NGD: The Strictly 7 Cobra that my neighbor totally didn't steal.

[gunshow86de]

So after some confusion involving a mysterious "BGRANT," I got my Strictly 7 Cobra!

I'm super pumped, this guitar is phenomenal. I'm amazed out how well the setup held, considering it came from Ohio to Houston (only a 40-45 degree difference in temperature, no biggie).

The neck feels great. Fretwork is spot on. Finish is gorgeous. Sounds like an absolute beast through my DAR.

What more can I say? Jim and his crew did an amazing job.

Specs:
Swamp Ash Body
Flame Maple Neck w/ Pau Ferro fretboard
Medium-jumbo stainless frets
Hipshot Contour 7 tremolo
Bareknuckle Cold Sweat's in bridge and neck
Tremol-no
Sperzel locking tuners
House of Kolor NE506 Blue Neon

Oh I suppose you lookie-loo's want some pictures?















All of dem pics here => Strictly 7 Build pictures by gunshow86de - Photobucket

Oh and look even a video (not me playing);



Now what do?

[Rick]

Beautiful!

[CrushingAnvil]

Congrats, although it looks really cheap in that first photo

[Hemi-Powered Drone]

I don't know if its that colour, which I doubt because I love that colour, but that headstock looks weird.

Otherwise its an awesome guitar, congrats!

[caskettheclown]

I love that guitar. Its just so simple. No crazy paint job or pain the ass trem on it.

[buffa d]

mm... cold sweats. My favorite bkps.

[SirMyghin]

You are one lucky bastard Gunshow, but good on you for it. I loved seeing the video (which I consequently saw a few days ago) the cold sweats are pretty amazing sounding. If I don't get on with the nailbombs they seem very much my style. There is always next guitar though.

[gunshow86de]

^

Oh yeah, the Coldsweats sound amazing. Very percussive, and really clear sounding. I have the middle position of the three-way set to split to the inner-coils of each pickup. It really nails that single coil snap.

[ajdehoogh]

It may be a minor thing to you...but what do you feel about that over route on the neck pup on the bottom control side? I've highlighted it so you can know what I'm talking about.



It may not be a big thing for you but I'd be a little hesitant about ordering a $2k guitar when mistakes like that are getting out.

[gunshow86de]

^

Huh? The routes are perfectly symmetrical. Jim uses a CNC machine for all the bodies.

[mountainjam]

congrats dude, that thing is awesome.

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by gunshow86de

^

Huh? The routes are perfectly symmetrical. Jim uses a CNC machine for all the bodies.

I think he's talking about the gap under route for the pickup tab where it looks like somebody slipped with a router... it's small but it looks like it's there in two different pics, not sure how it could have happened if he's using CNC

I'm liking the color you picked How are you liking the Hipshot trem (assuming you're not just leaving it locked)?

[gunshow86de]

^

I think I see what you mean. The cavities may have been widened a bit by hand because of the covers. I don't know, I honestly wouldn't have noticed if he wouldn't have said anything. Thanks a lot.

The Hipshot has a nice feel to it. It's definitely "tighter" than the Edge on my RG560, but I think that's due to the extra tension for the low-B (IIRC, my JP7 was like that). For palm mutes, it feels just like a hardtail Hipshot (which is great for me). The arm-mount is interesting. It does't screw in and it doesn't have the Ibanez plastic collars. It must be some kind of metal clip inside of the trem itself. Whatever it is, it keeps the arm from spinning, so I can move it out of the way and it stays there. It seems like a pretty stable trem. I really only use it for flutters and stuff. The Tremol-no is really there for when I feel like getting my chickn' pickn' on (I am a Texan after all) and don't want my bends to throw the other string out of tune.

[SirMyghin]

^^^

How do the cold sweats chicken pick, they sound as if they would be amazing for it, even though humbuckers.

[Lukifer]

Dude that thing is CLASSY! Love the color and everything else about it!!

[adrock]

finally!! absolutely gorgeous

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by gunshow86de

^

I think I see what you mean. The cavities may have been widened a bit by hand because of the covers. I don't know, I honestly wouldn't have noticed if he wouldn't have said anything. Thanks a lot.

