Seven String Custom

It wasn't me!

Thinking of putting aside a fund for this. Now, since I'm almost permanently broke and have essentially no money to my name whatsoever, this'll take a while, so plenty of time for debate. The idea is, a Jackson Rhoads, seven string, with a 24-fret neck, a Floyd, no inlays, neck-thru. Any advice and debate is welcome. It'll be a *long* time before I do anything about this, so let's have some fun playing with the idea in the meantime.

Karl Hungus

What choice of woods and pickups? I say Ebony is a must for the fretboard. What colour aswell?

jcoote

ebony fretboard on a maple neck and mahogany body...did u get a price it wasn't me

It wasn't me!

It'll be none more black. Just filled out a quote form online, price is... *drumroll* approximately $3780. That's a pretty simple design, body's alder, neck's quartersawn maple, all the way through. The fretboard is indeed ebony, and colour's a solid black, though that can be changed for free anyhoo.

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Just filled out a quote form online, price is... *drumroll* approximately $3780.

That online form is useless for getting any kind of price. It just gives you the list price, which is nowhere near a real representation of what you'd expect to pay if you go through a dealer.

Go here and email them your specs, and you'll get an accurate price. Should be somewhere around the 2/3rds of the list price.

It wasn't me!

One thing that pisses on the parade is that neck-thru guitars start at 3420.

jcoote

no money to your name and your gonna spend 2/3 of $3780 on a jackson are u insane man

Karl Hungus

jcoote wrote:

no money to your name and your gonna spend 2/3 of $3780 on a jackson are u insane man

No different to what I did, really.

jcoote

true and fair play to yis i could barely save enough for a lite ash strat

Beecher

You should check out some other custom shops though, Ran make phenominal guitars (only had the chance to play one but wow!) and you could have your 7-string guitar made for around 1,500 - 2000.

Heres some pics of a rhodes they made..

http://ranguitars.floriandecher.de/InvaderWhiteBevel/InvBlWhBev7.jpg

http://ranguitars.floriandecher.de/InvaderWhiteBevel/InvBlWhBev10.jpg

http://ranguitars.floriandecher.de/InvaderWhiteBevel/InvBlWhBev8.jpg

http://ranguitars.floriandecher.de/InvaderWhiteBevel/InvBlWhBev15.jpg

It wasn't me!

Karl Hungus wrote:

That online form is useless for getting any kind of price. It just gives you the list price, which is nowhere near a real representation of what you'd expect to pay if you go through a dealer.

Go here and email them your specs, and you'll get an accurate price. Should be somewhere around the 2/3rds of the list price.

Now that's some valuable information, thankee Karl. Must make a list of specs now I guess. So far I have:

Alder body
Neck-thru maple
24-fret, 25.5" scale neck
Seven-string Floyd Rose
blank ebony fretboard

Open to pickup suggestions, looking for a huge, crunchy tone, heavy as lead, but with great low end clarity, to deal with B riffage. colour's not a huge issue, can be decided later. Other than that, suggestions away people.

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Open to pickup suggestions, looking for a huge, crunchy tone, heavy as lead, but with great low end clarity, to deal with B riffage. colour's not a huge issue, can be decided later. Other than that, suggestions away people.

I'd say go for a DiMarzio Evolution. I find it sounds really tight and defined for the end, but a lot of bite aswell, and if you're going for a neck pickup, you can do worse than getting a DiMarzio Air Norton (I've got 4 of 'em so far. )

ferdi

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'd say go for a DiMarzio Evolution.

same as the ones Vai used to have?

It wasn't me!

Bite is one thing I like... I want a really solid, aggressive tone. DiMarzios were on my mind alright. neck's going to be fast as hell, but since it'll take about a year to build, I've time to make myself worthy.

Karl Hungus

ferdi wrote:

same as the ones Vai used to have?

Actually, he only used the Evos in his 6-Strings. His 7s have Blaze pickups. Don't know why, I think Evo beats Blaze hands down.

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Bite is one thing I like... I want a really solid, aggressive tone. DiMarzios were on my mind alright. neck's going to be fast as hell, but since it'll take about a year to build, I've time to make myself worthy.

You know, you should really take a day out to come down here and play my Stealth. It's the same neck-through construction, and seeing as they're both pointy shapes, that'll have a similar effect on the sound.

It's the good old Ebony fretboard, maple neck, and mahogany body combo, with the Evo and Air Norton pickups. 7 Strings of course, so it could very well give you an idea of what you'd like in your Jackson. The only real difference is that it's a fixed bridge.

It wasn't me!

Someday I'll have to take you up on that. Been itching for a spin since you got it anyway.

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Someday I'll have to take you up on that. Been itching for a spin since you got it anyway.

