Schecter KM-7 (Keith Merrow) Signature Thread

[OmegaSlayer]

The guitar brand lifecycle seems to be the same as every other product niche:

- Incumbents are expensive and lack features the community wants
- New or overseas brand enters the market offering cheap alternatives with premium specs (or just putting in cheap parts with the intent of the user replacing them like old Ibanez V series pickups)
- Those brands build a rep and start offering actual premium specs for slightly more than the original runs cost, but still significantly less than the incumbents who still want 2x the price
- Over the years their rep builds and you end up with $2200 MIK Schecters

Same story with non-guitar stuff like Uber or Walmart. Come to town > undercut the competition > position yourself as the "best" or only game in town offering the thing you sell > raise prices to match incumbents the moment they're gone or you're able to. That's not to say brands like Ibanez and Shecter aren't "allowed" to do this, they aren't mass-evil like Walmart, it just sucks for us when their prices catch up.

In 15 years we'll be defending or trying to justify $3500 Sawtooth and EART guitars

Something something capitalism...

 

[sell2792]

Imagine if they just put a decent flame or quilt top on and did the whole guitar in this natural finish.

I’m heavily considering buying a seven string KMIII (one with Fishmans) and finding someone to replace the veneers or just painting the headstock and top.

 

[Flick]

E

I’m heavily considering buying a seven string KMIII (one with Fishmans) and finding someone to replace the veneers or just painting the headstock and top.

Exactly. I have a KM6 MKIII artist. Currently looking for a shop that can paint it neon orange. Haven’t gotten any responses to the shops I’ve reached out to so far.

 

[Hoss632]

Love the look of the new artist. But at this point I'll just find a good deal on a used KM MK3 artistt or hybrid. And I've seen hybrids as cheap as 700 bucks at times. If we're talking new and I want a metal focused Schecter just get the Sun Valley Extremes. Played one, very solid guitar for the money.

 

[dirtool]

... And now we do have the chiquita edition too.

And it looks badass.

I remember there were a purple and green limited run stuff or custom shop stuff few years ago, even better.

 

[Sparky8691]

I got one of the last Fishman loaded KM-7 Artists about two months ago. I'd had my eye on it for a while thinking it had a load of the specs I wanted for a 7 string - 26.5" scale, ultra-slim neck, Fishmans with a dedicated single coil voice, stainless steel frets etc. The price was the sticking point but when I heard it had been discontinued I thought I'd better take this last opportunity to get a new one. I did try to order the blue crimson finish from a UK retailer that supposdely had 2 in stock - the blue crimson really is a stunning finish. Unfortunately had the order cancelled with the retailer telling me that they don't keep models like that in their own warehouse, and that it gets sent from a national Schecter distrubtor. So the stock level was meant to correspond to the distrubtor but was clearly wrong. Like I expected they said we can't source any more as it's discontinued. So I thought no luck, I'm not getting one. All other UK retailers showing out of stock. I checked Thomman though, and they apparently had the black burst available - and at £300 cheaper. Ordered it and got it within a week.

So far I've been very happy with the way it plays - neck is very comfortable and the stainless steel frets are lovely for bending. The neck pickup (which I discovered is a stock Fishman Open Core Classic - only the bridge is a customised model to Keith's preference) is great - how much the sound conforms to Fishman's slightly OTT descriptors I can't say, personally I just think of Voice 1 as a more liquid, smooth neck humbucker sound, and Voice 2 as a more percussive sound. Plus the Voice 3 single coil which is great.

I'm not really a fan of the bridge pickup though. It's great for cleans, especially coil split and when combined with the neck for both inner coils. Also nice for leads but it just doesn't have the growl and chunkiness I would like for metal/djent stuff. And that is of course one of the main reasons I want a 26.5" 7 string. The bridge pickup seems to compress a lot if you try and do some heavy palm muting...oddly it seems to compress less with powerchords but palm muting on just the low B has very little chunk to it. I have Fishman Moderns in a Cort 7 string (a KX507) and they certainly have sufficient growl and chunk. So I'm thinking of putting in a Modern in the KM-7 bridge. They have recently released them in the Open Core format with a dedicated Voice 3 single coil so should fit in easily.

