Emperor Guillotine
The Almighty Ruler
It has come to my attention recently that I've been incredibly backlogged on NGD threads due to a period where I stepped away from online forums altogether for a handful of years. (I would sometimes occasionally log in here on Sevenstring and drop a comment here or there on a thread; but generally, I was inactive for a long stretch of time.)
Now that I am active on this site again, I wanted to take a bit of time to gradually catch up by sharing what gear I've been cycling through my lineup during the recent years, starting with this epic prototype that some of you undoubtedly saw me selling at the start of this year (2023).
This is a custom Strictly 7 Guitars (S7G) Cobra that was built for Acle Kahney of TesseracT. This was meant to be a prototype for Acle’s "AK7" signature model that was never actualized by S7G.
I originally received this guitar back in December of 2015. So, that makes this NGD thread roughly seven years (and some change) late. That's like one year per string. Thus, the thread title.
Specs:
• Body shape: S7G Cobra
• Body wood: swamp ash
• Body finish: matte black over red-filled grain with a satin/matte finish
• Scale length: 698mm (27.5”)
• Neck construction: neck-thru
• Neck wood: 7-piece purpleheart neck
• Neck profile: S7G custom neck profile
• Neck finish: satin/matte
• Fretboard wood: ebony
• Fretboard radius: 508mm (20”)
• Fretboard inlay: TesseracT band logo pearloid inlay at frets 11-13
• Fret number: 26
• Fretwire: jumbo stainless steel
• Side dots: Luminlay
• Pickups: Bare Knuckle Aftermath (neck & bridge)
• Controls: 3-way mini-toggle pickup selector, volume knob
• Bridge: Hipshot standard fixed bridge
• Tuners: Spertzel locking tuners
Initially, there were only two of these made. Prototype A (called the "AK47"), which Acle received and owned for several years before he sold it back in September 2019; and Prototype B, which was completed for Acle, but he never received it. Prototype B has since changed hands a few times, with me probably having owned it the longest amount of time.
At some point during my years of owning this guitar, a guy who is now an online friend reached out to me indicating that he had Prototype C, which was completed by S7G some time after Acle terminated his contract with S7G amidst the mass exodus of artists severing all ties with S7G. (I'm sure some of you here on the forum remember that fiasco that Keith Merrow ignited.) Later on, maybe another year or two afterwards, a now-former S7G employee brought it to my attention that there was an unfinished fourth AK7 build hanging out in the pile at the S7G shop that I'm assuming was meant to be a Prototype D for Acle or just something to toss into the general market, but it was never completed.
So, we can assume that up to four of these AK7 guitars were in the queue to be made in total, but only three were actually completed.
Since we are dealing with a S7G build here, I will go ahead and provide a full disclosure of my issues with this guitar throughout my seven years of owning it.
First and foremost, the sound of this guitar is all mids. No bass (low end) and somewhat mildly present treble (high end). Absolute djent city. This is due to the combination of the neck being comprised solely of purpleheart (a wood that is inherently heavy in mid frequency presence) along with the BKP Aftermath pickups, which if you're familiar with the pickups, have a strong bell curve bump in the mids by design.
Regarding the wood used for the wings and thin top of the body: swamp ash is a naturally brighter tonewood. So, that explains where the bit of upper frequency presence in the guitar comes from. However, in the case of this particular guitar, the swamp ash really doesn't contribute as much as it should (as the body wood) due to the neck-thru construction method and the fact that the somewhat girthy, all-purpleheart neck itself makes up such a hefty slab of the guitar's composition.
Overall, the guitar was super attack-y and punchy; but it would always take a few minutes to dial-in through a rig or a digital setup.
Second qualm: the S7G neck profile isn't for everyone. If you know, then you know.
And last thing to note: the frets on this particular guitar were subjected to a few continual afflictions including unevenness and fret sprout, both of which I had to get addressed by knocking down some frets and getting the fret ends cleaned up.
Now that I am active on this site again, I wanted to take a bit of time to gradually catch up by sharing what gear I've been cycling through my lineup during the recent years, starting with this epic prototype that some of you undoubtedly saw me selling at the start of this year (2023).
This is a custom Strictly 7 Guitars (S7G) Cobra that was built for Acle Kahney of TesseracT. This was meant to be a prototype for Acle’s "AK7" signature model that was never actualized by S7G.
I originally received this guitar back in December of 2015. So, that makes this NGD thread roughly seven years (and some change) late. That's like one year per string. Thus, the thread title.
Specs:
• Body shape: S7G Cobra
• Body wood: swamp ash
• Body finish: matte black over red-filled grain with a satin/matte finish
• Scale length: 698mm (27.5”)
• Neck construction: neck-thru
• Neck wood: 7-piece purpleheart neck
• Neck profile: S7G custom neck profile
• Neck finish: satin/matte
• Fretboard wood: ebony
• Fretboard radius: 508mm (20”)
• Fretboard inlay: TesseracT band logo pearloid inlay at frets 11-13
• Fret number: 26
• Fretwire: jumbo stainless steel
• Side dots: Luminlay
• Pickups: Bare Knuckle Aftermath (neck & bridge)
• Controls: 3-way mini-toggle pickup selector, volume knob
• Bridge: Hipshot standard fixed bridge
• Tuners: Spertzel locking tuners
Initially, there were only two of these made. Prototype A (called the "AK47"), which Acle received and owned for several years before he sold it back in September 2019; and Prototype B, which was completed for Acle, but he never received it. Prototype B has since changed hands a few times, with me probably having owned it the longest amount of time.
At some point during my years of owning this guitar, a guy who is now an online friend reached out to me indicating that he had Prototype C, which was completed by S7G some time after Acle terminated his contract with S7G amidst the mass exodus of artists severing all ties with S7G. (I'm sure some of you here on the forum remember that fiasco that Keith Merrow ignited.) Later on, maybe another year or two afterwards, a now-former S7G employee brought it to my attention that there was an unfinished fourth AK7 build hanging out in the pile at the S7G shop that I'm assuming was meant to be a Prototype D for Acle or just something to toss into the general market, but it was never completed.
So, we can assume that up to four of these AK7 guitars were in the queue to be made in total, but only three were actually completed.
Since we are dealing with a S7G build here, I will go ahead and provide a full disclosure of my issues with this guitar throughout my seven years of owning it.
First and foremost, the sound of this guitar is all mids. No bass (low end) and somewhat mildly present treble (high end). Absolute djent city. This is due to the combination of the neck being comprised solely of purpleheart (a wood that is inherently heavy in mid frequency presence) along with the BKP Aftermath pickups, which if you're familiar with the pickups, have a strong bell curve bump in the mids by design.
Regarding the wood used for the wings and thin top of the body: swamp ash is a naturally brighter tonewood. So, that explains where the bit of upper frequency presence in the guitar comes from. However, in the case of this particular guitar, the swamp ash really doesn't contribute as much as it should (as the body wood) due to the neck-thru construction method and the fact that the somewhat girthy, all-purpleheart neck itself makes up such a hefty slab of the guitar's composition.
Overall, the guitar was super attack-y and punchy; but it would always take a few minutes to dial-in through a rig or a digital setup.
Second qualm: the S7G neck profile isn't for everyone. If you know, then you know.
And last thing to note: the frets on this particular guitar were subjected to a few continual afflictions including unevenness and fret sprout, both of which I had to get addressed by knocking down some frets and getting the fret ends cleaned up.
