Best Seven String Guitar (2024 Update)

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

Excellent guitar, out of thenbox plays well. It sounds great, the pickups have a nice clarity even on dirty tones. Value wise, I think you could get a cheaper jackson and still get the same quality, maybe not the evertune bridge which bumped the price up on this one though. There were a couple of tiny factory marks on the guitar out of the box, a very small mark on the headstock, a very small dent in the edge of the fretboard on one of the higber frets and on the uper side of the nexk, one of the fret edges isnt as well filled as the rest. None of which affects playabiltiy or aound. However for the price, i would have expexted it in pristine condition. Im still happy with it as those marks are barely viaible and dont affect function.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I got my 2019/20 Misha Pro HT6 in the Matte Frost Blue in the mail today. The GC packing was pretty poor, the jackson packing was sketchy but it arrived in one piece with no damage or world ending flaws. The only issue I had was changing the strings the nut popped off, but I glued it back on with some wood glue and all is well. The fret work is good, no sharp edges so no complaints. The finish feels and looks amazing as does the neck profile, flat but a litte rounded, kind of like a LTD neck, just a hair fatter. String alinement is good. Pickups sound good and no issues with the input jack. The roasted maple neck is really nice and comfy. Jackson tuning machines hold well and have better grip on the screws than some of my name brand ones. Comes with Dunlop strap locks.Tyler

Listen to the other 1 star review about this product. This thing should cost $400 brand new MAX. The pickups were one of the worst attributes. They felt and sounded like they were made out of plastic. The "locking" tuners screwed down to secure the strings but did very little to increase tuning stability. I've played much cheaper guitars for $200 and below that have stayed in tune and sounded much better. I guess this is Misha's attempt in taking advantage of newbie djent hopefuls that think by buying this guitar they will be able to recreate his tone. This product will frustrate you if you're looking for a decent guitar. If you're looking for Misha Mansoor replica memorabilia to hang on your wall, this is for you. I took mine back to the store.Mark

Excellent guitar, out of thenbox plays well. It sounds great, the pickups have a nice clarity even on dirty tones. Value wise, I think you could get a cheaper jackson and still get the same quality, maybe not the evertune bridge which bumped the price up on this one though. There were a couple of tiny factory marks on the guitar out of the box, a very small mark on the headstock, a very small dent in the edge of the fretboard on one of the higber frets and on the uper side of the nexk, one of the fret edges isnt as well filled as the rest. None of which affects playabiltiy or aound. However for the price, i would have expexted it in pristine condition. Im still happy with it as those marks are barely viaible and dont affect function.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I got my 2019/20 Misha Pro HT6 in the Matte Frost Blue in the mail today. The GC packing was pretty poor, the jackson packing was sketchy but it arrived in one piece with no damage or world ending flaws. The only issue I had was changing the strings the nut popped off, but I glued it back on with some wood glue and all is well. The fret work is good, no sharp edges so no complaints. The finish feels and looks amazing as does the neck profile, flat but a litte rounded, kind of like a LTD neck, just a hair fatter. String alinement is good. Pickups sound good and no issues with the input jack. The roasted maple neck is really nice and comfy. Jackson tuning machines hold well and have better grip on the screws than some of my name brand ones. Comes with Dunlop strap locks.Tyler

Listen to the other 1 star review about this product. This thing should cost $400 brand new MAX. The pickups were one of the worst attributes. They felt and sounded like they were made out of plastic. The "locking" tuners screwed down to secure the strings but did very little to increase tuning stability. I've played much cheaper guitars for $200 and below that have stayed in tune and sounded much better. I guess this is Misha's attempt in taking advantage of newbie djent hopefuls that think by buying this guitar they will be able to recreate his tone. This product will frustrate you if you're looking for a decent guitar. If you're looking for Misha Mansoor replica memorabilia to hang on your wall, this is for you. I took mine back to the store.Mark

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

As a Schecter user since 2002, I've been able to see their products improve from year to year. With this Hybrid Hellraiser, the build of this guitar is borderline flawless. A great combination of the SLS body style but the audio girth of their Hellraiser models. For a 7 string, it is about as light and fast as possible. Even though it's meant to handle the heaviest of metal, the neck is smooth enough to deal with a variety of styles. The stock locking tuners are solid as is my favorite EMG combination the 66/57 which provides all the goods. Headroom but gain, bite but warmth. To top it off, the looks of the guitar is as classy as possible. From whatever light is shining on it, the trans black is either a slight green, or a dark grey. So the personality of the guitar varies as much as what you choose to play on it. I've yet to own a bad Schecter. And this is the best one yet. It leaves all LTD's and Ibanez's in this price range in the dust.Druzovich