The Hipshot has a nice feel to it. It's definitely "tighter" than the Edge on my RG560, but I think that's due to the extra tension for the low-B (IIRC, my JP7 was like that). For palm mutes, it feels just like a hardtail Hipshot (which is great for me). The arm-mount is interesting. It does't screw in and it doesn't have the Ibanez plastic collars. It must be some kind of metal clip inside of the trem itself. Whatever it is, it keeps the arm from spinning, so I can move it out of the way and it stays there. It seems like a pretty stable trem. I really only use it for flutters and stuff. The Tremol-no is really there for when I feel like getting my chickn' pickn' on (I am a Texan after all) and don't want my bends to throw the other string out of tune.

Cool, I'm thinking I'm going to use the Hipshot trem on some future guitars and you're the first person I've seen that's used one

And it needs said again, that color kicks all kinds of ass

[Sicarius]

love the guitar, beautiful color.

Glad you got everything sorted out with FedEx. I know the one here in Conroe is atrocious.

[highlordmugfug]

Gonna sound gooood through the SC.

[gunshow86de]

Originally Posted by technomancer

Cool, I'm thinking I'm going to use the Hipshot trem on some future guitars and you're the first person I've seen that's used one

And it needs said again, that color kicks all kinds of ass

Yeah I was a bit nervous, you don't see too many of them out there. It's seems at least as good as the JP7 one, but I'll have to put it through some more testing. The block is fairly sizeable, not sure what material it is. I know JohnIce has one on one of his home builds, and there's a guy in the luthier section that has one on his 7-string Strat.

A word of caution for your builder (I'm assuming KxK? ); don't use the PDF on the Hipshot website. It is wrong. Jim programmed the CNC using their CAD drawing, and when he finally got the trem (Hipshot takes their sweet time with the 7-string trems) it didn't fit correctly. In fact, on the Hipshot site, the one review for the Contour 7 trem says as much.

[gunshow86de]

Originally Posted by highlordmugfug

Gonna sound gooood through the SC.

Shhh, we don't speak of my "ani-djent" rig around these parts.

[gunshow86de]

Originally Posted by SirMyghin

^^^

How do the cold sweats chicken pick, they sound as if they would be amazing for it, even though humbuckers.

They sound great. The neck clean tone is beautiful. But that middle-position is where it's at for the single-coil snappiness.

[yellowv]

That thing looks killer.

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by gunshow86de

Yeah I was a bit nervous, you don't see too many of them out there. It's seems at least as good as the JP7 one, but I'll have to put it through some more testing. The block is fairly sizeable, not sure what material it is. I know JohnIce has one on one of his home builds, and there's a guy in the luthier section that has one on his 7-string Strat.

A word of caution for your builder (I'm assuming KxK? ); don't use the PDF on the Hipshot website. It is wrong. Jim programmed the CNC using their CAD drawing, and when he finally got the trem (Hipshot takes their sweet time with the 7-string trems) it didn't fit correctly. In fact, on the Hipshot site, the one review for the Contour 7 trem says as much.

Yeah it'll be a KxK (major surprise I'm sure ) Thanks for the tip... KxK don't do anything as far as programming/routing before the parts are on hand when using something new for the first time to avoid stuff like that happening. Can be a drag when a manufacturer is slow getting stuff shipped, but better than realizing a template schematic was wrong.

To get back onto your guitar, I'm really curious to hear the Cold Sweats in swamp ash. They seemed fairly bright so I'd love to hear how that combo works out.

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by ajdehoogh

It may be a minor thing to you...but what do you feel about that over route on the neck pup on the bottom control side? I've highlighted it so you can know what I'm talking about.



It may not be a big thing for you but I'd be a little hesitant about ordering a $2k guitar when mistakes like that are getting out.

It doesn't look like a big deal to me. If you want something PERFECT, you probably shouldn't be ordering a custom guitar. They are made by humans, and nobody is perfect. Something super minimal like that, I wouldn't even worry about.