7 Or 8 String Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

I read a lot of reviews on this guitar before purchasing. Most common complaints revolved around tuning stability. I was expecting mine to go out of tune every 2 minutes. Not my experience at all. It seems to be strung with 10's, and holds tuning very well. Pick ups sound warm and tight. When I eventually upgrade I'll probably do the nut and tuners, but those are by no means urgent. There are so minor finish flaws, but i bought this guitar to play, not to stare at it. For less than £200, you really can't go wrong. Delivery was on time and without hassle.Ben A.

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

Its not super flashy and wont really capture any attention on stage but it does its job. Its a solid guitar, way better built than other guitars in its price range. Solid construction, great overall build quality, amazing tone and awesome pickups for the price range. Great 7 string to get your foot in the door if you are usually a 6 string player and if it doesnt work out for you you are not out alot of money and has decent resale value. I am going to get more comfortable with this guitar before buying a more expensive 7 string and use this as my backup 7 string while gigging. No regrets here or complaints. As always AMS shipped this thing instantly and it came well packaged and no damage! Thank you AMS!Mike Yakouba

Overall: Man, I can’t believe this guitar was less than 400 bucks. This is my First 7 string. I got it as an experiment just to see if a 7 string had any appeal. Well it did. It does.I did have to do a little work on the nut. The neck had a hard D profile that was irritating, so I shaved the shoulders and reshaped the neck. Fits like a glove now. I don’t know what people expect in this price range, but this guitar was bang for the buck rich.I found the stock humbuckers to be adequate. Tone and volume controls worked. No static in the five way switch. The pickups sound tight enough on the bottom.You won’t get any more 7 string bang for the buck until you spend twice as much.Scott

Sound: The sound quality is pretty good believe it or not with the stock pickups, definitely have enough distortion to get pinch harmonics anywhere that I can on my Seymour Duncan JB equipped Schecter C-1. Although, the 7th string (B) or in my case G# can be a little muddy but this is why I also picked up a Dimarzio Crunch Lab and Liquifire to replace the stock pickups. But for now, it does fit my musical style pretty well which is mostly groove/progressive metal (or the cliche Djent term). It sounds great with other low gain music as well too, the 5 way selector which offers single coil mode is pretty useful. Clean sounds are pretty good . Keep in mind I'm only running through a Line 6 Spider II. Tips for making it sound better, would be include some dimarzios, or duncans as stock pickups which I know would increase the price but most of us are going to replace them anyways. Features: The most useful feature I would say is the 5 way switch, giving a variety of sounds. This is a pretty basic set up, so I wouldn't say there is anything useless at all. It has 7 inline tuners which I feel are more stable than the grovers on my schecter, they are nice and tight. It has a 25.5" bolt on (vs. my set through Schecter) maple neck with rosewood fingerboard with a more D shape to the neck, but also pretty thin compared to my schecter (a beefier U/C shape neck). The transition is actually quite comfortable coming from my 6 string. A flattop basswood body with 2 humbuckers, a 5 way switch, and volume (which I find gets in the way when trying to sweep pick, but I'll just have to adjust my playing style) and tone knobs. It also has a gotoh hardtail bridge. Ease of Use: It's very easy to get clean sounds out of this guitar, the distortion is pretty good as well, again a little bit of mud on the 7th string when tuned lower. It's easy to use with my amp, it's plug and play. Learning curve, is actually little to none it was an easy transition. It's very playable, the neck is fast and the bridge is comfortable. The body also has a nice belly cut and relief for your forearm. Quality: This product is assembled in Indonesia, my Schecter was in Korea. With that being said, I do think the Schecter's fit and finish is better but not too far ahead of the Ibanez. But, you get what you pay for with a $400.00 guitar. I bought this knowing it was not going to be a premium or prestige model. I haven't had it long, so I can't relaly comment on it's reliability. But from what I have seen so far, it feels very ruggedly made and everything feels nice and solid. Value: I think this product is 100% worth it's asking price. It's a solid guitar, the stock tone is great under clean/slightly overdrive tones, and acceptable under high gain. Again, to have it come stock with better pickups would increase the cost further. So for this price, it is very much worth it. Playability is great, loving the Ibanez Wizard neck. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez before, but I have dealt with zZounds before. They are easy to get ahold of and very friendly. I have not yet had any problems with zZounds and very much enjoy the play as you pay plan. The Wow Factor: I find this guitar very appealing, especially with the white finish. What makes it even more appealing is the price and the stock features it comes with. I could have bought a baritone 6, but I've wanted a 7 for awhile. It just offers more tonal and range opportunities. Overall: In short, great guitar for the $. Stock pickups leave a little to be desired when down tuning. Playability is excellent. Quality is definitely acceptable, but not above and beyond.Kory

Getting used to the extra 2 strings, which is a little awkward. And the fanned frets is something new too. It's kind of like learning the basics of swimming, then decide to try the diving board. LOL. I'm cool with that, as it saves me from buying a bunch of guitars along the way to be comfortable with this concept. I really dig the guitar, has all the features I was shooting for at a really accessible price point. Well made, a keeper.Will R.

