# Stephan Forte's 27 Fret 7 String Reverse HS Ibanez



## PunchLine (Mar 16, 2015)

Stephan Forte has a new custom guitar from Ibanez that he unveiled in NAMM 2015. 

Stephan Forté&#8217;s New Custom Ibanez | I Heart Guitar

It is an S series body with reverse headstock which is awesome! It has 27 frets, Seymour Duncan 7 string SD Pegasus in the bridge and Rail Humbucker in the neck and locking trem. There's no tone knob. Cool finish too...

He also posted a photo on his fb page:

https://m.facebook.com/stephanforte/photos/pb.205466072806102.-2207520000.1426508324./908632185822817/?type=1&source=54

I wonder why Ibanez does not offer more reverse headstock models to us mortals...


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## Chemical-Pony (Mar 16, 2015)

That's such a nice guitar. Love the colour. Just wish the SD hot rails didn't have to be custom shop only.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Mar 16, 2015)




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## 77zark77 (Mar 16, 2015)

That's really really nice !


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## s4tch (Mar 16, 2015)

I love every bit of it - except the bridge. With a Lo-Pro, it would be a 10/10.


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## PunchLine (Mar 16, 2015)

s4tch said:


> I love every bit of it - except the bridge. With a Lo-Pro, it would be a 10/10.



Stephan must have chosen this bridge, right? I assume he could have whichever bridge that would fit on the S body he wanted on an LACS guitar. But I ask anyways as I learned not to assume anything...


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## Jarmake (Mar 16, 2015)

Not bad at all. Looks a bit weird with 27 frets, but that's it. I'd tap that.


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## Samer (Mar 16, 2015)

I love it minus the inlays. Hopefully it becomes production at some point.


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## DiezelMonster (Mar 16, 2015)

It's pretty damn cool! Looks like it says prestige on the headstock! Interesting...


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## Syriel (Mar 17, 2015)

DiezelMonster said:


> It's pretty damn cool! Looks like it says prestige on the headstock! Interesting...



IIRC the artist can choose whatever Ibanez logo they want on it. I've seen LACS with the check mark, ones without Prestige, and ones with Prestige.

Damn that sexy, but I wish they extended the cutaway all the way to the 27th fret. But then again that's his guitar and not mine.


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## MrHelloGuitar (Mar 17, 2015)

Oh my lawwwwwd. I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED IT.


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## 7JxN7 (Mar 17, 2015)

Damn thats nice! Not enough guys play S series.

I can't help noticing a few aesthetic similarities between this and Dino's production sig, however 2 very different guitars. Does anyone know if it is neck thru or bolt on?


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## PunchLine (Mar 17, 2015)

Syriel said:


> IIRC the artist can choose whatever Ibanez logo they want on it. I've seen LACS with the check mark, ones without Prestige, and ones with Prestige.
> 
> Damn that sexy, but I wish they extended the cutaway all the way to the 27th fret. But then again that's his guitar and not mine.



Cool thanks for the info, I did not know that but it makes sense as there is no standard Ibanez logo for the LACS guitars...


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## PunchLine (Mar 17, 2015)

7JxN7 said:


> Damn thats nice! Not enough guys play S series.
> 
> I can't help noticing a few aesthetic similarities between this and Dino's production sig, however 2 very different guitars. Does anyone know if it is neck thru or bolt on?



I was curious about that too but could not find anything on that. I have feeling it is a bolt on neck but we'll see. Stephan says he'll post more photos and a video...


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## The Scenic View (Mar 17, 2015)

Sigh, another guitar to never see production lines


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## stretcher7 (Mar 17, 2015)

I would literally kill someone to have a guitar like that!!
I would be SO grateful if Ibanez would offer a 27 fret 7. Any style.

Damn


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## ihunda (Mar 17, 2015)

So stephan left Lag? How sad.


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## boogie2 (Mar 17, 2015)

Really? Another purple guitar from Ibanez? They've got a couple models that I like right now but they only come in purple or green. That's a deal breaker. 

