Archtop Hollow Body 7 String Project

[skyclad]

Just bought this 7 string hollow body. Accidental purchase at low price, have no idea what to do next. Any ideas would be highly apprecaited.

This guitar was Epiphone Emperor Regent ancient sunburst, made in 1998 in South Korea at Peerless factory. 7 string neck was made by some luthier in Saint-Petersburg (Russia), and since then it became 7 string hollow body with flying Benedetto B7 pickup, 5 piece neck (flamed maple with some presumably mahagony stripes), quilted maple headstock.

Neck profile is D or even C, fretwork radius around 16.

Overall sound is typical for Epiphone Emperor Regent, quite good with Seymour Duncan Benedetto B7 with low gain amplification through VHT and Celestion 12 Greenback.

Since I like the sound of this guitar I can go to another luthier to renew it. Any ideas please, what schould be done (exept by burn it). Different bridge (tune-o-matic), locking tuners, another flying pickup, new electrics, trapezoid tailpeice, pearl inlays - what else?

 

[MaxAidingAres]

If it aint broke dont fix it. Honestly id only replace things that you are having issues with. Does it tune smoothly? Does the bridge match the radius? Does it into ate properly? How is the neck angle? Like can you get the action low enough?

Cool guitar btw. Dont burn it

 

[skyclad]

Does it tune smoothly? Does the bridge match the radius? Does it into ate properly? How is the neck angle? Like can you get the action low enough?

Cool guitar btw. Dont burn it

It has problem with tuners, so I got to replace it asap. Also it seems to be some issues with bridge - it has some problems with intonation on 4th and 5th strings - that's why I'm looking into new tune-o-matic (probably) bridge or something else (please consider any other replacement).
Frets should be replaced too, maybe bronze alloy or stainless, don't know yet for sure.

 

[skyclad]

Found its previious owner on youtube

 

[odibrom]

The guitar looks cool, that's one of the types I'm missing in my collection, a 7 string Jazzbox.

This guitar is not fire wood!

Mandatory upgrades - locking tuners and nut (Graphtech preferably?).

If you're going for e refret, I'd go with Stainless Steel or Evo Gold (these may look better).

Bridge - it depends a lot on the sound you're after. Wood bridge will deliver a mellower tone and will wear faster which is maybe why you're having trouble intonating. A Tune'o'matic will deliver a brighter one.

Electronics - Do you feel you'll need tone variety or you'll get that from your fingers? If you need more variety, then more pickups and electronics switching and what not. If you're cool with the guitar as is, no need to change anything.

Not spoken of: STRINGS - What strings are you thinking in using there, roundwound, halfround or flatwound? They'll sound brighter to mellower / warmer. Strings are a subtle way to tune/EQ a guitar without any modification besides its original mechanics.

 

[skyclad]

The guitar looks cool, that's one of the types I'm missing in my collection, a 7 string Jazzbox.

This guitar is not fire wood!

Mandatory upgrades - locking tuners and nut (Graphtech preferably?).

If you're going for e refret, I'd go with Stainless Steel or Evo Gold (these may look better).

Bridge - it depends a lot on the sound you're after. Wood bridge will deliver a mellower tone and will wear faster which is maybe why you're having trouble intonating. A Tune'o'matic will deliver a brighter one.

Electronics - Do you feel you'll need tone variety or you'll get that from your fingers? If you need more variety, then more pickups and electronics switching and what not. If you're cool with the guitar as is, no need to change anything.

Not spoken of: STRINGS - What strings are you thinking in using there, roundwound, halfround or flatwound? They'll sound brighter to mellower / warmer. Strings are a subtle way to tune/EQ a guitar without any modification besides its original mechanics.

Nut made of natural bone and seems to be OK, no need for replacement.
Tone pot is almost dead, need to change it too. Probably wiil add some 'tone saver' resistors/capacitors, will dig into that later.

Also will check for EVO gold, thank you. Thought about Ibanez frets which they used in old L..A. Custom series, but its not easy to find it nowadays.

Strings flatwound, always. Use it even on 7 string superstrats.

p.s. Same on me, several 7 strings, including superstrat and acoustics, but missed 7 string archtop hollow body.

