# Got my RG9



## Krbvol3 (May 30, 2014)

Just got my Ibanez RG9 yesterday and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it.

Pickups sound really good for stock Ibanez pickups and the neck is just as fast and flat as my Prestige 2228, with the exception of the fret ends being slightly rough, not too bad after a pass with sandpaper. Chrome hardware looks killer and the guitar is very balanced and light.

Extremely impressed on the build quality at 800$ usd. Eventually I think I'll stick a deathbar and aluma xbar in along with a thicker string for the C#. The .90 is just slightly floppy but not too bad.


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## rockskate4x (May 30, 2014)

congrats! you mind posting a few clips?


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## Krbvol3 (May 30, 2014)

Hell yeah it won't let me from my phone but I have a clean and distorted video to share


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## DreamError (May 30, 2014)

I have this strange feeling of... inadequacy.



No way I could play that monster unless I put on strap locks and held it classical style. It's too bad Ibanez is pricing these at twice the RG8, though. Economy of scale/supply and demand shenanigans or "lol because we can!"?

Enjoy!


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## ChubbyEwok (May 30, 2014)

Congrats dude that's awesome! Can't wait to hear those clips too!


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## shikamaru (May 30, 2014)

wow nice score ! HNGD ! How are those straight frets with regards to intonation ?

I think the price is fair though. It takes some engineering to design these, I bet price will go down when demand gets higher


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## Krbvol3 (May 30, 2014)

I'll have to play it more to really tell about the intonation for the whole guitar. But the 28" scale really helps the 7th and 8th string. The C# is a bit floppy but well see how it gets with a thicker string intonation is a little weird but the action also could be dialed in which is what I'll do this weekend. But as a whole everything sounds pretty tits.


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## HurrDurr (May 30, 2014)

PLS get a hold of some more angle and back shots of that beast if you can for us!
I haven't been on the ERG forums in months and this was the first thing I saw.
EPIC NGD!


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (May 30, 2014)

If possible can you comment on how it compares to an RG8 and 2228 in terms of quality and attention to detail?
I'm sure it's much better than the RG8 with that pricepoint, I'd just like to know how much better.


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## Ron Head (May 30, 2014)

HNGD dude !


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## OmegaSlayer (May 30, 2014)

WOW!
HNGD!


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## shawnperolis (May 30, 2014)

That's an amazing guitar, I'm mad jelly. I've got an Intrepid 9 and I love having the low end but I wish it had an Ibanez neck sometimes. Not that the Agile neck is bad, but Ibanez necks just rock. I can't wait to hear clips of this beast!


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## 77zark77 (May 30, 2014)

I got a 9 (Agile 930) and still don't understand how it can work at 28"
in a "classical" C#F#BEADGBE
but, I'm not science, please let us see it better and, if possible, ear it 

Congrats !


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## Greenbrettiscool (May 30, 2014)

Awh man I want bad!! I'm jealous. Congrats dude, I'm glad to hear that the stock pups and neck profile aren't too bad, I love the 2228 neck feel. I'm real happy for you man! HNGD!


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## rahahoo (May 31, 2014)

HNGD! Clips pls!


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## tmo (May 31, 2014)

Could you please post more photos?

I don't have hands for that kind of beast...


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## Santuzzo (May 31, 2014)

AWESOME!!

Congrats and HNGD!

as others already mentioned, moaaaaor pics, pleeeez! 

what's the factory tuning and string gauge on this?
since you mentioned C#: is it tuned E standard for the high 6 strings and then B, F#, C# ?


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## TheWarAgainstTime (May 31, 2014)

Cool to see these start popping up in the real world  Congrats and HNGD!


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## Chokey Chicken (Jun 1, 2014)

I had no idea they were going to be so cheap. $800 sounds pretty good. It sounds even better when you consider most places are easy to talk into shedding a few extra bucks from that price. I may just have to get one of these just to try out a 9 string.

Congrats.


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## Alberto7 (Jun 1, 2014)

Happy NGD man! Looks great. And do colour me interested in some clips too!


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

I'll try to answer as many of your questions as possible but if you have more questions buy one! haha for $800 this guitar is one hell of a lot of fun and VERY well made. That is why I love Ibanez.

STRINGS/TUNING:
The string gauges are as follows:
.009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042/.054/.075/.090

The Tuning is standard:
1E, 2B, 3G, 4D, 5A, 6E, 7B, 8F#, 9C#

It looks like the 8th and 9th string are BASS strings. I know D'addario only has .074 and .080 guitar strings. But the ferrule on the end of the string is huge so I'm thinking Bass string. 