Ibanez, fire your fashion designers and start offering some standard colors.


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## serazac25 (Mar 17, 2015)

Death to pick-up rings


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## pat2 (Mar 18, 2015)

boogie2 said:


> Ibanez, fire your fashion designers and start offering some *standard colors*.



Like black?


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## boogie2 (Mar 18, 2015)

pat2 said:


> Like black?



Black is fine, natural wood is better, yellow, blue, orange, red, grey, you know.


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## Fred the Shred (Mar 18, 2015)

It's Stéphan's guitar, so it's purple because he said so. If it becomes a production model (if it's anything like Dino's, in about 15 years  ), it's likely that more examples with different finishes will have been made by then, so there's no real indication at this point of this ever being available, let alone the available finishes! 

I dig it. Looks great, control layout is logic (the LAG model had some rather awkward knob and selector positioning that made it pretty counter-intuitive for me), and if this was my guitar, which it isn't of course, I'd like a more pronounced scoop to reach the 27th fret easily, much like I have on my Capas, but then again I like the meedly meedlies a bit too much, I suppose.


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## OmegaSlayer (Mar 18, 2015)

I would buy this 1000000000 times over a Kiko Loureiro.


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## PunchLine (Mar 18, 2015)

OmegaSlayer said:


> I would buy this 1000000000 times over a Kiko Loureiro.



Kiko model might start to look sexier if the rumors are true


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## narad (Mar 18, 2015)

I like it a lot, only problem is 6-string sized inlays on a 7-string neck...



PunchLine said:


> Kiko model might start to look sexier if the rumors are true



What rumors?


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## OmegaSlayer (Mar 18, 2015)

Kiko being Megadeth's new flamenco guitarist.


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## 7JxN7 (Mar 19, 2015)

boogie2 said:


> Really? Another purple guitar from Ibanez? They've got a couple models that I like right now but they only come in purple or green. That's a deal breaker.
> 
> Ibanez, fire your fashion designers and start offering some standard colors.



You know this is a custom built guitar right? As in the artist chose all options and specs?


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## PunchLine (Mar 19, 2015)

narad said:


> I like it a lot, only problem is 6-string sized inlays on a 7-string neck...
> 
> 
> 
> What rumors?



that he will join Megadeth...


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## BigBadAl (Mar 19, 2015)

boogie2 said:


> Really? Another purple guitar from Ibanez? They've got a couple models that I like right now but they only come in purple or green. That's a deal breaker.
> 
> Ibanez, fire your fashion designers and start offering some standard colors.




Funny part is that Stephan is color blind , Love it myself


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## FILTHnFEAR (Mar 19, 2015)

s4tch said:


> I love every bit of it - except the bridge. With a Lo-Pro, it would be a 10/10.



I wish they would just put the Lo-Pro(7) on anything with a floating trem.


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## PunchLine (Mar 20, 2015)

The new custom model seems to have evolved from this one:


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## TheFranMan (Mar 20, 2015)

Wow I love this. I'm a Caparison player, so I love my 27 frets. That being said, I'm much more a fan of Ebony than Rosewood fretboards. Also, I wonder how good the access is with that cutaway.


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## 77zark77 (Mar 20, 2015)

Owning a LAG SF, I can say the 27 frets way is an inprovement
Sort of thing you don't absolutly need atm but when it's here...

first is fun, second necessary, as always


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## edsped (Mar 20, 2015)

Awesome. The ZR trem needs more love. Ball bearings > knife edges


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## FILTHnFEAR (Mar 23, 2015)

edsped said:


> Awesome. The ZR trem needs more love. Ball bearings > knife edges



I really like the ZR, it's really comfy and a breeze to change strings, but the finish on mine is already starting go after less than 2 1/2 years of owning it. And the fine tuners could be better as well.


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## redstone (Mar 23, 2015)

We're in 2015 and Ibanez still makes shred guitars with inaccessible frets. When will they learn ?


