7 String Fanned Fret Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

I am both surprised and please with this guitar I purchased this guitar at GC Nashville after returning a Gibson Les Paul Classic that I bought online. (lesson learned, don't buy from GC online.) The staff there were great and had no issues with me returning a $2200 guitar that I bought online. Even more supportive in helping me pick out a much less expensive guitar. Great people. This Epiphone is awesome. The fit and finish are great. The action is low and no buzz. The tone is great and It is lighter and easier to handle than the Gibson . The best part is it cost a third of the one I returned. I really wanted a Gibson but I am so glad I picked up this Epiphone. A word of caution. I looked at and played several guitars at GC before choosing this one. I even played a couple of other Epiphone Les Paul Customs. No two were the same. One had razors for frets, one had an action you could drive a truck under and this one was just right. Go in an play them before buying.Mike

This is my second 6 string electric, and I couldn't be HAPPIER with it! My first guitar is an entry level Epiphone SG Special that was a couple hundred bucks back in the day. It got the job done…good frets, good tune, good everything. I recently decided to step it up and get a "mid-range" guitar but still not break the bank with an Epiphone. And I'm not calling Epiphone cheap…they are just more in my price range when compared to Gibsons. Stepping it up is the right description for this guitar!! It is AMAZING! The feel, the tone, the look! It sounds great and feels good in the hands too. I especially love the Silverburst color!! The main reason I wanted this specific guitar. It's Adam Jones from TooL color scheme finish but on an epiphone! They are coming out with his own model of epiphone, but I'm impatient lol. Looks are important to picking out a guitar as much as sound! The inlays on the fretboard look beautiful. The pick guard and finish are beautiful, the trim/binding around the guitar… this guitar has reignited my passion for playing! As of this writing, I have no complaints! Excellent guitar!Matt

I purchased this guitar because a Les Paul was missing from my gear arsenal and I didn't want to drop three grand on a Gibson. I played a wall model at a local GC store and decided to buy, but requested a factory new model sent to me, because the wall model I played had some nicks in the fretboard, a sketchy 3 way switch and had worn strings and the intonation was way off above the 14th fret. I paid for next day air shipping to expedite the process because I tend to want the things I pay for fairly quickly. The shipping tag originated from the same city I live in, meaning they had a factory new either in the warehouse or at the neighboring store about 20 miles away. So I essentially paid 42$ for expedited shipping and could had likely gotten it same day if I asked the right questions I suppose. Shame on me. The next business day my guitar is delivered to my residence, I open it and immediately inspected it for possible shipping damage or factory flaws. It arrives with a broken 3 way switch, all strings tuned nearly 2 steps flat and also needed to make a truss rod adjustment to straighten the neck. Completely unacceptable that these issues left both the factory and GC's "quality control" in the condition it did. Luckily I work at a local small box music store and worked with our own luthier after hours to set it up and correct the problems. All that said, this guitar is absolutely fantastic. It plays and sounds very good and even though the stock pickups aren't top tier, they are excellent performers at a very reasonable price point. Monster value in this guitar. If you can acquire one some where other than Guitar Center, do it. If you do purchase from guitar center, make absolutely certain to have it looked at by a professional before accepting it. 5 stars for the guitar and it's value. 1 star for guitar centers lack of QC shipping items.Dan

Overall: I was excited to receive this guitar as it was on back order I got the black and yellow bumblebee. After receiving it I made some adjustments to the tremolo and found that the spring cavity was bare wood / looked like it was chisel out with a screwdriver and it was not routed or CNC'd flat. Worse than that the wood under the Floyd rose was cracked and the finish was cracked as well. Basswood is a very light and soft wood so I am guessing the trem was pushed back during shipment or during setup at the factory and not seen by the staff as it is only visible when you remove the Floyd. I am a woodworker and beginning luthier so I corrected these issues myself and reinforced the thin section under the bridge with a custom fitted piece of maple and routed out the trem cavity so it is flat and sprayed the trem pocket with flat black paint looks like it should have when it left the factory now. I know I probably should have sent it back but overall I really like the guitar and I think Eddie would approve of my work.Douglas

