# Advantages/Disadvantages of 7 String



## Duraesu

Hey, as you may see, i am new here, and also new to the idea of buying a 7 string electric guitar...

So, i want to know the Advantages and Disadventages of a 7 string to a 6 String guitar...


and by the way, i mostly play Metal, but i also like jazzy clean sounds, so, which one is best? Schecter c-7 hellraiser, or the blackjack? they both look vicious... \m/


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## Alpo

Disadvantages of a 7 string guitar? There are none.


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## Metal Ken

well, i was kinda hoping someone else would fill this in since its a broad topic. I'll throw out a few examples.
Some advantages are 
-you get the extra string
-more tuning options
-more finger position options
-greater range

some disadvantages
-some people percieve the neck as too big
-sometimes, theres' an adjustment period to getting used to the extra string
-not as wide of a variety of options for pickups and hardware (as well as guitars) -- though now there's more 7 strings available now than ever.


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## Cancer

Advantages:

:increased note range (like 3 octave arpeggios runs without changing position).
:lower note ranges without having to tune down,
:more comfortable necks for certain guitars (ie: take Ibanez RG necks, IMO the 6 string necks have always been too skinny, but the 7 string version of their necks are perfect).
:in effect you have two guitars, since you can still play your six string stuff on a 7 string, where the reverse is not true.
:excellent good to bad model ratio (in the 6 string world, the number shitty guitar models far exceeds the number of good, in the 7 string world the reverse is true (actually I can Ibanez GRX))


Disadvantages:
:lack of guitar variety (the downside of the last advantage)
:lack of pickuip variety (this gets better everyday, but still lags behind the 6 string world)

There's more on both sides, but that all I can think off right now.


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## TomAwesome

Looks like these guys beat me to it. As long as you can find a guitar that you like with a neck that's playable (otherwise there's really no reason that you can't get used to a 7-string unless you've convinced yourself that you can't), and you can find some good pickups for it (like Psyphre said, there's a great selection nowadays that's always getting better), it's damn near all advantage on the 7. The one and only problem I have is finding strings locally.


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## darren

Advantages:

More range, more balls, lots of riff potential.

Disadvantages:

Not as much variety in guitar choices, not as much choice in strings, amplification can sometimes be an issue.


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## Duraesu

Thanks for all the replies that were made until now, i am a bit (a huge bit) more encouraged to buy a 7 string guitar... but no one say anything about my second question =P schecter c-7 hellraiser ou blackjack?


cheerz


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## Makelele

It depends. If you like active pickups, the Hellraiser's better for you, and if you like passives the Blackjack is better. The Hellraiser comes stock with EMG's, while the Blackjack comes with Duncans. Also worth keeping in mind is that the EMG's are bigger than other pickups, so if you end up disliking them, you're going to need some oversized pickup rings in order to get other pickups to fit properly.


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## Chris

_velkan said:


> Thanks for all the replies that were made until now, i am a bit (a huge bit) more encouraged to buy a 7 string guitar... but no one say anything about my second question =P schecter c-7 hellraiser ou blackjack?
> 
> 
> cheerz



You need to tell us a bit more about your playing style, amps, etc before we can recommend one or the other. Both are great guitars, play them both and see which one fits you better. You may as well start a thread with "Do I like cake or pie better?" as the topic, since we have nothing to go on. Search around on both, there are a LOT of threads discussing them.

And welcome to the site.


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## Mastodon

Only problem that I have ever run into is not being able to thumb a few chord shapes.

No big deal really. I say you go for it.


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## Duraesu

Well, i mostly play Metal, thrash/death/melodic...but i also like to play clean stuff, and i am more of a rhytmn player, but i like to solo too, not those crazy-ass-brutal-speed solos though lol

the amp i have right now is a fender fr65r , but i'm planning getting a peavey valve king head with some good cabinet... 

in the floor i use a zoom gfx-3 



thx!


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## Rick

Alpo said:


> Disadvantages of a 7 string guitar? There are none.



Post of the century.


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## Naren

Advantages:
*Larger range of notes to pick from
*You can play anything you could play on a six string, but not vice versa
*The neck feels more comfortable (in my opinion)
*It's a lot easier to play in multiple keys
*You can stretch octaves easier
*etc. etc. etc.

Disadvantages:
*It takes some time to get used to playing fast on the low E string because it isn't your lowest string anymore (if you play most of your sings in B, this will not be a problem).
*Not as many guitars or pickups to pick from



Chris said:


> You need to tell us a bit more about your playing style, amps, etc before we can recommend one or the other. Both are great guitars, play them both and see which one fits you better. You may as well start a thread with "Do I like cake or pie better?" as the topic, since we have nothing to go on. Search around on both, there are a LOT of threads discussing them.
> 
> And welcome to the site.



Very good point and a good way to phrase it too.  Like starting a thread titled "Which do I like better?!?!?! Chinese food or Italian!?!?!?!?"


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## Hellbound

the only disadvantage to me....and I mean the only one is the fact that drop c tuning on a 7 string may not be impossible but holy shit talk about some serious tension on the strings....it's like I can almost feel the neck wanting to snap in half everytime I do vibrato.lol So no drop d or c tuning's on my 7 string.


