Decisions, Decisions

[Dr.Pain]

I'd thought I'd throw this up here as I'm hoping someone has some knowledge or experience with some guitars I'm looking at.

I'm after a 7 string with active pups and I've been looking at an ESP Ltd MH-417 or an Ibanez RGA7.



The ESP has all I want, neck through, fixed bridge and EMG 81/85.  But it's at the very limit of my budget and I'm concerned about the finish buffing up.

The Ibanez is over $400 cheaper and looks to have a better bridge.  But it's a bolt on neck and I'd have to change pick ups at some point and modify the battery box as I'd consider EMG 707/60 for this.  Works out cheaper too but only by $100 to $150

Does anyone have any experience this these two guitars?

I already have an Ltd guitar and bass and I like them.  Also I have a 7 string BC Rich with a c-piggy but I've never played an Ibanez and there's no shops in my area without going for a bit of a long drive.  I want a 7 string and active pups as my 7string is great and versatile and I want to compare EMG's to my c-pig.  Also I'd leave the bitch in B and the new one in A.

Decisions, decisions....

[Miek]

Where do you live that the Ibanez is 400 dollars cheaper, wow, that's awful...

Anyway, the Ibanez comes stock with terrible, terrible, terrible pickups, whereas the LTD comes with good old real EMGs. That alone may offset the cost seeing as you'd have to replace the Ibanez's pickups. Secondly, I can't stand the Ibanezes in that price range, they always feel cheap to me. LTD is a much safer bet though, as it has pickups that are good, it has a nicer neck and finish (my opinion of course). The quality of the bridges would be about the same, with the LTD being a million times easier to upgrade.

Here's the pros and cons I can think of in list form

LTD
Pros
-Good pickups
-Good neck profile
-Better nut
-Common bridge design
-3 way toggle instead of blade (:p)

Cons
-...Not an actual ESP? That's all I can think of.
-More expensive for you not taking pickup changes for the Ibanez into account

Ibanez
Pros:
-Cheaper before pickup change

Cons:
-Terrible, horrid pickups
-Would have to change them
-One of a kind bridge that has no upgrades
-Would have to enlarge the hole for the current on/on switch to make room for another pot
-Battery cavity is stupid, made for AAs or something instead of a 9v

[Dr.Pain]

Thanks for the info about Ibanez.  I've never played one so don't know,  Ltd's I have.  My bass, B-5E, is about the same product range as the MH-417 and it's so damn nice but my AX-250 isn't in that range.  The bridge is something I wouldn't upgrade anyway unless it failed in some way.  I don't abuse them so not really an issue.

As for price, I live in Australia and these things don't come cheap. Our dollar is 1 for 1 with the US dollar so it's not too bad especially when our dollar was only $0.75 USD not so long ago.  The Ibanez I can get for $825 where the Ltd is $1249.  More than likely it's the last guitar I'll buy so I should stop being a tight arse with coin with this.

[Telerocker]

In general I think Ibanez uses better tonewoods then Ltd. The only downside on Ibbie's are the pickups. Easy to swap them (for nice BKP's for instance).

[Transcend]

actually you wouldnt have to make the hole bigger where the switch is and the pickups arent exactly terrible either.

And also you wont have to adjust the battery cavity at all just unscrew the current battery holder.

The ibanez i believe will also have a thinner & faster neck

this is all speaking from experience as a RGA owner and i thought i would have to make those mods but it turned out i didnt

[Alex]

In general I think Ibanez uses better tonewoods then Ltd. The only downside on Ibbie's are the pickups. Easy to swap them (for nice BKP's for instance).

Sorry, but such a blanket statement is just unacceptable. The guitars might even come from the same Chinese factory for all we know.

[Telerocker]

In general I think Ibanez uses better tonewoods then Ltd. The only downside on Ibbie's are the pickups. Easy to swap them (for nice BKP's for instance).

Sorry, but such a blanket statement is just unacceptable. The guitars might even come from the same Chinese factory for all we know.

I'm talking about the guitars I picked up in guitarshops many times and to me the Ibbies were in general better then the Ltd's playing them unamplified. But hey, that's just my impression/opinion. I liked the Ldt's pickups better though.

[Dr.Pain]

Thank you for the responses.  Always interesting to hear opinions.  I've decided to hold off on another 7 string.  My current 7 string with the c-pig sounds and plays so nice that it's above and beyond my other 2 guitars so I went for a better 6 string.  Went for an ESP Ltd H-351NT.  I like the shape and colour, it's active pups and was better suited to my budget.  Can't wait till it's here  :D