There is one other thing I'm not so keen on. The guitar has quite a thin, metallic tone acoustically. Nice for the higher strings but for the low E and B I'm not a fan. Mainly that only has an impact when practicing acoustically (which I do quite a lot though, e.g. if I suddenly get some inspiration in the late evening and don't want to wake up neighbours). However it can make that lack of growl with the bridge pickup a bit worse when plugged in - if I'm playing the open strings heavily when muting you do get a metallic, clanky resonance to the tone. This is only my 2nd guitar with stainless frets and I've found these can contribute towards a more metallic acoustic sound but it's definitely more pronounced with the KM-7. I'm thinking the brass block the strings go through in the back has an impact. I was speaking to a luthier about doing the pickup swap and some electronics customisation and he agrees - said he fitted some brass ferrules to a guitar once and they made a huge difference in acoustic tone. So having a full brass block with ferrules must have even more of an impact.

I did actually ask this luthier about whether fitting a tremolo would be possible i.e. a Gotoh 510. I have an Ibanez AZ24047 which is one of the few production 7 strings with a non-Floyd trem, and I love what you can do with the trem but this Ibanez is nowhere as sleek to play as the KM-7. So I was wondering whether I could fit a trem to the KM-7, then I could sell the Ibanez without missing this feature. And having a trem instead of that high mass brass Hipshot bridge and brass string through block may have decreased that metallic tone. But the luthier thinks it will be incredibly difficult to fit a trem to the KM-7 due it being neck through with a slim body. So I've gotta keep my Ibanez for now if I want 7 strings with a trem. Perhaps the luthier will be able to remove the brass block from the KM though, and just have some normal ferrules.

I'm thinking of doing the following wiring setup after swapping in a Fishman Modern bridge: add another 3-way voicing toggle so each pickup can be controlled separately, changing the default coil split to outer coils, adding a push/pull to the volume knob that splits both inner coils, adding a kill switch and adding a tone knob (seen as it's a bright guitar I'd prefer to have one). I don't think that's too difficult a wiring scheme, controlling each pickup's voicing separately should be easy just need to work out how to be able to implement that ability to coil split the inner coils with a separate control whilst also having the individual outer coil split. I did ask Fishman and they said whilst they can't make a wiring diagram for me, it's definitely possible!

I also wondered how I'd feel about the open-pore wenge neck. No complaints with it, it's comfortable to hold (and beautiful to look at!) but if this was a custom shop model that I could spec myself I would have just gone for a satin smooth maple/walnut like my Reaper-6...which is my first Schecter, and the first guitar I bought with my own money. And that's the guitar that made me realise how comfortable Schecters with the ultra-thin necks are! I have noticed the KM-7 neck can feel a bit sticky sometimes, I've seen some previous posts in this thread that say it was finished with wax. It's not something I really dislike but it will feel a bit more comfortable to me when that stickiness has worn off a bit..I've only had the guitar 2 months so still early days. Overall though it's a lovely guitar to play and once I've got that bridge pickup sorted it should sound perfect for everything I want to do also. A shame I didn't get the blue crimson finish as that looked really special but the black burst still looks very smart...and how the guitar plays is the most important thing.

 

[Taikatatti]

Chameleon Usa KM7

 

[sell2792]

I got one of the last Fishman loaded KM-7 Artists about two months ago. I'd had my eye on it for a while thinking it had a load of the specs I wanted for a 7 string - 26.5" scale, ultra-slim neck, Fishmans with a dedicated single coil voice, stainless steel frets etc. The price was the sticking point but when I heard it had been discontinued I thought I'd better take this last opportunity to get a new one. I did try to order the blue crimson finish from a UK retailer that supposdely had 2 in stock - the blue crimson really is a stunning finish. Unfortunately had the order cancelled with the retailer telling me that they don't keep models like that in their own warehouse, and that it gets sent from a national Schecter distrubtor. So the stock level was meant to correspond to the distrubtor but was clearly wrong. Like I expected they said we can't source any more as it's discontinued. So I thought no luck, I'm not getting one. All other UK retailers showing out of stock. I checked Thomman though, and they apparently had the black burst available - and at £300 cheaper. Ordered it and got it within a week.

So far I've been very happy with the way it plays - neck is very comfortable and the stainless steel frets are lovely for bending. The neck pickup (which I discovered is a stock Fishman Open Core Classic - only the bridge is a customised model to Keith's preference) is great - how much the sound conforms to Fishman's slightly OTT descriptors I can't say, personally I just think of Voice 1 as a more liquid, smooth neck humbucker sound, and Voice 2 as a more percussive sound. Plus the Voice 3 single coil which is great.