You should. We could probably make a night of it. Guitars and beer! Now if you'll excuse me, all this talk of seven string customs has forced me to take her out of the box, and crank up the Mesa Boogie.

jimi_t

I just got meself my first 7 string this evening - Ibanez RG 7321
I'm very tempted to throw the pickups into my Double Fat Strat (Stock Squier pickups) and get new ones for this. If I was to update them in the not so distant future, would you recommend the evolutions or something different?

david

7 string pickups wont fit into your Squier

Karl Hungus

freakonaleashx wrote:

7 string pickups wont fit into your Squier

That sounds like a challenge, if you ask me.

david

The pole pieces wont be spaced for a six string so it'll sound shyte. That is if you butcher your guitar to make them fit!

It wasn't me!

Okay, I'm tired, bored, and it's one o'clock in the morning. What better time to draw up a list of specs?!

Design:
Seven String neck-thru Jackson Rhoads

Woods:
Body-alder
Neck-maple
Fingerboard-ebony

Electronics:
2 volume
2 tone
3-way toggle

Hardware:
Sperzel Locking Tuners
Dunlop Strap Locks
7-string Floyd Rose

Neck:
24-fret
25.5" scale
no inlay

Pickups:
Bridge-DiMarzio Evolution
Neck-DiMarzio Air Norton

Methinks that's it, anything I've forgotten?

david

Yes, you forgot something, you have a sweet ass LES PAUL STANDARD! Get a decent amp ffs!

Karl Hungus

It wasn't me! wrote:

Electronics:
2 volume
2 tone
3-way toggle

Why 2 Vols and 2 Tone? And would that actually fit on a V? Personally, I've always the Tone turned to max, I find it's a pretty useless function alltogether, so do you really need 2 of them?

It wasn't me!

Maybe a master tone alright, but rolling back on tone, especially for a neck pickup, will give you a gorgeous clean, bluesy thing.

david

It wasn't me! wrote:

Maybe a master tone alright, but rolling back on tone, especially for a neck pickup, will give you a gorgeous clean, bluesy thing.

So you still play a Marshall G15?!

Karl Hungus

Have you considered any coil tapping? The Air Norton sounds very nice tapped.

legologic

I don't think ebony & maple are supposed to go together. The only reason I say that is when I was building mine that was my original plan but a luthier I was getting advice off warned me against it. I ended up light mahogany neck and ebony board.

I'm not 100% why but I think it's along the lines of the ebony over time will stain the maple. Also construction-wise its a royal pain. If anyone has ever worked with ebony you'll know what your hands are like afterwards... sore and pure black. Pure black dust and very white maple just dont go (its square pegs and round holes). Unless the neck is gona be sprayed I don't know if maple/ebony is the best combo. I'm sure it's been done and will be done if you ask, just if you wana keep the maple natural it could cause problems with the manufacturing and in the long run.

There's also some issue with grain size AFAIK.

Doctor J

And why locking tuners if you're putting on a Floyd?

feylya

Ease of restringing I'd imagine...

It wasn't me!

yup, restringingness. as to ebony/maple, they seem to go nicely enough with other guitars. *shrug* freak: G30 I'll have you know.

david

Someone needs an ENGL...:p

Karl Hungus

Maple and Ebony go great together, and I honestly think if a luthier is advising against it, he's lazy.

legologic

I don't think so... it was me building it not him.

Karl Hungus

legologic wrote:

I don't think so... it was me building it not him.

Fair enough, but frankly, this is the first time I've ever heard of maple and ebony not working together, although it's more brittle than a rosewood fretboard, and supposedly harder to work with. Many other luthiers offer it, many customs shops and many production line guitars go with maple necks with ebony fretboards, and so on, so it can't be a problem.

My custom built guitar has a maple neck with an ebony board. Absolutely gorgeous, I can tell you.

It wasn't me!

freakonaleashx wrote:

Someone needs an ENGL...:p

I need my JCM800...

david

If only I had $800, I could nick a JCM800 and 1960A off of ebay

legologic

Karl Hungus wrote:

My custom built guitar has a maple neck with an ebony board. Absolutely gorgeous, I can tell you.

Yeah tbh I can't really work this one out! I would've loved to do ebony/maple.

The strenght of the maple round back and the close-grained contrasting ebony up front we're my first coice. Ebony's not an easy wood to work but it's just stunning. When I seen my unslotted untreated board shining up at me after 2 mins with some wool it was magic!

It wasn't me!

freakonaleashx wrote:

If only I had $800, I could nick a JCM800 and 1960A off of ebay

Linkage?

david

First auction I saw was 8hrs to go, no reserve, $780, 1 bid...

It wasn't me!

Themusiczoo got back to me with a quote. Depending on a few other specs, I'm looking at about $2500, which is very doable. May move on this in the next year now.

david

Fair play if you can get 2.5k to spend on a custom guitar dave! Y'know PRS custom 22's go for about $1400 on chrisguitars though, that'd leave change for a nice little ENGL/mesa combo and a few heavy nights out...

It wasn't me!

Over about a year and a half I could do it. and takes a year to build, so...