# Ibanez RG721 Premium - hot or not?



## Podium (May 11, 2014)

Hey folks,
So i've got yhe opportunity of getting a new rg721 for a really cheap price.. still, i have doubts about the premium series in general..

Any opinions about this guitar and the premium series?


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## Tyler (May 11, 2014)

Give it a whirl! Yeah there were some that had some issues, but the vast majority have been great. Ive played a lot myself and havent found anything wrong after a proper setup and optional pickup swap.


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## gunch (May 11, 2014)

A sight better than normal Indonesian Ibbies but not as good as older MIJ Ibbies or new Prestiges 

Allegedly, they will have better detailed frets than normal low end Indo models but you still run risk of getting your usual QC boogers and crappy set-ups from the factory

Specs are a little better all around compared to normal models

Here's some NGD threads of this model if you want to research it more 

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/209236-ngd-ibanez-premium-rg721-not-so-good.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/st...gd-npd-though-rg721-bkp-aftermath-bridge.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/210144-ngd-ibanez-rg-721-a.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/st...g721-cnf-premium-natural-finish-goodness.html

Main consensus is that the action comes sky-high and might need a setup out of the box


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## Fluxx (May 12, 2014)

I bought one of these from someone on here who didn't get on with it, but let me tell you I regret selling it SO BAD. After it had a set up it was FANTASTIC, and the neck profile is very similar to the mid-90's wizard II's, where they're a hair thicker than super wizards and wizard 1's. I found the premium "quality" was very, very good, but the setup was not. If you have experience setting one up, then it's a piece of cake, but I would budget for a setup if you don't plan on doing it yourself.


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## Actionman (May 20, 2014)

I have 2 Premiums.
Love them personally but to each his own.
Mine were setup perfectly however a setup for me is a not a deal breaker!
It's wood so it moves, shrinks and expands and depending where you live the weather and it's relative humidity will always change the setup.
A setup is par for the course especially if it's coming from an environment unlike your own.

Both are 721's and they look as good as they play 
The Tight End bridge is awesome...nice hardware.

Guitars are like chicks though, some like blondes some brunettes, etc.
Slim, plump...you get the idea...lol


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## pushpull7 (May 20, 2014)

Well I had the rosewood one. My beef was I didn't care for the tone. Even after changing the pups it just sounded lifeless imho. As time went on I eventually sold all my premiums.

ymmv.


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## Actionman (May 21, 2014)

chrisharbin said:


> Even after changing the pups it just sounded lifeless imho.



Sounds like you got a lemon!
That sucks 

I see no reason to change the PUs personally but here's a good player that did. Sounds good to me.
Bareknuckle Juggernaut Misha Mansoor demo - Rick Graham - YouTube

Anyhow "Podium"
I say go for it...good price means win win!


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## Felvin (May 21, 2014)

I bought an RG721 two months ago and it's great. Got mine for 170 Euro less because of a small dent in the back. Apart from that it's flawless. The Bridge is the smoothest I ever tried. Premium fretwork is superb. The pickups are okay but I changed them to duncans (custom / jazz).


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## TheWarAgainstTime (May 21, 2014)

Hawt


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## pushpull7 (May 21, 2014)

Felvin said:


> I bought an RG721 two months ago and it's great. Got mine for 170 Euro less because of a small dent in the back. Apart from that it's flawless. The Bridge is the smoothest I ever tried. Premium fretwork is superb. The pickups are okay but I changed them to duncans (custom / jazz).



I wish I would have done this. I think that would have been a better combo.


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## DownTuner (May 22, 2014)

The 721 is one of the nicest looking Ibanez guitars in years. So damn cool it hurts to look at it. Then my illusions about it kinda got shot down because even though the one at a local store was setup pretty well, it sounded dead, felt kinda cheap and the neck didn't sit too tightly in it's pocket. And I've heard the same story from a friend who actually owns one. I hope me and my buddy just ran into lemons. The bridge and frets were great, I also liked the neck as it felt a bit thicker than the Wizard necks on MIJ Ibbies.

Just my two cents.

P.S. Did I mention it looks fantastic, haha?


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## GXPO (May 22, 2014)

I had one and for a little while and it definitely suffered from a few issues. 

The frets lifted slightly at the sides and needed knocking back in. Not a huge deal and it was particularly humid at the time so I'm not sure whether the fretboard was expanding slightly etc. 

The neck needed a shim and it didn't hold tune particularly well. 

In fairness, I've learned a lot about setting up guitars in this last year and most of these issues would be trifling if I ran into them now. I still can't cut my own nut and I'm pretty sure that would be the first thing to replace followed closely by the pickups. 

All this being said I actually really liked it. The neck played like butter and rounded fret ends and 16" radius both made me feel so in control of the guitar, like your hand is gliding. It doesn't really compare to the other Ibby's I've owned but they were both exceptional guitars (RGT3120 and RG7620). If they made this in Japan, I'd have 3.


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## Epyon6 (May 22, 2014)

I love my RG927 great guitar, the only other Ibanez that could be better is the prestige line, however I've herd from a few people that they actually preferred their premium to their prestige and others had said there wasn't much of a difference between the premium and prestige.


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## pushpull7 (May 22, 2014)

DownTuner said:


> The 721 is one of the nicest looking Ibanez guitars in years. So damn cool it hurts to look at it. Then my illusions about it kinda got shot down because even though the one at a local store was setup pretty well, it sounded dead, felt kinda cheap and the neck didn't sit too tightly in it's pocket. And I've heard the same story from a friend who actually owns one. I hope me and my buddy just ran into lemons. The bridge and frets were great, I also liked the neck as it felt a bit thicker than the Wizard necks on MIJ Ibbies.
> 
> Just my two cents.
> 
> P.S. Did I mention it looks fantastic, haha?



They are thicker. By far the thickest ibby neck I've ever played. This is NOT the case for the 9xx series. They are very similar to the prestige.


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## DownTuner (May 23, 2014)

chrisharbin said:


> They are thicker. By far the thickest ibby neck I've ever played. This is NOT the case for the 9xx series. They are very similar to the prestige.



Thought so. However, I still think the Ultra neck felt a bit chunkier. Might be wrong, it's been years since I last saw let alone played one. The Fireman neck was chunky as hell aswell, but then again it's not comparable to the RG series.


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## WhoThenNow7 (May 24, 2014)

I don't think a bad setup should justify not getting a guitar.. I mean yeah it's annoying but if the guitar is good, then the guitar is good.. I have a 7 string premium and I gotta say I love it, it's my workhorse guitar.


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## DownTuner (May 28, 2014)

Well, ran into another RG721 yesterday. Walked out of the store with it, haha. This one was totally a different beast compared to the one I wrote about in one of my previous posts, the finish is flawless, it sounds great and the looks and the neck still rule. Plus I got it for cheap. The action was high and a bit too much relief on the neck but I already took care of those. NGD thread incoming a bit later.


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## AJD000M (May 28, 2014)

I say just save an extra couple hundred and go with a prestige. I mean, other then a few different options its pretty much the same thing. Just paying for that prestige name, and getting better parts.


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