INTONATION:
As far as the intonation goes on the guitar as a whole it needs a little setup like I said before, but the guitar shop has had my 8 string to 2 weeks so I'm not going to have it professionally setup till I get my other guitar back, not going without having one guitar to play haha But the only intonation issues I find are really on the 9th string itself. The action is high for what I'm used to so that could be it, and I feel like the string could really be a .095 or a .100 to tighten it up. I prefer thicker strings to most people as well. I use a .080 on my 8 string in F#. 

The 28" scale definitely helps the 7th and 8th strings intonation, I really wish my Prestige RG2228 Had that extra inch scale, everything sounds that much better at 28", now I see what all you dudes are talking about with scale length. It's not like the sound is a huge difference but the playability is ....ing perfect, I hope that makes sense. So yes I could see how maybe a 30" scale for the 9 string would be awesome for the 9th string but I don't think that's really what you would want for the rest of the guitar. Ultimately a fanned fret would be required with a changing scale. 

Don't get me wrong though this guitar sounds great and could do what you are looking for. 

NECK:
This has IBANEZ perfection written all over it. The fret job and neck is immaculate. There are a few rough fret ends on the 11th and 12th and 4th frets but a quick sand got them down to perfection. This neck is super flat and super fast. That's why I own nothing but IBANEZ guitars, I LOVE THE NECKS!

This guitar destroys Legators Josh Travis model neck, so much easier and more fun to play.

It is a little hard to access the higher notes on the 9th string as my fingers are not long and it is a STRETCH!! but i don't really see many people shredding that high up on the neck on the bass strings so not a huge deal.

Sound:
The pickups aren't the most amazing things I've ever heard, I'm waiting to get my 8 string back with the new Deathbar and Xbar set to see how those sound before I think of swapping them out. I am not going the EMG route again, I couldn't stand the 808s after awhile. Hopefully the LACE pickups will sell me on getting a 9 string set.

The guitar is amazingly very sweet sounding. The overall tone is very rounded and sounds so amazing clean with delay it's unreal. It has a 5 way switch and a volume and tone knob. 

In distortion the bass gets lost if you're switch between low and high quickly like a 8 or 9th string chug with a run on the high b or e, but that's probably just due to the pickups. The high strings are a little piercing on some of my Axe patches too so I'll have to dial in a couple tones better to see if its the stock pickups that are piercing or if my treble is really up too far. 

Overall it is a great sounding guitar. 

QUALITY:
The build quality and durability of the guitar is amazing. I haven't found a single blemish or low quality mistake on the guitar. None of the screws, rod nuts or hardware is put on in a rush or cranked too hard or stripped out. I really miss the RG2228 bridge with the fine tuners but the gibralter bridge seems pretty simple and really hard to .... up, tear out or really have any issues with it.

It's an Ibanez too, I'll let the name precede itself. I've had my S Prestige for 10 years and RG2228 Prestige since the first one came out (can't remember how long that's been 5 years? more..?) But i've never had an issue with a long lasting quality instrument especially since I care for my guitars.

COMPARISON:
RG2228 vs RG9
Obviously the build quality and neck attention is superior on the PRESTIGE, BUT and I mean BUT, the RG9 is really not falling short by very much. When I saw the price tag for the 9er, I figured there would be imperfections and rough spots, but except the 3 fret ends that were slightly long, SHIIIIEEETTT, this guitar comes pretty damn close to being the quality of the PRESTIGE. My guess is, they aren't building a whole lot of these so the attention to detail is far superior to most of the other production models. Plus they have to make a good impression a haha that might be bullshit but it makes sense to me.

Ultimately I swapped those horrid EMG 808s out of the RG2228 and I will eventually swap these QM-9s out too so that's the same. I prefer the Galaxy black to the boring RG9 black but thats no big deal, I might have to change that after seeing all those damn RG8's being modded.

RG9 vs Legator 9
I only played the Legator 9 at a amp show for about 10 min, it was a nice guitar and very playable, but the neck does not compete this is IBANEZ neck, sorry dudes. The 30" scale was cool but the stock pickups were shit so it's hard to tell, would like to try one out more.

RG9 vs RGA8
RG9 build quality far exceeds the RGA8. The RGA8 I had, had a shit ton of rough frets, the hardware was cheesy and falling of and that cheap ass bridge screw into the body it had, ugh ....ing shoot me. :wall bash: The RGA8 was very playable and sounded great once I had the seymour duncan blackouts in it, but it never touched my prestige 8 so I got rid of it. The RG9 is in a whole different league than that shitty RGA8.