You do not have to spend $5,000 to achieve big boy vibe. The features on this guitar well exceed the price. I am pretty blown away with the impression it’s made and I just got it. After a good set up this guitar will gladly catch anything you thrown at it. You will definitely feel like a rock star with a Blackjack in your hands. The tone capability seems to be endless, I can’t really find an end to them. If you buy one of these, I promise you will be very happy that you did. Guitar dealers should be a little intimidated by this one because once you’ve got this one, you’re guitar buying fever will be quenched for quite awhile.Kevin

Overall: Ok lets start of with , I own PRS, Gibson, Fender, Epiphone… Never crossed my mind to ever try a Schecter . But i was interested in the Sustainiac pickup, so i took a chance and bought this model because i did not want the active EMG pick up , wanted active . Now this guitar is not cheap as you can see. So here it is open the box amazed at what i saw, stunning guitar, Came set up perfect slight tuning adjustment that was it , the intonation was right on..Lets talk neck ..thin 'C' with a 12”-16” Compound Radius ..Are you kidding ? Wow. Its probably the best i ever played compound radius along with a thin 'c' neck is like surf & turf…..Ebony fretboard ..super smooth tight grain , body and neck finish is flawless binding is perfect ,the pickups are real nice i am loving sustain and its real nice how they made it very adjustable . Only have a few days and i cannot put it down .sounds awesome , i play blues mostly and some rock and Santana, the sound is very clear and clean, i play through a Marshall dsl all tube, fender tube, and a Vox …On boost or other distortion it real kicks. .A…. I am very happy and would recommend this guitar to anyone regardless of the type of music you play , seems to cover a lot.. also its pretty light i would say around 7lb few oz's…it also has a set neck not a bolt on… Very impressed with this, only regret is i never bought one earlier..John

I love this guitar. The color viola is awesome and looks great with the gold hardware. The wood is so smooth on the back of the neck your hand just glides with ease up and down the fretboard. I was on the fence about picking up the jp 15 because of the rave reviews about the oil finish but the majesty artisan neck is amazing and the upper fret access is 2nd to none. The peizio system took some getting used to, but once I got the adjustments on the back dialed in it gave me an awesome option for my clean tones that no other Electric I have played can produce. I can not stop playing this guitar it inspires me to wake up early and get a practice session in before work everyday. I would buy this guitar again in the blink of an eye.Sam

Collaboration between John Petrucci and Ernie Ball over 10plus years (three years on this model) has produced a guitar that is the best in terms of feel, tone, and playability. Majesty was the original name for Dream Theatre but playing this guitar explains why John Petrucci named it Majesty.jensenbr2

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

I read a lot of reviews on this guitar before purchasing. Most common complaints revolved around tuning stability. I was expecting mine to go out of tune every 2 minutes. Not my experience at all. It seems to be strung with 10's, and holds tuning very well. Pick ups sound warm and tight. When I eventually upgrade I'll probably do the nut and tuners, but those are by no means urgent. There are so minor finish flaws, but i bought this guitar to play, not to stare at it. For less than £200, you really can't go wrong. Delivery was on time and without hassle.Ben A.

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

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

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

This is a fantastic 7 string for the price. First off, it looks more expensive than it is, and the satin finish is beautiful. More importantly though, it just feels right. The minute you pick it up and start chugging you feel at home. I was surprised how nice the pick ups are, too. This is without a doubt the best inexpensive 7 string. It costs a little more than a few of the others, but it is well worth it because the main reason for the price difference is the electronics are actually pretty good. It's perfect for what I got it for, unleashing low snarly growls great for any kind of heavy playing. I use a Line 6 Spider III and can get some surprisingly nice beefy tones out of this thing. Overall it looks and sounds like a more expensive guitar (sounds as good or better than my KH202) and feels great. Schecter makes some amazing guitars, including this one.JB

