Mick Gordon 9 String Guitar For Sale (Jan 2023 Update)

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

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.

Don't expect a custom shop handmade guitar; but for the money, this guitar kicks all kinds of tail! It plays very nicely with a very fast fretboard and thin neck. Stays in tune when abusing it with heavy pick attack. It does exactly what it looks like it was made for doing! Not to mention, it looks really cool, and plays as good as it looks! I have been playing for 25+ years, have owned many, many, many, mid-priced guitars over the years and this is definitely a big bang for the buck! Looks + Tone + Playability = Worth the investment.Cut-Bait

This is my first strandberg guitar, purchased from GuitarGuitar in the UK. The service was exceptional, and they even helped me to set up the guitar before shipping it out to me. I'm new to the world of headless guitars, and I've always been a fan of S-style and T-style guitars, and I wasn't sure how I would adapt to the feel of the strandberg, especially the endurneck and the flat radius on the fretboard. That said, after reading lots of reviews on how strandbergs have helped people to be able to play for longer hours, I decided to take the plunge. It has now been about two weeks, and I will say that a strandberg is all that they say it is. It's incredibly light and ergonomic, and the endurneck really helps to promote good left hand placement. I can stand for hours and practice, and I don't feel that there's an ache in my left shoulder. Fit and finish was perfect, and the frets were polished very well. Bends are a breeze, and the low action makes it play like butter. The stock pickups are also amazingly versatile. It's a guitar that sounds and plays great right out of the box. Thanks again strandberg, and Sarah, for working together to make such a lovely instrument. I can see myself getting more strandbergs!Daniel

First, I have been waiting for this guitar for about 4 months. Going back to mid 2021, I had 13 guitars ( Gibson, Fender, Schecter, Ibanez, Music Man etc) but wanted to focus on getting better at the guitar and only have one great 6 and 7 string. When doing research on guitars. I came across Sarah’s music and the Strandberg guitar. Because I never played one I was a bit hesitant to get one based on the reviews compared to the actual guitar. I was shocked when I got my first Strandberg, which was the prog 6 it was just an overall amazing guitar. When this guitar became available a few weeks ago I was excited I could finally get the original Strandberg I wanted. As a result, I sold my prog 6 to get this specific model. Overall, this guitar is just amazing. The neck is smoother and more comfortable then any other guitar I ever owed or played. At first I was hesitant about the OEM pickups and figured I could just swap them out. But I am very pleased with them. They provide a great clean and/or distorted sound. So after adjusting my setting in my plug-ins I really love the way this guitar sounds. Again, overall I just love everything about this guitar and extremely happy I was able to finally get one.Cory Z.

The Boden 6 DR Titanium is a great all-around guitar. It’s very appropriate for almost all styles of play and is manufactured to a very high standard. This is my second Strandberg. I met Ola at the 2020 NAMM show (I had not heard of Strandberg and did not know who he was!). He took the time to introduce me to his line of guitars and why they were engineered differently. I found them extremely comfortable to play. I ordered one when I returned home from the show and was surprised to discover that my "salesman" at the NAMM booth was none other than THE man, lol. My first one was a Boden Prog 6 which I had refinished in a nice sunset burst by Adrian Moreno which made its way onto the Strandberg Instagram page recently. I am playing the Boden DR a lot now, as I tend to slightly prefer non-trem guitars. I find the DR and the Prog have very different sounds, probably due to the different pickups. The Prog 6 can emulate some great “strat”-type sounds as well as more traditional hum bucker sounds. The Boden DR sounds a bit more like a PRS than a Fender to me, but it’s really unique in its sound. Very warm and full sounding to my ear. Thanks Ola for taking me down the garden path and for making such great stuff. Now if I could just find somewhere that has a Prog 5 bass in stock…Randy B.

