A freind of mine was telling me about this Ibanez 7 string basswood with a mahogany top that he just had to have.

First of all I gotta ask...why 7 strings? I(as well as he) have a hard enough time mastering 6...then there are all the other hardware issues: buying string sets? Pickups? Bridge/tremelo? Neck...tuners? Then tuning? How would you tune one? He said the top would be in B. I remember the BC Rich's from the 80s...but never really grasped the concept then either. The impression I get its for really low "death metal" stuff...but I dont really get that either(but Im not downing it either).

Then, having owned an 80s Ibanez Roadstar, and having hated its tone forever...I was immediately reminded of this tone when I heard my buddy playing his newer model Ibanex(I dunno what model, they kinda all look very similar, but Id call it an HSH)...although his did sound better than mine did, it still lacked sparkle, jangle, twang or quack...and it makes me wonder why do some many people have or want these guitars?

And so then basswood...thats what I blamed my guitars tone on. I felt thats why it always sounded so low and deep...would I be wrong to assume that? And then mahogany top? I just dont get it...

I see alot of people are Ibanez owners(I am too)...so Im hoping this doesnt sound like a bash topic, Im really just trying to figure out what kind of tone an Ibanez owner is looking for...because I all I hear is effect driven flat(almost lifeless) low notes...and can only think of 3-4 different Ibanez players tones that I could somewhat appreciate...Alex Skolnic, Via, Satch...and some Maiden.

So could you school me...whats the appeal of Ibanez and 7 strings?