# My Brief Experience with Strictly 7 Guitars...



## Radz108 (Feb 20, 2012)

Over the weekend, I drove up to Sherwood Park (just outside of Edmonton) Alberta to Fusion Music. They are the Only Strictly 7 Guitars dealer in Canada I believe.

Recently, I ordered a Solar 7 guitar from them and Strictly 7. Since I had no experience with Strictly 7 guitars other than what was posted on the web (a mixed bag in general), I decided to see and feel for myself what these guitars are all about and have a feel of what the neck profiles were like. I am not a big fan of the thin necks on Ibanez guitars. I actually really like the thicker C shaped necks that Schecter offers. I personally own a Schecter Loomis 7 string for the last 2 years and it's my favourite and most played guitar I have.

Kevin, Ray and the staff at Fusion Music were very accommodating, friendly, helpful and passionate about what they do and were a great help during my ordering process and letting me try out the Strictly 7 stock.

They had 7 guitars on display. Some were of Jim's first builds and others were of newer stock. They had a few 8 strings there, but since I was short of time (I only had about 2 hrs to test the guitars - kids were wanting to go West Edmonton Mall and play at Galaxyland:wall bash I only played a few 7s through a BlackStar HT60 combo amp.

The first guitar was the Boa shaped(start shaped) 27.5 scale guitar with a natural oiled finish throughout the guitar. It had a gorgeous quilted maple top over, I believe, a mahogany body. It had a beautiful flame maple bolt on neck, EMG 707/EMG 81-7, and gold OFR and hardware. Finish was gorgeous, the wood grain popped and was stunning, the oiled finish gave the guitar a custom feel to it. It felt well balanced and comfortable. The neck had a very D like shape to it like an Ibanez. Rounded edges and a very flat back. It was a bit thicker than an Ibanez neck and was comfortable to play on. Since I play a Loomis guitar which is 26.5 inch scale, the 27.5 inch scale was not hard to get used to, but I did notice the difference in that extra inch. The lower frets were a bit wider and I noticed I needed to stretch a little bit more than on my Loomis (I have smallish Asian hands, but managed to do so). The Bolt on square heel was a non issue. Access to all 26 frets was impeccable. Frets were jumbo Ni-Ag and was perfect. The guitar had a very low action for a 7 string but no obvious fret buzz through the amp (even the low B rang true without buzz both open and fretted) Sound wise through a high gain amp - full sounding with good articulation and definition at the lower registers. The highs were not as shrill as I expected with an EMG equipped 27.5 scale guitar. I was impressed by the sound and feel of the guitar. Overall, a great quality instrument with top notch woods, hardware and setup. 

The second guitar was the Demon 7 string guitar (Loosely based on a BC Rich Warlock shape) with 27.5 scale, mahogany body, flame maple bold on neck, black hardware - hipshot bridge and sperzel locking tuners and DiMarzio crunch lab/liquifire PUPs. This guitar impressed me the most. I was not so fond of the body shape but it was very comfortable and balanced to play. the bottom cutaway fitted my thigh perfectly and the guitar can be played in the "classical guitar" position very comfortably. The neck was slightly different from the previous guitar. It was also a D shaped neck with rounded corners and a flat back, but the back had a more rounded profile than flat compared to the previous guitar. Ray at Fusion said that the previous guitar I played was one of Jim's earlier builds and this guitar was one of his newest builds. Jim changed the neck profile slightly by making the flat back a bit more rounded. This mod really improved the neck profile imho. It felt more natural in my hands and much more comfortable than the previous neck. This neck is a true cross between an Ibanez flat thin neck and the Schecter thick rounded neck
Fit and finish again was impeccable with this guitar as well.
I also liked the PUPs better than the EMGs. The DiMarzios seemed hotter and more "alive". I really enjoyed playing this guitar!!

Sorry for the long post. :wavy: In general I had a very good experience with the Strictly 7 guitars I tried and I am now really GASing to get my Solar 7 soon!!

Cheer 
RG


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## musicaldeath (Feb 21, 2012)

A fellow Calgarian!  I've been meaning to check out that store for a while and play some of those S7's. I used to live in Edmonton, but I go up every couple of months so next time I will have to check it out. Glad to hear some good first hand experiences with those as well.