Sound: Sounds great. It does get a little muddy sounding on the lower strings but for the price I'm okay with that. Ease of Use: I play this through an orange tiny terror running an ibanez tube screamer and compressor pedal (I think it's an mxr, nothing fancy). The neck was pretty easy to get use to it granted i do have bigger hands. Quality: Only had it a short time but it seems pretty well built. Arrived in perfect condition and was packaged securely. Value: Well worth the price Manufacturer Support: Have yet had to interact with them The Wow Factor: Pretty much got this on a whim due to the ibanez r8 constantly being backordered. Sold me from my typical go to brand of esp. Overall: Bought this guitar recently being a faithful ESP player my whole guitar playing life. Was nervous about the bolt on neck but let me tell you this guitar is perfect. The neck is like butter and the longer scale is perfect. I read about the pickups not being the best but for the price you can't go wrong. Highly reccomend to anyone.Garrett

This guitar is awesome. I got the walnut satin version and it is very nice. It's way less red than the pictures show; I'd recommend googling the guitar to see real pics of it. There were no problems with it upon arrival. The setup was almost perfect too. The neck is very thin and easy to play on. However, being my first 8 string (and first Schecter), the width of the neck and the closeness of the strings has taken some getting used to, even after a month or so. Very hard to reach the last couple of fret, but going all the way up there isn't entirely necessary for everyone. The inlays are cooler than expected. They probably aren't pearl, but look like it. Hardware wise, the controls work just fine. The tuners are better than I expected based on other stock tuners I've worked with from other brands. The pickups are fine i think, but I don't have any other 8 string pickups to compare them too either. Overall great deal. The walnut satin finish on an 8 string really made the deal for me, but I was impressed with the overall quality for an entry-level-priced 8 string. I had read many forums looking for the best low cost 8 string and almost everywhere there were a few people mentioning the omen 8. Based on my experience thus far, I would definitely agree with them.Joe

This is a VERY solid 7 string. I've tried quite a few brands searching for the perfect intermediate 7 string, both active and passive electronics. So far, the best ones, by far, have been LTD and Schecter, with this one taking the cake (even over an $850 Ltd ec-407). First off, the guitar is beautiful, and the neck feels great. I usually don't like the super-strat body style, but this one has the top curves in all the right places. There is a bit of fret buzz when strummed hard on the low B, but that's to be expected and it's much more manageable than some of the others I tried. If it's a problem, I'd recommend a thicker gauge string set, I like ghs boomers in a heavy gauge (they eliminated fret buzz on a previously owned, less expensive LTD 7 string I owned) The pickups sound incredible, honestly. There are models of this same guitar with Duncan Designed pickups, and that model is slightly more expensive, but I assure you that you're not missing out if you get this one with Schecter Diamond active pickups instead. In fact… I think these sounded better in some applications! Fantastic gain, clarity, and definition, and perfect for metal, they will make your riffs sound brutal… they sound good clean too though! Overall the best bang for your buck 7 string I've tried yet. I've personally owned 5 different ones, but this and the now-discontinued Jackson slathx-m 3-7, which come stock with Seymour Duncan Sentient and Nazgul passive pickups, take the cake for the best I've played.Brian F

I was honestly quite skeptical about the idea of an eight string. A few of my buddies and I decided that, based on the type of music that we wanted to play, an eight string was the right answer. Not wanting to spend a ton on an eight string if I didn't like it, I found this model at a decent price. Needless to say, I was blown away by this guitar. Everything about it is above what I would expect for a guitar of this price point. The neck is very fast with a smooth finish, the action was set up just right, the intonation is spot on, and the correct gauge strings for the tuning we are in were already installed. I was also worried about the neck being much thicker than I would have liked, but Schecter did a phenomenal job with his neck. Another concern that I had was the electronics. In my experience, a guitar that has stock branded pickups has never really been that great. These pickups more than do the job. Eventually I can see switching them out for Fishman Fluence, but they will certainly do for now.Derek