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## Atomic Kemper (Mar 23, 2015)

I'm interested, if anyone is looking to trade, I'm sure I have something you'll be interested in from 6-7-8 to fret less 

Really tho


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## Chonker (Mar 23, 2015)

edsped said:


> Awesome. The ZR trem needs more love. Ball bearings > knife edges



ZR bearings are roller bearings 

[edit]

Actually, I'm wrong! Oops  That'll teach me to be a smartass! Surprising though


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 23, 2015)

PunchLine said:


> The new custom model seems to have evolved from this one:



That was just a repainted S5527. He was probably given that to play while his LACS was being built. 

With the lead times at the LACS, its become a common practice to give new endorsees "waiting guitars".



ihunda said:


> So stephan left Lag? How sad.



I don't see why he would have stayed. 

Lag has a terrible marketing/distribution setup in the US, and the first few batches of his sig, the more affordable model which still wasn't cheap, didn't come out very well. I remember a few threads here where they had glaring flaws.



Syriel said:


> but I wish they extended the cutaway all the way to the 27th fret. But then again that's his guitar and not mine.





redstone said:


> We're in 2015 and Ibanez still makes shred guitars with inaccessible frets. When will they learn ?



I don't know guys, even with his thumb all the way over the neck, and not in a playing position, his fingers are easily touching the 24th fret, and I can't see it being hard to hit the 27th in the slightest. 

If you look at most staple shred guitars, Soloists, Horizons, RGs, etc. The last two or three frets are always a little past the cutaway.


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## fantasyl (Mar 23, 2015)

s4tch said:


> I love every bit of it - except the bridge. With a Lo-Pro, it would be a 10/10.



And with a tight end 11/10 , IMHO of course


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## Atomic Kemper (Mar 23, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> I don't know guys, even with his thumb all the way over the neck, and not in a playing position, his fingers are easily touching the 24th fret, and I can't see it being hard to hit the 27th in the slightest.
> 
> If you look at most staple shred guitars, Soloists, Horizons, RGs, etc. The last two or three frets are always a little past the cutaway.



Hmmm, good point. Thanks for pointing that out man. Look even at the N7 and the stephens cutaway  Im sure you've seen one.


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## porknchili (Mar 24, 2015)

redstone said:


> We're in 2015 and Ibanez still makes shred guitars with inaccessible frets. When will they learn ?



The RG2011SC and RG550XH would beg to differ...


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## Atomic Kemper (Mar 24, 2015)

porknchili said:


> The RG2011SC and RG550XH would beg to differ...


NO way, oh ...., 30 frets?? are there 7 string versions please!


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## redstone (Mar 24, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> I don't know guys, even with his thumb all the way over the neck, and not in a playing position, his fingers are easily touching the 24th fret, and I can't see it being hard to hit the 27th in the slightest.
> 
> If you look at most staple shred guitars, Soloists, Horizons, RGs, etc. The last two or three frets are always a little past the cutaway.



Reaching 3 strings with two fingers is not what I call an accessible fret, or else the 40th fret would be technically accessible. Jackson and ESP already designed some decent 27 fretters (falcon, mv), so did Washburn, Hamer etc 20 years ago. Ibanez ? Designing a 24 fret Sabre took an eternity... But they did it ! And now they repeat the same error with 27 frets ? How generous of them.



porknchili said:


> The RG2011SC and RG550XH would beg to differ...



This pretty much summarizes Ibanez. They don't want to spend one day improving their designs. Is this so hard ? Is it too risky ?  Wait...


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 24, 2015)

redstone said:


> Reaching 3 strings with two fingers is not what I call an accessible fret, or else the 40th fret would be technically accessible. Jackson and ESP already designed some decent 27 fretters (falcon, mv), so did Washburn, Hamer etc 20 years ago. Ibanez ? Designing a 24 fret Sabre took an eternity... But they did it ! And now they repeat the same error with 27 frets ? How generous of them.



