Recommend a 7-String For P&W!

jakel

Power User
Yes, you read that correctly. I'm looking for a 7-string guitar for church use. Our production people want my guitar tone fairly huge, and at times I could really use a B string. We are definitely not doing the U-2 thing. My main amp is the Friedman BE.

What I don't need is a one-trick pony metal machine guitar; I have to clean it up at times. So something with a sweet, modern clean tone would be cool. I listen to bands like The Letter Black, Paramore, Red, Flyleaf, etc. Tones like those - maybe dialed back a bit for loud live use - are what I'm after.

My budget: I have a Ibanez JS2400 that I'll be looking to sell/trade in for this guitar.

I see that Ibanez and Schecter are two of the main 7-string makers. I don't really care for the JS2400, so I'm shying away from Ibanez. Beyond that, I have no clue about 7-strings. Sure, I'll go to my local G.C. and play some, but I'm really interested in some thoughts about this before I go.
 
I am a believer in Schecter. I bought a Hellraiser FR from Pro Guitar Shop and removed the EMG's. Replaced the bridge with a Duncan, and installed a Sustainiac in the neck pickup. I was so impressed with the construction. I paid $999 for the guitar. I've own $3,000 guitars that were not put together as well. So, I began a quest to obtain more Schecters. I now own 4. The other 3, I bought for ridiculously low prices on Craigslist, and once again, installed Duncans and wired them myself. Even their lower priced models are well-made.

It appears that these guitars are all coming from the same factory somewhere - LTD, DEAN, etc. I can tell, they share common DNA. But the spec/tolerance being held on the Schecters is very very good.

I've actually been looking at the 8-string Hellraiser, so I can just add that depth and chunk on home recording tracks. For the time being, I strung one of my fixed bridge Schecters with super heavy strings and keep the whole thing tuned to B-standard, or B-flat in some cases. I probably couldn't perform on stage with it that low, because the tuning isn't stable enough. But at home, I can tune it, track something, check it again, track, etc. And it suffices....for now.
 
Rod, thanks for the feedback. Years ago I knew a guy with a Schecter. It had the sweetest bridge clean tone.

Curious - what Duncan are you using? Also, what's the deal with eight strings? I mean, with 7 the low string is a B, right? Where do you go with 8? Lower?
 
I figured the 8-string thing out. Sounds like a fourth or fifth below the B is the most common for standard tuning. I think I'll stick with 7.

Any other feedback on 7-strings?
 
yeah 8's are generally tuned to standard (F# on the 8) or dropped so theere are 3 E's across the board. from my experience none of the production 7's you'll find at guitar center are gonna be very good, they might be good guitars but they certainly dont feel it or look it at all. if you have the cash I'd check out kiesel/carvin, i havent heard anything but good reviews about them
 
I can recommend Carvin DC727. I wanted just one single guitar for everything to cover all from vintage to modern metal. It has built in coil tapers (single/humbuckers) and the only thing I did was replacing the original ceramic pickups with Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell alnico (by the luthier, the holes needed to be adapted). I think Carvin has replaced the pickups in this model in the meanwhile. Maybe you can check it out.
 
I had a Carvin DC727 several years ago and never really bonded with it. Picked up a Shecter Banshee Elite a while back and really like it a lot. I got the one with a Sustainiac, which is a cool little gadget as well. Overall I really like the neck feel and overall fit of the Banshee a lot better than the Carvin I had a few years ago. Schecter makes some pretty decent stuff at a decent price.
 
LOVE my Music Man JPX-7. The pickups are designed to be clearer (john's sound is heavy, but not super saturated), so I think any of the JP models would do well in a church setting where you want some good crunch sometimes, but aren't going to be doing a whole lot of Master of Puppets riffs, or kocking down any walls. lol
 
EBMM JP7's, Jackson HT-7's and B7's are some of my favorites. BKP pickups are worth the price especially in the right guitar. I started with a JP7 with the original JP Dimarzio's (pre Cl/Lf), then trade up to a XI7 with BKP Juggs and now I'm playing a Jackson Misha 7 and B7. I'm primarily a church guitar player too lol. All of those guitars are very different from one another and so if you have a chance to try them out in store do that first.
 
I wouldn't be afraid to pick up an Agile, and wire in a coil split later if you need to.
I would reccomend them over halo and ibanez, and anything by schecter other than their top of the line stuff... And youll have a bunch of cash left over!
 
I can barely play 6 strings, not to mention 7 seven, but does it make sense to get a guitar with HSH pickups and coil taps for maximum flexibility? I know that Ibanez often wires up guitars like this, but I'm sure that many other brands do too.
Yes, I like this idea, with a 5-way switch.
 
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Or, a 3-way switch and two push/pull pots - one to split, and the other to engage the middle single. That's how my custom Orion is wired, and I love it. The 7-string hollowbody one I had used the same wiring scheme. Awesome, and incredibly versatile.
 
Shoot, get a 7 and make it a headless and/or ergonomic guitar like a strandberg. That would look so wicked - err, righteous? - in the P&W band! :yum:
 
I have Schecter Hellraisers, Banshee's, Tempests, and Solo II Customs.

Bases on what you're looking for I'd recommend the Banshee Elite line.

http://www.schecterguitars.com/guitars/banshee-elite

I have the Elite 7 FR/S and love it.

Dang, that Cat's Eye Pearl is gorgeous. And it has the features I'm looking for (except the fixed bridge - but I may want the trem with the Sustainiac). It's a bit more cost than I can probably get for my JS2400, but if I can find one somewhere to try and it fits, I might just have to cough up the difference.

Thanks for the recommendation!
 
Rod, thanks for the feedback. Years ago I knew a guy with a Schecter. It had the sweetest bridge clean tone.

Curious - what Duncan are you using? Also, what's the deal with eight strings? I mean, with 7 the low string is a B, right? Where do you go with 8? Lower?

In my main guitars I installed Custom Customs. They sound righteous. I don't do coil splitting. I use series/parallel, and I find myself using these in parallel mode even more than series mode in a P&W setting, which is dominated by Tele / AC-30 type tones at the moment.

Sorry for the confusion. I was stating that Schecter makes good guitars at a fair price, and that I'm currently considering an 8-string. They currently have 6, 7 and 8 string versions of the same or similar models.
 
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