Against my better judgment having vowed to only buy upper echelon guitars because I'm tired of finishing the job on all the lower-cost stuff I've had a propensity for buying over the years, I done did it again and rolled the dice. Thanks to the retailer I used who lets me get whatever I want on 0% payment plans, I tend to roll the dice a lot, knowing that if and when I receive something that sucks dramatically, I don't have $1000+ tied up in purgatory until I get a refund. This way, I'll only be out $80-$150 bucks while I wait on that refund. I typically know within 10 minutes of unboxing whether it's a keeper or needs a ride back to the warehouse.
I have had very poor experiences with "Crafted In Indonesia" instruments. I don't have any bias against anyone involved in the operation aside from the companies that I hear seem to routinely budget the Indonesian factories 'X amount' of time per guitar that typically result in rough unfinished work on some level that the consumer then has to either live with or remediate themselves or through the extra cost of hauling it down to a luthier. Up until today, every single new guitar I've purchased (except a Genesis from Rich @ Ibanez Rules w/ silver package) has needed a fret level and recrown/polish to achieve a string action of 5/64" (or my preferred lower 4/64" bass side for 6 string guitars) with no buzz. And that's been on a good day. Some of you may have seen me absolutely besmirch the character of LTD proudly because of a hilariously badly made MH-1007 ET I had with a blown-out evertune route and problems all over the place that could not be corrected unless you were to pull the frets and resurface the board etc etc - Well, I'm happy to say that I've had a pretty decent stroke of luck and that the blind squirrel has found a nut.
I present to you the LTD EX-7 Baritone with a late 2023 build date out of Indonesia.
I'm using an old phone for photos and the lighting blows ass in my shop, so it is what it is.
Anyway, things began really badly because I opened the box and saw this:
Fucker traveled from Reno, NV upside down with no extra packaging or padding in the inner crevices between boxes. Just chilling right on its pointy headstock. Whoever slapped the shipping label on the box did so upside down and applied no THIS SIDE UP markings or anything. So homie couldn't even do the simplest of tasks well. Appreciate that....
I thought FOR SURE that headstock was gonna be toast. Somehow, someway, there isn't a scratch, pressure crack, ding, dent, mash, nothing. A true miracle, especially considering I've received 2 Jackson's in the past year with blown out headstock points, but I've complained about that elsewhere too so I won't go on about that here.
My only complaint on the north end here ^ is that there is some pale discoloration at the edge of the fingerboard where it meets the nut shelf. But again, I've seen this on so many examples that pass through my house that I expect it at this point. What causes that? I'll let someone more in the know fill me in.... dull blade? lack of dye absorption? lack of moisture? who knows. But that doesn't concern me.
As you can also see on the treble side of the board, there's a bit of pale grain. I have not conditioned the board yet so that may blend in a little bit over time. But again, this is par for the course with these cheaper instruments in my experience and I've come to accept it because I'm not walking this thing down the runway- I'm just recording tracks.
A few tooling marks here and there, maybe a bit of glue residue. Not bad though. String alignment on the set neck between bridge and nut is good. I'm a stickler and usually want it completely even, but in this case it appears the high E has just a titch more real estate and that's my preference when it isn't perfectly even. It could just be an illusion due to the string gauging. I have a sloppy technique and can use as much playing space as I can get on the high E because I have tendency to let it slip off the board sometimes doing big stretches on arpeggios.
Stock TOM/tailpiece height depicted above ^
Simple electronics with a Korean pot ^ Not sure what the deal with that little hole is in the body. I have an idea but I'm not gonna speculate so if you know, lmk.
Post continues below, hang tight. Reached the max photos.
I have had very poor experiences with "Crafted In Indonesia" instruments. I don't have any bias against anyone involved in the operation aside from the companies that I hear seem to routinely budget the Indonesian factories 'X amount' of time per guitar that typically result in rough unfinished work on some level that the consumer then has to either live with or remediate themselves or through the extra cost of hauling it down to a luthier. Up until today, every single new guitar I've purchased (except a Genesis from Rich @ Ibanez Rules w/ silver package) has needed a fret level and recrown/polish to achieve a string action of 5/64" (or my preferred lower 4/64" bass side for 6 string guitars) with no buzz. And that's been on a good day. Some of you may have seen me absolutely besmirch the character of LTD proudly because of a hilariously badly made MH-1007 ET I had with a blown-out evertune route and problems all over the place that could not be corrected unless you were to pull the frets and resurface the board etc etc - Well, I'm happy to say that I've had a pretty decent stroke of luck and that the blind squirrel has found a nut.
I present to you the LTD EX-7 Baritone with a late 2023 build date out of Indonesia.
I'm using an old phone for photos and the lighting blows ass in my shop, so it is what it is.
Anyway, things began really badly because I opened the box and saw this:
Fucker traveled from Reno, NV upside down with no extra packaging or padding in the inner crevices between boxes. Just chilling right on its pointy headstock. Whoever slapped the shipping label on the box did so upside down and applied no THIS SIDE UP markings or anything. So homie couldn't even do the simplest of tasks well. Appreciate that....
I thought FOR SURE that headstock was gonna be toast. Somehow, someway, there isn't a scratch, pressure crack, ding, dent, mash, nothing. A true miracle, especially considering I've received 2 Jackson's in the past year with blown out headstock points, but I've complained about that elsewhere too so I won't go on about that here.
My only complaint on the north end here ^ is that there is some pale discoloration at the edge of the fingerboard where it meets the nut shelf. But again, I've seen this on so many examples that pass through my house that I expect it at this point. What causes that? I'll let someone more in the know fill me in.... dull blade? lack of dye absorption? lack of moisture? who knows. But that doesn't concern me.
As you can also see on the treble side of the board, there's a bit of pale grain. I have not conditioned the board yet so that may blend in a little bit over time. But again, this is par for the course with these cheaper instruments in my experience and I've come to accept it because I'm not walking this thing down the runway- I'm just recording tracks.
A few tooling marks here and there, maybe a bit of glue residue. Not bad though. String alignment on the set neck between bridge and nut is good. I'm a stickler and usually want it completely even, but in this case it appears the high E has just a titch more real estate and that's my preference when it isn't perfectly even. It could just be an illusion due to the string gauging. I have a sloppy technique and can use as much playing space as I can get on the high E because I have tendency to let it slip off the board sometimes doing big stretches on arpeggios.
Stock TOM/tailpiece height depicted above ^
Simple electronics with a Korean pot ^ Not sure what the deal with that little hole is in the body. I have an idea but I'm not gonna speculate so if you know, lmk.
Post continues below, hang tight. Reached the max photos.
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