If you can fret it, it's accessible. I've never had a problem on 99% of 24+ fretted super strats, be it Ibanez, Jackson, ESP, Hamer, Washburn, Caparison, etc. 

Everyone's hand geometry is different, but saying that the frets on this saber, or any other guitar is "inaccessible" is just laughable. 

Also, introducing 24 fret Sabers wasn't a "challenge" or something that took significant redesigning, they just wanted to simplify manufacturing. Now the RG and Saber have the same neck geometry witch lets them produce more of a single neck blank which reduces unit cost. 

The fact that some Saber using endorsees were pushing it made it all the easier. 

In fact, we wouldn't have Prestige Sabers that are Japanese made if it wasn't for the ability to just use existing RG neck blanks. 




> This pretty much summarizes Ibanez. They don't want to spend one day improving their designs. Is this so hard ? Is it too risky ?  Wait...



Implying all it takes to change a large scale production instrument is five seconds in MS paint. Troll harder.


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## Atomic Kemper (Mar 24, 2015)

Wow, I didn't see this until now but you're right. Ibanez really is lazy! I mean really. Not only did they completely either neglect, shut down, or let go of their entire creative /R&D team but they actually have regressed. The 80's/90's Ibanez quality was so much better than current, and the prices are 60% higher than they should be (if fixed for inflation or cost of living), so they really got to be $hitty and be stingy with their profits instead of reinvesting in themselves! I didn't think I'd ever think this, but if they don't shape up, they might actually start to get "Jackson'ed" out of the ERG niche market (which eventually will probably degrade into every luthier company that invested a lot into it will still keep tne low-end model kept in the catalog just to save face for inventing such monstrosities as the RG9 lol) I mean Ibanez is cutting on quality for sure, so I do hope they start reinventing something new or "rebranding" someone else's styles at least to start, but they need some fresh blood and a breath of new air. Like look at Schecter, they constantly redo or update, EBMM even moreso, ESP and Jackson, all of the great metal guitar luthiers.

It's an odd reaction to have, but being an Ibby fanboy, I was actually completely thrown off when the idea really made sense to me. I mean I really LOVE Ibanez much more than every other brand, so this sucks to imagine. I hope I'm wrong....

wait -

no! I hope Im right: that way, Ibanez will finally price their stuff correctly, or adjust it to true market value, start making new models and neck thrus, and then well have a better Ibanez....So I truly hope Ibanez remains the same for years. (Many guitarists feel that electric guitar as an instrument naturally evolves in the same 10 year cycles of the music that they help create/perform, so that means by 2020, we will start seeing a brand new and affordable Ibanez....maybe they'll even wake up and charge $2.5-3k for the M8M, which is the TMV according to many here at SSO, and I agree with them. 

*(Jackson'ed = you screw around for so long resting on your laurels that eventually your quality slips while your prices stay same or increase, and then people stop buying... so to compensate and win customers back you have to improve the quality beyond your previous standards, in Ibanez' case that would be the late 90s, and then charge less to try to win the old ones back and HOPE new ones come along if your rep didn't dwindle for too long....and we can see Jackson is making a comeback and we/they are all the better for it, am I right?).

PS No 30 fret 7 string ibby? darn


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## redstone (Mar 24, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> If you can fret it, it's accessible. I've never had a problem on 99% of 24+ fretted super strats, be it Ibanez, Jackson, ESP, Hamer, Washburn, Caparison, etc.
> 
> Everyone's hand geometry is different, but saying that the frets on this saber, or any other guitar is "inaccessible" is just laughable.



And I am the troll ?



MaxOfMetal said:


> Also, introducing 24 fret Sabers wasn't a "challenge" or something that took significant redesigning, they just wanted to simplify manufacturing. Now the RG and Saber have the same neck geometry witch lets them produce more of a single neck blank which reduces unit cost.



