# Has anyone seen this Dir en grey Kaoru ESP 7 custom?



## XeoFLCL (Nov 24, 2009)

Electric Sound Products

What song do they use a 7 on  I saw this and it sort of stumped me because I don't recall any 7s in any of Dir en grey's songs. It's a freaking badass custom, though. I love that shape 

EDIT: He also has a 7 string baritone Viper apparently.. http://www.espguitars.co.jp/gallery/kaoru/vp_sl7/index.html

I'm jealous


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## D-EJ915 (Nov 24, 2009)

he uses it in Obscure


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## signalgrey (Nov 24, 2009)

and i got to play one in japan
pretty comfortable actually and it sounded beastly


aaaaaaaaaand i totally want one.


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## XeoFLCL (Nov 24, 2009)

D-EJ915 said:


> he uses it in Obscure


Oh wow.. You're right. I never really noticed till now (as I don't listen to that song alot.) Really cool to know that they use 7s on a few songs. Is there any others he uses them on? I know Die has that sweet baritone metal 'caster.. I want it and I don't even really play baritones 


signalgrey said:


> and i got to play one in japan
> pretty comfortable actually and it sounded beastly
> 
> 
> aaaaaaaaaand i totally want one.


Lucky 



EDIT: So wait, you're telling me they had a sig of this model out or was it Kaoru's actual guitar? I know you've done quite a bit of photography for some big names (NIN, LB, etc) so I wouldn't be surprised.. but very jealous


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## DragonChild (Nov 24, 2009)

Kaoru used his old seven string ganesa for the following songs Deity,Zomboid,Karasu, Gyakujou Tannou Keloid Milk, and obscure that ive seen so far.... hope this helps

My Fav Seven

Electric Sound Products


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## signalgrey (Nov 24, 2009)

i dont know if it was his or not but im sure there were a few production ones made. It was at this really famous guitar place in Tokyo, so it could have very well been one of his.

they also had a Ganesa VII that wasnt a bari but had a Floyd style bridge.

i havent seen him use it live in a while. He was using one of his Viper styled guitars, the black ones, not the hideous green one on the artist page. 

If im not mistaken they only use baritones now. At least Die does. Its funny though cause in Seoul they have one of the older edwards Die models sitting in a shop and no one has any idea what it is. Sounds really good. classy looking too.

as for the jealousy...welll....it IS pretty awesome 

GNR are coming soon to i think im gonna try and get a press pass for that too. Even though i could give two shits about GNR. I already met Robin Fincke but i dont think hes on the bill any more. Is bucket head still with them?


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## DragonChild (Nov 24, 2009)

Really a floyd styled bridge?? sounds Kewl!! Yeah ESP had a standard seven string baritone VP the only difference with Kaoru's was the pickguard... BTW his custom DKV is the only viper I really like, the beveledness on the inside looks so nice live


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## vampiregenocide (Nov 24, 2009)

That guy has very good taste. This needs to be made a production model now.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Nov 24, 2009)

Kaoru hasn't been using the Ganesa for quite sometime. He's a Viper exclusive man. DragonChild pretty much said all of the 7 String Dir en Grey songs. And Die doesn't use 7s, only baritone versions of his Tele sig. 




> GNR are coming soon to i think im gonna try and get a press pass for that too. Even though i could give two shits about GNR. I already met Robin Fincke but i dont think hes on the bill any more. Is bucket head still with them?



From head to foot, Ron Thal aka Bumblefoot now has Buckethead's place.


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## DragonChild (Nov 24, 2009)

It was a standard model until recently I haven't seen it on the Japanese website anymore, but there's an ltd 7 string viper with emgs still up on the american website


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## kevinxsavage (Dec 9, 2011)

Kaoru uses 7strings now on their latest release "Dum Spiro Spero" He uses a lot of his signature ones and some guitars he collects.

EDIT: Also the new album has more of a djent-ey feel to it while retaining the japanese diru sound we all love.


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## SamSam (Dec 9, 2011)

Pretty sure Die was using a badass 7 string maple topped tele at Wacken this year.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 9, 2011)

SamSam said:


> Pretty sure Die was using a badass 7 string maple topped tele at Wacken this year.



Considering 90% of Dum Spiro Spero is 7 string, that's definitely the case. r The brand new (latest) guitars they're using are these:
















Die's Snake baritone 6 is pictured, but he does use a 7 string version of this guitar. Confirmed here:

Dir En Grey Interview - DUM SPIRO SPERO

EDIT: Found a pic:


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## Mprinsje (Dec 9, 2011)

he doesn't use the signature guitars listed on the ESP site anymore, all his guitars have EMG's now, including his six strings. at least, when i saw them last august. his six strings are basically the same as the 7 string viper pictured in the post above me, except that it is contoured more, and that it's glossy. he also has a 7string that looks like that.


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## sell2792 (Dec 9, 2011)

They all look really, really cheap.


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## rockstarazuri (Dec 9, 2011)

Most of Dum Spiro Spero was recorded with 7 strings and baritones.