This guitar I have spent 15 hours on now. And STILL can't get the action to an acceptable level. To avoid buzz the action has to be 2.25 when it should be 1.5 and the neck pickup . SUCKS I regret buying itAmp

This is a fun guitar and the price is fantastic. The guitar was recieved setup well and ready to play. I have a Gibson Les Paul custom and the SchecterSolo II is similar but at a 3rd of the cost.Alex

My Mitchell MS450 (single cutaway LP style guitar) came with D'Add's, which sounded decent. When I switched them out, I went with the GHS 10's on a hunch based on things I've heard. Great move! Nice, brilliant tone, rings out for eternity if you let them! I have heard that the GHS 9's are really good on Strat style guitars, so GHS might be my go to on my Squier Strat Classic Vibe next string change.Joe

I used 11's from D'Addario for years and I would break a string consistently for every show that I played. I do not know why I kept with D'Addario for so long. I figured I needed to have a heavier string gauge for durability and better tone. Searched around and came across these strings in the heavy gauge, and I could not be happier with them. These strings have great sustain, are durable, do not corrode as quickly as other brands I have used in my professional career playing music, and, despite their heaviness, are easy to play in standard tuning. Along with playing well with a pick and fingers, these strings also sound terrific when playing slide. You can get the same great tones out of these strings that Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks have with their lighter gauges, as well as channeling the fat tones that you hear from Duane Allman from the Fillmore East show. Great Garcia tones can come from these strings as well. Basically what I am saying is that you can still get those classic guitar sounds on these heavy strings without feeling like your losing tone or playing opportunities utilized by the players that inspire you who may use lighter string gauges. These strings also (as far as I know) have a round core instead of a hex core. I think that might be a reason why these strings have so much sustain, especially when you have some distortion or overdrive keeping them warm while playing lead. If you are on the fence about getting these, I recommend you give them a try just see how they work for you. They are no that expensive and its worth it to figure out what works for you as a player. Feeling confidence in the gear you use is so essential to being comfortable on stage. Buy a pack and see what happens. You might find yourself just what you've been looking for.JFromJUNCO

I used to use Boomers for about 10 years, on all my electrics (9s). Until arthritis started creeping in. Switched to EB slinky 8s, and playing became much easier. Everything still had a huge sound, but previous order added a test set of the Boomer 8.5s for my Gibson Les Paul goldtop with P90s. Took a while to get used to the rougher feel compared with the EB 8s. But will probably order another set for the goldtop, and a set for my ES295.Joe S.

I had this on my wish list for a couple of years and after finally getting to try it out at my local Sam Ash, it did not disappoint. Online reviews were consistently good with a few mentions of the strings being coated and how it gave an unusual feel and sound. According to the Michael Kelly website, the strings are D'Addario EXP16 Coated Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-53, so they shouldn't be some off the wall knock offs but my experience over the last few weeks has been that after a few minutes of playing, the tips of my fingers on my fret hand and the palm of my strumming hand turned black. I've never had this happen on any other guitars I have. I tried rotating after 15 minutes between my Jackson, my Strat, my Martin Backpacker and then my Michael Kelly and, every time, after a few minutes of playing the Forte Port, my fingers turned black. I've played a lot of guitars since the 80's (not professionally) and this is a new one on me. Obviously, the strings can be changed but I feel it is worth mentioning because for someone's first guitar, it may be off putting if they are unaware. If I can edit a review, I'll try to add a pic of my fingers (there's no way to make that sound right…) when I get time. That's my two cents…Sean

Overall: I was reluctant to buy this Michael Kelly. I like to try it before I buy it . With that being said , The guitar come it flawless. It was packaged very good . I played for about an hour after opening the box. The action is spot on. It plays and feels more like an electric guitar. Hammer on pull offs pitch bends are perfect. The sustain goes on forever. The neck feels a touch wider than my Martin, but that's a good thing for me. There are no fret buzzes at. It's vert light and comfortable , light weight is a must , I have had shoulder surgery 3 times. The balance and weight are near perfect . Michael Kelly may not have the prestige of Martin. Gibson and such , but as far as the sound and quality build , it simply can not be beat in this price range.Mark

