EGEN18

EGEN18 Transparent Violet Flat (more images)

The EGEN18 is a solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in late 2008. It is a signature model of guitarist Herman Li, known for his work primarily with the British power metal band DragonForce. The EGEN18 is produced in Japan by FujiGen.

The EGEN18 was Li's first signature Ibanez and the first E-Gen series guitar model. It was originally referred to as the EGEN1 but was renamed the following year. It is based on the S series but has a number of model specific features, including the Kung Fu Grip on the upper horn, the extended sculpting on the lower cutaway, and additional switching options.

The EGEN18 features a flamed maple top on a mahogany body bolted to a maple and walnut neck with a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard with abalone oval position markers and scalloping on the top four frets. Components include custom DiMarzio HLM pickups with a pair of humbuckers flanking a single-coil, a special version of the Edge Zero double locking tremolo bridge with gold finish and oversized gold springs and a removable ZPS tuning stabilizer and Gotoh tuning machines.

For 2019 the Macassar ebony replaced rosewood for the fretboard.

A new reddish finish named Dragon's Blood was added for 2016 and eventually replaced the original Transparent Violet Flat finish.

The EGEN8 is a more affordable version which was introduced in 2010.

The EGEN series was discontinued after 2019.

Specifications[]

Related content: Herman Li series | Signature series | S series |

Specifications for EGEN18 / EGEN1

Model name: EGEN18 / EGEN1

Year(s) offered: 2008–2019

Sold in: Worldwide

Made in: Japan

Finish(es): Transparent Violet Flat (TVF) 2008–2016 / Dragon's Blood (DRG) 2016–2019

Body

Body type:
Solid body

Body material:
Mahogany w/ flamed maple top

Neck joint:
AANJ

Bridge:
Edge Zero w/ ZPS3 stabilizer

Hardware color:
Gold

Neck

Neck type:
EGEN Prestige

Neck material:
5-piece maple/ walnut

Scale length:
648mm/ 25½"

Fingerboard material:
2008–2018: Rosewood (frets 20–24 scalloped)
2019: Macassar ebony (frets 20–24 scalloped)

Fingerboard inlays:
Abalone oval

Frets:
24 / jumbo (Prestige edge treatment)

Nut:
Barless Top-Lok

Machine heads:
Gotoh SG381 non-locking

Electronics/ Strings

Pickup configuration:
HSH

Bridge pickup:
DiMarzio HLM bridge custom (H)

Middle pickup:
DiMarzio HLM mid custom (S)

Neck pickup:
DiMarzio HLM neck custom (H)

Controls:
Master volume / master tone / 5-way lever pickup selector / push/pull coil-split on volume

String gauge (factory):
.009/.011/.016/.026/.036/.046

Factory tuning:
1E,2B,3G,4D,5A,6E (E Std.)

About this table

HLM pickups[]

The DiMarzio HLM pickups were designed to provide Herman's signature sound, with the interesting feature that the middle pickup has been wound with extremely high output. It was designed this way to allow it to be positioned almost flat against the face of the guitar but still retain balanced output relative to the neck and bridge humbuckers, facilitating easier picking without the risk of hitting the pickup.

Tremolo[]

The EGEN18 was one of the first guitars to feature the new Edge Zero tremolo system. The EGEN18 has a special version of the Edge Zero with beefier springs than normal. It was also just the second Ibanez S series full production guitar to feature a 24 fret neck, after the introduction of the S5470 also in 2008.

One particularly interesting feature of the EGEN18 was an optional extra that had to be specified by the retailer at the time of ordering — the EGEN18 is the first Ibanez guitar produced since the introduction of the Edge Pro to feature locking studs. Prior to the introduction of this model, locking studs were not available on any Ibanez guitars with tremolo systems other than the original Edge or Lo-Pro Edge. Locking studs have since become a standard feature of all Edge Zero equipped models.