 
voes said:
IIRC, Vai & Ibanez developed the Universe in 1990. Korn was formed in 1993
Click to expand...

Indeed.. but Korn spawned millions upon millions of nu-metal bands! LOL!

watch out for the JEM555, they are of low quality. don't buy them! you should hold on the JEM7, JEM77 or JEM777 series (strangly enough, the 7 doesn't stand for 7-string but stands for the number 777, which is somehow a magic number for Steve. the first JEM (JEM777LNG loch Ness Green) had a production of 777 guitars.)

be aware that there are big price differences between the JEM models.

also watch out for cheap chinese fake copies.
Click to expand...

This is a good tip.
 
metalboy458 said:
ok i stopped by this ma and pa guitar shop in san antonio and played a couple rgs and one jem. i just couldnt get into it. they just different feel right at all. but i stopped by sam ash and played an s series 7 string and it was great. so i may end up getting one of those guys. so are the older ones called customs? or was the dude that told me about them not know what he was talkin about? hah.
Click to expand...

In the end, it is whatever is comfortable for you to play. Just make sure you do your research and don't overpay for it. Good Luck!
 
metalboy458 said:
ok i stopped by this ma and pa guitar shop in san antonio and played a couple rgs and one jem. i just couldnt get into it. they just different feel right at all. but i stopped by sam ash and played an s series 7 string and it was great. so i may end up getting one of those guys.
Click to expand...

While Ibanez 7s do usually have thinner necks than a lot of other 7s out there, they're still chunkier than their 6-string equivalents. I used to be all about the tiny thin necks (Ibanez Wizard, Jackson mid-90's MIJ Pro series, etc.), but after playing 7s (I have three Ibanez 7s) for 99% of the last 10 years or whatever, I find those kinds of thin necks pretty weird to play now. I got all excited a couple of years back when they finally brought out some 24-fret S-series stuff. Then I played one at a store. Was a very nice guitar, but the neck just felt way too small for me.

I did pick up an old RG560 a year or so ago, so I'm a little more used to it again now. But I definitely prefer their 7-string necks.
 
DNW said:
I got all excited a couple of years back when they finally brought out some 24-fret S-series stuff. Then I played one at a store. Was a very nice guitar, but the neck just felt way too small for me.
Click to expand...
It's nice to have 24 frets available, but that comes at a cost, because it crowds the neck pickup. The "traditional" placement of the neck pickup—right where the 24th fret would be, gives a sweetness to the tone that gets conpromised when the pickup is moved forward. I have a 24-fret Roadstar that's great for some things, but it lacks the neck-pickup sweetness that I get from my 22-fret S-540.
 
+1 for the older 80s/90s Ibanez. My favorite was an early 90s RG770. Also owned a few Jems and still have one of them (Jem7 w/ebony fretboard). As soon as they changed trems and went rosewood again I stopped paying attention to the Ibanez lineup.

I was shopping for a new 7 string for months and tried out a few new Ibanez models, but in the end I went with a Music Man JPXI 7. The neck is a little thicker than I prefer, but the piezos in the bridge sound amazing through the Axe II. Also, it's 24 fret and has great tone across all pickup combinations.

But I too would still pick up a Universe if I came across one in excellent condition ;)
 
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