# Ibanez sent over a RG9 and RG90!



## simonXsludge (Aug 11, 2014)

Oi!

So yeah, the guys at Ibanez were nice enough to send over their new 9-string models for me to check out and review. Thought I'd share a few photos and initial thoughts before I really dive into the review.


Here goes the RG90:






Just look at that case...





Holy shit, this guitar is light weight. I was shocked when I picked it up...





That fretboard is massive.





Well, you all can count. I like the headstock design a lot, just like their 8-string headstocks.





The bridge is simple, yet solid. It surely feels comfy.





The lower horn is shaved down on the back for easier high fret access. 





From another angle...





Very flush neck joint, kinda reminds me of the J.Custom neck joints.





Look at those fat wenge stripes!





Two are better than one, haha...


Here goes the RG9:





It's glossy black and comes in a very sturdy, form-fitted hardcase. I also tried to fit the M80M - and it fit perfectly! So for those of you who 
are looking for a hardcase to fit the M80M, this is it...





I'm pretty impressed with the RG9 fretwork. Very good for a standard series Ibby. No sharp fret ends, everything's flush with the fretboard. 
The fretwork on my M80M wasn't as consistent and needed some work to look like that.





Same sleek lower horn and neck joint!





Bubinga instead of wenge stripes. Just as fat, though.


My first impressions of both guitars are pretty good. The RG90's quality is insane. No shit, it just screams quality at you. The light weight body, all the tweaks, the neck profile and finish. If I needed the extra range for my music, I'd have a hard time sending it back to Ibanez.

The RG9 is heavier and the neck profile and finish aren't up to Prestige standards of course, but other than that it's very solid. Doesn't feel as entry-level as the RG8. The body has the same tweaks as the Prestige counterpart, the bridge is the same. The Ibanez stock pickups aren't all too bad, but the Bareknuckle Canines in the Prestige obviously take the cake.

I have tiny hands, so both guitars push me to my physical limits. The RG90 makes it a bit easier with it's great neck. Anyways, I'll post soundclips soon and some sort of playthrough/review video in the not too distant future.


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## Explorer (Aug 11, 2014)

Ship them to me or it didn't happen!

Very nice. 

And, I guess this puts to rest all that needless speculation regarding the 9-string Prestige....


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## DancingCloseToU (Aug 11, 2014)

That's pretty bosslike. Those are some good looking shots of the detail on these things.

I'm really interested in those sound clips.


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## simonXsludge (Aug 11, 2014)

Explorer said:


> And, I guess this puts to rest all that needless speculation regarding the 9-string Prestige....


Did I miss out on that or are you talking about the speculation in the thread with Marten holding one?


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## OmegaSlayer (Aug 11, 2014)

If I were Ibanez I would have gone with single saddles and locking tuners on the Prestige.
Otherwise it looks great.


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## Vrollin (Aug 11, 2014)

Do you have a youtube channel or do you just review them here?

Wonder how much of that fretwork on the RG9 is because they were sending it out for review. The real test of objectives here would be to review an RG9 off the shelf, not the pick of the crop that has had some attention to detail paid to it for reviewers sake....


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## simonXsludge (Aug 11, 2014)

Vrollin said:


> Do you have a youtube channel or do you just review them here?


I usually just review stuff within my FB group (link in my sig), but I'm actually setting up a YouTube channel for this as we speak. More to come...



Vrollin said:


> Wonder how much of that fretwork on the RG9 is because they were sending it out for review. The real test of objectives here would be to review an RG9 off the shelf, not the pick of the crop that has had some attention to detail paid to it for reviewers sake....


Well, both the RG90 and RG9 were the first Meinl (Ibanez distributer in Germany) received, but they are just models for their showroom, not especially intended for reviews. As far as I know, they are still waiting for the first actual batch, though.


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## Fred the Shred (Aug 11, 2014)

Typically, Ibanez doesn't really have specific review instruments, and it's not uncommon for the local distributor to simply set up a factory example and send it. It's also not like Ibanez tends to have atrocious fretwork or amateur QC slips on that department, in my experience.


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## Vrollin (Aug 11, 2014)

If that is in fact the same level of detail all rg9' will receive on their fret work then owners are in for a treat....


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## Randy D (Aug 11, 2014)

Thnx for the pics. I have been very interested in the playability of the prestige 9.
Considering as you said I have small digits. Most nines have a plank of a neck that wrapping my fingers around and making stretches is a challenge. I was hoping as with most prestige a higher quality neck possibly a bit thinner than the production standard. I'll be looking for the sound clips. 

Cheers

-Randy D


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## Aris_T (Aug 11, 2014)

Both are impressive! I hadn't noticed the lower horn detail.
I must say that I'm impressed with the cases too. The golden interior makes it really classy. 
Is it me or the body is fatter that the usual RGs (could be an optical thing, but it seems to me that the case is deeper)?
Is the RG9 case standard or optional? Nice touch if they ship in this case.

PS: looking forward to the youtube channel (no FB for me!)!


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## lewstherin006 (Aug 11, 2014)

These looks awesome cant wait for the review!


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## trayenshreds (Aug 11, 2014)

Excellent shots man, I'm dying to get my hands on these two guitars. Cheers and I shall look forward to hearing some sound clips


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## OmegaSlayer (Aug 11, 2014)

Aris_T said:


> Both are impressive! I hadn't noticed the lower horn detail.
> I must say that I'm impressed with the cases too. The golden interior makes it really classy.
> Is it me or the body is fatter that the usual RGs (could be an optical thing, but it seems to me that the case is deeper)?
> Is the RG9 case standard or optional? Nice touch if they ship in this case.
> ...



