TheMasterplan
Creator//Destroyer
Specs:
Body: Mahohany w/ carved maple top
Neck: Mahogany
Construction: Set Neck
Scale: 24.75"
Bridge: TOM/Stoptail
Fretboard: Rosewood
Frets: 22, Medium
2 tone knobs
2 volume knob
Finish: Tobacco Burst
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Body:
This thing is an absolute beast. The guitar is heavier than most of the others I've owned, but Christ the mahogany is DENSE. This is a good thing though! The tone is so full and warm, though a bit on the darker side. The quilted finish is fucking gorgeous in person. You can really feel the quality just holding it in your hands. I'm a sucker for single-cut sevens so I'm really digging the body shape, but I must admit that the single horn coupled with the joint from the set neck construction can make upper fret access a little difficult at times. In my experience it really just requires a quick adjustment in posture. It's thick and a little heavy, but when you strum out some chords or start riffing you can feel the notes resonating in the wood against your chest and you know you've reached a height of pure awesomeness.
Neck:
The neck is somewhere between an Ibanez Wizard II and a Schecter C7 Blackjack. It's thick, but not unbearably so. If you have small hands, you might want to try it out beforehand if you can because I have relatively large hands and I still find that I'm still adjusting to extended scale runs when I get into the B's registry. As far as width, I would liken it to a classical guitar. In pictures it looks a lot wider than I think people believe it to be. The string spacing feels average though despite all that. It's also somewhat C shaped which admittedly is taking a little while to get used to considering I've been playing Ibanez guitars up until now. It's still plenty fast, but not quite as fast as the Wizard II's ala Ibanez. Some may wonder about the scale length. Yes, it is in fact 24.75" which I'm sure some believe is madness for a seven string. But quite frankly after slapping a set of .010 - .046 with a .064 on the 7th and a quick bridge adjustment, you'd never know except for the tell-tale 22 frets. Also as I mentioned the joint where the neck meets the body makes upper fret access a bit difficult at times because it's a good half inch difference between the rest of the neck and the body. But if that doesn't bother you then it's a non-issue.Typically to remedy this I place my thumb on the last bit of neck before the joint, angle the guitar up slightly and stretch my hand. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Though if your hands are bigger like mine you'll find the horn making love with the back of your hand.
Pickups:
Not bad for stockers. For distortion: Neck is a tad thin and the bridge has a little too much bass to it, but with some height adjustment the latter can be dealt with. Gonna replace the pups in this thing out of personal preference, but really if you have a decent rig, you'll find good usable tones from the stockers. Cleans: If you use the bridge pup and roll the volume back a hair you can actually get something quite nice.
Bridge:
Not much to say here other than that it's solid as a rock. Quite stable and effortless to adjust which is good cause it took me quite some time to find a perfect balance, but I'm weird so I'm sure no one else is as picky.
Electronics & Other Features:
These are truly the only instrument's downfalls. I've owned this guitar for about a week and already I've had to deal with stripped strap peg holes and a faulty selector switch. The latter of which is particularly frustrating. Luckily I've got a warranty on the electronics and I'm friends with the repair guy, so it shouldn't be an issue when I get it back. There are three tone knobs, but I don't really know why. Might be replacing the pots with CST's as well. That all appears to be fine though. I hear people complain about the nut and tuners at times, but I have no idea what they're on about. In the week I've owned this I've had to retune it once? I keep it in A# Standard and sometimes Drop G# [thus the crazy thick 7th string]. I think they're pretty solid, but again as a giant-handed motherfucker I find the spacing between the tuning pegs a little frustrating sometimes because I feel like my fingers are inadvertently turning the adjacent ones. Might be all in my head
Most of the reason this thing suffered score wise is becuase of that switch and the strap pegs.
I really don't know what else to say. This thing is beautiful and it's just great for shredding or riffing [I do the latter much more] and with a little bit of repair work and some very slight modding [new pups, switch and maybe pots] it's the best guitar I've ever owned and I certainly recommend it if you can actually find one and any of the potential cons I've listed don't bother you. Single-cut sevens for the win!