This guitar has my favorite neck. The fretwork is amazing and the neck plays itself. This surprised me coming from fat Les Paul necks. Super easy to play, which, in turn, makes you sound better. I was very impressed with the sound and the functionality of the electronics. I’m a big Van Halen fan but don’t play a whole lot of it and this guitar sounds great for all kinds of other stuff, so long as you’re playing hard rock/early metal. Cleans up great with the volume knob but let’s be real – with no neck pickup, cleans aren’t really what you’re going for. Out of the box, was not intimated at all and there were a couple of paint dings and imperfections. Floyd also didn’t hold tune super well but with a solid setup and lubing up the fine tuners, it plays and sounds great. I had one of these a couple of years back and sold it foolishly to fund other purchases but hear I am, back again after purchasing again. It really is an awesome guitar and I am partial to the b/w color scheme with the Strat-style input jack. My Les Paul Custom is better quality but this guitar honestly sounds as good or better for a third of the price. And this guitar makes you a better player and you realize how amazing of a guitarist Eddie was considering how basic and simple this guitar is. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.Arpeggio5150

Eddie inspired so many folks to pick up the guitar. This is my second EVH model and I am amazed by this guitar every time I play it. This model was on my bucket list of guitars and when it went on sale at Adorama, I had to snap it up. It came perfectly setup from the EVH factory and the only thing needed to be done was to tune it properly. The D-Tuna is great to switch to drop D tunings. The Frankenstrat plays like a dream. The fretboard is like butter and the the action is ideal for playing hard rock and metal. The pickup gives you an excellent approximation of Eddie's brown sound. I am ecstatic with my purchase and this guitar is the perfect homage to the master. RIP Eddie!Tomas

Overall: This guitar was sold as blemished. The actual blemish on the guitar was on the back of the body. I very small pin hole like indent, maybe 2-4mm. Almost ingenious. What I mean by that, is that is saved me 200.00 dollars and when you notice it, it looks kind of cool. Hard to explain, maybe a relic touch or something. Besides that, I can’t help but loving this guitar, for its simplicity, good taste and the extra birds on the fret board and lightness. Maybe someday, I’ll replace the stock pickups with something more extravagant, but right now, I’m completely satisfied. Thank you zZounds.Rodrigo

Overall: This guitar is amazing. It plays well right out of the box. The neck is smooth and no sharp frets. The pickups sounds great. I play a mix of rock, metal, and Jazz and it can handle all of those no problem. I love that you can split the coils on the pickups. It really gives you a wide range of tones.John

Overall: This rating is for the instrument itself, not zZounds. Their customer service is amazing and unparalleled. I've been waiting for the release of the Holcomb SVN for some time now. The finish is great, it's beautiful, the fretboard and neck are beautiful, the pickups are great. The flat radius fretboard is insanely comfortable! Unfortunately, there are an equal amounts of negatives. The nut is garbage. It's plastic, very sharp, and has slag hanging off of it everywhere. I doubt very much that it's properly shaped or set. It has made tuning impossible. The tuning machines themselves are also extremely low quality and seem to have a gap in the gearing, which also makes tuning a very aggrevating process. The low A# string seems impossible to intonate correctly, the saddle is maxed out and it's still registering extremely sharp. This is all in the tuning and string gauge that Mark plays in so… quality control seems to be an issue with these first run Holcomb SVN's. All in all, an extremely beautiful guitar for a ridiculous price while PRS's competitors build far better instruments in the same budget. I would return this if alllowed.Dayne

Hello Ola, I am thrilled with my new Boden Original NX-8. Combined with my Fusion NX-6, I have excellent, hand & wrist friendly, very high quality guitars. I am using a Mono Y-Cable with the NX-8 so that guitar oriented pedals and amp are used for "guitar", while bass i sent to bass-supportive pedals and amp. Really takes better advantage of the 8 string features. My only regret is that I am challenged in trying to add my Roland GK-3 pickup to either Strandberg for use with my GR-55. The very ergonomic, minimalist bodies leave little room for attaching the synth hex pickup. But, still trying since I have been a Roland guitar synth player for many years. Oh well, challenges make life more interesting, right? Thank You and Take Care, David SlowikDavid S.