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## Vinchester (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks for the review  Jim told me that shipping quote to Thailand would be 350 dollars  PLUS IMPORT TAX, so yeah if I go to the US I'll probably buy a nice 7 there.

I'm very interested in the Solar 7 as well. How long do you have to wait for yours? Be sure to post a NGD and tell us what you think about it


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## Radz108 (Feb 21, 2012)

Vinchester said:


> Thanks for the review  Jim told me that shipping quote to Thailand would be 350 dollars  PLUS IMPORT TAX, so yeah if I go to the US I'll probably buy a nice 7 there.
> 
> I'm very interested in the Solar 7 as well. How long do you have to wait for yours? Be sure to post a NGD and tell us what you think about it


 
Paul at Strictly 7 told me the waiting time is about 3months or less. Paul stated that since it is a production guitar, they have the bodies and necks already cut out so the wait times are less than a full custom. I added an oversized brass trem block and a tremol-no to mine to give it that extra oomph! 

If you are interested in getting one, act soon. Apparently there will be only 100 guitars made wordwide of the Solars.

Cheers

RG


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## Radz108 (Feb 21, 2012)

musicaldeath said:


> A fellow Calgarian!  I've been meaning to check out that store for a while and play some of those S7's. I used to live in Edmonton, but I go up every couple of months so next time I will have to check it out. Glad to hear some good first hand experiences with those as well.


 
. I highly recommend you get a chance to play their guitars firsthand. I read many threads on Strictly 7 guitars and they can be very mixed in terms of opinion (But I feel the majority are quite positive - especially in terms of service). Rather than rely on heresay, test them first hand. They are built very well and the necks are very comfortable especially the newer version of it. Coming from a Schecter Loomis (which has a thick wide neck) the adjustment to S7's necks were minimal and I felt comfortable with it within minutes. It might be a different story if you are used to Ibanez necks since S7's necks are a little bit wider and thicker than Ibanez necks. Finishes and components are of very high quality - very comparable to other high end guitar manufacturers. All the guitars I saw there had great specs with high end pickups, bridges, tuners etc.

DO you play around town?

Cheers

RG


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## musicaldeath (Feb 21, 2012)

I play mostly a '10 Universe, but I also have a strat with a C-shape on it, and my favorite profile was a JP7. I can be at home on almost anything, just takes some getting used to. 

No don't play around town, just in my basement.


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## Radz108 (Feb 21, 2012)

musicaldeath said:


> I play mostly a '10 Universe, but I also have a strat with a C-shape on it, and my favorite profile was a JP7. I can be at home on almost anything, just takes some getting used to.
> 
> No don't play around town, just in my basement.


Yeah, me too  - I play mostly with friends or with backing tracks in my basement!
If your tried a Loomis guitar, the neck is as thick as that but with the rounded corners of the D shaped neck like Ibanez. Haven't tried a JP7 but from what I heard its neck is even thinner than an Ibanez. Is this true?

Cheer 
RG


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## glassmoon0fo (Feb 21, 2012)

Glad to see another positive review of S7 . I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the necks jim builds because I came from an Ibanez background (my main 8 at the time was a 2228). BUT, turns out the neck profile opened my hand up a little bit and made forming chords a bit easier, which is awesome because i play lots of AAL-holdsworth-eric johnson type stuff. BTW i measured the neck widths and the measurements were exactly the same on the ibby and S7, both at the nut and the bridge. Just a few things for consideration =). I love my S7 so it's good to see the company repped!


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## musicaldeath (Feb 22, 2012)

It's been a while since I owned the JP7. I wouldn't say it was thinner then the Universe... it's hard to describe. It just felt right. It had a slightly rounder shape to it if I am remembering correctly. By far the best neck profile I have played. I regret selling that guitar immensly, especially since it was an eqgyptian smoke colour and you can't get that colour anymore. Next time I am up in edmonton, probably april, I am going to check out some of these s7 guitars. I may go the full blown custom route, as long as I can get that inline headstock. This all pending of course on if I like them or not.


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