I definitely respect Henning's brutal honesty regarding the Xiphos not having a proper case available. Telling the Ibanez guys to their faces is probably the best way, or rather the best legal way, to get Ibanez to address the complaints.
As wrong as you always are about the Xiphos which is the most prefect guitar ever made ever, that gig bag is a huge disappointment considering the mid 2000s Xiphos' came with fitted hardshell cases. Surely Ibanez still have the designs for those kicking around?
Dealbreaker for me. I was very interested in this guitar, but without a case it is not usable for gigs. :( Hardshell case only sold in the US, but unfortunately not in the EU.
Also. Thise origional chameleon finishs were SO SICK. I get that want to cash in on that esp money....but come on. With the blacked out logo it looks like a cheap copy to me. Even on the esp black metal you can tell its an esp and still read the logo. Ibanez dissapoints yet again.
Totally agree with Colin, just a couple of years ago "premium" came with a decent softy hard case but all my old Korean made Ibanez (Jem, RG GIGER and RBM ) all came with amazing hard cases, I'd pay the extra every time..and I'm tight with money!
The cool thing about all-black guitars is that they can probably make pretty good canvases if you wanted to make some artistic changes to them. Like imagine the Xiphos if you covered it in runes and had little red pentagrams for inlays lol. And to answer your question, there's no such thing as too metal.
4 things. 1, I love the Xiphos because of how it rests in classical position. It's one of the most comfortable guitars you can buy if you play that way (which is basically how I mostly play), 2 the Xiphos will fit on a standard cheap guitar stand if you just flip the curved resting area upside down (it's how I get it to sit at home and on stage just fine), 3, locking tuners are completely unnecessary for string changes on floating bridge guitars. It's quite easy to to wind the strings. 4, It is REMARKABLY EASY to find a gig bag that fits the Xiphos. They fit into quite a few Explorer shaped bags or cases that have a little bit of leeway in where the guitar rests. I quite literally have my Xiphos sitting in a Solar E type gig bag right now. I do love your stuff, but boy, most of your complaints are non issues to the people who will buy this guitar. It's safe to say this guitar is NOT marketed towards you, man! lol
In locking trems you can always put the string in backwards, as you are trimming them anyway (or does the edge zero has inputs for ball ends?). Of course, if you are playing Daddario, you have the colored ball ends at the head stock which may be a deal breaker for some ppl.
As a big fan of pointy guitars, my solution so far for floppy gig bags has been to use bass gig bags, which are usually longer and wider. And for the flycase issue: Gator makes a "GW Extreme case" with adjustable bits that can adapt to the shape of your guitar. But it's fucking HUGE and VERY Heavy, because it's basically a giant rectangular flycase, and not something specificaly made for a Xyphos, or a Warrior, or a Warlock etc.
Speaking as someone who owns a buncha' BC Riches, an LTD V, a Dean Razorback V..... theirs a quick hack I discovered for the stand situation.... y'know the regulaer ol stands with the bottom rest that can wobble to accommodate some shapes? Get one of those, and drill out a new hole for the bottom rest an appropriate amount higher up and your X guitars, your V's, your Warlocks will all rest fine. No expensive, niche hardware required ;-) ...and you can still use it, or even switch holes back if you like, for your superstrats, your single cuts and your grandpas guitars as well
I love Ibanez guitars, what I HATE about this company is that they go cheap on basic things, like, locking tuners, gig-bags, tops made of veneer at guitars over 1K USD, very few guitars have rosewood necks. I would buy an Ibanez every year if I could, but I just hate that they go cheap every year, not considering that the Premiums have a bad rep due to QA. Just my 2 cents. These guitars have the best playability for my hands and the best looks, but some components are just a turnoff.
I hang all my guitars, I have an old RGA7 that I took the neck pickup out of and had a tone knob installed over the mid cut switch so I could use it. (Yes we use those, surprise). I've never seen someone hate 7 strings & cool body designs so much lmao
I don't trust scale length anymore...my 7 string ML is only 25.5 inch in scale length, but can do A standard easily...my 26.5 scale length PRS can't do drop A, I had to go up. I asked a guy from Dean guitars and he says there are so many factors for tuning low
@@MrTacowrap and before people say everyone tunes down 7 strings: fallujah. If you use a 25.5 for something it's not meant for, that doesn't mean it's a bad guitar. Personally i can barely play 25.5, if i need to go low i use a drop pedal. 25.5 + evertune is an option too.
@@fredriksvard2603 String gauge is a factor too. That a 25.5 scale 7 string would be bad is just false. If they were so bad then they would not be as common as they are.
Please make a 6 string version of that Iceman. I really like that shape, but I really don't want another 7 string... especially not with a 25.5" scale. Basically, take that RG's hardware and put it on that Iceman, please.
i'm sure the first guitar would stand nicely on the stand i use for my Explorer. It's like the thing you use to hang your guitar to a wall, just a version standing on the ground. But far more interesting is the Iceman 7-String.