strandberg asked me to review this product, and I replied that I was not pleased and that they probably did not want my review. Then… they asked me again. First, the positives. This ax is exactly what it says it is. It's compact, ergonomic, light and full of innovations. The fanned frets are just like everyone says.. you don't even notice. The same for the asymmetrical neck. The 3 way switch and controls give you a broad pallet of sounds, just like everyone says. The problem is that it felt, to me, that I was not playing a musical instrument. It didn't respond like an instrument. It felt like a piece of electronic equipment. The tones, while varied, never struck me as particularly musical. I suppose if you are depending on pedals to shape your sound, that's not a limitation. In that case the guitar is just a device for generating a signal. But that's not how I play. It didn't work for me. Remember… I TOLD strandberg all this, and they still asked for the review. My guess is that their algorithm simply registered that I hadn't submitted a review, so they asked me again. But that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? All machine. No soul.John S.

I've been eyeballing the Masvidalien Cosmo pretty much since it was released – I was hesitant to pull the trigger for two silly reasons: 1) I was stuck in this misguided notion that I needed an extended range guitar to play modern metal and 2) I was afraid that the high variability of the burled maple tops could somehow result in me receiving an ugly guitar. Like I said, silly. I started considering the artists I love who do mostly play 6 stringed guitars and decided that was a bad reason to hold back (look at Joe Haley of Psycroptic, or of course the man himself – Paul Masvidal of Cynic!) so after over a year I finally ordered my Cosmo. I was not disappointed! It's light as feather. Fretwork is immaculate. The EMG 57 sounds great, and that VMC control does really allow you to shape the sound (admittedly I need more time to play around with this). The burled maple top is exactly what I was hoping for. I don't see any tool marks, any hiccups in the paint, etc – in short, the guitar arrived flawless. I own one other guitar – a black Boden Original 8. Again, it's silly but I was concerned that I would have a hard time dropping down two strings. Like my fingers wouldn't know where to go. This wasn't the case at all. The slight 6-string multiscale feels just right and the EndurNeck is surprisingly effective (I figured it would play less of a role than on my 8 string since the 6 string neck is so much thinner, but I don't think that's the case at all). It probably sounds like I'm heaping too much praise on this instrument – that I'm being blindly positive. Maybe that's true. But it far exceeded my expectations, I haven't found a thing wrong with it, and I haven't been able to put it down since it arrived. Paul Masvidal and Ola Strandberg cooked up something truly awesome, and I feel very fortunate to be able to own a Cosmo. Highly recommended.Grim

Its not super flashy and wont really capture any attention on stage but it does its job. Its a solid guitar, way better built than other guitars in its price range. Solid construction, great overall build quality, amazing tone and awesome pickups for the price range. Great 7 string to get your foot in the door if you are usually a 6 string player and if it doesnt work out for you you are not out alot of money and has decent resale value. I am going to get more comfortable with this guitar before buying a more expensive 7 string and use this as my backup 7 string while gigging. No regrets here or complaints. As always AMS shipped this thing instantly and it came well packaged and no damage! Thank you AMS!Mike Yakouba

Overall: Man, I can’t believe this guitar was less than 400 bucks. This is my First 7 string. I got it as an experiment just to see if a 7 string had any appeal. Well it did. It does.I did have to do a little work on the nut. The neck had a hard D profile that was irritating, so I shaved the shoulders and reshaped the neck. Fits like a glove now. I don’t know what people expect in this price range, but this guitar was bang for the buck rich.I found the stock humbuckers to be adequate. Tone and volume controls worked. No static in the five way switch. The pickups sound tight enough on the bottom.You won’t get any more 7 string bang for the buck until you spend twice as much.Scott

