Which guitar would fit this bill?

[tdk24]

Strat style body.
Rosewood, ebony, or maple fretboard.
2 humbuckers. Locking tuners or be able to easily drop some in.
Straight or near straight string pull to tuners.
26.5" scale.
And most important, a hardtail. No trems or TOM bridges.
Budget = less than $600 US dollars.
Sorry forgot to mention I'm looking for a 7. (thought i was posting this in the 7 forum and not the beginners forum)

I'm interested in the JS22-7 but I would spend more on something that fits that bill but with some nicer quality components. I'm checking the Carvin in-stock guitars all the time, I would consider pulling the trigger on something there around a grand because of high quality, but I want to exhaust the low end to mid level guitars before I do that. I've never tried an 8, but if there is something in an 8 that fits that bill I would also consider that as well.
Thank you for any and all advice/recommendations.

 

[Electric Wizard]

Well if you can stretch the budget a little bit you can get a Schecter Banshee:
Schecter Banshee 7 7 String Active Electric Guitar Trans Black BRST 888365322216 | eBay

 

[tdk24]

A banshee would be doable. I think I saw one in purple last night on the web somewhere that looked cool. Thanks, Keep 'em comin'!

 

[Curt]

strictly strat shape, or is the Ibanez RG close enough?

 

[tdk24]

RG is close enough. I would consider that a strat shape. Or should I just say double cutaway?

 

[blckrnblckt]

How about a used non prestige RGD (like a rgd7421)? I've never tried them but I'm pretty sure they would have 26.5 scale, (super)strat shape, lower price, hardtail, 2 humbuckers, rosewood fretboard, I don't know about drop in locking tuners but you could probably find some.

If only that budget wasn't there. I immediately thought of km7.

 

[Curt]

Oops, saw that you said 26.5" scale. I was going to recommend the RG7421pb, as it's a real looker at a great price. But I have to recommend the Schecter banshee, or the Jackson DKA7 pro(both come with amazing stock pickups!)

 

[tdk24]

Is that the DKA7 Pro with the maple fretboard and killswitch?

 

[tdk24]

I wonder why Schecter lists the Banshee 7 as 26.5" scale but the ebay adds even from gear company's list it as 25.5" scale. Is it just a matter of them all copy/paste bad info?

 

[Discoqueen]

I think, besides the d7x, Carvin sevens all have 25.5" scale length. i just thought I'd point that out since you seem set on 26.5". The Schecters and Ibbys seem like they would fulfill your requirements. Also, go with what Schecter says. Double check on sites like Sweetwater and Zzounds and they also say 25.5 I would check with the company directly.

 

[gigawhat]

Almost all Schecter 7 strings are 26.5". Its been this way for years, the only ones that are not are the ones made in the late 90s-early 00s.

 

[mcsalty]

+1 for the RGD7421

 

[Tzar27]

RGD7421 would be sweet, anything from Schecter (particularly used higher-end models) is going to be pretty awesome, and like another user said above, pretty much all Schecter 7s are 26.5" nowadays so you don't have to worry about that much.

I'd also recommend the Jackson JS22-7. $200 new with a hardtail, 26.5" scale, and satin black finish, which is actually quite sexy IMO. Insanely good quality for the price, and then you'll have plenty of funds left to throw in new pickups, locking tuners, and maybe even a new bridge and/or nut if you feel like it. With some mods and a proper setup, you'd have an axe to blow most others in your price range out of the water for sure.

 

[Bleach31]

The JS-22 and JS-32 would both fit it and leave you money to do upgrades. I'm waiting on my DKA-7 to get here right now, then I'm probably buying a JS-22 to upgrade for my backup 7.

 

[tdk24]

How does the quality compare between Indonesia and China? About the same?