RG9 vs RG8
I haven never played an RG8. I've heard great things from the people on this forum but I can't compare what I have not tried. If it's anything like this 9 string I might mod my own 

Here are some pictures and a clip or two so you guys can see how it sounds. Wasn't really playing anything in particular just trying to kinda show how the strings sounded as a whole together. Also so you could hear the differences in the neck and bridge pickup and the difference in distortion and clean.


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

more


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

and more./.


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

one more picture

and here's my youtube channel.
There's about 5 clips on there with clean and distortion and what I'm playing through.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsyWgd3hmDTN5bFbZFUNDKg


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## Ron Head (Jun 1, 2014)

nice quick vids ! thank you ! 
btw ,i've found its detailed specs :

Ibanez RG9 9 String RG Black

Wizard 9 5pc Maple/Bubinga neck
Basswood body
Rosewood fretboard w/White dot inlay
Gibraltar Standard-9 bridge
QM-9 (H) neck pu
QM-9 (H) bridge pu
Factory tuning: E/B/G/D/A/E/B/F#/C#
String Gauge: .009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042/.054/.075/.090 (D'Addario EXL120-7+.075+.090

Neck Dimension 
Scale: 712mm/28.03"
Width at Nut: 62.0mm
Width at Last Fret: 88.0mm
Thickness at 1st: 21.5mm
Thickness at 1st: 23.5mm
Fretboard Radius: 950mmR


cant wait for mine ...


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## Zhysick (Jun 1, 2014)

Fretboard Radius 950mm?? That MUST be a mistake... that is almost 37.5"... that's flat...

Sounds great for a bad recording (camera mic or whatever).

The guitar looks really good.

Enjoy it!!!


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

Yeah nice find on the strings Ron! good to know when I change the strings kinda what they used! Guitar is a beast been writing all day on the thing.


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

Recording is from iPhone so yeah quality isn't the best. The mic on my computer sucks so thats the best I got right now.


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## Eclipse (Jun 1, 2014)

HNGD. Too much for me butt still cool.


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## Shawn (Jun 1, 2014)

Congrats! That thing is a beast.  I'm still enjoying the RG8 but wouldn't mind playing that. Very nice!


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## trayenshreds (Jun 1, 2014)

swag. i want one. give.

srsly tho is it nice? does it uphold to the premium line?

debating grabbing one and ordering alternate pups...


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## insanebassninja (Jun 1, 2014)

I can't see my self picking one up... How big is the neck on that beast? I thought eight string is beast, then I got a one. Disregard what I said...


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## Abomination (Jun 1, 2014)

That is one crazy guitar, I like it.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 1, 2014)

congrats...glad to see it didnt have a huge gap between the neck & pocket like some of us rg8 guys had.

question: i didnt see it in the pics, but did it come with a truss rod cover?


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## Krbvol3 (Jun 1, 2014)

no truss rod cover, kinda dig the way it looks though


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## OmegaSlayer (Jun 2, 2014)

I'll wait at least another year to see if Ibby finally makes a fanned fret.
But I have quite some GAS for the RG9


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## Go To Bed Jessica (Jun 2, 2014)

trayenshreds said:


> srsly tho is it nice? does it uphold to the premium line?



It's not a premium guitar, man. This guitar should be in line quality-wise with the RG8.

Still, despite a few issues here and there most people seem to be pretty happy with their RG8s.

I still feel like I'm coming to grips with 8 strings... but this thing is a beast. I'm sure you're gonna enjoy the hell out of it, OP.


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## alvaro89 (Jun 2, 2014)

I can not imagine myself playing a 9 strings guitar.. it is kind of difficult to play a 7 because of the long scale.. I've got children hands..


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## insanebassninja (Jun 5, 2014)

I did some time of thinking about it about his guitar. Here is what I would do with it. I would tune it to low F# to high G#, even if I get a 9 string to make it. that being said the 28" is super long guitar would be more Playble for me. I wouldn't mind making my own those I would make it as long as my bass 35" long.


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## Shimme (Jun 5, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> I'll wait at least another year to see if Ibby finally makes a fanned fret.
> But I have quite some GAS for the RG9



They're coming out with a multiscale bass so you might be in luck!


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## rifft (Jun 5, 2014)

HNGD! thanks for all the pics and clips. I think the distortion and clean vids might have their descriptions switched, just fyi.


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## Apathygrind (Jun 5, 2014)

Guitar sounds really good are those stock pick ups too? Ibanes just does guitars right!


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## Winspear (Jun 5, 2014)

HNG man!