Yes indeed, they now use the same necks for RGs and Sabres. Yes it simplifies the production and lowers defect rates. But you're just avoiding the subject. Ibanez has designed a ....load of different RG necks and pockets in the few past years and when they did so, like the new 9s for example, they had the choice to alter or not the body shape. It's just a choice they avoid. CNCing a different body shape is nothing but profit if it's an improvement for the guitarist. - Or maybe are you underestimating the flexibility of their OEMs.

It doesn't take 30 minutes to redesign a new guitar for large scale prod, yet, it takes those 30 extra minutes they don't want to take.






(ps. it wasn't Paint, but Preview  )


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 24, 2015)

redstone said:


> And I am the troll ?



Yes. 




> Yes indeed, they now use the same necks for RGs and Sabres. Yes it simplifies the production and lowers defect rates. But you're just avoiding the subject. Ibanez has designed a ....load of different RG necks and pockets in the few past years and when they did so, like the new 9s for example, they had the choice to alter or not the body shape. It's just a choice they avoid. CNCing a different body shape is nothing but profit if it's an improvement for the guitarist. - Or maybe are you underestimating the flexibility of their OEMs.



It's only worth fixing if it's genuinely understood as a problem. 

You're actually the first person I've run into who finds it difficult to reach the upper frets to this degree. 

They've designed new shapes with supposedly better access, but no one has really come out as selling better based on that. Even the RGTs and RGDs haven't made as big of an impact. 

You're also forgetting that you can't just keep moving the neck heel back all willy-nilly. At some point the stability and tone suffers, which is why they had to do a lot of tweaking to the S5470 when it was released. They just moved back the heel and it messed with the resonance causing dead spots. 



> It doesn't take 30 minutes to redesign a new guitar for large scale prod, yet, it takes those 30 extra minutes they don't want to take.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Here is the current 24 fret Saber:






How is that bad access? 

Also, if Stephan had a problem, they would have rebuilt the guitar. Unfortunately that is something the LACS has had to do several times before when making new instruments. 

So in order to be acceptable, you have to fret the very lowest string on the highest fret? Maybe they should pull an ESP or Caparison and just cut the frets off the lower strings.


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## redstone (Mar 24, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> (1) Yes.
> 
> It's only worth fixing if it's genuinely understood as a problem.
> 
> ...



1- How convenient !

3- Uh ? They did the Xiphos. There's no new improved superstrat shapes, the RGD is just an RG with a ruined lower horn design. Over 10+ years they changed the lower horns in the most lazy way possible. Even the 24f saber, they carved the horns a bit more and pushed the pickups closer to the bridge to gain 2 frets. But gaining 3 more frets can't be done that idly, so..

4- Lot of tweakings to make an RG joint work with an RG neck ? Please... 

No I'm not forgetting anything, and adding frets is the opportunity to make a longer pocket while improving the global access. Sure, at some point the guitar will suffer from deeper cutaways, which => doesn't seem to be a big deal <= for Ibanez. Lot of tweakings I guess ? 

5- The 24f saber is okay and confirms what I said. 

6- Or maybe he feels too lucky to insist, since he's not Herman or Joe. Or maybe that's Ibanez duty to make a better offer, to care for their mascots, see (7).

7- The opposite answer wouldn't make any sense, so yes. I don't say you have to make a full use of your frets like I do. However Ibanez keeps designing shred guitars where you can't, and this only shows to future potential endorsed artists that they can't ask Ibanez to change their body shapes, whereas those are not adapted to host more strings, longer scales etc. Winter's coming... Sorry for killing the mood.


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## eugeneelgr (Mar 24, 2015)

Fret accessibility is a combination of neck joint sleekness, cutaway depth and what many people dont get, is cutaway WIDTH. No way to fully utilise those last few frets if one cant at least fret the last 4 frets with his 4 fingers at the same time imo. Otherwise you could say a les paul had good fret access. Just look at ergo guitars like strandberg etc(abeit a different breed of design). Thats why I've spent years telling people my Suhr Modern has terrible upper fret access, or should i call it usability. Thats why the Stephen forte sig is, from my observation and opinion, gonna have terrible access due to its cutaway depth and width. Would be hitting one's back of his hand on that cutaway above 22nd fret the way i see it. (Or maybe he could be using anything above the 22th fret for tapping only.)