Received it with no foam or springs under the neck pickup, so the pickup pretty much rattled. Easy fix, but for over $3k? Bottom E string piezo didn't work. Real hard to set up with low (1mm on 12th fret) action, without buzz. Constantly goes out of tune, especially when using the trem. It sustained real well, and is beautiful, but it drove me crazy the first night I had it. Before you go on thinking I didn't set it up correctly, I worked for Leo Fender in the 80's, and have worked on guitars my whole life.Ernie K

2019 made full gloss Majesty's finally! And I was so happy I bought 2. One 7 string in standard and one 7 string a whole step down. They feel and sound like a $3000+ guitar. Ernie Ball also pay their employees a living wage in the bay area there is expensive to live. The fret work they do is Insane! I traded 10+ import guitars of other brands and have no regrets just love my Majesty's.ClanOfHouseCats

Beautifully built guitar. Love the gloss finish compared to previous models. Guitar has a fast neck that's satin finished. The controls were a tad "sticky" until used for a day. Sound and feel is amazing but darker than previous models. Only true issue I've had is tuning stability which I'm sure could be relieved by lubing the nut.JW

masterfully crafted all prestige guitars are amazing this one sounds amazing and I love the big e/f string hole on the backcj

Overall: I am a big fan of the RG guitar series by Ibanez, and I've wanted to dive into 8 string playing for the metal and tapping options. I must say the trickiest thing about this guitar is just finding out how to make tones (probably the same for most 8-strings). You really just have to cut out the bass a bit. Aside from the learning curve of tone-making, the playability and the coil tap are amazing features on this. The neck is quick, like most RG's, and the finish is more interesting than a normal, matte black. This thing is one of my favorite guitars to play!Eduardo

I rarely write reviews, but felt compelled to with this purchase. First, I received the guitar the NEXT DAY after ordering! In these Covid-cursed times, that's damn impressive. It arrived in perfect condition. Second, as for the guitar – I've been playing a long time and wanted to try out a 7 string, and for the price I thought, why not? Mine was set up perfectly, and with great new strings. If AMS did this, they did a great job. Had 2 new packs of strings at the ready, didn't need them. This guitar is a beast. Really high output pickups, which is what I think most of us would want with this type guitar. Neck feels good and is straight as an arrow, and all hardware is solid. You can back off the volume on this thing and still get all the pinch harmonics you want. For $200, this is a no brainer for anyone interested in diving into the 7 string world for the first time. I had misgivings about buying a "GIO", but I'm very impressed.Ken

Hey guys. I have one of these that i had for about 3 years. Along with my GRG170DX, I'm very pleased. I haven't had really any negative experiences with these guitars, a side from needing setup out of the box. But come on, what guitar doesn't need one. Typically guitars aren't shipped set-up. If so it's very poorly done and seems like a beginner is the one who does it. So to respond to the people saying there is fret buzz, it needs a setup, won't stay in tune or/and that the strings are bad and need changed. Well they are just speaking the obvious, even guitars but of a showroom floor is going to need a good setup. So take the time to do so ( it's really not hard, there's all kinds of videos out there to watch), or if you really want have someone do it for you. Once a setup and a string change is done, than this guitar is simply an awesome guitar. I have no tuning issues, string changes are easy. The guitar is balanced nicely, I had a Ibanez AX series 7 string…. That guitar sound good and wasn't a bad guitar. But man was the balance terrible. The neck likes to nose dive on those and the guitar was pretty heavy. So goes to say, I didn't keep it long. I traded it. Got a 8 string. But up against my JP70. My GRG7221 is a decent guitar. Im probably going to drop some Bare Knuckle Juggernauts in the one i have now. But i fine that this guitar has good tone. Fast attack, clarity, and great sustain. As long as you do a setup, and make sure your pickups are not too close to the string( as you should on EVERY guitar, especially the ones you have shipped to you) this is a very nice guitar for the buck. ALOT of bang for your buck,and really underrated. And for some of you out there who is wondering….. Yes it does Djent.Matty C.