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

After trying a few different brands and gauges of strings over a five year period I have finally found the perfect brand/set of strings for playing in C# and drop-B tunings. I started out playing Ernie Ball sets on a 25.5 scale guitar in standard tuning but when I began experimenting with down-tuning I found the EB sets to be lacking in tone and definition the lower I tuned my guitar not to mention constantly breaking my low E string. When I switched to playing a 24 3/4 scale guitar in C# and drop-B I had to start looking for a new set of strings because the EB "not even slinky" sets I had been using just were not cutting it. I tried Dean Markley Blue Steel .13's with a wound 3rd string and found the top strings to be cumbersome and the low .56 still not heavy enough for dropping the low E to B. I went to every single music shop in town looking for a light top/extremely heavy bottom set and I finally ran across the GHS .10 – .60 set on sale, two for the price of one. Perfect! These strings last forever. If you use some GHS Fast Fret on them they keep their tone better than any other brand of string I've tried and I have yet to break a string in the year or so I've been using the GHS .10-.60 sets. The tone is fantastic and they sound great on a mahogony/maple body guitar with EMG pickups. It does take some getting used to the difference in string gauge between the low and high strings but it didn't take me long to learn to adjust my pick attack for the lighter strings on the top end. If you know how to set up your guitar for heavy gauge strings get 'em and go to town! If not I would highly recommend you take your guitar to a guitar/music shop and have it set up by a pro. Oh, for you kids out there: these strings are NOT meant for standard tuning and they will not make you sound like Zakk Wylde but they might make you a better guitarist if used as intended. I now use GHS strings on all my electric guitars.ViperDude310

touring in the 80s I used GHS boomers GBCL, I stopped playing in the 90s and somehow ended up using EB hybrid slinkys. I found an old pack of boomers in a guitar case compartment i hadnt opened since 93. Somehow they were still fresh and strung up one of my guitars from the 80s. Wow, the wound strings EAD (or C# G# C# my tuning) are definitely Louder and breakthrough more than the wound EBs… (the plain steel sounded identical). There are soooooooo many fake garbage and laughable opinions on guitar products these days on the tube that I decided to do my own experiment to confirm what I was hearing. I proceeded to purchase 26 packs of these GHS boomers GBCL (which are the wound strings from a 10s set and the plain strings from a 9s set). Using 2 identical guitars (even color), Logic X via a PreSonus FireStudio input, dunlop red acrylic 1.5mm pick and as consistent as possible pick of each strings. The only difference was that each guitar had a new set of strings, one got GHS boomers GBCL and the other ErnieBall HyBrid Slinkys. I averaged the 12 picks of each string by merging the 12 waveforms into a single track for each guitar for each string, the wound strings of the GHS boomers were clearly louder, rang longer by at least 7.2, 5.9, 4.6 seconds respectively (tuned toC#, G#, C#). the Plain Steel string waveforms were virtually Identical between the sets though. If you arent sure what this tuning is, its simply DropD half a step down (aka dropC#). Plugged into a Dual Rectifier, Laney and a Vetta, on a high gain channel you get this Extra Gain that breaks through, so needless to say ill be back to using GHS boomers GBCLs on all my guitars!!!thundercab

I had this on my wish list for a couple of years and after finally getting to try it out at my local Sam Ash, it did not disappoint. Online reviews were consistently good with a few mentions of the strings being coated and how it gave an unusual feel and sound. According to the Michael Kelly website, the strings are D'Addario EXP16 Coated Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-53, so they shouldn't be some off the wall knock offs but my experience over the last few weeks has been that after a few minutes of playing, the tips of my fingers on my fret hand and the palm of my strumming hand turned black. I've never had this happen on any other guitars I have. I tried rotating after 15 minutes between my Jackson, my Strat, my Martin Backpacker and then my Michael Kelly and, every time, after a few minutes of playing the Forte Port, my fingers turned black. I've played a lot of guitars since the 80's (not professionally) and this is a new one on me. Obviously, the strings can be changed but I feel it is worth mentioning because for someone's first guitar, it may be off putting if they are unaware. If I can edit a review, I'll try to add a pic of my fingers (there's no way to make that sound right…) when I get time. That's my two cents…Sean

Overall: I was reluctant to buy this Michael Kelly. I like to try it before I buy it . With that being said , The guitar come it flawless. It was packaged very good . I played for about an hour after opening the box. The action is spot on. It plays and feels more like an electric guitar. Hammer on pull offs pitch bends are perfect. The sustain goes on forever. The neck feels a touch wider than my Martin, but that's a good thing for me. There are no fret buzzes at. It's vert light and comfortable , light weight is a must , I have had shoulder surgery 3 times. The balance and weight are near perfect . Michael Kelly may not have the prestige of Martin. Gibson and such , but as far as the sound and quality build , it simply can not be beat in this price range.Mark

