NGD! RGA8

[Guitarwiz2k]

Nooo this is all I can afford to do to it right now to be honest. Well I'm a fan of higher gauge strings, always have been. I love strings that are quite tightly wound, for a lot of the stuff I do it makes things much easier, and also seems to add to the vibration that carries through to my body whilst playing.

The strings that were supplied with the guitar far to low a gauge for my liking, meant that I a) couldn't hit the strings very hard without the note being thrown all over the place, and b) was having a little difficulty locating the string with my pick and making a nice accurate and powerful pluck a lot of the time.

Actually, I can totally relate to that, and with that said, I think I will be putting 10 gauge strings on all my guitars, because the ones that I have done so far sound fatter, and play better, although with this new 8 string coming, I have my work cut out... good thing 2 of them are already strung with 10's.

 

[MF_Kitten]

man, this thing is still giving me GAS! something about it makes me really really want it. it's such a simple guitar, and it's so awesome looking.

it's funny how i always think about only needing one guitar per tuning and string count, but i'd love to have several of each, just because they're all so lovely

if i had the money, i'd be living in a sea of guitars

 

[Guitarwiz2k]

For me I love guitars, but I love versatility even more. My other guitarist likes to do alternate and dropped tuning, but since I'm classically trained and now in jazz studies, I never untune my guitars from 440, but instead I've learned to play every song we do using either a 6 or 7 string, but lately he's been writing in dropped C... I play on a 6, but it's just not the same.

Now with this 8 string, I can play any tuning I want, so the 8 will offer lower tunings when I need, and the 6's give me ease of play when I want that too. And I have a synth on my 6's. So I'm totally versatile... I love options, and it seems Ibanez is the company helping me to explore those and many more options.

I just hope these guitars come in more color options in the future; but then again, the 7 strings have come a long way, and now you can get them in many more colors than when they first started.

 

[Chonker]

So I just restrung mine with considerably thicker strings (.010, .013, .017, .030, .042, .052, .060, .080). Good news, it's taking them like a focking beaut, and also the .080 fits into the saddle nice and happily. Luckily for me however I got the D'addario string which comes with the slightly thinner string end on it, because the tuner is just a tad too puny for the full girth of the .080.

My god I'm falling deeper in love with this guitar by the day.

Sweet, I'm surprised you've gone heavier on the top end though, it's already pretty tight with the 9.

I'm going to try and pick up a .074 on my way home from work and see how that works out, the string guage calculator says it should be somewhere around the tension of the .058 on my 7 at B.

I'm a little confused with the note naming. Would the top string be E5 or E4 (flat in my case)?

 

[PeteyG]

Sweet, I'm surprised you've gone heavier on the top end though, it's already pretty tight with the 9.

I'm going to try and pick up a .074 on my way home from work and see how that works out, the string guage calculator says it should be somewhere around the tension of the .058 on my 7 at B.

I'm a little confused with the note naming. Would the top string be E5 or E4 (flat in my case)?

It should be an E5... I think anyway.

Well to be fair, it is again mostly down to just being my thing about liking thicker strings, but in my defense, it was the high E that Nolly broke while wanking around on it.

Oh also, with regards to a comparison to the RG2228, Nolly said that the neck seems easier to play on, but isn't sure whether it's because it's a narrower neck or not, it seems likely but he wasn't sure. Also because of the arch top (which he normally doesn't like) it makes the volume nob position less of a pain than on most Ibanez (something he also normally doesn't like, thus the distance and positioning on his Blackmachines). All in all he seemed very impressed.

 

[Chonker]

Did you ever feel the neck shape might be slightly assymetrical? When I first picked it up I thought it was but now I'm less sure. It would be surprising but it's difficult to tell.

I might bust out my profile guage if I can find it and see if i can measure it.

 

[ugg im kyle]

I love this man! I want an 8 so bad =[
Grats!

 

[Monk]

i tried to order mine with that case and they tried to fit it in. the bad news is: the RGA8 is too long (3cm).

Well, that just plain sucks. I hate not having a proper case for a guitar. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to order the RGA8 by itself.

 

[darren]

That's awesome. I really like the look of the RGA8... they fixed almost everything i didn't like about the RG2228. Shame about the EMG-sized pickups, but we can't have everything. Drop some Blackouts in there, and it should be a monster.

 

[ragweed]

Anyone can compare this new Ibanez pickups' properties to EMG808s and/or SD Blackouts? What do you think about the 3V power supply?
(btw I just lol'd at Bare Knuckle pickups... It's like the title of an anal fisting porn movie... )

 

[Guitarwiz2k]

I've changed pickups out in the past, but since dimarzio doesn't currently make an 8 string pickup, I'm kind of at a loss... I'd love an 8 string Tone Zone [Tone Zone 8], but anyone know a duncan equivalent?

