Good 7-string for Jazz

[ManWithDaPlan]

The title says it all. I'd like to find a nice 7-string guitar for some Jazz playing, but there obviously isn't a terrible amount of them. What are some 7-string guitars suitable for jazz you know? My current range is probably up to like 600$.

Hopefully there are some jazz people around here that can help me out.

 

[Leon]

these aren't in your price range, but here they are anyways

http://www.solowayguitars.com/

 

[nyck]

my RG7620 can do jazz

 

[ecalcagnino]

A good Warmoth would be nice. You can pick your woods, neck radii and everything to make it really smooth. Between pups and the other options you can pick it should do better than anything else you will probably find as a production model in your price range. Good luck!

 

[jacksonplayer]

A Schecter C7 Blackjack would get you through until you could get a "real" jazz 7. The Blackjack is versatile enough to have a good, thick clean sound and conservative-enough looking to get you through a gig without raising eyebrows.

 

[Shawn]

my RG7620 can do jazz

+1 ^


Those Soloways are nice, Leon.

 

[eleven59]

I know the Soloway Swan is based on the RG7421XL as far as feel goes (the necks are basically identical). It's what Jim was using before he started the Swans.

 

[Metal Ken]

If you can find one, there's a Schecter Jazz Box thats floating around out there thats a 7 string.

 

[ManWithDaPlan]

I would actually be able to get a decent Warmoth 7 string for $600 or under? I find that hard to believe.

 

[ecalcagnino]

www.warmoth.com

If you don't go ape with options you should be close-ish.

 

[ManWithDaPlan]

The body for 7 string guitars is like 400. The cheapest paint job is like, 180$. I haven't even gone to necks yet. Even if it is a bit expensive though, it would still be nice to have a custom 7.

 

[ecalcagnino]

What possible reason in the world would make you want to paint a $400 body with a flame or exotic wood top?!? Stain or natural, bro!! That's better for an open natural jazz tone anyway. Hear the wood not the polyurethane.

Like I said, chill with the things you don't need and you're close -
Mahogany body - $305
Mahogany/Rosewood neck - $232
hardware and pups from anywhere - $250 or even less for used

Stain and wax finish, assemble, wire and set it up yourself.

 

[Metal Ken]

look at this way-- i just priced out what i'd get from them:
28" bari 7 neck: 208$
The deep cutaway 7 body: 200$
Fixed Bridge, Black- 40$
Tuners, Locking - 70$
DiMarzio Pickups - 60$
--- Total ---
578$.
Add in a few 10$ pots, a switch, 25$
some stains and whatnot - 15$ ~

Total so far - 618$ + Shipping.

 

[ManWithDaPlan]

Damn, I found one of the Warmoth bodies brand new on ebay for 60 bucks! (And it has pictures too). And it's custom made of basswood too (Basswood is one of my favorite tonewoods) I really think I might get it.

The neck and such, I would really have to save up for, but this could be a possibility.

I was also unaware that I could get natural finishes for that cheap. But who said I was getting an exotic wood for it?

 

[ecalcagnino]

I was also unaware that I could get natural finishes for that cheap. But who said I was getting an exotic wood for it?

I assumed that because any body on their site that's $400 is a flame or figured top. That one on EBay sounds good if basswood is for you. Nice find!

 

[Jesse]

Any decent Ibanez could handle it. I used my RG350DX and Jem7vsbl in the school jazz band for 2 years and they worked great.

 

[Drew]

What possible reason in the world would make you want to paint a $400 body with a flame or exotic wood top?!? Stain or natural, bro!! That's better for an open natural jazz tone anyway. Hear the wood not the polyurethane.

Like I said, chill with the things you don't need and you're close -
Mahogany body - $305
Mahogany/Rosewood neck - $232
hardware and pups from anywhere - $250 or even less for used

Stain and wax finish, assemble, wire and set it up yourself.

+1. Tung oil that shit.

A warmoth body with a 28" neck would own for jazz, and could be done within yout budget if you're cool with bare wood (though, if you're going that route, I'd steer clear of basswood, as it's not a very attractive wood finished naturally - alder should work quite well, although mahogany is gorgeous natural and is the traditional tonewood for jazz, especially if you do it up as a semi-hollow).

That said, I've done jazz gigs with a strat and a 7620, and Mike Stern plays a f'in telecaster and sounds righteous, so who knows.

 

[Naren]

That said, I've done jazz gigs with a strat and a 7620, and Mike Stern plays a f'in telecaster and sounds righteous, so who knows.

Agreed. A friend of mine played a Gibson Flying V in a Jazz band and everyone told him that he had an amazing Jazz tone on that thing. You might be thinking "oh, he's a metal guy, using a flying V in a Jazz band." No, he's not. He hates metal. He hates rock in general. He plays classical, jazz, and the like. He bought the flying V because he said it sounded unbelievably good when he tried it out in the store.

So, my point is you can use just about any guitar you want. You can make any guitar sound jazzy by adjusting certain things.

 

[SevenString]

I have a black Schecter Jazz-7s, and I got it with case for less than $600 when they first came out.

It sounds great, especially for the price, and it looks SHARP! I always get compliments on it, followed by the double-take when a guitar player realized that it has too many strings.

One cool aspect is that although it's ideal for jazz or even country situations, I've used it on rock cover gigs and even prog-metal gigs, and it sounds great in those situations as well.

No tremolo though, so the rockabilly stuff ends up missing that aspect.

 

[Jesse]

Im sure an RG would do it, I used a Jem7vsbl and RG350DX in the school jazz band for 2 years and it sounded good.