 

[skyclad]

The tone of this guitar is mellow, right

 

[MaxAidingAres]

You can retrofit a tune o matic on there. The prosts probably wont be the right size but you could probably make it work. It looks like the bridge is chewed up from the strings. That would directly affect intonation as well as string radius. Maybe look into restoring the original bridge.

Id go for stainless steel frets. Just no reason not too. Evo gold is harder to find and expensive. Maybe look into a plek job. A plek refret is about 400-600$ if you get stainless and itll correct all the problems in the neck including the neck angle.

 

[skyclad]

You can retrofit a tune o matic on there. The prosts probably wont be the right size but you could probably make it work. It looks like the bridge is chewed up from the strings. That would directly affect intonation as well as string radius. Maybe look into restoring the original bridge.

Id go for stainless steel frets. Just no reason not too. Evo gold is harder to find and expensive. Maybe look into a plek job. A plek refret is about 400-600$ if you get stainless and itll correct all the problems in the neck including the neck angle.

Good idea to retrofit 7 string tune o matic. Maybe Tonepros TP7-Gold will fit the bridge with Evo gold frets and gold locking tunes.

​

 

[skyclad]

Trussrod will be replaced too, old one is over

 

[skyclad]

Jescar EvoGold (left) vs Sintoms, different alloys, same price. Was hard to chose which one is better. Jescar is lighter, Sintoms looks more rigid and slightly heavier (made of some German tin bronze alloy, 3 mm wide). Was hard to choose, bought Sintoms finally

 

[mattier303]

Sidk

Just bought this 7 string hollow body. Accidental purchase at low price, have no idea what to do next. Any ideas would be highly apprecaited.

This guitar was Epiphone Emperor Regent ancient sunburst, made in 1998 in South Korea at Peerless factory. 7 string neck was made by some luthier in Saint-Petersburg (Russia), and since then it became 7 string hollow body with flying Benedetto B7 pickup, 5 piece neck (flamed maple with some presumably mahagony stripes), quilted maple headstock.

Neck profile is D or even C, fretwork radius around 16.

Overall sound is typical for Epiphone Emperor Regent, quite good with Seymour Duncan Benedetto B7 with low gain amplification through VHT and Celestion 12 Greenback.

Since I like the sound of this guitar I can go to another luthier to renew it. Any ideas please, what schould be done (exept by burn it). Different bridge (tune-o-matic), locking tuners, another flying pickup, new electrics, trapezoid tailpeice, pearl inlays - what else?

Benedetto pickups, he’s the guru, jedi master, og archtop luthier

 

[skyclad]

Strange choice, right. But the sound of Seymour Duncan Benedetto B7 surprisingly suit this Peerless body.

 

[skyclad]

Headstock in process of renewment. New Gotoh locking tuners, quilted maple with new binding and new truss-rod.

 

[Shawn]

Very nice. Really cool guitar to have in the arsenal.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Gorgeous instrument. Obviously not the same since this is a beautiful one-off, but I remember seeing a jazz guy shredding a similar-looking archtop hollow 7 at a jazz bar one time.

 

[skyclad]

Was Benedetto style headstock (though mass production model), and will be Benedetto style headstock, based on Benedetto custom

BODY AND SOUL

ANIMA E CORPO (Body and Soul) custom 7-String commissioned by Bill Doyle in 1995 incorporated signatures of 80 great jazz guitarists including Tony Mottola, Johnny Smith, Les Paul, George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino and 74 more! Serial #47202

benedettoguitarsarchives.com

Headstock in process of renewment. New Gotoh locking tuners, quilted maple with new binding and new truss-rod.

 

[skyclad]

Stage 1 with renewed neck is complete

 

[odibrom]

... I see dead bodies...

... but it's not that guitar... is it canibal? is it a vampire? is that the guitar's lair? or is it just a cold bloody killer?

Lol, now a bit more seriously, looks good. are you done with modding / bring it back to life or is there anything else missing?

 

[skyclad]

Done with neck modding, but have no idea what should I do with that oval acoustic hole (which is not part of originial Epiphone Emperror resonant deck).
I"ve seen only few models with 3 holes (2 f holes and 3rd round or oval one), like on some guitars out of 60s, and I still can't get the reason for that deck modification.
So I think of modding resonant deck as well, but have no idea what to do next. Maybe I should put some flame top veneer on deck?

Strange choice, right. But the sound of Seymour Duncan Benedetto B7 surprisingly suit this Peerless body.