I've been playing rock and metal for near 53 years, and have owned EVERY manufacturers guitar at some point. And for the last 20 years I've been exclusively an Ibanez man; and this is THE best Ibanez model I've ever owned, period! It's solid, dependable and just plain fun to play, shredding machine; and the craftsmanship is outstanding! The basswood body is very light, resonant and the satin finish has a nice feel to the touch. The maple fluted neck is SOLID, and almost plays like a 6 string. The 26.5" scale does an excellent job of bringing out the bottom end string definition, and gives leads a nice warm character considering the solid maple fretboard! The nicely dressed fret ends and the Gotoh machines are a nice touch of quality as well. Now most new guitars usually need an upgrade when it comes to pups… NOT needed here. These DiMarzios are perfectly voiced for the basswood/ maple combination and offers tons of sustain and endless pinch harmonics all over the fretboard! NOTE: I installed a Seymour Duncan Pegasus, played it for a half hour and re-installed the DiMarzio. No need to change pups; you want "chugg", you've got it, you want "chunk", you've got it, you want "clean", you've got that too! The Ibanez Low Pro 7 works perfectly and is reliable; been playing tremelos myentire life and so I have no issues with tuning. The ONLY upgrade was a brass tremelo block, and trem-spring silencers. One more thing: The single volume control comes with an excellent treble bleed cap; between that and the high quality 3-position switch, I can get ANY tone, and play any genre I want out of this guitar. Thanks Ibanez and Team J Craft.alimik0

This was set up nice, great action, great sound, schecter has always been the best guitars out there, imo. I own three, two 8s one 7, love um.1shot

This guitar is so sleek, and the weight feels unmatched. The only issues I would say it has is a Floyd Rose, but if you know what you're doing, it won't be a problem. This is simply a steal for the price.dyland1440

The feel of this guitar is very comfy especially for an 8 string! The sound presence is amazing. Pickups are average but man for the price I'm not complaining about the sound it's HEAVY! I love this guitar! Highly recommend if you want a beginner 8 string guitar!sinisterokin138

Overall: Got the guitar.. 2 min after I plugged it in to tune it up the high E string and the B string broke… Some blemishes in the finish Im not to happy about.. 1300 guitar.. I feel like I just purchased a cheap strat copy… Guess Ill get new strings and try it again. Dissapointing.. This is my 4th guitar purchase from zZounds.. Never had an issue until now..Josh

Ive owned quite a few guitars, and alot of 7 strings. But ended up getting rid of them and wanted another but on a budget this time. This guitar did that and more! You get all the high end parts without the high end price, no high frets, set up properly, and just all around a very nice guitar. I definitely would recommend this thing. There isnt alot of reviews online for this yet but trust me. Worth every penny!Chris

Ok, I give it 5 stars for the money, but disregarding the cost I'd give it close to 4 stars anyway. I found I needed a 7 string to complete some demos…. And this cheapy did the job admirably. Setup was fine right out of the box, action and intonation were spot on, I changed nothing. Fretwork is tidy and well executed, and the jumbo frets are nice. The neck is really playable, nice profile and satin finish, there's even a bit of a flame in the maple. Fretboard is a little streaky, clearly a stained, lighter wood due to the CITES regulations, but it feels fine and looks ok. Hardware is basic but functional. It stays in tune perfectly, and I bend a lot, particularly lower down, which I find often pulls instruments out of tune. The body is really resonant when played unplugged. I debated between the longer scale of the Jackson Dinky, and the better upper fret access of the Ibanez, and I'm happy with the choice I made, although I'll go slightly heavier on the strings when I change them. If I was a proper metaller I'd probably throw in some (insert uneccesary, expensive, trendy pickup here), but I bought it for demos, and I've had no problem making it sound how I want, so it's staying as it is. The only surprise, not that I'm bothered, is that the centre of the burst is much darker than I've seen on any of the official pictures, it's practically black, much more subtle than shown. It'll probably come alive under stage lighting though.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

First guitar I ever bought was a Fender Strat Squire for $95 and yes it was fun to play and great to learn on it, I was tired of down tuning and going back to standard so much bc of the different songs I like, my high e kept breaking and the pickups didn't like a whole lot of gain. I had looked at a ton of the cheaper side 7-strings like the Jackson Dinky or a used Schecter Omen-7, or something like that. For me though, the feel and the sound of the Ibanez Gio GRG is amazing and a lot easier to play than my Squire. I'm glad I picked it up for $220 and I'm for sure going to be playing it a lot. I do wish the body was a little thinner, and that it had some sort of tremolo system, but that's okay, I can live with it. Amazing build and great finish.boomythecrow

Sounds terrific, rich bassie, solid sound. Heavyweight player that is light on the purse. Great for seeing what more than the conventional 6, can do for you, without spending the family silver.Timbo