Thanks for reading.
Body: Mahohany w/ carved maple top
Neck: Mahogany
Construction: Set Neck
Scale: 24.75"
Bridge: TOM/Stoptail
Fretboard: Rosewood
Frets: 22, Medium
2 tone knobs
2 volume knob
Finish: Tobacco Burst
----------------------------------------
Body:
This thing is an absolute beast. The guitar is heavier than most of the others I've owned, but Christ the mahogany is DENSE. This is a good thing though! The tone is so full and warm, though a bit on the darker side. The quilted finish is fucking gorgeous in person. You can really feel the quality just holding it in your hands. I'm a sucker for single-cut sevens so I'm really digging the body shape, but I must admit that the single horn coupled with the joint from the set neck construction can make upper fret access a little difficult at times. In my experience it really just requires a quick adjustment in posture. It's thick and a little heavy, but when you strum out some chords or start riffing you can feel the notes resonating in the wood against your chest and you know you've reached a height of pure awesomeness.
Neck:
The neck is somewhere between an Ibanez Wizard II and a Schecter C7 Blackjack. It's thick, but not unbearably so. If you have small hands, you might want to try it out beforehand if you can because I have relatively large hands and I still find that I'm still adjusting to extended scale runs when I get into the B's registry. As far as width, I would liken it to a classical guitar. In pictures it looks a lot wider than I think people believe it to be. The string spacing feels average though despite all that. It's also somewhat C shaped which admittedly is taking a little while to get used to considering I've been playing Ibanez guitars up until now. It's still plenty fast, but not quite as fast as the Wizard II's ala Ibanez. Some may wonder about the scale length. Yes, it is in fact 24.75" which I'm sure some believe is madness for a seven string. But quite frankly after slapping a set of .010 - .046 with a .064 on the 7th and a quick bridge adjustment, you'd never know except for the tell-tale 22 frets. Also as I mentioned the joint where the neck meets the body makes upper fret access a bit difficult at times because it's a good half inch difference between the rest of the neck and the body. But if that doesn't bother you then it's a non-issue.Typically to remedy this I place my thumb on the last bit of neck before the joint, angle the guitar up slightly and stretch my hand. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Though if your hands are bigger like mine you'll find the horn making love with the back of your hand.
Pickups:
Not bad for stockers. For distortion: Neck is a tad thin and the bridge has a little too much bass to it, but with some height adjustment the latter can be dealt with. Gonna replace the pups in this thing out of personal preference, but really if you have a decent rig, you'll find good usable tones from the stockers. Cleans: If you use the bridge pup and roll the volume back a hair you can actually get something quite nice.
Bridge:
Not much to say here other than that it's solid as a rock. Quite stable and effortless to adjust which is good cause it took me quite some time to find a perfect balance, but I'm weird so I'm sure no one else is as picky.
Electronics & Other Features:
These are truly the only instrument's downfalls. I've owned this guitar for about a week and already I've had to deal with stripped strap peg holes and a faulty selector switch. The latter of which is particularly frustrating. Luckily I've got a warranty on the electronics and I'm friends with the repair guy, so it shouldn't be an issue when I get it back. There are three tone knobs, but I don't really know why. Might be replacing the pots with CST's as well. That all appears to be fine though. I hear people complain about the nut and tuners at times, but I have no idea what they're on about. In the week I've owned this I've had to retune it once? I keep it in A# Standard and sometimes Drop G# [thus the crazy thick 7th string]. I think they're pretty solid, but again as a giant-handed motherfucker I find the spacing between the tuning pegs a little frustrating sometimes because I feel like my fingers are inadvertently turning the adjacent ones. Might be all in my head
Most of the reason this thing suffered score wise is becuase of that switch and the strap pegs.I really don't know what else to say. This thing is beautiful and it's just great for shredding or riffing [I do the latter much more] and with a little bit of repair work and some very slight modding [new pups, switch and maybe pots] it's the best guitar I've ever owned and I certainly recommend it if you can actually find one and any of the potential cons I've listed don't bother you. Single-cut sevens for the win!
Thanks for reading.
