[ephrion]

The main two woods I see being made for 7 strings are mahogany and basswood.

Which would be the best wood type to go with for a aggressive, tight tone? I have a basswood bodies Peavey strap ripoff and while it sounds nice it sounds very round and I'm worried that it wouldn't have a defined bottom end.

Thanks for your help!

[theboatcandream]

I think that the neck material and scale length is as big a factor. Longer scale for more clarity and snap. Maple necks for more snap and brightness, a tighter bass.

Another part of it is that a lot of guitarists just tend to use too much bass, period! Low frequencies are for drums and bass guitar. 6 strings and 7 strings should fill up the mids and treble. In metal though, mid scoops are awesome, but some people take it too far -- listen to "to live is to die" by metallica, or pantera, or most nu metal. Sometimes there's so much bass, that the bass guitar completely disapears!

That's why I prefer more ballanced tones a la slayer, anthrax, even nile.... the mids are scooped, but they aren't completely gone, and there isn't too much bass.

You could also try using heavier strings.

[ephrion]

Thanks for your input, that makes the selection a lot easier for me.

I don't like mid scooped tones at all. My mids are cranked on my amp. The issues I'm worried about are like tightness of the playing, will it respond and not get all flubby.

Thanks again!

[David]

basswood... and oh shiznat I gotta go... I'll explain more later.

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by ephrion

Thanks for your input, that makes the selection a lot easier for me.
I don't like mid scooped tones at all. My mids are cranked on my amp. The issues I'm worried about are like tightness of the playing, will it respond and not get all flubby.
Thanks again!

I'd say mahogany body with a maple neck. Maple helps with brightness and clarity and tightness, mahogany greatly improves the mids.

[ephrion]

Mr Boatdreamer-- Know of any 7 stringers like that?

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by ephrion

Mr Boatdreamer-- Know of any 7 stringers like that?

Oh by the way, ash! Ash is a really great tonewood, it's my favourite alongside mahogany! It's what the original strats were made out of -- think Jimmy's tone on Hey Joe. With humbuckers, it's killer as well. Bright, but it still has mids, and the bass is under control. I'd say it's similar to basswood, only better -- I find basswood to be kind of boring sounding, even sterile, but the vast majority of basswood guitars I've played have been cheep budget guitars so I guess I don't know for sure.

Warmoth is a sure bet. I think that Ibanez would probably have something like that, but I'm not sure -- they use mostly basswood and alder, with agathis for their cheeper models.

I have an epiphone 7 string les paul, and I convinced a friend of mine to buy a 7 string epiphone V when I saw one at a really good price. Both have maple necks, like most of the korean epiphones. The bodies are sapele -- the real name of "african mahogany". My les paul has an alder cap.

The thing is, these guitars have a lot of problems. The quality of the wood isn't bad, but it isn't great. Even though these were special editions, basically marketting prototypes, they're still Epiphones. The tuners are functional, but not great. The stock nuts are plastic and should be replaced. The stock pickups are useless and only good for nu-metal. The finish is 4mm of polyurethane. The necks are 7 pieces, like the Norlin era Les Pauls of the 1970's. Plus the stock switches die, and the stock pots aren't great either.

In my opinion, everything about those Epiphone guitars should be upgraded. That means a major after-purchase expense. But I'm happy with my guitar after sanding down the finish, getting new pickups, a new nut, push pull wiring using a new switch and dimarzio pots, and paying for a decent setup.


If I had the $1600, I'd get a Warmoth 7 string. They have two options -- either strat style, or PRS style, both in a 25" scale. For the strat, a maple neck on a mahogany body. For the PRS style, I'd personally get a mahogany neck on a mahogany body with a maple cap. But the Ibanez Artist series has maple necks and maple caps with mahogany bodies, so the PRS style with a maple neck wouldn't be out of question either, especially if you're a lead player.

The thing is, whatever woods you get, remember that the pickups you get, the amp you use, and the way you dial in your distortion and EQ are huge factors as well! Pickups like the dimarzio superdistortion or duncan custom custom custom both have great bass ends from my personal experience. Through my rig, the superdistortion had more mids but slightly brittle highs, and the custom custom custom was a bit scooped sounding.


Anyway, I'm going to stop writing because if I keep going, I'll only give more bad advice! Good luck!