Overall: This is a nice guitar, very well made as you would expect from any Ibanez guitar. The neck is thin and very comfortable. I cant review the pups that it came with because I installed set of seymour duncan nazgul/sentient pups right out of the box before I even plugged it in. At first I wasn't real happy with the sound. It was very heavy and dark. I went back into the electronics and noticed it had a very large capacitor on it. After disconnecting the capacitor I gained back the highs and achieved the tone I was expecting from the nazgul pup. I will be installing a 1 meg ohm pot and small capacitor in a few days, this will give the the "wide open" sound from the pup that I want wile still letting me roll off some of the highs if I should so choose. Other than that, love the guitar!! Plays really well and looks good too.Vernon

All the things I will say here are just my opinions, because everybody's hands and ears are different. But, having said that, I do feel qualified to give an insightful review having worked full time in a guitar repair shop through much of the 90's. I was originally just going to buy a backup guitar for my Ibanez 7-string that I use onstage. But then I thought, why not have a little fun and push myself out of my comfort zone? I can stiil play all the same songs I play on my 7-string. So why not? I could tell right away I liked the design of RG8 (from the strighter-string pull headstock to the flat-mount bridge) better than the Schecter8 in the same price point. The RG8 came with D'Addario .09-.64 strings on it, and it felt very similar to playing a .10-.46 set of strings on a standard scale length guitar, bends and slides were no problem (as well as slapping and popping the lower strings). But plan on putting a heavier strings on this axe if you want to go any lower than F#, a .10-.74 set works well for chords and rhythm riffing. the RG8 sounds and plays almost more like a short-scale bass in this configuration, and rings out better as well. Ibanez seems to know where to give you the biggest bang -for the-buck, and thankfully, it seems to be in the construction of the neck. I have never seen a guitar in this price range with a five piece neck, that's for sure. The neck seems very stable and is either unfinished or has a very light sealer on it, it feels nice and satin-y, but I'm unsure how well this neck would do in extreme temperature changes. But, having said that, mine hasn't moved at all, even after a string change with a different brand and gauge. Of course, that means they need to skimp a little in other areas on the guitar, and the most obvious of course, are the pickups and electrontics. The stock pickups have a fairly clear tone and are little lower output than I was expecting (when compared to my 7-string with a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge position). Luckily, these are easily replaceble, and not difficult to find at all. Seymour Duncan and EMG make perfect retro-fits for this guitar. I did disconnected the tone control from the volume knob, and it does actually make a small diffence in clarity in the tone. The tuning keys are of the no-name variety, and seem to work well, but the heavier strings I installed just barely fit through the hole in the key, and I thought I detected a small amount binding in their rotation afterwards. The 27" scale works well for keeping those lower notes clear and is really not that noticable for me except maybe in the lower regions of the neck (This is another reason I like the Ibanez design…Schecter has a 26.5" and LTD has a 25.5").I'm sure I will upgrade the pickups and electronics in the future, but overall, I'm excited about playing this guitar and the additional creativity it will bring.Locknutmonster

This guitar made me not only hate extended range, but music as a whole for a while. Ibanez as a brand is absolutely phenomenal, and I have been a fanboy of them since the moment I picked up guitar. This guitar delivers virtually nothing I expect from Ibanez – even the gio line. The rg8 series is plagued with shoddy craftsmanship, atrocious fretwork, horrendous out-of-box playability, and they just FEEL disgusting in the hand. An unfinished neck =/= an utterly raw neck. Such has been the case with each of the 6 individual rg8s I have played – when porous, grimy feeling, roughly sanded, horribly profiled necks that seem to fight your fretting hand with a samurai's zeal meet mile-high action that can only be nominally corrected due to atrociously leveled frets, the experience of playing an Ibanez RG8 can be likened moreso to the experience of trying to play a fretted shamisen. If ungodly fit and finish, horrible feel, and the flat plate bridge haven't turned you completely off, the disgustingly poor pickup choice should seal the deal. There are many things that these pickups aren't – but I can confirm that they are without character, flat, unimpressive, and unbalanced. Their response to gain is practically null. I have never enjoyed a tone that has come out of an rg8. tl;dr? run for the hills. or buy the entry level Jackson 8.mamasrockstar

This guitar blew me away. (However I cant really back up the factory pickups because I already had a set I really like. Very smooth, well set up and my favorite part, comfortableBrad

I recently bought this guitar and love playing it. It feels and sounds terrific just like an ESP should! I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants an 8 string baritone and doesn't have 2000 dollars to spend on a higher level ESP.Just Jeff

