Despised
New member
I started playing 7-strings back in '99, right when the boom for these happened and the demand was huge for them. I had ordered one of these from a store, but wound up with it's hardtail counterpart - an RG7621 - instead. At the time, I didn't mind not having the trem, as I preferred the fixed bridge anyway. And oddly enough, very shortly after I sold this particular one, I wound up finding a killer deal on a really good shape '91 UV7BK Black & Green Universe. After many years - and too many guitars to keep count at this point - I have been wanting another Ibanez RG 7-string again, due to taking home a killer Premium RG920MQM in dead mint shape. After more than a decade of being an ESP/LTD die-hard, I have come back to the Ibanez stuff with a serious longing for the right RG7.
So after looking at the new RG7421's, and browsing Ebay, Craigslist & Reverb, the right one came to light. And it was an offer I couldn't pass up, especially for the price. I found this on my local Craigslist and jumped on it immediately after a prior deal for my RG920MQM and cash fell thru for a Prestige S5527 in Purple Doom Burst. The score: a '99 RG7620BK for $350!!!
While it's not mint, it's in really good shape and plays incredible, which is what I was hoping for. Despite a few small dings in the edges of the body, the hardware isn't pitted or corroded, the frets are in good shape, and we'll worth snagging for the price. It has a B/W/B pickguard on it, giving it that "Silver Dot" Universe vibe and look, which is something else about it I fell in love with. It has the stock neck pickup, and a DiMarzio Ionizer 7 in the bridge, in which i dont really care for too much. It sounds good, but has this tonality to it that is offsetting for me to warrant replacing it. So needless to say, I am going to begin my conversion process on this to make it a "Silver Dot" UV replica. Since the originals are nearly impossible to find, I got a killer candidate to start with and needs minor parts to complete the conversion.
There are 2 issues I am having regarding the conversion process though. One is obviously the pickups. But the main issue is the pickguard. I am kinda curious about using a modified UV pickguard on this as long as the humbucker and control routes are in the same positions, and have made a separate thread regarding the info I seek about that... but if worse comes to worse, I am going to have WD make the new ones for me for this anyway.
And as for the pickups issue, I am thinking one of two things:
*If an outright custom "Silver Dot" conversion, going with the SD Black Winter 7 set & a Custom Shop 7-string SSL-6 Custom Flat Tapped Version for the middle single coil. This will also wind up getting wired like the Ibanez Tosin Abasi model, but with a concentric pot for the 2 humbucker volumes, and the push/pull will be the middle single coil volume and coil tap... (I find I get more tonality blending with each pickup having its own volume, and I NEVER use the tone control anyway...).
*If I am leaving it the 2 humbuckers, considering either the Black Winter 7's, or the new DiMarzio Imperium 7 set...
(Gave some thought to the passive sized EMG 81-7H's in the new normal black plastic housings or the Fishman Fluence Modern 7 set, but am going to wind up putting the Fishman's into my '67 Flying V 7-string... So this is leaving me - and both of my Ibanez's with passives.)
Attached is the pic of the new toy. Let me know what you guys would recommend out of the pickup choices I listed you would rather go with.
Thanks as always!!
So after looking at the new RG7421's, and browsing Ebay, Craigslist & Reverb, the right one came to light. And it was an offer I couldn't pass up, especially for the price. I found this on my local Craigslist and jumped on it immediately after a prior deal for my RG920MQM and cash fell thru for a Prestige S5527 in Purple Doom Burst. The score: a '99 RG7620BK for $350!!!
While it's not mint, it's in really good shape and plays incredible, which is what I was hoping for. Despite a few small dings in the edges of the body, the hardware isn't pitted or corroded, the frets are in good shape, and we'll worth snagging for the price. It has a B/W/B pickguard on it, giving it that "Silver Dot" Universe vibe and look, which is something else about it I fell in love with. It has the stock neck pickup, and a DiMarzio Ionizer 7 in the bridge, in which i dont really care for too much. It sounds good, but has this tonality to it that is offsetting for me to warrant replacing it. So needless to say, I am going to begin my conversion process on this to make it a "Silver Dot" UV replica. Since the originals are nearly impossible to find, I got a killer candidate to start with and needs minor parts to complete the conversion.
There are 2 issues I am having regarding the conversion process though. One is obviously the pickups. But the main issue is the pickguard. I am kinda curious about using a modified UV pickguard on this as long as the humbucker and control routes are in the same positions, and have made a separate thread regarding the info I seek about that... but if worse comes to worse, I am going to have WD make the new ones for me for this anyway.
And as for the pickups issue, I am thinking one of two things:
*If an outright custom "Silver Dot" conversion, going with the SD Black Winter 7 set & a Custom Shop 7-string SSL-6 Custom Flat Tapped Version for the middle single coil. This will also wind up getting wired like the Ibanez Tosin Abasi model, but with a concentric pot for the 2 humbucker volumes, and the push/pull will be the middle single coil volume and coil tap... (I find I get more tonality blending with each pickup having its own volume, and I NEVER use the tone control anyway...).
*If I am leaving it the 2 humbuckers, considering either the Black Winter 7's, or the new DiMarzio Imperium 7 set...
(Gave some thought to the passive sized EMG 81-7H's in the new normal black plastic housings or the Fishman Fluence Modern 7 set, but am going to wind up putting the Fishman's into my '67 Flying V 7-string... So this is leaving me - and both of my Ibanez's with passives.)
Attached is the pic of the new toy. Let me know what you guys would recommend out of the pickup choices I listed you would rather go with.
Thanks as always!!
