Ibanez RGD71ALMS-BAM

I was looking for a 7 string guitar that will be perfect for studio recording/live playing, but didn't want to burn my pockets, so I decided to limit myself to around 1000 euro.
I looked through tons of schecters, ltd's and so on and decided to try out this multiscale with fishmans. Can't be more happy.

Visuals:
The guitar came spotless, no issues visually. Finish is quite nice. Perhaps not the most eye catching finish, but really live, it is quite elegant and the colour changes are very beautiful. The only thing that I can notice, was that perhaps the fretboard could have been slightly better sanded, some edges aren't perfect, but nothing that would impact playability.

Playability:
Setup was great straight out of the box. This being my first multiscale, it plays great and took no time at all to adjust to it. Very comfortable and very fast in terms of playability. It also holds up quite well if you're going to drop tune it.

Pickups:
The fishmans are superb and everything I hoped they would be. A lot of different tonal options with the voicing switch. Guitar has a very mean and modern tone. They are very high output tho, so keep it in mind when plugging it in your interfaces and such.

Tuning:
Tuning is held extremely well by the locking tuners and bridge, only in more extreme weather changes does it get out of tune.

Inlays:
Glow in the dark inlays and side dots are great, especially if you'll be using it on a darker stage. Just point a flashlight at them for a bit and they're all good.

Overall I'm very impressed how much high end features Ibanez managed to cram into this sub 1000 euro guitar. Perhaps I sound like I've been payed by Ibanez to praise this guitar, but it really is quite good, at least the specific guitar I got.

It took two guitars in order to get it right, but I got what I wanted, eventually.
The first guitar's bridge pickup would work only sometimes so I had to RMA it (props to Thomann's customer service: they were great). The second guitar actually worked as advertised, which gave me a great quality guitar.
The finish on the guitar body is pretty flawless, the neck is speedy, the pickups have great sound and the hardware works with no problems. It's a very comfortable to play guitar with great access to higher frets and I found the fanned frets not too hard to get used to, even though this is my first fanned fret guitar.

So this is my review of having the Ibanez RGD71ALMS for 6 months now.
First the good:
1. This guitar has an amazing powerful sound. The Fishman pickups are clear, sharp and they make recording work like a charm. I previously recorded and had live gigs with EMGs and don’t get me wrong I like them, but the Fishmans are top tier.
2. I love the neck. It’s so comfortable I really don’t want to play another neck in my life. Ibanez you did the magic. I love the the panga panga wood. The feel and the look is amazing.
3. The luminlay side dots are a great plus when you are on the stage. They shine pretty good.
4. Gotoh locking tuners are great no problems with them, and also the Shaller strap locks are top notch. No complaints at all.
5. 27 scale is good when you go lower in tunings. For me 27 is a new standard from now on.
6. The finish-beautiful how all the colors match and flow. Just stunning.

Now the bad things:
The quality of particular parts are disappointing at this price range. I am not such a nitpicker but at some point in time I thought that I was given a b-stock used guitar. Maybe not every unit has this but mine has them.
1. The finish-while it is beautiful it has errors. Not really smooth around the edges and end points. I’m talking about the second purple layer. I received a guitar also with two scratches on the finish, they are small and not such a big deal but It is what it is.
2. The nut-after two string changes, the nut just fell off. It was barely glued on.
3. Two of the tuners are damaged maybe from the tools or whatever-not sure.
4. The knob for the volume has a damaged screw. So you cant tighten the knob all the way it always loosens.

So yeah it’s an amazing guitar but has problems in quality control department. At this price this is really not acceptable. I love Ibanez guitars cause they produce really nice models for my taste but my trust is a little shattered right now.

Ich weis gar nicht warum ich so lange gezögert habe mir eine 7 Satter zu zulegen???
Ich habe sicher 1,5 - 2 Jahre mit mir selbst gerungen mal ne 7 Saftige Gitarre auszuprobieren. An Allen unseren Konzerten und auch im Proberaum bin ich ständig am Gitarren wechseln. E-Tuning Drop D Tuning B. Drop A usw...
Bis auf ein paar Songs spiele ich nun alles mit diesem geilen Teil.

Die bespielbarkeit der Gitarre ist wirklich sehr gut. den etwas breiteren Hals bemerkt man nach kurzer Zeit überhaupt nicht mehr.
Meine größte Sorge aber waren die schrägen Bünde (Fanned Frets/ MultiScale). Aber schon nach einigen Minuten merkt man dies meiner Meinung gar nicht mehr. Es ist sogar eher das Gegenteil der Fall. Die Gitarre liegt traumhaft in der Hand und spielt sich nach einer kurzen Umgewöhnungsphase m.E. viel besser!
Ich bin jedenfalls total begeistert . Spiele nun 95% unseres Sets nur noch mit der Ibanez.
Eines muss erwähnt werden.
Die RGD71ALMS ist definitiv eine Klampfe für Heavy Metal. Die PU haben einen ziemlich hohen Output. Selbst im clean Kanal muss ich den Gain Regler ordentlich zurück drehen damit auch wirklich ein clean sound kommt.
Wo das teil wirklich glänzt ist der Verzerrte Sound!
Hier kann man sich wirklich auf die eh schon zahlreichen reviews und Tests der Gitarre verlassen!

Eigentlich kann ich nur sagen:
Ich war nie ein Ibanez Fanboy, hab mich immer eher mit G&L, PRS und Music Man beschäftigt, aber diese Gitarre ist wirklich ein Killer.

Ich bin extrem begeistert.