Worth every single penny. Ready to play out of the box. Plays fast and easy for an 8 string . If you are just getting started with an 8 string or need another this is the way to go.Just plug in and go.Lando

Overall: I got this guitar a hair over a month ago, and wanted to wait awhile before I wrote a review so I could get past the "honeymoon stage" and write a fair review. Well it turns out I might as well have fired this review off on the 1st day, because nothing has changed!!This beast arrived set up so well that even the stock strings sounded good for my initial riffage, but once I got my preferred strings on there, man, that Ibby lit up!! The chugs were thick and grindy, the chords chimed, the leads sang, and I was blown away!!The pickups in this guitar are maybe the tiniest hair lower-output than my personal preference, but nothing to ding points over, and the 5-way switching opens up the possibilities! Build quality, fit, and finish are outta this world for a guitar at this price point, and yes, this guitar does sport a slightly larger neck than the traditional Wizard 7 string profile, which for my giant hands, feels like home. In conclusion, if you are looking for a great new flavor of 7 to add to your collection, or need a first one that won't let you down, dive in!!Chris

Let me just start off by saying that I've been playing 6 string guitar since 1995, however this is my first 7 string guitar. This Ibanez gio has amazing craftsmanship and playability unparalleled at its price range. I have guitars that cost three times as much that aren't as well made. This was setup well no buzz on the frets. If you want to change it's tone later on just buy new pickups. Only downside is the fretboard is a little soft for heavy hands so don't go smacking the crap outta it. You can see me play it on Instagram for reference @blakesguitars.Blakesguitars

Hyvää: – mikit ovat loistavat – soittotuntuma on erittäin hyvä, ohut kaula ja juuri sopiva 27” skaala on sweetspot ainakin minulle kasikielisten kanssa Huonoa: – työn laatu on huonoa tämän hintaiselle kitaralle. Olen nähnyt useita saman mallin kitaroita (eri paikasta tilattuna) ja työn jäljen laatu vaihtelee todella paljon. Omistan PRS:n 6-kielisen kitaran samassa hintaluokassa, joka on tehty Etelä-Koreassa, ja viimeistely on aivan eri luokkaa. – Tässä kyseisessä tapauksessa yläsatulan kolo oli selkeästi viilattu vinoon, jolloin satula jäi ohuiden kielten puolelta ilmaan (satula ei toisesta reunasta koskenut kaulaa käytännössä kuin etureunastaan) – Volyymipotikoita ei ollut kunnolla ruuvattu kiinni, heiluivat kuin heinämiehet. – Vaihtokappale oli taas eri tavalla huonosti viimeistelty, esim. otelaudan reunoissa oli rumia viilausjälkiä ja nauhat näyttivät olevan jo melkein ruosteessa heti kättelyssä. – Vaatinee paljohkosti laittamista jos tästä haluaisi kelpo pelin. Korkeasta actionista huolimatta ylänauhoja ei meinannut saada soimaan kirkkaasti, tai vaatisi vähintään nauhojen viilausta reippaalla kädellä. Yhteenveto: – Tuntuma ja soundi ovat erittäin hyvät, mutta laatu verottaa kokonaisuutta niin paljon että en voi suositella tätä kitaraa – Jos kitara maksaisi 500€, se saisi 3.5 tähteä. Laittamalla varmaan voisi saada hintansa arvoisen kitaran, mutta mielestäni se ei ole vaivan väärti. – Jäi vaikutelma, että kitarat on viimeistelty hirvittävällä kiireelläHartsa

I am both surprised and please with this guitar I purchased this guitar at GC Nashville after returning a Gibson Les Paul Classic that I bought online. (lesson learned, don't buy from GC online.) The staff there were great and had no issues with me returning a $2200 guitar that I bought online. Even more supportive in helping me pick out a much less expensive guitar. Great people. This Epiphone is awesome. The fit and finish are great. The action is low and no buzz. The tone is great and It is lighter and easier to handle than the Gibson . The best part is it cost a third of the one I returned. I really wanted a Gibson but I am so glad I picked up this Epiphone. A word of caution. I looked at and played several guitars at GC before choosing this one. I even played a couple of other Epiphone Les Paul Customs. No two were the same. One had razors for frets, one had an action you could drive a truck under and this one was just right. Go in an play them before buying.Mike

