[hirah]

kinda sucked. tried one today at gc. while i know that setups are a personal thing, the action was horrendous from the factory. the neck felt ok, a bit thicker than my ibanezes.
but the biggest drawback was the lack of acess to the upper frets. the body connects at about the same place as an ibanez, but the neck thru heel seemed thicker and awkward.
the extended 26.5" scale felt comfortable though. the emgs sounded fizzy , although it was thru a crate ss amp.
i think i'm just tooo used to my ibanezes.although it wouldn't be bad if you weren't trying to shred.

[Elysian]

don't tell jeff loomis he can't shred on his...

[D-EJ915]

People say it has hard access...obviously these people have never played singlecuts or martins.

[Nik]

The Hellraiser has pretty good high-fret access, almost as good as my RG1527. It's the Blackjack C-7 that didn't have good high fret-access

[Emperoff]

Hellraisers are badass guitars, the upper access is great but the 23 and 24th fret are a bit difficult to hit. Anyway, I only use those frets when tapping. They look, play and sound awesome. Hands down.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by D-EJ915

People say it has hard access...obviously these people have never played singlecuts or martins.

+1, just get used to it ,quit bitching, and its an incdredible guitar after that
believe me i bitched about my blackjack alot cause of my small hands and now its my one and only.

[InTheRavensName]

my C7 is one of the nicest axes I've played, for what its worth (and I tried it against a UV!)

[Shaman]

I have had an RG 1527 and I must say, that my Hellraiser has better upper fret access IMO. The Hellraiser felt weird when I played at the store after playing the RG1527 for a year, but once I got it and got used to it, it felt superior to the Ibby in playability. The Ibanez was comfortable as hell to play, but the Hellraiser was even better. This is just a personal opinion though.

I play a lot of melodies, sweeps etc. all over the fretboard, and I need every fret I can, so a great upper fret access is very important for me. No compromises!
I have no problem hitting the 24th fret on almost all of the strings.(maybe low B can be a bit hard on the 24th though

So my point is. Both of the guitars have a great upper fret access, and the one you like more is just a personal preference.

Originally Posted by Nik

The Hellraiser has pretty good high-fret access, almost as good as my RG1527. It's the Blackjack C-7 that didn't have good high fret-access

That's because the cutaway on the Hellraiser is deeper. http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sho...t=14246&page=2

[Toshiro]

There are lots of guys who shred on 22 fret guitars as well. I love my C7, and have no trouble getting around the fretboard on it. Those last 2 frets are more than a bitch, but how often do you really need them?

[kmanick]

I've had my Hellraiser 7 for a few weeks now and although the access to the
last 2 frets isn't as good as my jackson Sl2h soloist, it's still not an issue for
me. I read this thread last night, thought about it and then I played my HR-7
for about 2 hours. I still need to warm up on it because it is still relatively
new to me and the neck is bigger than any of my other guitars but mine is
set up really sweet once, warmed up on it "shredding" is not a problem at all.
You may have played a dog in the store (I've played plenty of strats and Les
Pauls in GC that were in dire need of a good set up). The shop I got mine in
is owned by a builder and he sets them up as they come in so when you pick
it up off of the wall to try it you get a more accurate representation of what
the guitar is all about.
I haven't tried any 7 string Ibanez models yet, but on a whole
I've never liked wizard necks (too thin for my hands), but If I wanted to try
one(and I do want to check some out) I would rather play one at a friends
house. one that's already been set up. It's alway hit or miss in GC's and
Daddys etc.