NGD Ibanez uv70p

[greekdude]

Hello!
I took it out, made some basic setup, truss rod mainly + tightening the trem screws.
It started with somewhat mixed feelings,
- i liked the sound,
- the feel,
- the weight,
- the balance,
- the fretwork,
- the strength of the neck (KTS titanium rods)
- the harmonics

but :

1) for some reason G saddle seems a tad higher, making the whole G a little higher than the rest
2) it has some misalignment regarding offset from strings to fret ends, shown here :

3) also some misallignment on the level of neck pup shown here :

which just didnt wanna come straight level no matter the pressure from the side
4) the action height, was just too high, I screwed the studs all the way down, but still the action was high, somewhere in the range of 2mm low B, 1.5 high E @24th fret.

I struggled a lot (4-5 hours) trying to find the magic way that this thing would actually tune, when i started losing faith, till I suddenly felt the strat-syndrome and just took the tools out for a proper setup.
Opened up the neck and i found that it had some shim already in, which was lost in the cavity, there is no neck stop like in strats, the neck is held only by the screws. So i decided to follow the old way of shimming. In my haste to having the guitar playable as fast as possible, i installed just a paper shimm which was enough for the job, although i am gonna redo it seriously next time.

The results :
- i got the action real low, silly low i'd say :1.4mm low B, 1mm high E @24th fret *without* buzz, hey that's a deal maker!!
- suddenly and without any pressure at screwing the neck, the string offset issue now seems gone
- also suddenly, the neck pup alignment issue was gone as well!!, cause frankly the neck pup comes in contact with the heel of the neck. I considered this as a sign of the gods of metal (like kramersteen), so this was very important!

then i spent about an hour in full shredding mode.

Overall, i ultra dig this axe... after ..... about 7 hours of struggling to make it playable! I think its a keeper for sure.

Expect a proper NGD post to come next!

 

[kramersteen]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

**** o yeah!

 

[Archer250]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

4) the action height, was just too high, I screwed the studs all the way down, but still the action was high, somewhere in the range of 2mm low B, 1.5 high E @24th fret.

I struggled a lot (4-5 hours) trying to find the magic way that this thing would actually tune, when i started losing faith, till I suddenly felt the strat-syndrome and just took the tools out for a proper setup.
Opened up the neck and i found that it had some shim already in, which was lost in the cavity, there is no neck stop like in strats, the neck is held only by the screws. So i decided to follow the old way of shimming. In my haste to having the guitar playable as fast as possible, i installed just a paper shimm which was enough for the job, although i am gonna redo it seriously next time.

The results :
- i got the action real low, silly low i'd say :1.4mm low B, 1mm high E @24th fret *without* buzz, hey that's a deal maker!!
- suddenly and without any pressure at screwing the neck, the string offset issue now seems gone
- also suddenly, the neck pup alignment issue was gone as well!!, cause frankly the neck pup comes in contact with the heel of the neck. I considered this as a sign of the gods of metal (like kramersteen), so this was very important!

then i spent about an hour in full shredding mode.

Overall, i ultra dig this axe... after ..... about 7 hours of struggling to make it playable! I think its a keeper for sure.

Expect a proper NGD post to come next!

Hehe, you wouldn't want to shred on my guitar then. Also, my eyes are rather lazy in the morning, but I don't see any string misalignment.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

All night i hated the idea of the shim. So i woke up early and removed the shim. I screwed the neck back in, and noticed that without the shim i could get the action as low as i wanted, which points that this was not a design problem, but rather a completely inadequate paper shim installation at the factory. The original shim, is now somewhere in the pickup cavity. I also noticed that somehow the neck pup housing is contacting the neck, so this creates this non-level angle of the neck pup, but this is not a great issue. I was wandering however that since there is no neck-heel stop, one should never screw the neck without completely loosening the strings, other wise the heel might come in contact with the neck pup and/or cause intonation problems. I'll this again when i get home. So the shim was not needed.

Now, my next two issues are :
1) slightly high action at the nut for the 3 high strings, what are the common solutions for this? Filing the nut shelf a little bit, or the nut's base?
2) slightly raised action on G as compared to B,D and A. B has the lowest of those four, then D, then A, then G, which does not feel very right. Out of those the G,D,A seem to have the same nominal size, so i think of swapping D->G, G->A, A->D. This will also be a test regarding the strength of the plate. (i have 14 days withdrawal right, 30-days moneyback, and 3-years guarantee, i guess i am covered to do this)

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

I'm jealous, always wanted one of those.

The nut deal, it's steel, you won't file it down much. You can make sure the slots are smooth and clear of obstruction though, I'd do that first. If it's still off, Ibanez used shims under the nuts back in the day. Maybe all you need is to remove one or replace it with a thinner one. Cut up pop cans work, but I've been using aircraft foil tape for this type of thing, it's adhesive backed. If you still have to, you can file the nut seat. Use a flat file and work slowly and carefully. Be careful not to sand into the edge of the fretboard if the file has teeth on the edge.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Thanx man, it seems the nut height is minor issue. It has no shims underneath, but the nut shelf defintely looks like it needs some cleaning to be done, sand away paint and other imperfections. Its not very high, lets say in the area of 0.4mm clearnce at first fret, nothing to lose sleep over. Now the remaining issue is G saddle height. I guess i'll have to take care of it sooner or later.

Now to the positives sides, today the guitar was still in perfect tuning condition, played it a lot, and i can say that i was so bonded with it. It feels like wearing it, in contrast to other guitars which feel like sitting in front of a piano. A very positive experience.