Sound: The sound quality is pretty good believe it or not with the stock pickups, definitely have enough distortion to get pinch harmonics anywhere that I can on my Seymour Duncan JB equipped Schecter C-1. Although, the 7th string (B) or in my case G# can be a little muddy but this is why I also picked up a Dimarzio Crunch Lab and Liquifire to replace the stock pickups. But for now, it does fit my musical style pretty well which is mostly groove/progressive metal (or the cliche Djent term). It sounds great with other low gain music as well too, the 5 way selector which offers single coil mode is pretty useful. Clean sounds are pretty good . Keep in mind I'm only running through a Line 6 Spider II. Tips for making it sound better, would be include some dimarzios, or duncans as stock pickups which I know would increase the price but most of us are going to replace them anyways. Features: The most useful feature I would say is the 5 way switch, giving a variety of sounds. This is a pretty basic set up, so I wouldn't say there is anything useless at all. It has 7 inline tuners which I feel are more stable than the grovers on my schecter, they are nice and tight. It has a 25.5" bolt on (vs. my set through Schecter) maple neck with rosewood fingerboard with a more D shape to the neck, but also pretty thin compared to my schecter (a beefier U/C shape neck). The transition is actually quite comfortable coming from my 6 string. A flattop basswood body with 2 humbuckers, a 5 way switch, and volume (which I find gets in the way when trying to sweep pick, but I'll just have to adjust my playing style) and tone knobs. It also has a gotoh hardtail bridge. Ease of Use: It's very easy to get clean sounds out of this guitar, the distortion is pretty good as well, again a little bit of mud on the 7th string when tuned lower. It's easy to use with my amp, it's plug and play. Learning curve, is actually little to none it was an easy transition. It's very playable, the neck is fast and the bridge is comfortable. The body also has a nice belly cut and relief for your forearm. Quality: This product is assembled in Indonesia, my Schecter was in Korea. With that being said, I do think the Schecter's fit and finish is better but not too far ahead of the Ibanez. But, you get what you pay for with a $400.00 guitar. I bought this knowing it was not going to be a premium or prestige model. I haven't had it long, so I can't relaly comment on it's reliability. But from what I have seen so far, it feels very ruggedly made and everything feels nice and solid. Value: I think this product is 100% worth it's asking price. It's a solid guitar, the stock tone is great under clean/slightly overdrive tones, and acceptable under high gain. Again, to have it come stock with better pickups would increase the cost further. So for this price, it is very much worth it. Playability is great, loving the Ibanez Wizard neck. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez before, but I have dealt with zZounds before. They are easy to get ahold of and very friendly. I have not yet had any problems with zZounds and very much enjoy the play as you pay plan. The Wow Factor: I find this guitar very appealing, especially with the white finish. What makes it even more appealing is the price and the stock features it comes with. I could have bought a baritone 6, but I've wanted a 7 for awhile. It just offers more tonal and range opportunities. Overall: In short, great guitar for the $. Stock pickups leave a little to be desired when down tuning. Playability is excellent. Quality is definitely acceptable, but not above and beyond.Kory

First at the foremost, you're gonna buy it for how it looks. And let me say that the pictures of it doesn't do it justice. It looks so much better in real life! After cosmetics, it feels great to hold and play. The neck is fun to play on. The EMG 81-7 sounds beefy and aggressive, but still warm. Once set up, the Floyd works great. I play in B standard, so the strings are perfect for big chords and my very modest shredding right out of the box. In short, it feels like a guitar over a grand. Worth every bit! Just a few minor complaints. Like a little spot of the binding is a little messed up. And one of the screws on the battery compartment was stripped out in the body. But overall, nothing I would send it back for. It is a beast! Owned quite a few LTD's and own a ESP Horizon 7. It hasn't disappointed.Matt H.

Great construction and sound. I like the jumbo frets, they allow me to riff comfortably and hard. Evertune bridge is awesome however if you play it in zone 3 will act as a regular bridge and you will have to tune again after a couple of songs. If you play in zone 2 it will preserve tuning but no bendings will be allowed frp the bridge for you to perform.Jay

It has a cool design and plays pretty smooth (after setting it up myself.) The main issue I have with this guitar its particularly at the 1st fret high E. When playing I keep slamming my finger into the sharp corner of the bone nut. That is really the kicker of it all. The pick ups are pretty good and have a pretty balanced sound that let you play clean cleans and dirty articulated lows. Holds tune pretty well. The feel of the neck is pretty smooth and doesn't feel like a 2×4 with strings on it..3-alch3mist-3