This is a fairly good guitar, and for the price it's definitely a great value. I can't find really anything wrong with the actual sound of the guitar. Sure the stock pickups are not the best in the world, but they are a good starting point, and with the right tweaking you can get some great sound from them. As far as build quality, the important things are taken care of. The fret ends an unnoticeable, and smooth across the entire neck. It did come set up from the factory with fairly low action, but in standard tuning and 1-step down it sounds great. It was well intonated and there is no fret buzz at all that I can tell. The tuners hold up well even after hours of playing, and unless I choose to change tunings there hasn't been any need to retune constantly like with some cheaper tuners on some lower end models. Really the only thing negative I would have to say so far is something that I feel is insignificant to warrant any removal of stars. I thoroughly examined every inch of the body for defects and there is only a small miniscule pinhole sized mark on the entire things, it literally looks like someone barely poked it with the tip of a pencil before it was painted, and you can only notice it holding the guitar completely sideways and look for it. The other thing that was off was that the tone switch was basically tightened backwards. The front position is the bridge and the back position is the neck. Fixing that would just be a matter of just untightening it and rotating it, but I have actually chose to just leave it be for the time being. The overall quality and has made those two things not matter in the slightest. I would definitely recommend this for a good budget friendly 7 string. It's really a good barebones guitar that focuses on the the value of components rather than just a flashy veneer that makes up the majority of the price. If you value playability and getting good bank for your buck, this is definitely the way to go.Charlie

. Now let me set the scene… I am a guitar lover (I can even play a little too) and a quality professional so My expectations are somewhat higher than most looking at this product. An absolutely beautiful instrument, this is my second SA360 and although they are no longer. Made in Japan, be assured they have not lost any of the build quality or attention to detail. The guitar was really well set up, is great to play, feels good in the hand and sounds the bee’s knee’s. If you are looking to start out in guitar playing get yourself an Ibanez Gio to start as a first upgrade from that, then the SA series is where you want to be at.Timbo

Overall: This guitar sounded very clean when plugged in directly w/o effects applied. Wonderful sound when applying effects as well. neck action is nice. 2 things I would consider if you haven't played this guitar and are going to purchase by internet:: 1. The pickups are located next to each other so a slight modification in your strumming hand position will be needed. 2. The neck is very wide and not friendly to shorter fingers. You may need to find a different position on the neck to play certain things. Otherwise it is a fine guitar with an absolutely beautiful finish that shines even in a dimly lit room. the pickguard and pinstripe around the body have a matching shell like pattern that I thought was a nice touch. My first ESP and I am very impressed. Made in the USA too very nice.Angelica

I have owned a custom shop Jackson SL and an American made Jackson SL2 in my life. I have also owned a Carvin 727. I have to admit the fit and finish of my 607B is on par with those. I am using it for recording primarily, but it sounds incredible. It cuts right through a dense mix of keys, brass, strings and percussion. I compose symphonic metal and this guitar suits me perfectly. The is jaw dropping in person. It stays in tune extremely well and the intonation appears dead on and the strings are ver, very close to the fretboard. This guitar easily rivals my previous guitars and cost less than half or a third of the others. I may eventually decide the buy the purple 607 because the quality of this has sold me on these. The pickups are the first actives I have ever used and are very aggressive. They sound dark, but powerful. Thank you ESP and AMS for such a great axe and a payment plan that made it possible.Lonzenator

First off…the paint job on this is AMAZING. There is no way for this to NOT look good on stage or in the practice room. It is surprisingly pretty hefty for a telecaster style body in terms of weight, but not to the point that it is uncomfortable to play. The ebony fretboard and neck radius makes this guitar VERY easy to play. Doesn't matter if I am chugging away or doing shred style solos, the easy of fretboard navigation and feel is beyond comparison. The Fishman Fluence Customs it sound great through an overdriven 5150's and a Kemper. Surprisingly the cleans are very nice as well. The Longer baritone length gives it a lot pf crispness and clarity while maintaining that gnarly bite even under high gain. The only thing I wish was a little different is the pickup placement. For solos, I love to use neck pickups. The pickup being in the middle is not as usable as I would like it to be, and I had to lower it a great deal so that I was not hitting it with picks constantly. But…I knew what I was getting when I got it. The neck meeting the body where it does makes it a little harder to access the upper frets for that 23rd and 24th fret. The switching between voices is a little different on these when compared to the normal Fishman Fluence Moderns…but not a deal breaker. My only regret overall is that I did not buy this guitar years ago. I am thinking about getting another simply for touring so I can have different tunings on one and then switch to the other.Casey L.

