My Sound Clinic

Specs

Price new: £899 (no longer in production)

Neck type: Bolt-on

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Floyd Rose double locking

Frets: 24XJ

Pickups: 2 Duncan Designed Humbuckers

Price second hand: £250-£400

Review

When I’d played ESPs in the past they didn’t click with me, but when a friend offered his 7 string up for grabs I couldn’t put it down. It felt great, weighty, chunky, everything you’d want from a metal axe.

You see, manufacturers like Ibanez offer craftsmanship and beauty, masterfully created for elegance and virtuosity. The thing I felt with ESP is that they are designed for beating the utter crap out of!! From the moment you wrap your fingers round the baseball bat of a neck you just want to hammer the shit out of it and play as hard as hell.

Playability

As I said, it’s chunky. The neck is not for me personally, it’s a little rounded and a tad wide, but that may not be a problem for you as it’s all down to preference. ESP have always modelled themselves on the fact that their necks are flat, fast, and built for speed, but I found that my playing was a little clumsy and void of any flare, even after giving it a setup. Don’t get me wrong, it was most definitely playable, but it felt like there was something missing.

That being said I cannot find a single fault with the rhythm playing on this beast. It’s ferociously tight and responsive, with a nice chuggy low-end that’ll make the ground shake. This guitar is certainly a performer, so long as you’re only playing up to the G string.

Sound

It’s a very “full” sound in my opinion, rich and full of tone, but the Duncan designed pickups leave a lot to be desired with the treble frequencies. The sustain on harmonics aren’t amazing for instance, not to say that the tone is dull, but it’s just not quite as bright as I like it, but this is easily fixed by swapping out the pups for something a bit edgier. With the right amplification and a few tweaks you can achieve some very useful sounds.

Over all

An interesting guitar to say the least, it looks tough, and it means business. However if you’re more inclined to shred then I’d recommend a lot of adjustment and most probably a change of pickups. With arrow inlays, reverse headstock, Floyd rose trem, and a variety of tough looking finishes, I’d say this axe has the full metal arsenal you need to throw down something heavy.

Rating

Sound: 7

Looks: 9.5

Playability: 7

Value for money: 7

Overall: 6.5

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Ibanez RG7620

Specs

Price new: (No longer in production) £800 - £1000 ($1200 in the US at the time)

Neck type: Bolt-on, Wizard 7 3-piece Maple

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Lo-Pro Edge7 double locking tremolo

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 DiMarzio New-7 Humbuckers

Price second hand: Anywhere between £200 and £500 ($400 - $800 in the US) depending on the condition and modifications.

Review
To put it simply – this is my favourite guitar. I bought it not long after getting into the 7 string range, and it has to be the most comfortable guitar I’ve ever played, and that includes 6 strings.

It’s my second 7 string, which I bought after feeling there was something more to be desired from my first. I was determined to be meticulous with my specifications this time around, so I researched and became more informed on the market. After receiving many recommendations and researching a bit of history I had my heart set.

Playability
It’s everything I required; it has the smooth, flat, fast neck that I love which is just effortless to play. You can lower the action as much as you like and there’s absolutely no fret-buzz or rattle. Its paper thin and the largest stretches are a breeze even for a 7 string neck. This isn’t for everyone of course, despite it being effortless for me it may be unfitting for someone who prefers a chunkier radius, like that of an ESP or Schecter.

Sound
The DiMarzio New 7 pickups are beautiful, boosting the mid-range quality that tends to come with Ibanez guitars. They’re scorching hot, and although the majority of owners swap them out straight away I’ll be keeping mine for a long while yet! With a 5-way selector switch the range of tones you can get out of this thing are amazing. Anything from ‘50s PAF style Les Paul sounds, Strat blues textures, smooth shred slurs and razor sharp metal, it’s all at your disposal at the flick of a switch.

Lo-Pro
If you’re a strict user of Floyd Rose locking tremolos like me then you’ll love this trem. The action is incredibly smooth, making wide vibrato and dive-bombs a doddle. The lo-pro edge7 has a very low profile, which looks extremely sleek as well as having great functionality. It has an interesting locking feature too: inside the posts that the bridge blades pivot on, there is a tiny 1mm allan key grub screw which locks the posts into place. Once you’ve adjusted your action you tighten the grub screw so that it doesn’t slip, increasing the life of the posts as well as helping to further stabilise tuning.

