Help Me: RG470 vs RG42-DX

NorioDS

It's time I started paying more attention to these things. I don't know much about my gear and now it's become a bit of a problem as I don't like how my RG42-DX plays and I don't know why. I'm not sure if it's just the setup that's wrong or if the actual guitar is vastly different to my last guitar.

I used to own an Ibanez RG470 and I found it super-easy to play. Legato runs, tapping, trills were all super easy to do on that guitar. Now I struggle. And it's not my technique because when I play other people's guitars, I get that same speed again.

Now I play an RG42-DX and it just seems way harder to play. The funny thing is that I'm using the same strings and the actions still pretty low. Any lower and it buzzes too much and, as it is, some notes die when I bend a whole-step. (Yep just a whole-step. Nothing hectic)

So what's happening here? Why am I suddenly not happy playing guitar? I tried out WantsChaz's guitar (I can't remember if it was an ESP or something else) and he uses 10s (I use 9s) but his guitar was way easier to play than mine. Same happened with Joel's Tokai although I think he uses 9s.

So what could it be? Please teach me ?

Do the guitars necks maybe have different radii?
Is the fret wire maybe different?
Is it something else?

What stands out to you as the main playability difference between these 2 guitars? Where oh where did I go wrong? So I don't make that mistake again in the future.

Thanks! ?

MikeM

I'm not sure about this.. I was chatting to Gearhead about it very briefly, his strat with 11s on is easier to play than my LP with 10s on. And that seems REALLY counter intuitive. There is a radius difference but personally I think it has a lot to do with the bridge type. (Call me crazy - but the LP dudes believe that wrapping the strings makes the strings slightly less tence.)

Bob-Dubery

Norio wrote: Now I play an RG42-DX and it just seems way harder to play. The funny thing is that I'm using the same strings and the actions still pretty low. Any lower and it buzzes too much and, as it is, some notes die when I bend a whole-step. (Yep just a whole-step. Nothing hectic)

The fact that you do whatever you do and it starts buzzing doesn't mean that it's set up just about as well as it can be. You could have a high action and a maladjusted neck and it would still buzz. So I'd check the setup out properly - starting with neck curvature - or have it checked out.

Have you tried playing with a capo at the first fret? If that makes things hugely better then start thinking about the nut.

NorioDS

Thanks Bob - I gave the capo thing a shot and it didn't do much so I decided to lower the bridge action as an experiment. I managed to lower it a helluva lot with zero buzzing. It seems to me that the guy I took my guitar to for a setup doesn't understand "super-crazy-low action" ?

Now it's playing a lot better. I feel stupid but at least I've learned something and adjusted something on my own guitar ?