[ephrion]

I love the tone of ash, that's what my six stringer is made of ( northern ash + 9 peice maple/walnut neck thru on a trans white finish )

I'm looking to spend under a grand though, as cheap as possible, and $1600 is out of my price range. If I had that much I'd be picking up either an ESP Stephen Carpenter or a Carvin. The new Agile 7 strings baritones are very tempting and I beleive I'll probably end up getting one of those.

I'm not a fan of Epiphones, for the reasons you listed and others.

I will have to check out the Ibanez artist series.

Thanks for your advice!

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by ephrion

I love the tone of ash, that's what my six stringer is made of ( northern ash + 9 peice maple/walnut neck thru on a trans white finish )
I'm looking to spend under a grand though, as cheap as possible, and $1600 is out of my price range. If I had that much I'd be picking up either an ESP Stephen Carpenter or a Carvin. The new Agile 7 strings baritones are very tempting and I beleive I'll probably end up getting one of those.
I'm not a fan of Epiphones, for the reasons you listed and others.
I will have to check out the Ibanez artist series.
Thanks for your advice!

The artist series is great, but all 6 strings.

You can probably get a warmoth for closer to a grand... for me it would be more expensive because I'd want custom pickups for it.

[Drew]

I personally vastly prefer basswood to mahogany, but for rhythm work it's a tossup.

Mahogany is actually surprisingly weak in the bass, and the 2027 and CST I've owned can't touch my old 7620 or my UV in terms of depth and "roundness" of the tone. Baswood has a respectable amount of treble, plenty of mids, and great depth.

Mahogany, meanwhile, has weak treble, a strong lower midrange, but little true bass. For me, this isn't what I look for in a lead guitar sound, but for rhythm it actually isn't too bad with the right pickups - the fairly weak bass but strong lower mids tend to naturally leave more room for the bass guitar, and while you don't have quite the same impact as a brighter tonewood, if you want a chunky rhythm tone, this isn't a bad way to get it. Oh, and it sounds ungodly clean. Your low B won't be as defined as with a basswood 7, but like I said, with the rght pickups, this might actually be the sound you're looking for.

Ash is a great suggestion, and personally I think alder, a similar tonewood, is perfectly suited for a seven. Great bass, clear treble, and a strong upper midrange would give you a ton of definition along your low B, and I've always loved the sound of a strat for leads...

[eaeolian]

Originally Posted by Drew

and personally I think alder, a similar tonewood, is perfectly suited for a seven. Great bass, clear treble, and a strong upper midrange would give you a ton of definition along your low B, and I've always loved the sound of a strat for leads...

Hmm, that might be why I have a maple thru-neck and alder wings. With an ebony board? Ahhh...

I like mahgoany when paired with a maple neck AND either ebony or maple board. I think all of you that have issues with mahogany and 7s are either a.) very used to the "basswood sound" (which I don't like much, personally), or b.) having issues because of using DiMarzios, which seem to me to be voiced for basswood - I've never liked them in anything else, especially mahogany. (I think the PAFs in the K7 sound like crap on the B, for example.)

[garcia3441]

My Vigier has a maple neck, an alder body, and DiMarzio pickups

[eaeolian]

Originally Posted by garcia3441

My Vigier has a maple neck, an alder body, and DiMarzio pickups

Which ones? I haven't liked the Blaze, Blaze Custom, or Evo in anything that wasn't basswood - and the PAF 7s in the K7 *really* sounded weak to me. But, to each their own...

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by eaeolian

Which ones? I haven't liked the Blaze, Blaze Custom, or Evo in anything that wasn't basswood - and the PAF 7s in the K7 *really* sounded weak to me. But, to each their own...

I love the PAF7 the bridge of my guitar, and it's functional in the neck. But I love it in the bridge.

But that probably means that most people here will hate it! Why? It's relatively low output, it has more in the mids, and it has a much less modern sound than the high output pickups most metal players use.

I'm not sure why exactly people don't like it, but I can definately believe it. For me, I use a lot of mids, I go for a more vintage tone, and I play mostly rhythm and I do lead work only sparingly. I find that in the bridge, the PAF7 is incredibly ballanced in terms of EQ. It's not muddy or thumpy or enclosed sounding. The mids can be scooped without it sounding harsh. It has a compressed enough output that it can drive really well, and the mids are nice.