And what IS wrong with the way ibanez offers signatures? It seems like they offer LACS to a few potential candidates and pick the one which is most different from their current menu. Its like they offered the signature to forte cus he requested a 7 string S with 27 frets which they dont have on their menu now. I can see the marketing behind it though, offer something different as most players buy the guitar, not the name behind it. Nonetheless, makes me feel just a tad sorry for players like Marco Sfogli, who just needs a 6 string HH 24 fret RG. I dunno, perhaps Sfogli and Forte offer the same amount of brand exposure to Ibanez, but i personally feel Sfogli a MUCH better player and a more deserving endorsee. Just my 2 cents, no offence intended.


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## eugeneelgr (Mar 24, 2015)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Implying all it takes to change a large scale production instrument is five seconds in MS paint. Troll harder.



Incurring more R&D costs is better in the long run than building a guitar with design flaws that people just wont buy and incurring bigger losses.


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## Atomic Kemper (Mar 25, 2015)

My friends, I am sorry if I inflamed the issue at all with posting my reaction, that truly was not my intention. I humbly suggest we keep in mind the spirit of this forum and remain friendly even if there is an opposing view or even an argument , let us remain civil regardless of the other party, we can only be accountable for our own actions after all I think  

Anyway, most of these guitars if not all, are all great quality


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## porknchili (Mar 25, 2015)

Just saying, most of the time Stephan uses the 27th fret for extensions on tapping lines (at least from the videos I've seen of him over the years). Also, since he does a lot of wide interval stretches, his hand position makes the 27th fret positioning irrelevant.


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## redstone (Mar 26, 2015)

Atomic Kemper said:


> My friends, I am sorry if I inflamed the issue at all with posting my reaction, that truly was not my intention. I humbly suggest we keep in mind the spirit of this forum and remain friendly even if there is an opposing view or even an argument , let us remain civil regardless of the other party, we can only be accountable for our own actions after all I think
> 
> Anyway, most of these guitars if not all, are all great quality



Don't worry, we're all reasonable, grown people. Yes Ibanez remains competitive, though Schecter could become the new Ibanez at that rate.. (agree on the Suhr modern, one of the worst lower horn for that price).


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## 77zark77 (Mar 27, 2015)

I always thought this guy got the idea of the ultimate Ibanez S
Lag did it


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## 7JxN7 (Mar 28, 2015)

Iv'e never owned a guitar that couldn't be fretted past the fretboard (I have owned over 40 different guitars in the last 15 years). I mean, I don't have huge hands but I can fret the neck pickup on my Gibson Les Paul, RG550 and Agile Pendulum 7 without much issue on any of them. 

Sure, fret access is alot freer on some models/brands, but in my experience you cant always tell just from looking at a pic either 


Edit: this post is regarding electric guitars haha, acoustics are a different story!


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## redstone (Mar 28, 2015)

Sorry to insist but...


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## 7JxN7 (Mar 28, 2015)

You will have to tell that to all the classical and jazz guitarists from the last 100 years then man


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## ATOMICxTomato (Apr 1, 2015)

reverse headstock S.....me wants


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## PunchLine (Apr 3, 2015)

PunchLine said:


> Kiko model might start to look sexier if the rumors are true



I wonder if Kiko and Ibanez (I mean Dave  ) will change anything on the signature model to adapt to the Megadeth sound... Maybe the current model already does who knows...

https://www.facebook.com/ibanezguitars


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## OmegaSlayer (Apr 3, 2015)

I only know I need long scales to be able to play comfortably the highest frets.
Me, my sausage fingers and big hands hate those silly tiny unaccessible frets


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