I had this on my wish list for a couple of years and after finally getting to try it out at my local Sam Ash, it did not disappoint. Online reviews were consistently good with a few mentions of the strings being coated and how it gave an unusual feel and sound. According to the Michael Kelly website, the strings are D'Addario EXP16 Coated Phosphor Bronze, Light, 12-53, so they shouldn't be some off the wall knock offs but my experience over the last few weeks has been that after a few minutes of playing, the tips of my fingers on my fret hand and the palm of my strumming hand turned black. I've never had this happen on any other guitars I have. I tried rotating after 15 minutes between my Jackson, my Strat, my Martin Backpacker and then my Michael Kelly and, every time, after a few minutes of playing the Forte Port, my fingers turned black. I've played a lot of guitars since the 80's (not professionally) and this is a new one on me. Obviously, the strings can be changed but I feel it is worth mentioning because for someone's first guitar, it may be off putting if they are unaware. If I can edit a review, I'll try to add a pic of my fingers (there's no way to make that sound right…) when I get time. That's my two cents…Sean

Overall: I was reluctant to buy this Michael Kelly. I like to try it before I buy it . With that being said , The guitar come it flawless. It was packaged very good . I played for about an hour after opening the box. The action is spot on. It plays and feels more like an electric guitar. Hammer on pull offs pitch bends are perfect. The sustain goes on forever. The neck feels a touch wider than my Martin, but that's a good thing for me. There are no fret buzzes at. It's vert light and comfortable , light weight is a must , I have had shoulder surgery 3 times. The balance and weight are near perfect . Michael Kelly may not have the prestige of Martin. Gibson and such , but as far as the sound and quality build , it simply can not be beat in this price range.Mark

Well built strings in my opinion. There smooth and able to hold there tone pretty well I think that these strings will prove to be at least satisfactory for any type of musician They can take the heat and they look pretty good too.TC

Bought these on a recommendation from a guy on YouTube and have not had any issues at all. I used Dean Markley Blue Steels for nearly 20 years, but due to lack of availability, was looking for an alternative. The individual who recommended them is a touring professional guitarist. I see why he uses them.Jason

D'Addario makes good strings , not all makers sell packs of just one gauge string . Good to have spares of a commonly broken string .dorkozeke10

Have used GHS Boomers for 10+ years with zero issues. However, over the last months the .009 strings have become unreliable. On my 25.5 scale guitars, when doing whole step bends, they break after a few hours of playing time. Reliability is a MUST and YES my guitars are set up correctly! Rather than changing to 10s and after replacing 3 recent sets of strings to replace the single broken high Es, I bought these to replace my remaining packs of GHS 9s. Problem solved. Have since switched from GHS.StraightDope

Well, today was the third time I've had to dip into these, and that's annoyed me just enough to prompt me to write a review. The strings are basically fine. They seem just a tiny bit flimsy, but they sound fine and work in a pinch. The problem is that all five strings come wound together in one plastic bag, which (to their credit) is resealable, but that doesn't really help, because you have to handle all the strings any time you want to get one, so anything you leave behind gets sealed in with the others. I'm def gonna find a brand that individually packs them next time.The Count

When S.I.T. (Stay In Tune) strings first came out years ago, they came shipped straight, not coiled up. That was their thing. I tried some 9's back when I used 9's and they were better than D'Addarios which always broke. I recently tried a new coiled up set and just be warned… They went on nicely, then got really stiff before slowly breaking in. They're just like that. I've tried worse. Okay if you don't bend a lot.guysbasement

Please checkout the review of these strings on you tube. I bought these strings because they seemed to have a pure sound, less contribution to the sound from what the string is made out of. The metals and construction of a string can effect the sound of the string.markb1539

Compares to my usual brand for a little less money. Intonation good, tone good. Stays in tune but I don't usually have a problem anyway.Mat

