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MSRP $1100, Street $799
15.75" Lower Bout
3 5/8" Deep
Spruce top/Flamed Maple back and sides
3 piece Mahogany/Maple set-in Neck
Bound Rosewood Fretboard with Pearl block inlay
24.7" Scale
ACH 7 Pickups
Speaking for myself, $800 seems like a hell of a deal to get into a 7 string.
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01-30-2013 11:07 PM
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Too bad because those ACH pickups are ceramic pickups and i think most of the potential buyers would want to swap with more gutsy-meaty alnico pickups like the super 58 custom that is present on higher end models.
Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
For me it's a deal breaker, they should have put better pickups.
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They're not odd-shaped -- they're fairly standard mini-humbuckers, and you can replace them with a custom mini-hum pretty easily if you don't like the stock ones. Lots of high-end archtops have floating minis, so it looks like Ibanez is following the standard. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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I would be in line for one of those a couple years ago, but have gotten over my 7-string GAS, plenty to learn on 6-strings.
If the PUPs don't cut it sure one of the custom PUP makers will make a replacement.
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I played 7-string for about 8 years. I couldn't imagine playing a 7-string with a 24.7" scale length. Even a 25.5" scale length has problems handling the low string properly.
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Very interesting. Why so cheap? Ibanez used to make a 7 string that was in pretty high demand, then went out-of-productikon. I forgot the model name, but, if you found it used, you were paying at least $2k.
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When that guitar came out (I believe it was the AF207), 7-string guitars were incredibly hard to find. It was the only consumer-level 7-string on the market that anyone would even consider for playing jazz. Since then, there have been countless 7-string guitars manufactured of every possible configuration. Ibanez have also gotten very deeply into the low priced archtop segment. This is no longer a really unique guitar like that earlier guitar. Rather it is just a 7-string extension of their consumer level archtop lineup and is price appropriately as such.
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I might be tempted to get into 7 string if I can find one of these and it's nice...
But my gut tells me it'll have that ol Ibanez skinny neck profile, and my hand will hurt after 10 minutes of playing it.
I think another fail is the two pickups...so obviously a jazz guitar, why even bother?
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A good way of dealing with the 7th string is using a higher gauge for that one. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
The pickups for this model are probably crap.
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In my experience, using much heavier string for the low A with a shorter scale length is a very bad alternative. It makes the A much louder than the other strings and produces very poor intonation, especially on the bottom three or four frets. A much better alternative is to build the guitar with a longer scale length as is becoming common among rock oriented 7-string guitars. Originally Posted by dinot
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Oh, but tuning it to A instead of B clearly doesn't help with that problem. If it's louder you can lower the pickup pole for that string.
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A is the most common tuning for a Jazz 7-string because of the Van Eps influence. As for the rest, I tried really hard to make this sort of setup work. I owned a lot of conventional 7-strings, I think 33 of them. In the end, the only thing that worked for me was a longer scale length. If you can make it work at 24.7", that all I have to say is good on you. I wish I had been able to make it work for me as well but I couldn't.
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Well, but nobody has the Van Eps stuff down anyways
I use B and it's great.
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I'm sure you're right on both counts. Originally Posted by dinot
Well, but nobody has the Van Eps stuff down anyways
I use B and it's great.
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I have the older Ibanez AF207 that was mentioned above. They were made in Japan and are very high quality guitars. I like mine a lot. It has a 24.75" and I use a .70 string on the bottom, tuned to a low A. I am very happy with the string balance, but I changed the pickup to a Seymour Duncan adjustable pole version. I have had boutique 7-string archtops in the past and they were 25" scale, so this is not much shorter.
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Dimarzio blaze? The same on the Universe? isn't that an insult to that model?
That looks like a great guitar
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Funny how on your picture the cutaway seems deeper than this picture: Originally Posted by floatingpickup
Anyway, beautiful ! Lucky man ... Two !
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Only one of the AF207's belongs to me. The other one is my brother's. We just took a picture of the pair of them for fun. I find that the dimensions of my AF207 are very comfortable (scale, nut width, body, etc.) and from what I can tell, the new Artcore is basically the same size. People here know that the quality of the Artcores is excellent (especially for the price). It will probably be a great 7-string at a street price under $1,000. I look forward to seeing one in real life.
BTW, I didn't mean to disagree with Jim about the longer scale in my previous post. I played one of Jim's longer scale 7-strings once and it really did make the bass string sound better (think of an electric bass). I just wanted to explain that I was able to work it out with my guitar by trying different string gauges and installing an adjustable pole pickup. If you are comfortable with a longer scale, as Jim said, it would probably work better for the bass string. I am not sure anyone even makes a guitar like that anymore though.
Keith
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Well, but as you said, adjusting the pole piece does the work.
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Neat looking guitar, but I have never been a fan of Ibanez guitars. I've always thought Ibanez has great aesthetic value, but I have never been a fan of the sound. I DO want to try 7 string guitar at some point, but most 7 string arch-top models are way expensive. This looks like it would give me chance without breaking the bank too much, but...
What kills it for me, are the stupid pickups. First, why are there two? Like many have said on this thread before, IT'S A JAZZ GUITAR, there doesn't need to be a bridge pickup. Second, they're ceramic, and like many, I prefer alnico.
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I really want to try one of these out. I've jonesing for a 7string for about 12 years now but have never been able to justify the expense vs projected income issue. This is definitely priced right. Ibanez has a lot of 7 string solid body experience I hope that would transfer to this guitar. As long as I could get it intonated I'd be happy. If anybody buys one please post a review!
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I'm making a guitar with 3 pickups, I better not post about it :P
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I might pick one up before I go to school next year, do you think guitar center will stock these or will I only be able to get one over the internet?
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As you might notice in the stock photo, these Expressionist pickups do not have any visible pole pieces to adjust. That kind of makes them somewhat of a dead end for upgrading unless somebody out there is making (what looks to me here like) an elongated 7-string replacement mini-humbucker configuration. (Doesn't it look like a mini, or is it just that it's longer? The older AF207s look more like wider, full humbucker shapes to me.) Eh, maybe the stock pickups are actually good enough quality, though. Originally Posted by dinot
Anyway, I'm betting that these 7-strings won't be stocked in GC any more than the Wholetone amp has been so far.Last edited by ooglybong; 02-04-2013 at 06:18 PM.
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Good luck there. By coincidence, I just called my local GC earlier about the new Ibanez models (since they've got them priced for sale in their Feb. mailer). I spoke with S., a nice guy who, IIRC, seems to be the most knowledgable one in their guitar dept. He knew nothing about the Artcores that Whitfield and Monder are talking up on Ibanez's site, plus he knew absolutely nothing about any new Metheny models coming out. He did say, however, that if they're in the new mailer, then they'd probably be in stores within three weeks or so. Huh. Originally Posted by maxmulloes
Plus when I asked about the Expressionist 7-string, he kind of went silent... Then he told me about "Taylor's 8-string guitar, which is really cool".
Yeah, it is cool, I agree. (Taylor's model is a neat acoustic flat-top guitar.) However, I point out, it's fingered like it's a 6-string, so, er, it's not really quite the same thing at all. I'm talking about having an extra string to deal with below the normal E, I tell him. (Silence.) This would be considered a jazz guitar, I say....... At that point I rejected the idea of naming names like Van Eps, etc. (although I know there are metal guys who play 7-strings, so I'm a bit lost as to why he seemed confused). Thanks anyway, S.
Oh, well.
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