Crash Dandicoot
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Alright, gents, here's a bit of an oddity for you - a Snapper-7 Ohmura Custom:
Our resident ESP guru @Ikke tipped me off to this on Yahoo Japan Auctions (knowing my fatal weakness for Snappers and Ohmura's models specifically!) at a killer price and after a hell of a struggle getting it to Canada (Japan Post rejected shipping it internationally), here she is. This particular example is from 2016 and that's an important factor, as the current production Signature Series models differ from this one in a few significant ways - soapbar pickup routes, "ESP Custom" decal and CoA, no fleur-de-lis logo on the front of the headstock or series exclusive serial on the back, the traditional dual tone pot configuration (versus the current model's killswitch in the second tone position) and most significantly the Hipshot Contour 7 bridge, currently replaced with ESP's own Flicker-III 7 bridge.
I try to be objective about new guitars, give them a few weeks to settle in and get past the honeymoon phase and all that. Having met that criteria so far I can confidently say I'm enamored with this one. The 46mm nut is a life changing experience for me in regards to 7 strings, and I'm genuinely happy to have a standard scale, 22 fret seven string. It seems every other extended range offering by ESP leans towards the heavily downtuned audience that demand scale lengths north of 25.5" with a mandatory 24 fret setup and this feels like a breath of fresh air.
So, on to the meat of it: the Twinkle Pink finish is fantastic and it's damn near impossible to photograph the gravity of flair it exudes at every angle. The EMGs are great at what they do (I'm not partial to the anti-EMG camp, personally), however I'm looking at getting a pickguard made that has regular sized routes so swaps won't be limited to the original dimensions. It arrived in tune after more than 3 weeks of going back and forth in Japan, trying to sort out a courier service before finally making its way north to my eager hands. A clean-up and fresh set of stings was all that was required. The gold hardware has the typical light tarnish I find on most any domestic Japanese model, but other than that the condition is immaculate. Not a single ding, chip or mark of any kind. Bonus: it arrived with stickers on the first 9 inlays that mimic the originals (animal paws) and it had the cloth decal on the forearm cut, also on the original. I've since removed the inlay stickers and stored the cloth decal with the case. I like Ohmura quite a bit but that's going a bit far for me.
So, playability! It's an ESP Custom - there's not much more to say, honestly. It has the second best fretwork I've ever seen (only behind my Original Series Horizon, those Kiso guys are crazy) and arguably the best playability of any ESP I've ever owned and definitely of any 7 string I've played. The Hipshot Contour 7 is a nice bit of hardware and being able to directly compare to another Snapper with the Flicker-III, I'm firmly convinced that a dual stud design is superior. There's nothing inherently wrong with the Flicker-III, but if I had my choice I'd take the Contour. It holds tune as well as any non-dual locking setup, I'd say on par with a EBMM JP series trem. The scallops on the 9th to 22nd are particularly interesting, as they are just barely there but enough to notice and combined with medium jumbo frets high speed fretwork is, frankly, piss easy. I feel like I'm cheating at times - I get why Ohmura has them on all his models.
In closing, this thing fucking rips. My ESP GAS is never satiated but this helps... for now.
Our resident ESP guru @Ikke tipped me off to this on Yahoo Japan Auctions (knowing my fatal weakness for Snappers and Ohmura's models specifically!) at a killer price and after a hell of a struggle getting it to Canada (Japan Post rejected shipping it internationally), here she is. This particular example is from 2016 and that's an important factor, as the current production Signature Series models differ from this one in a few significant ways - soapbar pickup routes, "ESP Custom" decal and CoA, no fleur-de-lis logo on the front of the headstock or series exclusive serial on the back, the traditional dual tone pot configuration (versus the current model's killswitch in the second tone position) and most significantly the Hipshot Contour 7 bridge, currently replaced with ESP's own Flicker-III 7 bridge.
I try to be objective about new guitars, give them a few weeks to settle in and get past the honeymoon phase and all that. Having met that criteria so far I can confidently say I'm enamored with this one. The 46mm nut is a life changing experience for me in regards to 7 strings, and I'm genuinely happy to have a standard scale, 22 fret seven string. It seems every other extended range offering by ESP leans towards the heavily downtuned audience that demand scale lengths north of 25.5" with a mandatory 24 fret setup and this feels like a breath of fresh air.
So, on to the meat of it: the Twinkle Pink finish is fantastic and it's damn near impossible to photograph the gravity of flair it exudes at every angle. The EMGs are great at what they do (I'm not partial to the anti-EMG camp, personally), however I'm looking at getting a pickguard made that has regular sized routes so swaps won't be limited to the original dimensions. It arrived in tune after more than 3 weeks of going back and forth in Japan, trying to sort out a courier service before finally making its way north to my eager hands. A clean-up and fresh set of stings was all that was required. The gold hardware has the typical light tarnish I find on most any domestic Japanese model, but other than that the condition is immaculate. Not a single ding, chip or mark of any kind. Bonus: it arrived with stickers on the first 9 inlays that mimic the originals (animal paws) and it had the cloth decal on the forearm cut, also on the original. I've since removed the inlay stickers and stored the cloth decal with the case. I like Ohmura quite a bit but that's going a bit far for me.
So, playability! It's an ESP Custom - there's not much more to say, honestly. It has the second best fretwork I've ever seen (only behind my Original Series Horizon, those Kiso guys are crazy) and arguably the best playability of any ESP I've ever owned and definitely of any 7 string I've played. The Hipshot Contour 7 is a nice bit of hardware and being able to directly compare to another Snapper with the Flicker-III, I'm firmly convinced that a dual stud design is superior. There's nothing inherently wrong with the Flicker-III, but if I had my choice I'd take the Contour. It holds tune as well as any non-dual locking setup, I'd say on par with a EBMM JP series trem. The scallops on the 9th to 22nd are particularly interesting, as they are just barely there but enough to notice and combined with medium jumbo frets high speed fretwork is, frankly, piss easy. I feel like I'm cheating at times - I get why Ohmura has them on all his models.
In closing, this thing fucking rips. My ESP GAS is never satiated but this helps... for now.
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As you said, the "standard" scale and 22 frets make it even cooler!
