marnold
June 7th, 2009, 07:18 PM
I went to a guitar shoppe in Green Bay the other day, specifically to test out an Ibanez RG1570 (http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-RG1570), although the one I'm really interested in is the RG1550M (http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-RG1550M) but the store didn't have one of those. The only difference is that the RG1550M has a pickguard and a maple fretboard. I mainly wanted to hear the pickups. I played through a Blues Junior and some variety of a Marshall Valvestate combo. Some idiot was kind enough to loosen the locking nut to reset the guitar to Drop-D. I hate people who do that with a purple passion. Thus, I could only play relatively in tune.
I liked the S1 middle pickup the best--which is probably an indictment of a more metal-oriented guitar. The bridge-middle position was nice too. Otherwise, the V7 and V8 humbuckers were pretty muddy all on their own. They'd probably work OK with tremendous gain, but not clean, IMO. Mind you, this is from a person who likes a Duncan Screamin' Demon so I tend to like things bright.
Tis a pity because otherwise it seemed like a very nice guitar indeed. It needed a setup (besides the aforementioned tuning/re-floating the bridge), but I basically expect that anymore. The body is about as pointy as you can get with a Strat-like shape. Even the cuts on the top/bottom are sharp, there's no smooth roundedness here. The neck was the way I like it: thin, flat, satin finish, and with big frets. Access to all 24 frets is a breeze. The 24 fret neck does cram the three pickups close together, however. My guess is that close proximity will keep "quackiness" to a minimum on the in-between positions, no matter what pups you put in there.
I'm not very seriously looking at guitars, other than the fact that someone on the Floyd Rose forums reported ordering Speedloader strings in mid-March and he still doesn't have them. The "expected shipping date" keeps getting pushed back. I've still got five sets, so I've got time. If I had to go that way, I could scrounge my Demon and an Area 61 out of my Floyd and look at a new neck 'bucker. Still, I'd hate to spend that much and then have to yank pups right away.
I liked the S1 middle pickup the best--which is probably an indictment of a more metal-oriented guitar. The bridge-middle position was nice too. Otherwise, the V7 and V8 humbuckers were pretty muddy all on their own. They'd probably work OK with tremendous gain, but not clean, IMO. Mind you, this is from a person who likes a Duncan Screamin' Demon so I tend to like things bright.
Tis a pity because otherwise it seemed like a very nice guitar indeed. It needed a setup (besides the aforementioned tuning/re-floating the bridge), but I basically expect that anymore. The body is about as pointy as you can get with a Strat-like shape. Even the cuts on the top/bottom are sharp, there's no smooth roundedness here. The neck was the way I like it: thin, flat, satin finish, and with big frets. Access to all 24 frets is a breeze. The 24 fret neck does cram the three pickups close together, however. My guess is that close proximity will keep "quackiness" to a minimum on the in-between positions, no matter what pups you put in there.
I'm not very seriously looking at guitars, other than the fact that someone on the Floyd Rose forums reported ordering Speedloader strings in mid-March and he still doesn't have them. The "expected shipping date" keeps getting pushed back. I've still got five sets, so I've got time. If I had to go that way, I could scrounge my Demon and an Area 61 out of my Floyd and look at a new neck 'bucker. Still, I'd hate to spend that much and then have to yank pups right away.