Dilemma: Loomis TOM or Xiphos 7?

[budda]

thanks for the info, nick. wasnt sure about the xiphos as i know what the RG's are lol.

all it takes is a few days to warm up to the 26.5 scale, i found.

either way, someone will bring home a nice guitar.

 

[plyta]

I'm down!

if you can comfortably play a classical, then i must ask - how low is your 7 strung? lol.

How low what:
Q1) string action?
A1) as low as possible

Q2) tuning?
A2) standard, 1/2 step down: E flat - B flat

Q3) straped?
A3) upper horn of RG almost hits me in the jaw

 

[budda]

oh, i so didnt type "slung" like i meant to

sounds like your RG is higher then my C7. i still dont think that the C7 has a big neck though. normal sized IMO. ibby's have small necks.

i've come to find that if it's shaped like my LP studio neck, it'll fit like a glove.

 

[NegaTiveXero]

How low what:
Q1) string action?
A1) as low as possible

Q2) tuning?
A2) standard, 1 step down: E flat - B flat

Q3) strapped?
A3) upper horn of RG almost hits me in the jaw

That's a half step.

No prob, budda. I'm still not sure what the neck is though. I think it's mahogany, but it might be maple.

 

[djpharoah]

Personally I want to say xiphos 7 but after playing the 6 string one I was unimpressed with the shape and found it very different and bit harder to play due to the small body size (that sits on your leg when you play) and the necks ambition to touch the ground.

Now having played the loomis floyd edition - i can say i would definitely take the loomis TOM out of the two choices here. The neck only becomes an issue if you have small bitch-ass hands but all kidding aside - yes the loomis has a thicker profile which I can see as a bit of a impedance on speed playing but your hand will definitely get used to it. I have owned only ibanez 7s and found the loomis' neck to be kinda different but in a good way.

 

[Emperoff]

Loomis all the way

 

[Cancer]

The Xiphos ...and that only because I prefer the Loomis with a trem ...and the Xiphos 6 plays like mercury....

 

[unconventional]

Ok, leme try and shed some light on the neck dive issue. With mine it was terrible. So I got out the drill. That's right folks, I mustered up enough testicular fortitude and drilled the mother fucker. Not a problem now.

Now if you go and do this, do it neat and cover up those holes folks. I purposely stick out my stomach at the end to show how the guitar which was resting on the round of my belly still did not move much when rotating side to side. I don't have a gut, really

My dimarzio strap is pulled as far as it can go, so I can't Erkel the guitar up to my neck. I'd like to get it a tad closer. Now, another technique you'll notice is spreading the legs a bit further apart than normal and resting the lower rear of the guitar on your leg. This helps a little bit too and it's what I like to do.

Now this thing is a fucked up guitar. It's not normal so you got to fucking adjust yourself to it a tad. Not a big deal, don't be fucking lazy alright? Sorry for the less than stellar playing, I fucked up my wrist the other day. I wanted to play a song a bit so you can see that I'm not putting pressure on the neck in order to keep it from diving.


CLICK HERE JACKASS
http://www.fite-evil.com/neckdive.wmv

it's 18M as I recorded it a higher quality than usual so it's going to take a bit to load.

 

[Metal Ken]

yes the loomis has a thicker profile which I can see as a bit of a impedance on speed playing but your hand will definitely get used to it.

Doesnt stop jeff

 

[HaGGuS]

Loomis FTW...

 

[Codyyy]

I don't know why thinner necks are supposedly the only ones for "shredding".


I play the same speed on thin and thick necks, unless they are way off to EITHER extreme. Too thin fucks me up.

 

[Marginal]

I handle 6 string classical guitar, which has wider neck than any 7 string electric. I hate thick necks, but if you like to add some "solidness" you might use a dock pole as a neck on your guitars as well:

Seriously dude, I freaking lol'd So it seems like most people here would prefer the Loomis over the Xiphos (at least that's what the votes indicate). I don't know whether the extended scale would be an issue but I sure as HELL know that the neck dive issue of the Xiphos would drive me nuts

 

[unconventional]

Did you guys not see my video in this thread? All you got to do is move the fucking buttons, takes 5 minutes. I know most are probably afraid to do something like that but it's not a big deal.

Kevin

 

[Shorty]

Loomis.

Guitars that neck dive show bad design and lazy testing before manufacturing. Unacceptable for an instrument of it's price. This will always rule out the Xiphos for me.

 

[MerlinTKD]

Did you guys not see my video in this thread? All you got to do is move the fucking buttons, takes 5 minutes. I know most are probably afraid to do something like that but it's not a big deal.

Kevin

Hey, it was hard to tell... where did you move the buttons to? The upper looked like it's under the horn... is it? And did you move the lower button as well?


To the OP... you can't go wrong here. It basically comes down to:

- odd shape vs standard shape
- active vs passive pickups
- thicker neck vs thinner neck
- maple vs rosewood fretboard
- one possibly requiring work to get it where you want it


I won't vote since I've never played either, but I think it's going to be a close call either way. Just remember, whichever one you order, when it comes in:

 

[unconventional]

I agree, I think it absolutely sucks that Ibanez releases an instrument and obviously has nobody test the fucking thing prior. If I didn't like their guitars though I'd tell them to go pound fucking sand. So moving a strap button to me is not a big deal. I've been a tinkerer since the dawn of time so a little drilling is not a big deal to me. It does suck to have to do that to an $800 instrument, I agree.

I think what most folks don't understand is that with odd shaped instruments, you have to adjust yourself somewhat to a different position. Not a big deal to me.

 

[cow 7 sig]

Xiphos...

Schecter .. no .... no ...

agree with seb

 

[Marginal]

To the OP... you can't go wrong here. It basically comes down to:

- 1. odd shape vs standard shape
- 2. active vs passive pickups
- 3. thicker neck vs thinner neck
- 4. maple vs rosewood fretboard
- 5. one possibly requiring work to get it where you want it

1. I like both shapes, so I don't really care about it.
2. Having passives would be nice, since I'd have more options, BUT I've had no previous expierience with active (or any other pickups for that matter -me being a freakin' newb with guitar equipment).
3. Up till' now, I've only played my 6-string, which has a fairly thin neck. And I can't say that it's the most comfortable thing in the world. At least that's what I think. I could try out a guitar similar to the Loomis, like the Hellraiser, but that would have to wait (it's two hours drive time from here and I can't drive a car ). Too much work for school.
4. Again, no opinion here. You have to start from something and learn in the process what you like and don't like, right?
5. Yeah, I guess that's the only thing making want the Xiphos less is the neck dive issue. And I wouldn't know how to fix it.

I won't vote since I've never played either, but I think it's going to be a close call either way. Just remember, whichever one you order, when it comes in:

But of course. I have to satisfy the guitar lust goin' on here

 

[budda]

2 hour drive is nothing! go test out the freakin guitar!! i had to drive 2 hours to test out anything that wasnt marshall SS, traynor tube, or epiphone

*sigh*

 

[Marginal]

2 hour drive is nothing! go test out the freakin guitar!! i had to drive 2 hours to test out anything that wasnt marshall SS, traynor tube, or epiphone

*sigh*

I know. But I can't drive (I am 17 and I have taken zero classes on how to drive the damn thing ).