In the past I've also disliked Duncans, because they tend to have an almost metalic or in-organic sound to them, so all the tones come out more harsh than velvety... It will surely get rid of that Fuzzy tone someone here mentioned before.

Any ideas?

 

[boingti]

How do you find the fretbuzz on the low strings? I had mine delivered yesterday and slapped a .80 on straight away but even with the bridge set to its highest point it still just buzzez like hell on the low two strings, I get about 2 seconds sustain before any fretted note dies completly. can anyone suggest a cure for this? At the moment I'm just really dissapointed, its nowhere near as nice as my RG7620 and I'm thinking about sending it back.

Thanks for your help folks, this is my first post on the forum (i've been lurking a little while) so I hope I dont sound like a complete noob!

Cheers
Duff

 

[Guitarwiz2k]

How do you find the fretbuzz on the low strings? I had mine delivered yesterday and slapped a .80 on straight away but even with the bridge set to its highest point it still just buzzez like hell on the low two strings, I get about 2 seconds sustain before any fretted note dies completly. can anyone suggest a cure for this? At the moment I'm just really dissapointed, its nowhere near as nice as my RG7620 and I'm thinking about sending it back.

Thanks for your help folks, this is my first post on the forum (i've been lurking a little while) so I hope I dont sound like a complete noob!

Cheers
Duff

I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time with the guitar, and I hope my humble advice helps, but you may try these tips.

I would first check each note all the way up the fretboard, note for note, string for string, and if if you have any buzzing notes, just to make sure you're not fretting out; then you could try some other things.

I only play Ibanez electrics, and have found that, unless the store you got it from set it up, you'll have to do that yourself, including tighting all moving parts and the bridge itself. All the little set screws, saddle screws, even the locking nut as well, and I'm not sure if the fixed bridge has springs under it or not, but if it does to compensate for the extra string, you may want to cussion that somehow as well.

I noticed another fella who blessed us with a nice YouTube video complained about that same type or kind of fuzz, and it got me thinking that it may very well be hardward noise and not actually string or fret buzz.

Finally their is the gauge of the string, being round wound will have its own buzz, especially at that gauge, which is why some players use flat wound for thicker strings, but most metal players use the extra buzz as an advantage to accent the grind or fuzz you get with some added distortion, "WITHOUT THE BUZZING OF THE HARDWARE" mentioned above.

-Craig

 

[Chonker]

I'm still on the standard string gauge at the moment and it's okay. The action is set rather high on the low end though. The shop I got mine from did a terrible job on the setup, it's really badly intonated, so I'll be taking it to a local luthiers along with a .059 and .074 to replace the two lowest strings as soon as I get the chance.

 

[Internection]

seeing your 7321 in that pic makes me really want to clean mine hahaha. its duuuuusty. but i love this guitar, but i have my agile ordered now. congrats

 

[Origin]

Congrats man, I have a deepseated hatred for Indo guitars based on well....fact...but I know there's some exceptions..is this one of those standout exceptions to the Indo-crap rule?

 

[boingti]

Thanks for the advice guys, I've tightened everything and fitted a full new set of thicker strings, I've also made a slight Truss rod adjustment to try to give a bit more relief and this seems to have made it "Slightly" better. The only problem with me playing about with it is that now I can't bear to part with it ). I think I'll just take it to my closest guitar shop and get them to give it a propper setup with fretdress and everything. I'm still a bit anoyed that the shop I bought it from was supposed to have done a full setup before sending it to me and very obviously hadn't!

Cheers
Duff

 

[screamindaemon]

But be careful with saying that. My S5470 had set ups done from the factory and in house, and it still wasn't perfect. Sometimes guitars just need to acclimatize themselves to your environment and playing first. That's the reason why most places offer free setups at the place you bought it within a few months or so...

But I feel your pain. When I brought my baby back, it was the longest weekend of my life.

 

[Absaloms Axe]

Short question:

how are you going to install the Warpig in there?
I mean will it fit?

sorry if it's allready mentioned in the thread.

I'm considering between BPK's and SD BO's and thought the BPKs would't fit in there.

 

[djohns74]

Short question:

how are you going to install the Warpig in there?
I mean will it fit?

sorry if it's allready mentioned in the thread.

I'm considering between BPK's and SD BO's and thought the BPKs would't fit in there.

If I'm not very much mistaken, BKPs are the same size as a typical passive pickup. The pickups in the RGA8 (as well as EMG 808s and 8 string Blackouts) are in an extended housing that is wider than a typical passive pickup. I am making the assumption that the RGA8's stock pickups are the same size as an EMG 808, they look like it, but I don't know that for sure.

Anyway, while a passive (including a BKP) will certainly fit in the space provided, you'll have an unsightly gap on either side of the pickup. If this doesn't bother you, or you intend to install pickup rings to cover the gap, then there shouldn't really be an issue.