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## OzzyC

Hellbound said:


> the only disadvantage to me....and I mean the only one is the fact that drop c tuning on a 7 string may not be impossible but holy shit talk about some serious tension on the strings....it's like I can almost feel the neck wanting to snap in half everytime I do vibrato.lol So no drop d or c tuning's on my 7 string.



Yould could go double-dropped (ala TDW) and add a low A or G


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## Hellbound

OzzyC said:


> Yould could go double-dropped (ala TDW) and add a low A or G




yeah that's certainly true. SO all in all there are no disadvantages to a 7 string guitar.


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## TomAwesome

Hellbound said:


> the only disadvantage to me....and I mean the only one is the fact that drop c tuning on a 7 string may not be impossible but holy shit talk about some serious tension on the strings....it's like I can almost feel the neck wanting to snap in half everytime I do vibrato.lol So no drop d or c tuning's on my 7 string.



Is the guitar in question one with a baritone scale? If it's a regular scale guitar, I can't see there being any problem using a tuning like that if you use the same strings you'd use for a 6-string with the same scale length. One of my 7421s is in C standard with an extra high F. The strings are .010 - .069, and I've got no problems.


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## Hellbound

TomAwesome said:


> Is the guitar in question one with a baritone scale? If it's a regular scale guitar, I can't see there being any problem using a tuning like that if you use the same strings you'd use for a 6-string with the same scale length. One of my 7421s is in C standard with an extra high F. The strings are .010 - .069, and I've got no problems.



It's a K7 so standard scale....but my dumb ass tried it with the thick strings that came with it but I love standard b tuning now so much I'm finding it hard to get away from....it's good to know that I can always just throw on some smaller strings though.....gosh I come off like a complete idiot alot it seems.lol


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## Naren

Hellbound said:


> It's a K7 so standard scale....but my dumb ass tried it with the thick strings that came with it but I love standard b tuning now so much I'm finding it hard to get away from....it's good to know that I can always just throw on some smaller strings though.....gosh I come off like a complete idiot alot it seems.lol



Generally if you tune to drop C on a 7, you don't tune the 7th string up. You turn all the other strings down. The Dark Wolf uses a tuning of FCGCFAD which is the exact same as drop C on a six string but with a low F (aka "drop C/drop F"). I have also seen ACGCFAD and GCGCFAD before (which would be drop C with different notes for the seventh string).

If you wanted to turn your lowest string to C and made drop C like that, you'd probably want to buy regular six-string strings and one extra thin string for the top to get something like CGCFADG -- which is basically drop C with an extra high G on top.


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## Hellbound

Naren said:


> Generally if you tune to drop C on a 7, you don't tune the 7th string up. You turn all the other strings down. The Dark Wolf uses a tuning of FCGCFAD which is the exact same as drop C on a six string but with a low F (aka "drop C/drop F"). I have also seen ACGCFAD and GCGCFAD before (which would be drop C with different notes for the seventh string).
> 
> If you wanted to turn your lowest string to C and made drop C like that, you'd probably want to buy regular six-string strings and one extra thin string for the top to get something like CGCFADG -- which is basically drop C with an extra high G on top.




Thanks for the info. If I was going to do drop c tuning on my seven string I think I would much prefer doing it on the low E string perhaps like Darkwolf with the FCGCFAD tuning. It seems that would be the better option and alot easier to set up and I've gotten pretty good at strumming on the E string fast just like I was playing a 6 string it feels quite natural to me. Cool this is something I can try in the future being that alot of bands that I like use Drop c tuning so I can still play along with them on my 7 string. I would just go and buy something like an LTD ec-1000 because I love that guitar it sounds wonderful especially with the emg's in it but I prefer 7 string necks so much better they just fit my hands like a glove.


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## Drew

Naren said:


> Very good point and a good way to phrase it too.  Like starting a thread titled "Which do I like better?!?!?! Chinese food or Italian!?!?!?!?"



Italian. Like, duh.


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## Naren

Drew said:


> Italian. Like, duh.



Wrong! Although I like both Italian and Chinese quite a lot, I'd have to say that I probably like Chinese food better. If it was all Chinese food and pizza, I'd pick pizza. Ot if it was Chinese stirred vegetables or portebello ravioli, I'd pick the ravioli. Or if it was Chahan and veal parmesan, it'd be a tie. But, overall, I'd probably say Chinese. 

Further demonstrates my point.


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## Rick

Italian.


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## The Dark Wolf

Italian or Chinese...

Do I like blondes or brunettes? Heh. Howsabout "both" for 600, Alex.


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## Naren

The Dark Wolf said:


> Italian or Chinese...
> 
> Do I like blondes or brunettes? Heh. Howsabout "both" for 600, Alex.



I can wholeheartedly agree with that.  (for me, Chinese and Italian are very very close in likeability).


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## Thebaggytrouseredone

For Standard C I use - C C F Bb Eb G C, I tune the C on the 7th string slightly flat or sharp to get a chorus type effect.

Drop D is also possible but tight - D D G C F A D

Drop C - C C G C F A D.


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## sartorious

How many shovels did it take to dig up this fossil of a thread?


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## metalmonster

many men died today to dig up the grave of this thread. 

And my fave is chinese, and redheads :mrgreen:


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## Svava

Wow...

A thread from back in the day when people thought that there were disadvantages to 7 strings...


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## metalmonster

> In the name of Myung, Rudess, Mangini and the Holy Petrucci, grant us the power to melt face and blow minds.


Amen.


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