And some more pics :

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

On the saddle height thing, make sure the washer for the intonation screw didn't end up under the saddle instead of on top. I had that happen on a zero II once.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

^^ Yes that would be a possibility but in this case the problem lies elsewhere. Just checked the trem this morning. Checked G and B saddles side by side, even swapped them, but didn't notice any difference. Will have to check better tonight. Now as I disassembled the trem, I have to say, that this is a smart design, which have some improvements over OFR or Schaller. I don't have experience with the high-end Ibanez trems, but the Edge Zero-II-7, has :
- a really clever and accurate string locking mechanism, instead of those generic OFR string holding blocks
- has the stud locking feature
- the O-ring shaped cut on the stud for the knife edge to sit
- the ability to lock down the springs to the trem block

It also is heavy, and the metal seems much better than those old Asian licensed FR. It reminded me of Gotoh metal, as far as look and feel is concerned. When tightening the saddle lock down bolts, i took care not to overtighten, and for this i used the long edge to insert into the bolt head and the short edge to hold with my hand. I did notice some softness there, which could be attributed to the elasticity of the alen key, but i also noticed that the thickness of the plate is greater than the average floyd plate.

Also, i reinstalled the neck in order to have a clearance with the neck pup. And i think intonation improved a little bit!

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

It's a decent trem, akin to a FRS vs OFR. I like the OG Edge and Lo Pro a lot more, and they were/are made by Gotoh.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

King Izzo! I was wrong to say the little washer wasn't the culprit. Cause i could not imagine i would miss it that easily!
IT WAS!
Thanx, if i ever see you, i owe you one beer, or more!
Now i got it with action 1.4mm low B and 1.1mm high E @24th fret, not bad!

But there is smth with the G saddle. At a moment i thought i stripped the threads cause after a while i saw it slipping under tension. Anyway, i'll wait till tomorrow to see how the guitar settles down... Pheww that was two times 5-6-hour marathons already.... At some points I lost faith....

Overall i like trem better than OFR, its a more advanced design and thicker as well, but WAY harder to setup in comparison to the FR. One parameter to forget (e.g. the locking studs) and hell is around the corner.

Anyway, brother you saved me...

And a close up of the fretwork :

 

[vinta9e]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

It's thicker cause it's all pot metal. It's not any more advanced being cast as compared to machined steel. It's just more overdone, like most things Ibanez. Sorry for the pains of a shattered illusion.

 

[Archer250]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

It's thicker cause it's all pot metal. It's not any more advanced being cast as compared to machined steel. It's just more overdone, like most things Ibanez. Sorry for the pains of a shattered illusion.

But I can tell you that the arm holder is far more durable than an OFR or a Schaller.[emoji2]

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

It's thicker cause it's all pot metal. It's not any more advanced being cast as compared to machined steel. It's just more overdone, like most things Ibanez. Sorry for the pains of a shattered illusion.

I had disastrous results with schallers in the past. I got an expensive piece of "superior" German engineering, only to find out that it killed all harmonics on G string. You should see my shattered illusions then.

 

[vinta9e]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Alrighty then, that's too bad but I understand where you're coming from. You might have got a lemon. Crap does slip through quality control everywhere, every now and then. Go figure Mattias Eklundh's Schaller loaded Caparison spews mad harmonics.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Didn't like the fact that i removed the original shim, so i got it back, correctly this time i hope. Its just a tiny thin orthogonal piece of wood, and having modded strats for so long, i was amazed this could make such a difference. As a result, I think the strings now are equally aligned bass/treble side + and most important, it seems the neck pup now has space to breathe.
String alignment

Neck pup orizontal alignment

And now the ibby family

 

[BeatTheBastard]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Gongrats for sorting out the problem. I had same kind of problem with my Jackson, when I set the FR for floating it couldn´t be lowered enough to get decent action due to no-angle at neck pocket (when floating the action became unbearable after the 12th fret). I just made a tiny shim under the neck and now it´s the ****.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

I loved the fretwork, and the neck, and the tones, but everything else was bad. The neck to body assembly had a problem. Either it would screw fine without the shim but touch the neck pup make it have an angle and also harm intonation badly, or with the shim, have a correct clearance with the neck pup, but not able to screw in all neck screws all the way down, making the neck really unstable, and hearing this kr krk sound when using the tremolo : typical sound of a bold on super strat with floyd rose, but with inadequate neck to body joint. So apparently the neck heel drilling was done wrong, and also the shim was installed wrongly, and also the guitar might very well have no shim at all. But without the shim the neck was touching the neck pup.

And as soon as i managed to solve the neck problem (or at least thought so), the heads of the intonation bolts started stripping! I was not able to make the G string hold firmly in its position, i tried to tighten it, and the head went dead. I think that the way Ibanez solved the soft pot metal problem, was to use .... even weaker intonation bolts with even smaller alen size! (one size smaller than the floyd rose). Had to replace the original bolt with a cheap licenced floyd rose i had, which held just fine. So maybe if the plate threads are ok, maybe the solution might be newer heavy duty bolts.

After that I gave up. Three sleepless nights in five days for a new "premium" guitar is just too much. I tried all I could. I could tolerate the trem soft pot metal problem, and was prepared for that. But I could not stand the wrongly drilled neck problem.

I will try to ask them for replacement, I would give this model a second chance, as I did with my other ibby.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Hmmmmm. If worse comes to worse, you can always pickup an original UV7BK in great shape for less than the new price of the UV70.

 

[greekdude]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Hmmmmm. If worse comes to worse, you can always pickup an original UV7BK in great shape for less than the new price of the UV70.

hey what its neck heel? AANJ?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: NGD Ibanez uv70p

Hmmmmm. If worse comes to worse, you can always pickup an original UV7BK in great shape for less than the new price of the UV70.

Not sure where you are but in EU finding a UV7BK is about as common as finding a 3 legged stripper. Then if you do its likely you will pay MORE than the new price of a UV70.