Shred Guitar Dilemma [Charvel vs Ibanez]

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Lumberjack

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I'm in the market for a new shred guitar, I just don't know which one I should choose. My budget is right around 1500$ and, so far, I'm looking at these 3 guitars:

Ibanez RGT

Charvel Satchel White

Charvel Danhage Signature

I've never tried any of the newer Charvels or any Indonesian Ibanez for that matter. I'm more of a Fender, Gibson and Warmoth type of guy.

When it comes to build quality, are they all on equal footing or would you say that the Indonesian made Premium Ibanez models are far below the Charvel quality? I guess these Charvels are made in Mexico?

Is the Edge tremolo better than the 10'000 series Floyd Rose that's found on the Charvels?
 
Imo Ibanez RGs at least have a thinner and more middy tone meanwhile with Charvels you can actually get closer to Gibson like wide soaring tones.

I had an RG once which was a great guitar but never really cared about the thin, compressed and synthetically middy tone(Even tho it had a super distortion in it). It lacked the vintage character that i get with my current superstrat.
 
Given that you’re a Fender, Gibson and Warmoth guy, Charvel seems like the safer bet. In general, Charvel’s will be better if tone is the priority. If we were comparing custom shop Charvels vs the best Ibanez’s then I’d say Charvel no contest (at least in tone), but I admittedly haven’t tried the more recent overseas made Charvel’s and Ibanez’s
 
I prefer the Charvel neck profile to anything Ibanez. Too thin for me. I had an old black RG500 as my backup for years. If I popped a string on my A guitar I’d struggle for a bit to get used to that neck. Finally wised up and sold it.
 
If you are gonna get an Ibanez, it’s really hard to beat the value of the Genesis series.

And the Edge (original edge), is on par with the OFR. Better than 1000 series for sure.
 
I wouldn’t buy an Ibanez Premium without playing it first and I say that as a lifelong Ibanez fan. The first year they were coming out great and I dunno what happened but after that the majority I played were put together like shit and felt like plastic. I was so stoked when I saw they made reissues of the Universes but man, what a disappointment when I played them. I don’t know how else to describe the feeling of them aside from “plastic”….and junk bridges.

The frets on them were originally outstanding, with the rounded ends, but then tons of reports of fret sprout across a shitload of models.

As for the Edge, that and the Lo-Pro Edge are my two favorite Floyds of all time.

Can’t remember which neck is on the one listed, but the Wizard 1 neck is a tiny little bastard, thin and flat, never played a Wizard II but the Wizard III is almost identical to my JEM’s neck. Wide and flat, but much thicker than the I’s.
 
When I hold a Charvel, I get a slight baseball bat feel. When I pick up an Ibanez, it is like a cricket bat. Some people like the flatter feel but I'm definitely a Charvel guy. As already mentioned, if you are a Fender guy, I'd go Charvel because already your arena. I have two Gibson Les Paul guitars, two Charvels, a Chubtone, and a Fender Strat. The only Ibanez I've slobbered over in the past few years was a Satriani.
 
If I was going by looks the Ibanez would win hands down! I hate those thin necks though so for tone I gotta agree with the other guys that said the Charvels. I also prefer the Edge tremolos.. Anymore I also prefer 22 frets instead of 24. I think the neck pick up just sounds better with 22.
 
I wouldn't overlook Jackson. A used Wildcard SL2 ain't no slouch. Guess you'd have to like the Fishmans and neck-thru. Those are made in Korea too, which tends to be a notch above Indonesia, IMO. Schecter is another sleeper. Personally, I believe their S. Korean-made guitars are some of the finest on the market. Way more consistently made to higher standard than any Charvel I've owned. Charvels tend to be good, or shit, new. Schecter blows them away on that front. Never played a Charvel that blew me away. Lord knows I've tried! I'd take a Korean World Music made guitar over MIM any day of the week. Better yet, Japan. ESP E-II or an older LTD Elite ST.
 
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