Ibanez Rg 6 To 7 String Conversion

[Sethmetal]

That's a great body to start with. I am very partial to the mahogany RG's. That's gonna be a nice one.

[fookgub]

That's a great body to start with. I am very partial to the mahogany RG's. That's gonna be a nice one.

Yeah, I'm partial to mahogany, too. I've had this body for a long time, and I've always been pleased with it. I have another mahogany body from an RG321 and it just isn't the same. Much lighter, and kinda of cheap feeling. I think they save the better wood for the MIJ guitars.

Progress: the headstock is almost done. I need about 3 more coats for clear. Should be finished on Monday, then I'll give it about 2 weeks to cure. The bridge has been sent back to ETS... no idea when the new one will arrive. Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly since they screwed up on the first one.

Edited February 24, 2007 by fookgub

[fookgub]

Hopefully they'll turn it around quickly since they screwed up on the first one.

... but they didn't!

The bridge arrived on Monday. It's extremely high quality, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when I unwrapped it. After all the waiting and hassle, it's just a bridge.... a very nice one, but still just a bridge.

Anyway, the guitar is assembled. I wanted to post some teaser shots tonight, but it wouldn't play nice with the flash. I may be able to get a few shots in daylight tomorrow before it goes off to my tech to have the nut slotted (still haven't bought those pesky files yet). I'm pretty excited... I've been waiting to play this thing forever, and the moment is almost here!

[fookgub]

Ok, teaser shots. I didn't clean off the fingerprints and dust very well, but at least you get the general idea. My tech wouldn't slot the nut because he said brass will clog up his files... guess I'll have to do it then. I'm going to try to get my photography student friend to take some classy shots once it's all done.

http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7_pv1.jpg

http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7_pv2.jpg

[Jon]

A while back I was shopping around in a store for files I could do a little nut work with. One person came up to me and explained a few tricks with them, she recommended working chalk into the file so it doesn't get loaded up with bone. I have no idea if this works for brass, but hopefully this will guide you in the right direction.

Great work by the way! I got the chance to play on a 7-string guitar at Guitar Center a couple days ago. Man, I love that low B on guitars!

[PTU 7's.]

Congrats, the guitar looks very good! Looks like the RG7 EX that's only for Japan.

[ebenezer shred]

do you suppose you could do this and make it 8 string?

[Jon]

Sure, but why? I don't think there are mass produced bridges (except from hipshot), pickups, or necks, so you might as well make it all yourself. Kind of silly to use a mass produced body for a completely custom and expensive build.

[fookgub]

Sure, but why? I don't think there are mass produced bridges (except from hipshot), pickups, or necks, so you might as well make it all yourself. Kind of silly to use a mass produced body for a completely custom and expensive build.

True, but if you happen to already have a serviceable body that you like laying around, I don't see any good reason not to do it. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a body, though, since building one is only a little more work.

I've had a frustrating time with this guitar. I botched the nut slotting, which really sucked because I had a lot of time invested in making the nut. Now the string spacing is off, and it's hard to tune because the strings are binding in the nut. Also, I had a lot of trouble getting the neck relief right. I've got that settled now, but I had to tweak on the truss rod more than I wanted. Finally, I hated the pickups when I first plugged it in. I had always heard EMGs are loud and powerful, but I found the bridge pickup (81) to be weak and tinny. I think I should adjust the pickup closer to the strings, but I need to find some longer height adjustment screws first. I stripped of the heads off the cheap pot-metal screws that EMG supplies, and had to replace them with shorter ones from the hardware store.

Anyway, a friend of mine came over in the midst of all this to play some music. That really changed my feelings about this guitar. With a modern crunch dialed in, and my friend accompanying on bass, it just sounded "right." Sat perfectly in the mix, and overall my playing sounded better than I'm used to. Even with the messed up string spacing, I adjusted to the seven pretty quickly, and I was loving the possibilities. I still don't like the sound of it solo, but if there's one thing I've learned from bass playing it's that your ideal "solo sound" usually doesn't work in a band. So I'm pretty happy that it sounded good in a mix. I've got a Floyd nut on order which should hold me over until I can build and properly slot a new nut, and I'm thinking that some playing with the pickup heights can give the guitar some more punch.

So it's not quite done yet... but getting there.

[Jon]

More logical for a 7-string since all the parts are mass produced and will cost a good $300+ less than an 8-string, at least for a beginner on a budget.

EMG 81? Is there a 7-string version of it (I thought it was called the 707?) or are you using a 6-string pickup?

[fookgub]

EMG 81? Is there a 7-string version of it (I thought it was called the 707?) or are you using a 6-string pickup?

81-7. It's a seven string pickup. I special ordered it from EMG through Guitar Parts Depot. I still don't understand why the output is so low. Everything I've read claims this is a hot pickup, but it's noticably quieter than the Tone Zone in my 6-string. It can't balance out the 707 in the neck, either. Must be because it's too far from the strings.

[Jon]

Defintely try raising the pickup a little and see how each increment helps.

[fookgub]

I suppose it's time to wrap this one up. I've been playing the guitar for over a month now. The locking nut I bought fixed my nut problems, and it's going to be pretty much permenant (I accidentally used a little more superglue that I wanted when I installed it). The spacing is fine, and the height is (suprisingly) perfect, so I don't have any desire to change it anyway. It looks a bit funny to have a locking nut on a hardtail guitar, but no worse than the brass nut did.

I still haven't really figured out the EMGs. I have them pretty close to the strings, and they're not as hot as the DiMarzios in my other guitar. I'm not sold on the solo tone, but it sounds great with the band, and that's what's really important. I had a lot of trouble keeping the guitar in tune when I first put it together, but it seems to have settled in now. I guess the neck was just getting used to being under tension again, after being off the guitar for 6 months (that I know of... probably a lot longer).

Anyway, I think those are the only outstanding issues from last time. No new pictures right now since nothing has really changed. My housemate (the photography student) said he'd take some nice pictures with pro lighting and all that stuff, but he won't get off his butt. Maybe someday...