This guitar sounds very good with the dimebuckers, since they are pretty high output. The Floyd Rose Special is not bad, although I had to tighten the bar a lot for it to stop swinging around. I have played this guitar quite a bit and it still holds tune very well, even though I pretty regularly do squeals and dive bombs. The only problem that I have is just a visual problem, and it doesn't affect playability at all. I don't know if it had to do with all of the weather changes, since guitars don't have problems moving to harsh environments, but I notice that there were some visible cracks in the fretboard binding (not any problems with the fretboard itself). There was also a crack in the finish by the neck joint, but it is very small and hard to see. They seem to be just cracked inside the binding and not on the outside, since I can't feel the cracks. Other than those problems, I really don't have anything bad to say about the guitar other than it feels absolutely amazing if you are a dimebag Darrell fan or love Pantera. I really can't recommend this guitar enough for metal heads that need an upgrade.Joe, B

Have used these several times before and using them again. Have always found them bright and long lasting before any tarnish shows. Very good string at a great price.goodbeer72

The shipping was very fast, and the string quaity is great. Sweetwater is a well known store in the music industry, which is why I ordered these.hiat080-9

If you have an electric guitar or a 12 string acoustic, you will want to have a package of .009 extra light loose strings in your drawer. The can break occasionally and with some loose strings available, you can replace the broken .009's with a spare. These are good quality. Don't get caught without spares!gnm109

Overall: Photos don't really show the depth of color in the Crimson/Blue model. There is a lot of Purple as well. That aside, the playability is top notch. Notes sing with brightness and sustain. Electronics are quiet at low volume, have not really cranked it yet. Wide variety of tones (and levels) available at the flick of two switches. Basically two three way switches. One selects either or both pickups, the other setts the voicing for both pickups. Three basic voicings are Down: Passive Middle: Active Up: Split coil. As some stated, there is a bit of a learning curve with the electronics. You will be able to find the right sound for the situation once your are familiar. I have had three Schecters over the last 14 years now and this one is special! Definitely leans toward Metal but very versatile as well. Finally I have an instrument that leaves it up to me to be my best.Joel

So I was very on the fence about this guitar. I bought a Ibanez premium series 7 string but it just didn't fit my playing. I have a few 6 string Ibanez prestige guitars and I love them but I wanted something a bit different. I was a bit skeptical about a guitar approaching or in the price range of a J-Craft Ibanez but honestly I am more then pleasantly suprised by this instrument. Fit and finish are outstanding. I absolutely love these pickups and the tone selector setup. Pickups are very tight and clear even with drop tuning and high gain amps, no muddiness whatsoever. I do not really play music similar to Keith Merrow however after listening to demos of the guitar I knew the guitar would be great for whatever music I played. The brass tailpiece, hipshot, compensated nut, and neck thru give this thing an amazing clarity. The setup out of the box was outstanding! I am very picky about setup and I have to say they just did a great job-intonation, string action super low, no buzz.. I honestly couldn't find anything to complain about! Great guitar!Jody W.

Buying this product was nothing short of a disappointment. When I opened the box the first thing I noticed was the excessive glue residue around the nut, which was immediately complimented by the cut in the nut for the 7th string not being large enough. The next issue I noticed was there were scuffs all over the neck pick up in addition to the toggle switch and the push/pull pot felt like it was grinding whenever I would push or pull it. Additionally, the plastic tab attached to the top of the strings on the guitar said "Premium Ernie Ball strings" and the high E string snapped the first time I tuned the guitar. I think the most disappointing thing about this guitar is that it would not stay in tune to save its life. I tuned it 13 times in the first hour of playing it and I am not sure if this is just a reflection of the poor quality of Schecter locking tuners in general or if whoever let this guitar out of the factory decided that it didn't matter enough to fix. The fret filing was significantly sloppier than fret filing I've seen on Schecter guitars costing around $300. Needless to say this was beyond a terrible experience and I honestly can't believe that a company would charge so much for an instrument that was so significantly sub par not only compared to other guitars in its price range, but to other Schecter guitars that cost a third of the price. This is the first time I've spent this much money on a guitar and now it is clear to me that I should have gone with another brand.Daniel

Exactly what you need for your Merlin Guitar! I had some corroded strings which I replaced with dulcimer strings with go hoop ends… A total rigged up job! Lol Great to have the correct replacements!jubal72

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