Round Up
If you’re looking for a guitar with unbelievable playability then I highly recommend this beast. Fast shreds, fat sounds, razor highs, and a great feel. Perfect for anybody that’s into their axe pyrotechnics. I’ll admit it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing guitar I’ve seen. It’s very simplistic looking with no extras, but at the end of the day, who cares? It’s got a much better sound quality and playability than a billion custom shop models with bells and bows on them. And let’s face it; fancy mother of pearl inlays that stack another £100 onto your axe aren’t going to make you play better!

Plus, they don’t make them anymore, you can only buy second hand. So with the money you save you’ll have plenty of room on your purse strings for upgrades and customisations. Have a search online today.

Rating

Sound: 9

Looks: 8

Playability: 10

Value for money: 9

Overall: 9.5

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Why I Converted
The Origin
The Guitars

Why I Converted
Being the stubborn traditionalist that I am I was always strictly against downtuning in my early years of playing metal, in the belief that it wasn’t necessary in order to make a ‘heavy’ sound. It was more a principal than anything else, as a result of my distaste towards the nu-metal movement throughout the mid to late 90’s, with its simplistic, and in my opinion lazy approach to creating heaviness by downtuning so far that the strings nearly fell off, rather than relying on tone and style. Nu-metal was often blamed for the decline of guitar orientated music and for killing the guitar solo, as was it’s melancholy predecessor ‘Grunge’. However, after following the trends of all heavy music over the years I grew to love the sound of a growling, bassy chug that comes with downtuning, and realised that if done tastefully and not over the top it could enhance the aggression of a guitar sound entirely, so I started to follow suit.

Drop D was my first step. Simple, effective, but being a thrash nut at the time I was uncomfortable having that one string out of the scalar loop with the rest, so I dropped all strings two semitones to DGCFAD. It felt good, sounded good, but It didn’t quite have the bite. So I dropped the D string again, this time to a C (so drop D but all strings two semitones lower). I finally found comfort here, still out of the scalar loop but I didn’t mind. I got used to it because I’d fallen in love with that sexual growl! But me being me I simply wasn’t satisfied. I realised that every other modern metal band on the face of the planet had favoured this tuning, and I couldn’t stand for that! So I went to B.

Despite being against going this low in my earlier years there seemed to be a new breed of metal bands bringing a technical modern twist to classic metal by going low, so I stuck with it, and for a long time too.

It was as low as hell, chuggy, percussive, aggressive and downright filthy. But it was still clear enough to be musical and responsive. It seemed to just suit, not to mention that by this point my musical tastes had developed and I’d started to form a style of my own. It felt like this would be my niche, until I started getting progressive…

A friend of mine, with a ridiculous collection of guitars I might add, was getting rid of his 7 string in order to make space for the new Dean Razorback he’d just ordered. I went to his house one day after work to sample the delights. I’d only ever played one 7 string before and at that time it didn’t really take my fancy. I sat in my friend’s garage with this chunky monstrosity in my hands (giggle at that description if you must) and I just thought to myself “what the fuck do I play?!”. Not knowing any 7 string songs I just improvised a few riffs, got a feel for the neck and took it home in order to get to grips with it a little better. I ended up buying it a week later, and had found my new niche.

It was everything I wanted – in the key of B but with the scale shapes of a standard tuning. Not to mention it’s effectively a standard guitar anyway, only with the low B as a 7^th string, which opens up an entire bible of new ideas and structures, and basically becomes a completely new instrument.

The string tension is tighter and more responsive than that of a downtuned sixer, and the width of the neck becomes second nature after a few hours of strumming away. Now I can go from playing a six to one of my sevens with no need for adjusting. They’re a marvellous creation, and I’ve recently purchased another. If only I’d have discovered them sooner.

The Origin
Acoustic 7s have their history planted in Russian and Brazilian music, but the modern solid body 7s that we’ve come to know have their origins deeply rooted in jazz.