This is my second 6 string electric, and I couldn't be HAPPIER with it! My first guitar is an entry level Epiphone SG Special that was a couple hundred bucks back in the day. It got the job done…good frets, good tune, good everything. I recently decided to step it up and get a "mid-range" guitar but still not break the bank with an Epiphone. And I'm not calling Epiphone cheap…they are just more in my price range when compared to Gibsons. Stepping it up is the right description for this guitar!! It is AMAZING! The feel, the tone, the look! It sounds great and feels good in the hands too. I especially love the Silverburst color!! The main reason I wanted this specific guitar. It's Adam Jones from TooL color scheme finish but on an epiphone! They are coming out with his own model of epiphone, but I'm impatient lol. Looks are important to picking out a guitar as much as sound! The inlays on the fretboard look beautiful. The pick guard and finish are beautiful, the trim/binding around the guitar… this guitar has reignited my passion for playing! As of this writing, I have no complaints! Excellent guitar!Matt

I purchased this guitar because a Les Paul was missing from my gear arsenal and I didn't want to drop three grand on a Gibson. I played a wall model at a local GC store and decided to buy, but requested a factory new model sent to me, because the wall model I played had some nicks in the fretboard, a sketchy 3 way switch and had worn strings and the intonation was way off above the 14th fret. I paid for next day air shipping to expedite the process because I tend to want the things I pay for fairly quickly. The shipping tag originated from the same city I live in, meaning they had a factory new either in the warehouse or at the neighboring store about 20 miles away. So I essentially paid 42$ for expedited shipping and could had likely gotten it same day if I asked the right questions I suppose. Shame on me. The next business day my guitar is delivered to my residence, I open it and immediately inspected it for possible shipping damage or factory flaws. It arrives with a broken 3 way switch, all strings tuned nearly 2 steps flat and also needed to make a truss rod adjustment to straighten the neck. Completely unacceptable that these issues left both the factory and GC's "quality control" in the condition it did. Luckily I work at a local small box music store and worked with our own luthier after hours to set it up and correct the problems. All that said, this guitar is absolutely fantastic. It plays and sounds very good and even though the stock pickups aren't top tier, they are excellent performers at a very reasonable price point. Monster value in this guitar. If you can acquire one some where other than Guitar Center, do it. If you do purchase from guitar center, make absolutely certain to have it looked at by a professional before accepting it. 5 stars for the guitar and it's value. 1 star for guitar centers lack of QC shipping items.Dan

Its a great looking guitar, super clean. Feels great. Plays amazing, im really liking the active emg pick ups. Not too heavy either.joeroche2013

If you like metal this guitar is for you.The Schecter Damien 6 it's one of the most metal guitar in the world, perfect for filthy riffs, but smooth and super fast neck, with the bat inlay work. Just a beautiful guitar, the string height action is perfect! emg's 81 85 all you need is tune it to doom and have fun.eridi.e.6fpfhoc

This is my first guitar with a floyd rose and it is well made also no issues with damages, was set up out of the box. Takes some getting use tuning but very easy after you tuned it for the first time. The satin black finish and the bat fretboard inlays are awesome.TJ

I used to own a 1990 Ibanez Universe 77MC 7 string guitar and I loved the way that guitar played. It had a nice feeling neck and the Edge Low-Pro bridge worked great. Not to mention, it was a bad-ass looking guitar! Multi-colored swirl by Darren Johansen, 3-color disappearing pyramid inlay, Edge Low-Pro tremolo with cosmo black hardware (see photos for comparison). I mention all that because I regret to say I sold that guitar and was missing my Ibanez Universe. So, I decided to buy another one that wouldn't soak my finances and bought a new Ibanez Universe UV70PBK Green Dot 7 string guitar. There are significant differences in the feel and playability compared to the original's. The UV70P's have a finish on the neck's almost like a clear coat varnish which seems to be a standard on the Ibanez Premium line of guitars. The original's didn't. They were more like a light tung oil finish. I do have to say, that the necks on the Premium line are designed to be a lot more sturdy than the original's, which is a good thing. The UV70P's have the new Edge-Zero II-7 bridge which doesn't have the same feel and response as the Edge Low-Pro. Supposedly the same basswood body, but they seem much lighter in weight that the original's. The pick-up's are the same, but the tone is just not quite thesame as well. And of course, another obvious difference is the the original's were made in Japan and the reissues are made in Indonesia which determines the quality somewhat. Don't get me wrong, these reissue's are still a good quality guitar, but once having an original Universe you can tell the difference in craftsmanship. I will probably keep my UV70PBK just so I can have a 7 string guitar again and it is a bad-ass looking guitar, but I will always regret selling my 1990 Universe 77MC which was for me, the Ultimate Universe!!!designrol