I've played a six string for 22 years and this is my first foray into the world of seven string guitars. I was a little intimidated thinking it would feel completely alien to me. I was also worried about the multiscale neck, for not having ever played one before. Taking all of that into consideration, this guitar feels fantastic. The tone is excellent and it feels great in my hands. I was able to learn a lot of new songs in no time. I would recommend this guitar to anyone thinking about switching over to a seven string.JOHN

Overall: This guitar is ideal for tunning under drop A, I play it in drop G and it is just made for great range. You can chug all day and solo like a shredder on the top. The tension on all the strings is great. You will need to get it set up so if you can do set ups yourself that is great, will not take long at all. The rail pickups are new to me but they cut the muddy freqs quite well! they are hot and clear. The pictures also do not do this guitar justice! In person the fretboard looks amazing and the finish is a nice dark red. Its a metal machine and the rounding of the neck joint is very nice to have!Vaughn

I rarely write reviews, but felt compelled to with this purchase. First, I received the guitar the NEXT DAY after ordering! In these Covid-cursed times, that's damn impressive. It arrived in perfect condition. Second, as for the guitar – I've been playing a long time and wanted to try out a 7 string, and for the price I thought, why not? Mine was set up perfectly, and with great new strings. If AMS did this, they did a great job. Had 2 new packs of strings at the ready, didn't need them. This guitar is a beast. Really high output pickups, which is what I think most of us would want with this type guitar. Neck feels good and is straight as an arrow, and all hardware is solid. You can back off the volume on this thing and still get all the pinch harmonics you want. For $200, this is a no brainer for anyone interested in diving into the 7 string world for the first time. I had misgivings about buying a "GIO", but I'm very impressed.Ken

Hey guys. I have one of these that i had for about 3 years. Along with my GRG170DX, I'm very pleased. I haven't had really any negative experiences with these guitars, a side from needing setup out of the box. But come on, what guitar doesn't need one. Typically guitars aren't shipped set-up. If so it's very poorly done and seems like a beginner is the one who does it. So to respond to the people saying there is fret buzz, it needs a setup, won't stay in tune or/and that the strings are bad and need changed. Well they are just speaking the obvious, even guitars but of a showroom floor is going to need a good setup. So take the time to do so ( it's really not hard, there's all kinds of videos out there to watch), or if you really want have someone do it for you. Once a setup and a string change is done, than this guitar is simply an awesome guitar. I have no tuning issues, string changes are easy. The guitar is balanced nicely, I had a Ibanez AX series 7 string…. That guitar sound good and wasn't a bad guitar. But man was the balance terrible. The neck likes to nose dive on those and the guitar was pretty heavy. So goes to say, I didn't keep it long. I traded it. Got a 8 string. But up against my JP70. My GRG7221 is a decent guitar. Im probably going to drop some Bare Knuckle Juggernauts in the one i have now. But i fine that this guitar has good tone. Fast attack, clarity, and great sustain. As long as you do a setup, and make sure your pickups are not too close to the string( as you should on EVERY guitar, especially the ones you have shipped to you) this is a very nice guitar for the buck. ALOT of bang for your buck,and really underrated. And for some of you out there who is wondering….. Yes it does Djent.Matty C.

I've been playing rock and metal for near 53 years, and have owned EVERY manufacturers guitar at some point. And for the last 20 years I've been exclusively an Ibanez man; and this is THE best Ibanez model I've ever owned, period! It's solid, dependable and just plain fun to play, shredding machine; and the craftsmanship is outstanding! The basswood body is very light, resonant and the satin finish has a nice feel to the touch. The maple fluted neck is SOLID, and almost plays like a 6 string. The 26.5" scale does an excellent job of bringing out the bottom end string definition, and gives leads a nice warm character considering the solid maple fretboard! The nicely dressed fret ends and the Gotoh machines are a nice touch of quality as well. Now most new guitars usually need an upgrade when it comes to pups… NOT needed here. These DiMarzios are perfectly voiced for the basswood/ maple combination and offers tons of sustain and endless pinch harmonics all over the fretboard! NOTE: I installed a Seymour Duncan Pegasus, played it for a half hour and re-installed the DiMarzio. No need to change pups; you want "chugg", you've got it, you want "chunk", you've got it, you want "clean", you've got that too! The Ibanez Low Pro 7 works perfectly and is reliable; been playing tremelos myentire life and so I have no issues with tuning. The ONLY upgrade was a brass tremelo block, and trem-spring silencers. One more thing: The single volume control comes with an excellent treble bleed cap; between that and the high quality 3-position switch, I can get ANY tone, and play any genre I want out of this guitar. Thanks Ibanez and Team J Craft.alimik0