I've played around with the duncan 59 pickup and I think that a 7 string 59 with an alnico II magnet might be the only pickup I'd use instead. Since most people here use the EMG 707 or some other distortion pickup, it doesn't surprise me one bit that the PAF7s are unpopular. I just think that their a gem in the bridge though.

In the neck, it's bright and bassy. Not unpleasant, but nothing special.

[bostjan]

maple body, maple neck, ebony fretboard, super tight/aggressive tone, $$$$, weighs a ton.

i love ash, too, but some pieces of ash behave noticeably different than other pieces. i've never been a fan of mahogany like most others.

i like emg-81/7 for a nice clear bridge pup.

[dpm]

Ash varies hugely in density, so it's hard to define it's sound. I like the heavy pieces which are bit maple-like in tone, but somehow different.
Gotta agree about with bostjan here. The tightest, most aggresive, and downright most awesome tone I ever got was from a maple/maple/ebony/EMG81 combo, and it did weigh a ton. If it were a seven string I would have never sold it.

[theboatcandream]

maple-maple-ebony with an emg 81? Do you guys play with zero mids?

[bostjan]

Originally Posted by theboatcandream

maple-maple-ebony with an emg 81? Do you guys play with zero mids?

well, i like scooped mid's, but i leave all three bands of my eq at about 2:00 (just past halfway) on my amp. i never get complaints nor praise regarding my tone, yet i get both for my playing

to be honest and scientific, the emg's show slightly flatter frequency response than most dimarzios or duncans. mahogany shows a lot of inharmonic upper partial harmonics, where maple and even poplar stick to the harmonic series. i was really bored one day and did fft's on four guitars while i was at work.

[dpm]

what's your job, bostjan? sounds like you've got access to some interesting toys.
I like my mids pretty chunky, and I like to feel like I'm being hit with a baseball bat when I play guitar

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by bostjan

well, i like scooped mid's, but i leave all three bands of my eq at about 2:00 (just past halfway) on my amp. i never get complaints nor praise regarding my tone, yet i get both for my playing

to be honest and scientific, the emg's show slightly flatter frequency response than most dimarzios or duncans. mahogany shows a lot of inharmonic upper partial harmonics, where maple and even poplar stick to the harmonic series. i was really bored one day and did fft's on four guitars while i was at work.

Inharmonic upper partial harmonics, eh? I just know that mahogany provides a very full sound, so I guess that's a good thing.

[bostjan]

i'm a physicist. it's a cool job, because i basically play with stuff all day. but i get paid penuts compared to what most people think a physicist gets paid, so i'm going to give up physics as soon as i get a record deal for the hit song i have yet to write.

also, it's really cool to tell people you are a physicist. you can always threaten them with nuclear weapons or some sort of death ray, which you don't have, but many people don't know that you don't have them.

inharmonic upper partials are what you make of them. personally, i prefer a more straight-forward rock tone, but many people prefer bell-like qualities in their tone. i think the most important thing is to have your own tone as opposed to a tone that people will recognize as someone else's.

[7slinger]

Originally Posted by bostjan

also, it's really cool to tell people you are a physicist. you can always threaten them with nuclear weapons or some sort of death ray

I was gonna throw in 2 cents, but I'm afraid of death rays

[bostjan]

the scarriest weapon i ever saw was in a hacked version of the computer game 'doom.' someone swapped the rocket-launcher for a nazi-laucher. it shot out nazis who subsequently would yell 'schutzstaffel!' and attack you.

nothing scarrier than a guy who says his branch of military before killing you!

...
anyway, what's wrong with the way maple sounds?

[theboatcandream]

Originally Posted by bostjan

the scarriest weapon i ever saw was in a hacked version of the computer game 'doom.' someone swapped the rocket-launcher for a nazi-laucher. it shot out nazis who subsequently would yell 'schutzstaffel!' and attack you.

nothing scarrier than a guy who says his branch of military before killing you!

...
anyway, what's wrong with the way maple sounds?

It's just bright, and I prefer a more mid oriented sound. Enough treble for clarity, but since I don't use a tonne of gain, I don't need a tonne of treble.

[dpm]

to me it sounds tight rather than bright, I suppose it's in the interpretation
I certainly don't feel maple lacks mids.