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tjon901 « Huge neck »
Published on 12/22/11 at 07:19Jeff Loomis was the guitar player for Nevermore up until very recently. He is one of the most modern heavy metal players around. This is his signature schecter guitar. It is a good solid 7 string but when you play it you can tell it was made for a big guy like Loomis. This is also the hardtail version which I dont think Loomis uses very often but I am a hardtail guy and this is the one I gravitated towards. This guitar has an ash body with a set maple neck. The fretboard is maple as well with a maple headstock. When I first saw this guitar I thought the maple headstock was funny looking but I guess it grew on me. The neck has a 26.5 inch scale with 24 jumbo frets and cross inlays. All the hardware is black chrome. up top you get 7 Grover Rotomatic tuners with 18:1 ratios. The bridge is a tune-o-matic by Tonepros. The other model has a 7 string Floyd Rose bridge. The pickups are a set of EMG 707s and the controls are super simple with just a volume and a 3 way toggle.
UTILIZATION
When you play this guitar you can realyl tell that it was made for Loomis who is a big guy. The neck is super chunky compared other modern 7 string guitars. The neck is wider as well. This combined with the 26.5 inch scale means its a bit harder to play and probably very hard to play for someone with smaller hands. I like the tune-o-matic version. Over the years I have discovered that tune-o-matic bridges feel right to me in my hands. Other bridges even if they are hardtails I may have to adjust my hands and I cant just jump into them and get the right sound I want. The tuners are nice. They are not locking but they are high ratio and they are very smooth and dont slip.
SOUNDS
I like the EMG 707 pickups in this guitar. To me they are like the 7 string versions of EMG 85s. They give a nice thick sound on a 7 string which is what you want if you are playing a 7 string. These pickups combined with the ash body and maple neck give you a good combination of thickness and clarity. The guitar has a naturally bright tone and this is balanced by the thick pickups. The pickups have a nice attack and give you a good percussive chunky tone. Some people do not like the lead tones from these pickups. The chunkyness of the tone from the pickups means the lead tone can be muddy sometimes. This can be fixed with having an eq pedal for leads and whatnot. Also doing the 18v mod can really help the lead tones if you find them lacking. When you do the 18v mod you run the pickups on two 9v batteries instead of one so you get more headroom in the tone and a more organic tone overall.
OVERALL OPINION
This is one of the best 7 string guitars on the market. That being said it is not for everyone. If you can play it properly you can appreciate what the big neck and extended scale does for the tone. The tone from this guitar is super tight because of it. If you cannot handle the scale and size of the neck there are normal scaled Schecters or you can try out an Ibanez 7 string which is what most people switch over to 7 string with. If you want one of the best 7 strings on the market you dont have to be a Jeff Loomis or Nevermore fan to appreciate this guitar because it is a good guitar on its own.
UTILIZATION
When you play this guitar you can realyl tell that it was made for Loomis who is a big guy. The neck is super chunky compared other modern 7 string guitars. The neck is wider as well. This combined with the 26.5 inch scale means its a bit harder to play and probably very hard to play for someone with smaller hands. I like the tune-o-matic version. Over the years I have discovered that tune-o-matic bridges feel right to me in my hands. Other bridges even if they are hardtails I may have to adjust my hands and I cant just jump into them and get the right sound I want. The tuners are nice. They are not locking but they are high ratio and they are very smooth and dont slip.
SOUNDS
I like the EMG 707 pickups in this guitar. To me they are like the 7 string versions of EMG 85s. They give a nice thick sound on a 7 string which is what you want if you are playing a 7 string. These pickups combined with the ash body and maple neck give you a good combination of thickness and clarity. The guitar has a naturally bright tone and this is balanced by the thick pickups. The pickups have a nice attack and give you a good percussive chunky tone. Some people do not like the lead tones from these pickups. The chunkyness of the tone from the pickups means the lead tone can be muddy sometimes. This can be fixed with having an eq pedal for leads and whatnot. Also doing the 18v mod can really help the lead tones if you find them lacking. When you do the 18v mod you run the pickups on two 9v batteries instead of one so you get more headroom in the tone and a more organic tone overall.
OVERALL OPINION
This is one of the best 7 string guitars on the market. That being said it is not for everyone. If you can play it properly you can appreciate what the big neck and extended scale does for the tone. The tone from this guitar is super tight because of it. If you cannot handle the scale and size of the neck there are normal scaled Schecters or you can try out an Ibanez 7 string which is what most people switch over to 7 string with. If you want one of the best 7 strings on the market you dont have to be a Jeff Loomis or Nevermore fan to appreciate this guitar because it is a good guitar on its own.