Yep, same here mate! Mine is the red/green chameleon colour, in mint condition, my favourite guitar out of all 26 I have! Most versatile, comfortable, awesome sounding and playing guitars I’ve played 🤘🤘
I don’t really play metal persay but I do play a lot of metal techniques and like another commenter said perfect for classical position. I will be playing it clean a lot for goth new wave stuff and tuning it way down what anyone would reasonably tune a 25.5in guitar. I’ve gotten some good intonation in G#
Honestly, this is more practical. I can carry my guitar on my back straight away without the need to order an extra gigbag straight away. They could have given a better gigback, but Id prefer any gigbag over a shell. That xiphos looks amazing.
That satin finish though... You have to play in a hazmat suit to keep these guitars beautiful. You touch them just once for a second right out of the box and they'll look like they've been owned by a greasy homeless guy for 10 years who used to play them while eating tuna from a can.
If you think A is low try F or E LOL. I play a 7 string but, I just play it to where my 6 stings are in standard tuning then I drop the 7th string to an A. Kind of get the best or both worlds of standard and low goodness from the A. I don't know about the 25.5 for 7 strings I would at least go 26.5 if you are going to drop all the strings but, that is just me. Love your videos! Keep up all the great stuff!
Totally agree with the gig bag rant, however, FYI, there are places where you can get fully customizable flight cases if you need to travel with something like a Xiphos. But again, I agree, certainly at this price point, the company should include something that's at least usable if not high end. I get that guitar companies are affected by pandemic supply chain issues, but at the same time, that can also be used as a convenient excuse to increase profit margins and screw customers out of extras. Anyway, I'm kind of tempted by the Iceman, but I'll wait until Ibanez decides to cater to someone other than 14-year olds and offers something other than flat black. Also until the "supply chain" prices go down.
Having no floor stand for the guitar doesn't mean there's no alternative such as a wall hook/hanging guitar! To knock the horn and chip the paintwork us no different to that of a flying V and look at some of the great guitarists that play their well used and well worn guitar night after night on stage - kirk Hammett for example his mum guitar almost has no graphics on it anymore but does he care ... nope coz he's not playing the guitar to look like a million bucks he's playing it coz he loves the tonal qualities and it's comfortable! Each to their own and your opinions were interesting and valid on more than 1 point but maybe a little too personal as if you don't go much on the instrument doesn't mean the next person will feel the same way dude, the lack of a proper case is a huge issue of course as is the stand issue but anything the deviates away from the strat and les Paul shape will have the same stand issue and pls don't take this as a personal attack on you or your character as I actually really love how you put this video together and didn't hold back I'll certainly be watching more of your clips as they're informative and interesting bro
Is that an actual Graph Tech nut on there?? Their current Iron Label 7 the RGIXL7 has a plastic nut. Here's to hoping that they are going to start spending $12 (probably $5 at their cost) on these guitars!
Floyd guitars don't need locking tuners if you restring the Thomas Nordegg method - which is absolutely the best restring method I've ever seen. I'm sure Thomas has done a video of it somewhere.......
I wonder how close it is to a Jackson Warrior and if a case for that would work. I might play outside of my home twice a year and never need a good case however im as passionate about having one for each of my guitars as HP is. Personally i think all guitars should come with a case and im willing to pay extra, id rather pay $100 at point of sale then $150+ to get one after. And at this point there are several really good Gig bags that have stiffness to them, I acquired a Gator Transit Gig bag and its excellent. The moral being include something like that if youre not willing to include a HSC. And ill never buy another all black guitar again, especially a matte finish one. Ironically the best guitar I own is an ESP KH2 Custom shop. And i need fret inlays on the fretboard, my old ass needs a guide.
Die Bretter hier hauen mich mal so gar nicht vom Hocker. Da würde ich eher eine Axion Label oder eine Iron Label aus den letzten 2-3 Jahren wählen. Und die Korpusform der Xyphos ist der allergrößte Blödsinn
If I bitch at home, I have to bitch at their place too. Anything else would be cowardly and what people do on the internet. My critique isn’t trolling, it is consumer advocacy.
I have always played/owned Ibanez guitars and still love the S series, but Ibanez are really getting weak in the last few years. Sad state of affairs :(
Ibanez if this is really your set, replace the sheet of wood covering your window with some nice black out curtains instead. Your current window treatment is so ghetto.
With this Ibanez Kitchen series I actually want to know how you roast Ibanez rather than how their new guitars sound like. But if Ibanez decided not to pay you again for such reviews, I would care even less what new guitars Ibanez release.
Such a lovely and high quality trolling. Anyone who's playing extreme metal gigs knows that they need cheap reliable guitar with high output pickups so it's no big deal if it gets trashed, because it WILL get trashed eventually.
I tried this guitar and ive never been so let down by an instrument. Considering the price, i think it's weird gow US made gibsons and fenders are considered overpriced.