Different Sense sounds very djenty to me indeed. Maybe it's because of the AMT E1 pedal that Kaoru has been using.


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## Murmel (Dec 9, 2011)

I would kill to have a Die sig.
I would kill even more to have his old one.


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## murakami (Dec 9, 2011)

is it me or is 7 strings really catching on?


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## Rook (Dec 9, 2011)

2 year old thread guys...


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## Murmel (Dec 9, 2011)

^
In Japan there seem to be a much bigger 7-string market (more popular bands use them). It's not too uncommon to see regular rock or sometimes even pop bands using 7s.
The majority is, of course, still using sixers though.


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## TomAwesome (Dec 9, 2011)

The guitar in the OP looks like a seahorse.


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## Jinogalpa (Dec 9, 2011)

Murmel said:


> I would kill to have a Die sig.
> I would kill even more to have his old one.



hehe  here's mine, but old picture


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## Murmel (Dec 9, 2011)

Edwards version? If you're getting rid of that sometime, I'm totally buying it


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## Jinogalpa (Dec 9, 2011)

@Murmel 

yes it's an Edwards. i thought about selling her but maybe she increases value sometime in future.
she's pretty unique here in EU and USA


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## Murmel (Dec 9, 2011)

Considering how Edwards are not really THAT well known in Europe, and the fact that it's a signature guitar by a not too mainstream band I doubt it will increase in value.
But you're right that they're very uncommon outside of Japan. Most Edwards you see are Les Pauls around here.

How does it play? Frets size, neck thickness, radius etc? Also, how much did it cost to bring it to Germany?


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## murakami (Dec 9, 2011)

Murmel said:


> ^
> In Japan there seem to be a much bigger 7-string market (more popular bands use them). It's not too uncommon to see regular rock or sometimes even pop bands using 7s.
> The majority is, of course, still using sixers though.



really now??? last time i went to japan i couldn't find any 7 strings in store. 
i am going next year for business so hopefully things are different


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## Murmel (Dec 9, 2011)

I'm only talking from my relatively small experience of Japanese music. Even if I'm a total whore for j-rock, Japan has the second largest music scene in the world, so there's no way that could have a clear perception without actually living there. Here in Sweden we don't really get Japanese music on the radio. The vast majority of what we get that isn't Swedish is from the US, and in the west you don't see 7's often. If at all. Hell, does anyone get Japanese tunes on the radio other than Japan? 

You are right however that the 7 string market seem to be exploding as of recently.


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## murakami (Dec 9, 2011)

Murmel said:


> I'm only talking from my relatively small experience of Japanese music. Even if I'm a total whore for j-rock, Japan has the second largest music scene in the world, so there's no way that could have a clear perception without actually living there. Here in Sweden we don't really get Japanese music on the radio. The vast majority of what we get that isn't Swedish is from the US, and in the west you don't see 7's often. If at all. Hell, does anyone get Japanese tunes on the radio other than Japan?
> 
> You are right however that the 7 string market seem to be exploding as of recently.


 

my wife tells me that japanese music is relatively popular in their own culture, yet when many bands from japan try to branch off internationally, they fail. one band comes to mind is ellegarden. very popular in japan from what i rememebr, but when they went state side, they fell apart. japanese fans are asking for a comeback, but after they failed in america they sort of went awol.

for the most part, i think japanese music is not so strong internationally because of the language barrier. they sort of use english improperly at times where it just sounds funny. come on, you know it too 

i have to say, some of the instrumentals they make are just fucking awesome. i just cant get past the bad singing. just my two cents.





just a spoof, but they use english in a very similar fashion


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## Jinogalpa (Dec 9, 2011)

@Murmel

frets are jumbos (2,7 mm with, 1,3 mm high), feels like a modern c shape
the guitar cost me total about 960 &#8364; (3 years ago)

edit: they are 1,3 mm high


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## Dan Halen (Dec 9, 2011)

ive never really been into the SG/ Viper shape but the green really makes the guitar


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## sebastianreed (Jul 13, 2015)

This actually was a production model in the 2004 year.



vampiregenocide said:


> That guy has very good taste. This needs to be made a production model now.


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## mrjones_ass (Jul 13, 2015)

I live in tokyo, I feel there is quite a lot of 7stringers around in shops! Especially ibanez and esp stuff. Sometimes big stores will have on off ibanez models, which is really cool!


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## mrjones_ass (Jul 13, 2015)

Remember... Ibanez is a Japanese company, and they made the first mass produced 7string guitars... so in a sense this land is the land of the 7strings ;P


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## Mprinsje (Jul 13, 2015)

mrjones_ass said:


> Remember... Ibanez is a Japanese company, and they made the first mass produced 7string guitars... so in a sense this land is the land of the 7strings ;P



yeah but they did that because it was for Steve Vai.


This is a hell of a necrobump too btw


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## JohnIce (Jul 13, 2015)

Thanks to this necrobump, I was reminded what a good band Diru is 

Here's some 7's in all their HD glory:



I especially dig Die's.


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