Ibanez RGA7

Specs:
Bound mahogany body
Wizard II 5 piece maple neck
Bound rosewood fingerboard
Gibraltar bridge
1 Volume
Mid EQ cut
3 way selector
25 1/2'' scale
Standard Ibanez Tuners
24 frets
Nickel finish hardware
4 bolt neck
And to top it all off two of the worst sounding, god awful pickups I've ever heard in a guitar.

Pros

First lets start off with the plus side of this guitar, If your familiar with the RG7321, this is about the same weight, and same feel to it, well the newer models with the new Ibanez/Gibraltar bridges on it. Almost everything about the neck is the same. The body is a carved top with white binding and a glossy black finish, it doesn't look like a typical Ibanez which is what made me get it. The action is good, not too high and not obnoxiously low and minimal fret buzz. Also the guitar is not neck heavy at all, sits completely fine at any level Ive tried it at.

The bridge defiantly makes a difference in how this guitar plays, Ive tried RG7321's before Ibanez started to use this updated bridge and then after it was added, it's not so much a sound difference but a different feel, I could see why some wouldn't like it but I personally love it.

And for stock tuners they hold heavy gauge strings a whole step down nicely, don't even go out after just bending like a moron for about 20 minutes.

Cons

The pickups in this guitar are a piece of shit! The day I got this just happened to be band practice so I figured I'd bring it to show it off keep in mind I only set the guitar up and never heard it in an amp before. I also knew people hated the pickups in this guitar from reading online but I never knew the extent. They are so bass heavy, mid lacking, muddy and utterly disgusting sounding. The other guitarist in the bad said this "It sound like if someone got a cable a shoved it up their ass and farted thats what would come out of the amp". Sadly that can't be anymore true. I can't bare to hear it so until I get my blackouts this is not being played through an amp.

The avtive EQ mid cut switch (or from what I've heard called "the Mud Switch") cuts your mids, I can see how this might be good for solos and final mixes but through these pickups it's pointless. The only good use I can see for it is if you roll off the volume to get a clean sound that it you engage it you could probably clean it up a little more, other than that it seams like a waste of space.

Now I said earlier I love the bridge on this, but I can see why others might not like it. If you look at pictures of this guitar online up close you'll see that the edge of it almost looks pointy, and it is. So I can see if the point would rub against your picking hand how it would hurt like hell, but for me its no issue.

The paint is typical Ibanez shit quality paint, theres a few spots on the binding that you can see mistakes like at the sharp points like it wasn't taped off right.

Final Thoughts

I personally love the guitar, I bought it going in knowing I'd have to change the pickups so I've made that commitment. There's plenty of room for improvement (the ass sounding pickups) but thats nothing some creative thinking and some electronics cant fix. I'd recommend this guitar for someone who wants the RG7321 but with a different look and active pickups (obviously replaced with something like EMG707's of SD Blackouts).

I just got the guitar recently so I can't comment on reliability, But I have a 95' Iceman and that has held up extremely well so I'm looking forward to having this baby. more so when the pickups are changed. Overall good guitar for the money, defiantly worth it if you have the patience for new pickups.