I ordered the Ibanez UV70P from the website which as stated took a few days to get stock and arrive (This was early December 2018). My only gripe was that on the website it stated a rosewood fretboard which is why I bought it as they were changing the fretboard wood due to rosewood being on the CITES endangered wood. The one they sent was a Panga Panga bound fretboard. Even to today (3rd Jan 2019) it still states rosewood on the website. After confirming with the online time I kept the guitar with just a few loyalty points added. I can live with the Panga Panga fretboard it does look good and feels okay. I did have an issue that there were no trem stud locks inserted into the bridge height adjustment screws. Spoke to distributor Headstock Distribution who sent 2 out. All fitted and happy.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Review is 5 stars because the guitar itself is incredible, but the store it originated from had sent it in horrendous condition, which various issues and dusty enough that it may as well have been stored at a building site! Luckily I’ve fixed all the issues myself and the customer service has also recognised the issue and have provided brilliant support, so generally a great purchase after all, was a bit of a labour to get this back to working order, but all is fixed now.Tom C.

All the things I will say here are just my opinions, because everybody's hands and ears are different. But, having said that, I do feel qualified to give an insightful review having worked full time in a guitar repair shop through much of the 90's. I was originally just going to buy a backup guitar for my Ibanez 7-string that I use onstage. But then I thought, why not have a little fun and push myself out of my comfort zone? I can stiil play all the same songs I play on my 7-string. So why not? I could tell right away I liked the design of RG8 (from the strighter-string pull headstock to the flat-mount bridge) better than the Schecter8 in the same price point. The RG8 came with D'Addario .09-.64 strings on it, and it felt very similar to playing a .10-.46 set of strings on a standard scale length guitar, bends and slides were no problem (as well as slapping and popping the lower strings). But plan on putting a heavier strings on this axe if you want to go any lower than F#, a .10-.74 set works well for chords and rhythm riffing. the RG8 sounds and plays almost more like a short-scale bass in this configuration, and rings out better as well. Ibanez seems to know where to give you the biggest bang -for the-buck, and thankfully, it seems to be in the construction of the neck. I have never seen a guitar in this price range with a five piece neck, that's for sure. The neck seems very stable and is either unfinished or has a very light sealer on it, it feels nice and satin-y, but I'm unsure how well this neck would do in extreme temperature changes. But, having said that, mine hasn't moved at all, even after a string change with a different brand and gauge. Of course, that means they need to skimp a little in other areas on the guitar, and the most obvious of course, are the pickups and electrontics. The stock pickups have a fairly clear tone and are little lower output than I was expecting (when compared to my 7-string with a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge position). Luckily, these are easily replaceble, and not difficult to find at all. Seymour Duncan and EMG make perfect retro-fits for this guitar. I did disconnected the tone control from the volume knob, and it does actually make a small diffence in clarity in the tone. The tuning keys are of the no-name variety, and seem to work well, but the heavier strings I installed just barely fit through the hole in the key, and I thought I detected a small amount binding in their rotation afterwards. The 27" scale works well for keeping those lower notes clear and is really not that noticable for me except maybe in the lower regions of the neck (This is another reason I like the Ibanez design…Schecter has a 26.5" and LTD has a 25.5").I'm sure I will upgrade the pickups and electronics in the future, but overall, I'm excited about playing this guitar and the additional creativity it will bring.Locknutmonster

This guitar made me not only hate extended range, but music as a whole for a while. Ibanez as a brand is absolutely phenomenal, and I have been a fanboy of them since the moment I picked up guitar. This guitar delivers virtually nothing I expect from Ibanez – even the gio line. The rg8 series is plagued with shoddy craftsmanship, atrocious fretwork, horrendous out-of-box playability, and they just FEEL disgusting in the hand. An unfinished neck =/= an utterly raw neck. Such has been the case with each of the 6 individual rg8s I have played – when porous, grimy feeling, roughly sanded, horribly profiled necks that seem to fight your fretting hand with a samurai's zeal meet mile-high action that can only be nominally corrected due to atrociously leveled frets, the experience of playing an Ibanez RG8 can be likened moreso to the experience of trying to play a fretted shamisen. If ungodly fit and finish, horrible feel, and the flat plate bridge haven't turned you completely off, the disgustingly poor pickup choice should seal the deal. There are many things that these pickups aren't – but I can confirm that they are without character, flat, unimpressive, and unbalanced. Their response to gain is practically null. I have never enjoyed a tone that has come out of an rg8. tl;dr? run for the hills. or buy the entry level Jackson 8.mamasrockstar