Zhysick said:


> Fretboard Radius 950mm?? That MUST be a mistake... that is almost 37.5"... that's flat...



Could be. Looks it in the pics. Seems pretty logical for a 9. I had mine made flat and it's lovely. Remember the more strings you have, the more round any given radius is going to be


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## Zhysick (Jun 6, 2014)

EtherealEntity said:


> HNG man!
> 
> 
> Could be. Looks it in the pics. Seems pretty logical for a 9. I had mine made flat and it's lovely. Remember the more strings you have, the more round any given radius is going to be



Yes, I know. I like flat fingerboards (used to play classical guitar) but the RG8 is 450mm... I would be happily surprised if they use such a big radius for this guitar.


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## Isaac (Jun 6, 2014)

Zhysick said:


> Yes, I know. I like flat fingerboards (used to play classical guitar) but the RG8 is 450mm... I would be happily surprised if they use such a big radius for this guitar.


At the same time guitarguitar just put up a photo of the RG9 and I am struggling to see any real curvature. 

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net...223_791614110873300_5135560535624006404_n.jpg


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## Zhysick (Jun 6, 2014)

Isaac said:


> At the same time guitarguitar just put up a photo of the RG9 and I am struggling to see any real curvature.
> 
> https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net...223_791614110873300_5135560535624006404_n.jpg



WOW! That is almost flat... amazing!!! 

Really really interesting feature! I like it...


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## lucasreis (Jun 9, 2014)

Congrats... it looks beautiful, it's a beast 

I wouldn't really have a use for a 9 string now, but I would love to own one because I love different guitars and I think it's really cool that they're making these kinds of guitars, the more, the merrier


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## stuglue (Jun 11, 2014)

So who in the UK is gonna buy that 9 string at guitar guitar?


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## stuglue (Jun 13, 2014)

Anyone know if Ibanez has any plans to release a left handed version?


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## bigfoot200 (Jun 17, 2014)

stuglue said:


> So who in the UK is gonna buy that 9 string at guitar guitar?



They've got it at GAK, I got an email the other day!

Ibanez RG9-BK (Black)


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## stuglue (Jul 2, 2014)

Hi guys, I got a very brief play on the right handed version this evening.
The fretboard radius is the flattest I've played on any guitar, the back of the neck is incredibly thin.
The low C# is quite floppy and I think it would benefit from a longer scale.


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## Winspear (Jul 2, 2014)

stuglue said:


> Hi guys, I got a very brief play on the right handed version this evening.
> The fretboard radius is the flattest I've played on any guitar, the back of the neck is incredibly thin.
> The low C# is quite floppy and I think it would benefit from a longer scale.



It certainly would but it's doable. Don't expect any 8 string (hell even 7), let alone 9, to come with a useable gauge though haha. Most likely off by about .020. 
Hoping to try one soon!


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## stuglue (Jul 2, 2014)

Yeah, take it with a pinch of salt. You know what guitar store set ups are like.


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## Metal Mortician (Jul 6, 2014)

I'd love to see you hand that to an older tele-guy in a music store just to see the look on his face... goes to strum an open G chord and hears more overtones than he is used to. lol


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## stuglue (Jul 6, 2014)

Maybe you could get away with tuning this like a standard 8 string but tuned a semi tone flat and then add a high Ab. I think at 28" this might just be doable


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## umbe2k1 (Jul 7, 2014)

Hi guys, I got my new RG9 2 days ago and I'm thinking about replacing the pickups with the EMG 909 but didn't understand if it's possible to buy both of them or you just need to enter "2" in the quantity field when you order them (this way seems you're buying two electronics sets aswell)...

thanks guys
Umbe


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Jul 7, 2014)

Congrats!

Nice videos but I think you've mixed up the description of the clean and distortion ones.

I'd love to try one of those at some point.

Edit: Just noticed there are 3 pages so I'm guessing I'm not the first one to tell you about the description. Only read the first page.


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## blckrnblckt (Jul 7, 2014)

That neck looks so thick


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## stuglue (Jul 7, 2014)

It is a wide neck but very thin and flat


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## Halowords (Jul 7, 2014)

stuglue said:


> It is a wide neck but very thin and flat



So how is the playability, and how natural is it to navigate the nine strings (physically and mentally)?

-Cheers


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## hiroprotagonist (Jul 11, 2014)

I wonder if the difference in scale between this and my Intrepid 828 at 28.65 would make bends on the treble strings more doable? I'd be afraid the lack of fanned fret would give me the same issues, otherwise I'd be all over one of these.


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