Having trouble deciding for woods on a Custom Skervesen Raptor 7

[Tristan.dnt]

Hi guys, so i'm gonna place an order for a Skervesen Raptor 7 soon, and i'm not sure of which woods i should ask for.

So first i have to specify some things :
I'm gonna play mainly metalcore and heavy stuff on this guitar.
I'm searching for a modern metal sound, and my worst nightmare would be for the guitar to sound too thin.
I want a thick, punchy, tight, organic and full sound. And screaming pinch harmonics !
(A good exemple of a tone i like would be periphery's "flatline", it's punchy, in your face, full sounding, tight and agressive as hell)
(some exemples of tones i don't like would be meshuggah's "bleed" (too cold), and slipknot's "the devil in i" (too boomy))
I also have to precise that i play with plugins, mainly archetypes (some of my favorites are plini's, gojira's, petrucci's...), so the amp i'm playing through is basically not even entering in the equation, i can get practically any tone that i want from that side.
The only things i'm sure about are that the guitar is gonna be a 7 string Raptor with an ebony fretboard and a 25.5 inch scale, and that i am gonna play it in drop A. It's gonna be a bolt-on neck.
For pickups, i'm either gonna put in bare knuckles black hawks, nailbombs or lundgren black heavens (can't decide for that either, knowing what i'm searching for which of these would you choose ?)
But talking about woods :
For now i like the idea of a swamp ash body with a 5 pieces wenge/bubinga neck, but i could also go for a mahogany body, and basically anything for the neck, if you guys think that would match better what i'm searching for.

Thanks !

 

[teqnick]

I have a black heaven in my single pickup custom and it absolutely rips, without being remotely close to sterile . It isn't very high output, comparatively, but handles gain very well, and has luscious range

The tones across the albums you've posted have great levels of production and mastering, so you need not worry too much about being on either end of the spectrum of too cold or too boomy.

Of the three pickups you listed, the blackhawks are BKPs rake on an EMG, although they are worlds better. They're actually one of my favorite pickups, so long as you aren't looking for beautiful cleans. The Nailbombs is very large sounding, with beautiful chord extension and blooming single notes with a punch.

The ebony fretboard and bolt-on combination in itself should give you a snappy feel that modern metal guitarists tend to crave. In the end, I would go for something that you're going to enjoy looking at, especially when spending upwards of 3.5k on a custom. You will obtain the sound you desire through means of plug-ins, pickups, and all other nuances that go into recording/ playing.

I wanted my first custom to be a culmination of things I found beautiful, along with specs I hadn't owned altogether in one guitar. I gush every time I open the case, and enjoy playing it no matter what , for those reasons alone.

For reference, I have a black limba body, rosewood set-neck, ziricote fretboard, schaller hannes, and a single Lundgren Black Heaven.

 

[budda]

Lightweight mahogany, because the pickup and rig will make waaay more of a difference.

 

[NickK-UK]

What tuning?

25.5 may be too short for less boom depending on the tuning.

Pickup, pup position and scale length will make more difference.

 

[Tristan.dnt]

Thanks !
Well basically my concern was that some people claim that skervesens have very poor acoustic resonance if you choose the wrong wood combination.
For the pickups, i think i'm gonna go with the bare knuckle black hawks, since i think they suit well what i'm searching for and that i am a little biased by the fact one of my first experiences with skervesen was JungMato's Leviathan (Monuments) cover with his black-hawk equipped Raptor 7.
I think the swamp ash body seems to really be what i look for, but i'm still very hesitating about the neck... i have no experience with wenge necks and how they feel so that's why, do someone know about that ? Are they comfortable to play ?
Also if someone has experience with that, where are usually placed killswitches on Skervs with one volume pot, one pickup selector switch and the world domination mod ? I emailed them 2 times but the answer was never very clear...

 

[Tristan.dnt]

I also asked them if à macassar ebony top would be doable and they said it was practically impossible, since they would have to use at least 4 pieces and it would cost at least 800 euros but there is currently on sale on reverb a lizard with a 1 piece macassar ebony top and i have seen plenty of guitars with 1 piece macassar ebony top... do yall know about that ?

 

[NickK-UK]

I also asked them if à macassar ebony top would be doable and they said it was practically impossible, since they would have to use at least 4 pieces and it would cost at least 800 euros but there is currently on sale on reverb a lizard with a 1 piece macassar ebony top and i have seen plenty of guitars with 1 piece macassar ebony top... do yall know about that ?

Yup I had a large, thickish £200 plank of ebony in my hands earlier in the year. You can year the hardness when you tap it. Nice but I went for African rosewood (bubinga) fretboard instead due to the piece being very unusual - enough for two fretboards or more at £52.

You may find the 'ebony top' is really a veneer or a 2-4mm strip. You can get non top quality (ie no variation of ebony colour) and can that ebony top. They tend to be cheaper by a decent margin but it sounds like it's a veneer top over a cheaper wood such as basswood.. or elm/alder/etc.

Personally, if the guitar was for me - I would go for a 27" scale length option they offer. Dropping with 25.5 will add string thickness that will mean tuner bore diameter for the string thickness becomes limiting. The 27" scale will make the lower strings less flabby sounding and allow thinner strings. I see a multitude of neck materials. However I don't see any selection of neck profile, thickness etc. My own self-build is 28.625" and I'm happy with F# sound with a 62-10 stringset. octave E lower needs thicker strings or 30" scale length as it just isn't controlled enough with a 62 string.

However this is your guitar - I would suggest trying to hunt down some differing guitar materials to play and the scale sizes.

I have two wenge 4mm strips in my neck - it's strong hard but chips/splinters when cutting it. Sands down ok but maple and walnut are smoother as a neck material.

 

[MetalDestroyer]

I also asked them if à macassar ebony top would be doable and they said it was practically impossible, since they would have to use at least 4 pieces and it would cost at least 800 euros but there is currently on sale on reverb a lizard with a 1 piece macassar ebony top and i have seen plenty of guitars with 1 piece macassar ebony top... do yall know about that ?

Large pieces of ebony are rare. They probably don't have any in stock and don't want to attempt to source one in case they can't and end up with an angry customer.

 

[NickK-UK]

Also you probably want some weight in the body to stop any neck dive. Howevwr ai assume they have tested all the option combinations for balance.

 

[Taikatatti]

I’ll chime in since i had a Skervesen raptor 7 with swamp ash body and wenge/bubinga neck. Mine was 26.5 scale and it balanced really well, but i could see going 27’ and above neck dive could become an issue. Of course there are variations in weight on both woods but i’ll think you’ll be safe with them on 25.5 inch build.

Wenge has more pores/texture than maple or mahogany which can be felt but i never found that an issue. I’ve had multiple guitars with wenge necks and always been happy with them, really stable and beautiful to look at of course.

Blackhawks are a great and safe choice. Nailbombs are my favorite BKP’s, but if thick is what you want then blackhawks are obvious choice.

 

[Tristan.dnt]

Thanks everyone ! Your advices were helpful. If i end up getting the guitar, i'll create a new thread for it and post it in this one too.

 

[NickK-UK]

Reading up on mark holcomb’s guitar it’s 25.5 scale maple neck (laminate) and mahogany body. SD alpha omega (or a custom version of them).

I’d still use 27” scale with anything with a drop tune. If I remember correctly the mussuggah guitars are even longer at 30” with the custom pickups to get that sharp, heavy but thinner sounding.

 

[budda]

Imo if you have to ask what options are best for a build, dont order a build yet.