So after looking at this pile of guitars I have right next to me, I thought about all of the guitars that I have and how I never told their backstories. Admittedly, I’ve been lacking with the Gear Spotlight posts. Since we’re inside until who the hell knows when, I put together a shitload of them. First up is an obvious favorite of mine. My FR Custom from the LA Custom Shop. The story behind this guitar is kind of weird but I hope you like it!
In 2017, Ibanez came out with their first 7 string FR. I had been asking for one forever. So when Mike O and the team finally came through and made it a production model, you knew I had to get it. Ill admit it, I bugged the SHIT out of him for years. I guess it worked haha. I got one summer of that year and toured all around Europe with it. I loved the way it played and how comfortable it was. Due to me sweating like a maniac in the European heat, the natural finished Ash top was starting to pull up and warp. After talking with Mike about the RGR that we were working on, I asked if it was possible to get my FR refinished in white as well. He obliged and we were off to the races.
The body of the RGR I was having built was from a stock RG752. Since I was getting a neck built for it from the LACS, the stock neck was just sitting there. What better way to upgrade the FR than to have the neck swapped for the Prestige Wizard neck. Tyler and I went on to work out the rest of the specs. We decided to go full Pearl White with Cosmo Black hardware. Derek from Seymour Duncan came in clutch with the White Soap Bar covers for my usual 59/Distortion set. Which by the way, are one of the only pairs of white 7 string soap bars molded from Seymour Duncan. Pretty stoked on that. As far as electronics go, Its my usual set up of a 3 way blade, single volume, and a coil tap.
Ive gotten (literally hundreds) of messages over the 2 years asking when, or if ever, this model will be available to the public. Thats for the future to decide. As long as I keep posting pictures of this bad boy, keep telling me you want it. I love that shit. PEACE!