I'm not really a fan of the bridge pickup though. It's great for cleans, especially coil split and when combined with the neck for both inner coils. Also nice for leads but it just doesn't have the growl and chunkiness I would like for metal/djent stuff. And that is of course one of the main reasons I want a 26.5" 7 string. The bridge pickup seems to compress a lot if you try and do some heavy palm muting...oddly it seems to compress less with powerchords but palm muting on just the low B has very little chunk to it. I have Fishman Moderns in a Cort 7 string (a KX507) and they certainly have sufficient growl and chunk. So I'm thinking of putting in a Modern in the KM-7 bridge. They have recently released them in the Open Core format with a dedicated Voice 3 single coil so should fit in easily.

There is one other thing I'm not so keen on. The guitar has quite a thin, metallic tone acoustically. Nice for the higher strings but for the low E and B I'm not a fan. Mainly that only has an impact when practicing acoustically (which I do quite a lot though, e.g. if I suddenly get some inspiration in the late evening and don't want to wake up neighbours). However it can make that lack of growl with the bridge pickup a bit worse when plugged in - if I'm playing the open strings heavily when muting you do get a metallic, clanky resonance to the tone. This is only my 2nd guitar with stainless frets and I've found these can contribute towards a more metallic acoustic sound but it's definitely more pronounced with the KM-7. I'm thinking the brass block the strings go through in the back has an impact. I was speaking to a luthier about doing the pickup swap and some electronics customisation and he agrees - said he fitted some brass ferrules to a guitar once and they made a huge difference in acoustic tone. So having a full brass block with ferrules must have even more of an impact.

I did actually ask this luthier about whether fitting a tremolo would be possible i.e. a Gotoh 510. I have an Ibanez AZ24047 which is one of the few production 7 strings with a non-Floyd trem, and I love what you can do with the trem but this Ibanez is nowhere as sleek to play as the KM-7. So I was wondering whether I could fit a trem to the KM-7, then I could sell the Ibanez without missing this feature. And having a trem instead of that high mass brass Hipshot bridge and brass string through block may have decreased that metallic tone. But the luthier thinks it will be incredibly difficult to fit a trem to the KM-7 due it being neck through with a slim body. So I've gotta keep my Ibanez for now if I want 7 strings with a trem. Perhaps the luthier will be able to remove the brass block from the KM though, and just have some normal ferrules.

I'm thinking of doing the following wiring setup after swapping in a Fishman Modern bridge: add another 3-way voicing toggle so each pickup can be controlled separately, changing the default coil split to outer coils, adding a push/pull to the volume knob that splits both inner coils, adding a kill switch and adding a tone knob (seen as it's a bright guitar I'd prefer to have one). I don't think that's too difficult a wiring scheme, controlling each pickup's voicing separately should be easy just need to work out how to be able to implement that ability to coil split the inner coils with a separate control whilst also having the individual outer coil split. I did ask Fishman and they said whilst they can't make a wiring diagram for me, it's definitely possible!

I also wondered how I'd feel about the open-pore wenge neck. No complaints with it, it's comfortable to hold (and beautiful to look at!) but if this was a custom shop model that I could spec myself I would have just gone for a satin smooth maple/walnut like my Reaper-6...which is my first Schecter, and the first guitar I bought with my own money. And that's the guitar that made me realise how comfortable Schecters with the ultra-thin necks are! I have noticed the KM-7 neck can feel a bit sticky sometimes, I've seen some previous posts in this thread that say it was finished with wax. It's not something I really dislike but it will feel a bit more comfortable to me when that stickiness has worn off a bit..I've only had the guitar 2 months so still early days. Overall though it's a lovely guitar to play and once I've got that bridge pickup sorted it should sound perfect for everything I want to do also. A shame I didn't get the blue crimson finish as that looked really special but the black burst still looks very smart...and how the guitar plays is the most important thing.

Long story short, just buy a different Schecter that has pickups that are more to your liking and with a trem. The amount of time and money you’d be wasting to heavily modify your KMIII is 100% not worth it.

Chameleon Usa KM7

Why can’t they make this an import finish?! They do chameleon finishes with carbon fiber binding on other models, it would be perfect on a KM.

 

[dirtool]

Chameleon Usa KM7

Btw, what is the bgm?

 

[Sparky8691]

Long story short, just buy a different Schecter that has pickups that are more to your liking and with a trem. The amount of time and money you’d be wasting to heavily modify your KMIII is 100% not worth it.

Yeah I've accepted the trem idea is completely out of the question. Swapping the bridge pickup for a Modern though...that's not too much work. I really do like the clarity and versatility you get from the Fluence pickups so I'm happy to keep using them, just want a bit more chunkiness for the metal stuff and I know the Moderns can do that.