I'm glad to have this guitar in my small collection of guitars. It's built and designed well. The EMG active pickups it is equipped with is the most popular combination used by big name guitarists in their music. (85 & 81 series) The neck is like nothing I have ever played before, so comfortable, a very nice change from my loved LP.buffrt66

The finish looks great, neck feels great, multiscale is comfortable, fret work is great, came set up out of the box. I was completely happy until I plugged it in and it just didn't work. I'm sure this is a 1 in 500 instance. The guitar itself was great. If you want a super playable 8 string with a neck that feels as accessible as most 7 strings….this guitar is a great pick. I just can't give any further review on the Jackson blade pickups that replaced the EMGs that were in previous models.Andy

I've had this guitar for a few weeks now. I use it mostly for metal, but have also used it for classic rock songs during a gig. Before I get into the bad stuff, let me just say this guitar is awesome. This guitar was absolutely awful when it arrived. Aside from Fedex taking a .75" chip out of the body, it wasn't set up in the slightest. The original strings are way way too thin on the low end, the action is all over the place, and the neck had a pretty gnarly back bow. That being said, switching to heavier strings, setting up the neck and actions it is one of the best 8 strings I have played. I was a little concerned going with the passive pickups, but they have plenty of bite for heavy tones while providing plenty of clarity for clean parts. This guitar plays and sounds great. If you're thinking about getting it, do it!S.

Getting used to the extra 2 strings, which is a little awkward. And the fanned frets is something new too. It's kind of like learning the basics of swimming, then decide to try the diving board. LOL. I'm cool with that, as it saves me from buying a bunch of guitars along the way to be comfortable with this concept. I really dig the guitar, has all the features I was shooting for at a really accessible price point. Well made, a keeper.Will R.

The guitar came well set up. Action and relief were good. Pickup height was good. The tuners are high ratio and hold the tuning well. The pickups sound nice and are medium-high output. The pickup switching options (5-way) are well thought out and provide great versatility. The neck is superbly comfortable for an 8 string. Thin with a fairly flat back profile.Nick

An inveterate downtuner, I wanted a 7-string for many years. I played enough different ones to be able to identify what I didn't want. Neck had to be just right. Neck curvature. String scale. Rigidity. I had played an earlier generation of this guitar, with a different finish + Seymour Duncan pickups. Somehow I stumbled upon this listing and pored over the details. Ebony fretboard atop a maple neck, neck-through design perfect to stand up to 7-string tension. Fishman pickups with great versatility and clarity. Evertune tailpiece and all it promises. This is a world-class instrument. I've paid 3x as much for a guitar and now wonder why. It is an absolute joy to play. If you want, you get sustain for days. The neck feels fantastic. I've never had ebony on maple before. Ebony's my far-and-away preference for fretboards because of the solid, smooth feel. This neck is awesome. The Fishman Fluence pickups are active and multi-voiced. The pickups, the flawless neck, and the Evertune combine to make this guitar feel like none other. It's an addictive quality.Randy

Other than being extremely beautiful, this guitar packs a punch and gives you a strong sound. The pickups are great for lead or for rhythm. Very impressed. It's my first ESP and will not be my last.J Jaks

Finally arrived my beloved RGD71ALPA…Sound and feel fantastic. Looks georgious. BUT! The individual saddles wasent bolted down properly (they was floating), and the foam under the pickups wasent set properly, so the pickups bouncing back and forth when you set up your instrument. Small things, but this price range im not expected this kinda things…All together after the fix up, brilliant guitar for blues to MathMetal. Tracking is awesom, and the coil split tones are woow..Tamas N.

Waited for this guitar from jan21(when ibanez announced it) finally got it the other day (Jun 27). Well worth the wait. Looks amazing and plays even better. Bare knuckle p-ups are ??. AMS is the best. Thanks guysChauncy