Alright. So, looking into. new guitar yada yada yada ... tried the RR3 the other day. LOVED the crap out of it. EXCEPT! 22 frets. I play lead guitar and it was just awkward trying to do some solo's with out the 23rd and 24th fret. My question is, are the 2 extra frets REALLY worth it? I mean, with some extra time spent into learning those solo's over ... could I not just learn to bend the 22nd fret to hit that 24th frets note? or has someone here attempted to learn that and found it damn near impossible?

I have an RR3 and love it. Except for the licensed floyd which is shit, and the pickups could use a little improvement, but I plan on replacing the pickups and the tremolo with a real floyd at some point anyway. Other than that, it plays very nice, especially for the price range. As far as frets go, well you can of course bend from 22 to hit 24, 25, maybe a bit higher depending on string gauge, but then you can't bend from 24 which may be necessary depending on the lead (assuming you play music other than your own). I say, if you really think you need 24, then you should probably go ahead and get those extra two. I'd rather have more frets than I need rather than not enough.

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Put it this way, I'll never buy a 22 fretter again. It makes a lot of difference to me. Not sure where your budget lies but the RR24 version has, as the name implies, 24 frets. Its more cashola though. Also I think the ESP/LTD versions might have extra frets??

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Yeah there are thousands of good guitars, i'm sure you could find a similar model of similar price without having to sacrifice anything.

i know where you're coming from man. i've played rg's forever but i've been drooling over that new s prestige but 22 frets just seems incomplete if you're used to the other 2. another question i've asked a million times and never got a for sure answer on is about the actual fret spacing on a 22 fret guitar. is the fret spacing the same without the two highest frets or is the spacing slightly different across the whole neck?

As long as the scale length ( 24.75"-25.5" ) remains the same than the spacing between the frets remains the same.

Basically, a 22 fret guitar just has the end of the fretboard cut off where the other 2 frets would be located.

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So does the bridge distance compensate then for the shorter neck? Would you need to use slightly heavier guage strings on a 22 as opposed to a 24 in the same tuning, to compensate for the lower length/tension?

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no, he just said that the scale stays the same.

scale = distance from nut to bridge. Therefore, 24.75" scale will ALWAYS be 24.75 inches long, no matter how many frets are there.

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Correct, the fretboard is just longer on 24 fretters. I personally prefer 22 fret guitars because the neck pickup is located in the "sweet spot", which is the 24 fret harmonic node.

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its funny because i prefer just the opposite. I like 24 frets because the neck pickup has less bass and with my current setup, that means less mud when i use it to do stoner rhythms

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i've always been interested in that. does that tiny bit of space really make a huge difference in tone? i mean the logic is there about that whole 24th harmonic whatever but ive never really had a chance to play a 22 and 24 fret guitar side by side on the same amp. i've always thought that the tone on the ibanez s is a little bit better than a rg. im really thinking about trying one out and it'll be nice to have a better trem the trems they put on the lower end rgs are fucking gross, mine somehow bent. i dont even understand it.

Oh my god no.

get the 24 frets.

it's worth it.

it affects the tone aswell, longer neck (USUALY)

24 frets is not BETTER, everyone get over thinking that 24 frets are superior to 22.

Yeah, neck pickups are actually useful on 22 fretters. I'm getting an rr3 once I get a couple paychecks under my belt. A big step up from a JS30!

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if you like the rhoads 3 modle, but dont like the 22 frets, why not try the Peavey Vortex EX? it may not have the tone knob, or the extra volume knob(which i think sucks) but the neck is really fast, its compound radius makes it even easier to fret around. and it has 2 really hot ceramic pickups, 24 frets, and all the other good things..

bad things about it, the wood they use is base wood, as suppose to rhoads 3's alder. so its a lil heavier. i think the rhoads come in at about 5 lbs, the peavey vortex comes in at 6 lbs...

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We covered this, 24 fret necks have the same scale length as 22's. Just a slightly longer fretboard, same length neck. The only real tonal difference is on the neck pickup.

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No, true 24 fret necks are 25.5". Few manufacturers ever produced 24 fret necks with a Gibson 22 fret/24.75" scale.

Fenders however I believe have 25.5" scale, but only 22 frets.

I can't live without 24, it feels like I'm getting ripped off, but I like most of the 24.75"/22 fret guitar I've played, the neck is shorter and I somehow perceived that hand shifting a lot quicker.

Example:

Gibson: http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--GIBLPSTU

22 frets, 24 3/4 scale.

Ibanez RG:

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--IBARG370DX

24 fret, 25.5" scale.

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Well all I know is that all PRS' use a 25" scale for both 22 and 24 fret models.

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Personaly, I don't think the extra 2 frets are something to fret about (pun intended )

You can find the same notes near where the 24th fret is supposed to be on the 22th fret two strings lower.
Well, that does mean that it's difficult for the lowest two strings, but how many notes in a solo go in the low string region, realy?

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