There aren't any 7 string Schecters with traditional non-locking trems anyway. Would be cool if they did do something like that. Floyd Roses are a bit too much of a hassle for me, I like to be able to change tunings quickly.
In fact I can't think of many 7 strings with a trem that isn't a Floyd.

I'm happy to keep the KM7-III as my hardtail 7 string, will either keep my Ibanez AZ as my trem 7 string or possibly look at swapping it for a Vola, they seem to have slightly thinner necks.

I suppose something like Kiesel would be the attainable way of getting a guitar that's a desired spec but if I sold both the KM7 and AZ that would only bring in enough for Kiesel's starting price point.
Getting a Schecter Custom Shop is the dream...one day, when my playing can actually justify the cost!

 

[Nightside]

Why tf can't they chameleon the whole body???

I was excited as AF until he turned it over and made me flaccid.

Wtf is with companies refusing to paint the whole body the same colour these days?

 

[sell2792]

Why tf can't they chameleon the whole body???

I was excited as AF until he turned it over and made me flaccid.

Wtf is with companies refusing to paint the whole body the same colour these days?

I like the unfinished back to show off the neck. However, the mismatched headstock is unacceptable.

Also, what’s the song in the background?!

 

[dirtool]

I like the unfinished back to show off the neck. However, the mismatched headstock is unacceptable.

Also, what’s the song in the background?!

I think they do match, just reflection made they're in different color.

 

[vark]

Yeah I've accepted the trem idea is completely out of the question. Swapping the bridge pickup for a Modern though...that's not too much work. I really do like the clarity and versatility you get from the Fluence pickups so I'm happy to keep using them, just want a bit more chunkiness for the metal stuff and I know the Moderns can do that.

There aren't any 7 string Schecters with traditional non-locking trems anyway. Would be cool if they did do something like that. Floyd Roses are a bit too much of a hassle for me, I like to be able to change tunings quickly.
In fact I can't think of many 7 strings with a trem that isn't a Floyd.

I'm happy to keep the KM7-III as my hardtail 7 string, will either keep my Ibanez AZ as my trem 7 string or possibly look at swapping it for a Vola, they seem to have slightly thinner necks.

I suppose something like Kiesel would be the attainable way of getting a guitar that's a desired spec but if I sold both the KM7 and AZ that would only bring in enough for Kiesel's starting price point.
Getting a Schecter Custom Shop is the dream...one day, when my playing can actually justify the cost!

The best non Floyd 7s are the JP models imo

 

[Northfall]

A little late to the MKII Parade, but I couldn't be more happy with this thing. Personally prefer the more traditional C-7 design > the newer MKIII Bodies (previously owned a MKIII Artist). The Nazgul/Sentient absolutely rip. First time getting my hands on these combo of pickups, and they really fucking excel for metal! The split-coil allows it to clean up nicely. It certainly wouldn't put single-coils out of business for best sounding clean tone, but it definitely works good enough. The treble bleed resistor on the volume pot does leave a bit of wiggle-room to be desired, but other than that - I have no complaints. Really appreciate the subtle sparkles within the finish too. And it's easily the cheapest 7-string I have on deck right now. Not gonna complain about having a "cheap guitar" be a new favorite - just makes me that much more inclined to take it around and out of the house without fear of consequence.

 

[mlp187]

@Northfall same boat man. Love that carved top. I have the same model but swapped the pickups for Duncan MT7s.
Congrats!

 

[chapperbone]

@Northfall I have the opportunity to grab a used km7 trans white (i have been looking for a 7 in white) but the seller is asking $1500 CAD which is around $1113 USD. Does anyone think its a good deal?

 

[Northfall]

@Northfall I have the opportunity to grab a used km7 trans white (i have been looking for a 7 in white) but the seller is asking $1500 CAD which is around $1113 USD. Does anyone think its a good deal?

I would see if you can get a bit closer to ~800 usd. That's sbout average going rate on mkiis from what I've seen

 

[philkilla]

New model is pricey, but I'm sure they play and feel well. Schecter has stepped up a lot over the years.

Absolutely love that they're shipping with Lundgrens now too.

 

[MrWulf]

Not to spoil the echo chamber here but i think Schecter doing all these burk finishes cuz it sells. As much as ppl complaining about lack of solid finishes or other tops Schecter is just doing what the market want, unfortunately. People in here means very little in term of grand scheme of things.