[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...