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

I used to own a 1990 Ibanez Universe 77MC 7 string guitar and I loved the way that guitar played. It had a nice feeling neck and the Edge Low-Pro bridge worked great. Not to mention, it was a bad-ass looking guitar! Multi-colored swirl by Darren Johansen, 3-color disappearing pyramid inlay, Edge Low-Pro tremolo with cosmo black hardware (see photos for comparison). I mention all that because I regret to say I sold that guitar and was missing my Ibanez Universe. So, I decided to buy another one that wouldn't soak my finances and bought a new Ibanez Universe UV70PBK Green Dot 7 string guitar. There are significant differences in the feel and playability compared to the original's. The UV70P's have a finish on the neck's almost like a clear coat varnish which seems to be a standard on the Ibanez Premium line of guitars. The original's didn't. They were more like a light tung oil finish. I do have to say, that the necks on the Premium line are designed to be a lot more sturdy than the original's, which is a good thing. The UV70P's have the new Edge-Zero II-7 bridge which doesn't have the same feel and response as the Edge Low-Pro. Supposedly the same basswood body, but they seem much lighter in weight that the original's. The pick-up's are the same, but the tone is just not quite thesame as well. And of course, another obvious difference is the the original's were made in Japan and the reissues are made in Indonesia which determines the quality somewhat. Don't get me wrong, these reissue's are still a good quality guitar, but once having an original Universe you can tell the difference in craftsmanship. I will probably keep my UV70PBK just so I can have a 7 string guitar again and it is a bad-ass looking guitar, but I will always regret selling my 1990 Universe 77MC which was for me, the Ultimate Universe!!!designrol

I ordered the Ibanez UV70P from the website which as stated took a few days to get stock and arrive (This was early December 2018). My only gripe was that on the website it stated a rosewood fretboard which is why I bought it as they were changing the fretboard wood due to rosewood being on the CITES endangered wood. The one they sent was a Panga Panga bound fretboard. Even to today (3rd Jan 2019) it still states rosewood on the website. After confirming with the online time I kept the guitar with just a few loyalty points added. I can live with the Panga Panga fretboard it does look good and feels okay. I did have an issue that there were no trem stud locks inserted into the bridge height adjustment screws. Spoke to distributor Headstock Distribution who sent 2 out. All fitted and happy.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Review is 5 stars because the guitar itself is incredible, but the store it originated from had sent it in horrendous condition, which various issues and dusty enough that it may as well have been stored at a building site! Luckily I’ve fixed all the issues myself and the customer service has also recognised the issue and have provided brilliant support, so generally a great purchase after all, was a bit of a labour to get this back to working order, but all is fixed now.Tom C.

The guitar has a good playability, is versatile(i can play brasillian choros, jazz or pop music with it) and has a Fishman microphone that gives good amplification, i recommand it!mathiou1127

Nice tight-grained cedar top beautiful rosewood back natural unfinished bridge … responds nicely to lemon oil head veneer looks beautiful after lemon oil excellent electronics I discovered that the most natural sound (i.e. as close as possible to the non-amplified guitar) was with flat tone controls, notch filter off and 'contour frequency' at 2 – 3 o'clock. Kremona set the string width at 7.5 mm at the nut and action was a tad high. I prefer 8.5 mm, same as the Tusq nut molds. I carved my own Tusq (higher-density polymer than bone or ivory) nut (from a Tusq blank) and saddle. Neck width at the nut left only 5 mm between strings 6 and 7; however, string spacing grows to 7.5 mm at V and 8.5 mm at XII. This was with 3 mm from high E to fret edge … and 7th string at fret edge. Another 10 mm of neck width at the nut would have been perfect … my only reasons for not rating it 5 stars. The higher up the neck, the less the narrow neck is an issue. Had 4.5 starts been available, that's what I would have rated it, since everything else is a delight. This guitar came ALIVE with the high-density polymer nut and saddle … stunning echo and sustain (~10 seconds for bass and ~5 seconds for trebles) … very rich tone harmonics. I set string height at the nut to ~3.5 64ths; ~9.5 64ths at XII … with NO buzzing. Other Kremonas (Sophia and Cocobolo) have set up the same (i.e. with no buzzing) for me. I feared that the cut-out might spell the end of the bass; however, the guitar is DEEP in depth, making up for the cutout. Bass is tremendous, vibrating right into your chest. That 7th string (which I left tuned to "B") sounds like a bass guitar – a treat to hear. As it turned out (with high-density saddle and nut), I am SO very pleased with the rich, harmonic sound and deep chest-vibrating bass. It's wonderful … and I would highly recommend it to anyone for a widely versatile (classical or otherwise) nylon-stringed (Royal Classics RG70 from Kremona, btw) guitar. Don't hesitate; the CW-7 is a gem!Mike