ESP Stef B7 pickup swap

[floridagoblue]

Question for anyone in the know, I’m considering purchasing a B7 but it appears to have been built with Passives in it as there is no cavity on the back of the guitar for a battery. Would a swap to Fishmans be possible without routing a cavity?

 

[park0496]

Pretty sure all the Stef B7s are originally active pups so there’s room in control cavity for the battery.

 

[floridagoblue]

I thought so as well but this one doesn’t have the battery cavity.

 

[floridagoblue]

Photos for reference

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Question for anyone in the know, I’m considering purchasing a B7 but it appears to have been built with Passives in it as there is no cavity on the back of the guitar for a battery. Would a swap to Fishmans be possible without routing a cavity?

Just put it in the control cavity. There's probably enough space since those cavities tend to be massive on the Stef sigs.

 

[Matt08642]

Photos for reference

These are active soapbar routes that have been retrofitted with passives - there will be room in the cavity for a battery

 

[park0496]

The B7s never had a separate battery cavity; but when they switched to fishmans they did have the USB recharge cavity

The reverb guitar is not “mint” makes you wonder what else is not being disclosed..

 

[Rotatous]

This B7 has been up on Reverb for at least a couple months now. This quote from the seller is BS too:

"I verified with ESP that this was not an aftermarket change, they did produce some B-7's with SD's. (Easy way to tell? There's no 9v battery pocket.)"

It looks like someone took a perfectly good B7 and in their infinite wisdom decided to hack up the pickup routes instead of trimming the pickup tabs to fit some SD's in there. Personally I'd stay away from this one, there's a reason its been sitting and the price keeps dropping.

 

[floridagoblue]

Yeah if it was a custom order and the routing was done by ESP I’d be able to deal with it. This one has been out there for quite some time as youve mentioned. Trying to find a B7 used before I pull the trigger on placing a custom shop order because the prices of a new order are absolutely insane right now.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

This B7 has been up on Reverb for at least a couple months now. This quote from the seller is BS too:

"I verified with ESP that this was not an aftermarket change, they did produce some B-7's with SD's. (Easy way to tell? There's no 9v battery pocket.)"

It looks like someone took a perfectly good B7 and in their infinite wisdom decided to hack up the pickup routes instead of trimming the pickup tabs to fit some SD's in there. Personally I'd stay away from this one, there's a reason its been sitting and the price keeps dropping.

Lol I just noticed the description. Yeah, ESP would totally leave the gaping-ass 707 routes if that was the case, huh.
And yeah if you look around on google, there's some B7s with and without the control cavity, but they all have EMGs. No Duncans to be found.
Honestly is there an explanation as to why some B7s have battery boxes or not? I'm talking pre-Fishman.

 

[floridagoblue]

Lol I just noticed the description. Yeah, ESP would totally leave the gaping-ass 707 routes if that was the case, huh.
And yeah if you look around on google, there's some B7s with and without the control cavity, but they all have EMGs. No Duncans to be found.
Honestly is there an explanation as to why some B7s have battery boxes or not? I'm talking pre-Fishman.

Yeah putting it that way makes more sense lol. Shame it was butchered.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Oh yeah and you'll have to deal with the routes on the side of the Fishmans, due to having to accommodate the passive ears.

 

[floridagoblue]

It’s been done before, still not my favorite

 

[floridagoblue]

With fishmans

 

[narad]

Yea, they made full CS ones like that for Stef. I don't buy this guy's story at all about it being like that stock. The fact that he confirmed with ESP that -some- ESP Stefs with passives (as custom orders) means nothing for that signature series model. The battery cover is obviously not part of it, since they made plenty of active Stefs without battery compartments. Use your brain - ESP wouldn't put out a guitar with those routes. But ya, swapping Fishmans shouldn't be an issue, apart from the gaping holes left behind.

If it was cheaper I'd consider for a full refinish project, fix the holes, throw on the floyd. But it's going to look like shit now until someone refinishes it. And my actual mint kiso Stef was less than this actually.

 

[Apex1rg7x]

This seller is full of shit. These never came with passives after the initial SRC-7 with the HHS pickup configuration. All B7's, especially with soap bar routes came with EMG's before switching to Fishman.

 

[somethingsomething]

I saw this listing too and thought it seemed kind of sketchy. What's with this story about the having to buy the guitar back from Reverb? Also, these aren't finished in "black pearl." It's just black. And those completely mangled routes...

 

[floridagoblue]

So I religiously look for B7s on a daily basis and have for a solid 10+years. Anytime they have come up for sale its never been good timing for me for one reason or another. Recently I've been scouring the webs to find one before I eventually place an order with the custom shop in the next few weeks. That being said, I'm pretty familiar with a lot of the guitars that have come up. This guitar was sold buy a Guitar Center a few years ago in Texas to the seller on reverb. I specifically remember it because I asked myself why someone would fuck up a Stef like that. Also the seller has posted to reddit a bunch about the guitar that conflicts with his story on the ad which is hilarious. its a shame to as he might be able to sell it if he were honest about it instead of fabricating a story about it. He should probably delete his reddit comments about the guitar or pray another person overpays for it lol.

 

[somethingsomething]

So I religiously look for B7s on a daily basis and have for a solid 10+years. Anytime they have come up for sale its never been good timing for me for one reason or another. Recently I've been scouring the webs to find one before I eventually place an order with the custom shop in the next few weeks. That being said, I'm pretty familiar with a lot of the guitars that have come up. This guitar was sold buy a Guitar Center a few years ago in Texas to the seller on reverb. I specifically remember it because I asked myself why someone would fuck up a Stef like that. Also the seller has posted to reddit a bunch about the guitar that conflicts with his story on the ad which is hilarious. its a shame to as he might be able to sell it if he were honest about it instead of fabricating a story about it. He should probably delete his reddit comments about the guitar or pray another person overpays for it lol.

I was just thinking that this looks like the kind of abomination you'd see a blurry picture of in GC's used section...

Wow and he even used the pictures from the old Reddit post. At least take new ones...

 

[narad]

Reddit comments plz