Conceived by jazz guitarists in the late 1930’s, the 7th string was first adapted to the hollow body guitars that the guitarists of the day favoured, giving it an extended range of notes and a bassy woodiness.

It wasn’t until Steve Vai requested Ibanez make him a prototype 7 that it took its modern form.

In its first stages the 7th string was actually a high A, proceeding the high E, but the string was too light and there were problems with tension, unfortunately making it prone to snapping. It was then that a low B was introduced at the bass end of the guitar. This gave the ability to have downtuned riffing with all the high end freedom of a standard guitar for lead playing.

They didn’t catch on at first, with most companies rejecting the idea of making one as part of their standard range. But as music progressed through the 90’s into the nightmare of nu-metal, bands like Korn adopted Steve Vai’s signature model ‘Universe’ Ibanez guitars as their tool of the trade. It was after this influx of players that 7 string production started to boom.

It didn’t take long for the trend to die off though, after developing a stigma that they were purely for nu-metallers. However, in a funny twist they now seem to have reverted back to their original function, and are the chosen weapon of any progressive virtuosos like Dream Theater and Unearth, slowly replacing the new-age niche of a downtuned six string.

The Guitars

Ibanez
Being the frontrunners of the trade, Ibanez would have to be the first notable manufacturers. With the original Universe models being the blueprint, they’ve since released a whole range with varied features and styles.

As I mentioned before however, the demand for 7 strings has diminished somewhat, and Ibanez only have a few models running on their current range. Besides Steve Vai’s signature Universes, their main current 7 is from their ‘Prestige’ line, the RG1527.

The RG1527 is an affordable reworking of the RG7620 (the RG7620 is now out of production, but I’m fortunate enough to own one and am in love with it), which was their main 7 from 1997 to 2000. The 7620 had the lo-pro edge7 double locking trem, and DiMarzio New7 pickups as stock, where as the 1527 has more affordable electronics (Ibanez’ own, which are still excellent I might add), and the new EdgePro 7 trem. Besides these features, and a few others such as the new Ibanez neck profile, they are effectively the same guitar, but with two very different price tags. I recommend the RG1527 to any first time sevener. Similarly, there’s the S7320, with the more rounded shape typical of the Ibanez S series, which is more affordable still, boasting the very smooth new ZR locking trem unit.

For more info on the full range of Ibanez 7 strings, both past and present, visit www.jemsite.com

ESP

ESP are another big card in the 7 string game. With masses of models rolling off in the 90’s, however it has to be said that their roll is more or less up, hardly making any 7s at all anymore, besides the Stephen Carpenter signatures. Sad to say too, as I’m quite fond of them, and own an LTD M-207. A great guitar, not so much renowned for the lead access as the Ibanez, it has more of a rhythmic chunky neck, but still has the Floyd Rose locking trem unit, and Seymour Duncan designed pickups. Keep an eye out for any second hand, they are well worth it.

Schecter
Schecter are a company that have stepped up to the plate in the last decade, with a great range of 7s on offer, in fact probably the biggest on the current market.

Their range is huge with the C-7, Omen-7, Damien-7, 007 Elite, and Demon-7 with masses of variations (Hellraiser, Blackjack, FR etc) providing axes for everyone’s needs, as well as a few signature models (Jeff Loomis of Nevermore is an avid Schecter strangler). It’s all well and good, if you like your necks chunky.

The majority of companies don’t seem to have a range of seven strings, instead just a one off model here and there, particularly a signature. Jackson, for instance, has the DK-7 COW Christian Olde Wolbers model, Ernie Ball Music Man guitars have the ridiculously expensive JP7 John Petrucci model, famed to be the best 7 you’ll ever play… apparently. BC Rich and Carvin also have a few 7s across the board, but nothing to report as a full range. Disappointing to say the least, as I believe more choice should be given to such an interesting aspect of the rock driven world of music. Fingers crossed for the future of the 7-string.

For discussions, news, reviews, interviews and much more visit www.sevenstring.org

Jackson DK7 Christian Olde Wolbers

Music Man JP7

Carvin DC747

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