The case of the RG2228 is hugenormous






compared to a JS case


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## Aris_T (Aug 11, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> The case of the RG2228 is hugenormous



Got it! Thanks! 

Edit: which case is it?


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## Shawn (Aug 11, 2014)

Great pics! Nice pair too....would be a lot of fun to play one of those.


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## OmegaSlayer (Aug 12, 2014)

Aris_T said:


> Got it! Thanks!
> 
> Edit: which case is it?



That's the original case, finished like reptile skin or something like that.
Just look at the handle between the 2 cases to get the difference.


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## stuglue (Aug 12, 2014)

I'm curious to play one of these but as a lefty I can't. I've tried the right handed model and whilst I'm curious I don't know how is use this. 
Ibanez must be moving a few of these now as I've seen quite a few showing up in various places. Maybe on a years time they'll release a lefty version.


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## DancingCloseToU (Aug 12, 2014)

stuglue said:


> I'm curious to play one of these but as a lefty I can't...



Don't let that discourage you!

Like this guy! 9-string guitar. Played upside down.


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## Fred the Shred (Aug 12, 2014)

Too bad you're too far away. I'd like giving these things a spin to see how I got along with them - in the brief times I held a 9-string I didn't really come up with anything special, but it's not like music fair environments are ideal to explore one's creativity anyway. Heh!


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## vansinn (Aug 12, 2014)

Look cool. Can't say I dig the looks of the bridge  - saddles looks just fine, though..
Now, when are Ibanez going to come up with a multiscaled No.9?


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## Decipher (Aug 12, 2014)

Nice to hear/read some comparison. I honestly have no idea if I could use a 9 string but a huge part of me wants to get one for the hell of it. They both look mean and would be so much fun to noodle around on.


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## Zhysick (Aug 12, 2014)

I've been trying to stop myself buying one for a few weeks now... to use it for a kind of "narrower tuning" like minor 3rds or something like that...

This post is not helping... nope nope nope... my wallet is running away from me...

That RG9 looks sick for the price.


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## simonXsludge (Aug 15, 2014)

Mayhem:

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/sludgestudios/rg90vsrg9[/SC]


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## possumkiller (Aug 20, 2014)

I wish they would make that exact same spec as an eight string. I dig everything about the RG90 apart from the ninth string. A prestige RG80BKPISH would be badass. One of the things that always irked me with the factory RG eight strings is how they used the 27 inch scale but left the bridge in the position of a 25.5 inch scale which moved everything forward making the horns fatter and the guitars more neck heavy.


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## noUser01 (Aug 20, 2014)

Thanks for sharing dude, they both look awesome. I honestly found my RG8 to be an amazing sounding and playing guitar, so it's good to hear that the RG9 is even nicer. May pick one up just to play with.

Side note: I saw some dude named simonXsludge liked a couple of my photos on Instagram, had no idea you were someone from SSO.


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## jephjacques (Aug 20, 2014)

I didn't even think I could use a 9-string, but that RG90 is realllllly tempting....


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## ceiling_fan (Aug 21, 2014)

My local GC got an RG9, first thing I noticed (besides the huge neck) was the fretboard radius. It's essentially flat (37") and felt unusual but I liked it. If I had unlimited funds I would probably pick one of these up and use it for tapping in a close interval tuning.


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## simonXsludge (Aug 21, 2014)

possumkiller said:


> I wish they would make that exact same spec as an eight string. I dig everything about the RG90 apart from the ninth string. A prestige RG80BKPISH would be badass.


I'm with you on that one.


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## TheYetiExist (Aug 21, 2014)

Damn, I like the RG90 but I don't know if I could Justify spending $3000 on it just for novelty purposes (For me anyways I know people can make them sound amazing lol) I was thinking about the Quilted RG9 though.


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## SilentCartographer (Jan 14, 2015)

The Rg90 looks boss


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## headfirstonly (Jan 17, 2015)

Aris_T said:


> Both are impressive! I hadn't noticed the lower horn detail.
> I must say that I'm impressed with the cases too. The golden interior makes it really classy.
> Is it me or the body is fatter that the usual RGs (could be an optical thing, but it seems to me that the case is deeper)?
> Is the RG9 case standard or optional? Nice touch if they ship in this case.
> ...



The RG9 ships with the hard case shown in the pics. It's one of the nicest cases I've ever had, really chunky. Had to show the shop where I bought it the fact that their website said "hard case included" before they were prepared to go and dig it out for me, though.


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## alvaro (Mar 19, 2015)

sorry for bumping this thread, after reading specs I wonder myself where will you find that 0.090 guitar string that need the 9th?? The most thick D'Addario FOR GUITAR is a 0.080NW...


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## Nour Ayasso (Mar 19, 2015)

^ Kalium (Circle K) offers .90 and up to .106 for that matter. Cheers!


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## XEN (Mar 19, 2015)

alvaro said:


> sorry for bumping this thread, after reading specs I wonder myself where will you find that 0.090 guitar string that need the 9th?? The most thick D'Addario FOR GUITAR is a 0.080NW...


The RG9 C# tuning machine can take bass strings, as can the bridge.
But yes, Kalium. All the way.


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## Voron (Mar 20, 2015)

Here is mine:


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## Nour Ayasso (Mar 20, 2015)

^Woooooooo!


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## superash (Mar 20, 2015)

Even though a 9 is way too much for me, that RG90 is so lush.


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