Best 7 money can buy in your opinion?

Nope.

 

I would go Tom Anderson if I had stacks of cash, but since they stopped producing 7 strings, they cost more than I paid for my car in the vary rare instances they even show up on the used market. Maybe someday...

 

I'd be happy to get RGDR 4327, either with Edge or fix bridge.

Keep it simple

 

Couple pics of the 2027x I bought on the bay in 2003. This was my first great guitar. Paid 900 bucks for it, new old stock. Sold it in 2012 or 2013 because I had lost interest in the guitar a few years prior and mainly because I needed the money. Found out a couple years later that the buyer was in Uneven Structure at the time he bought it from me. Tried getting it back from him but he had already sold it to someone else for financial reasons too. I rarely ever regret getting rid of things but I'm still pissed and sad about letting this one go. It's pretty much the perfect 7 for me. I'd only replace the rosewood board with ebony and add a flamed top, basically turning it into a RG7CST



Now if I were to choose a current product 7 string as my ideal 7 I'd probably go for the 2027xl. They go for a shade under 1,700 brand new so I think the quality/price ratio is pretty hard to beat nowadays.

 

I couldn't even get 1800 when I sold mine. whoops.

 

When did Tom stop making 7s?

 

A good while ago. He only did a few batches originally. I don't think they even hit the site or official order forms.

Unfortunately the venn diagram of Tom Anderson buyers and 7-string fans are two almost completely separate circles. They languished on Reverb forever.

 

This thread is going on forever, LOL! Another 2 cents from me.

Most all these builders can make a great 7 (or six or?). I think what gets lost in translation with BEST is the definition of CUSTOM. One of a kind build sheet guitars picked from a massive array of options is not CUSTOM.

Getting a guitar built with exactly what you want in terms of construction and dimension is CUSTOM. CUSTOM is not necessarily better than a build sheet guitar, but it could be better to the end user that has very specific demands.

What if you want a long tenon set neck with a neck plate too? Few builders offer it. What about a neck that is 1" at the nut in a V shape that grows to 1.375" at the 12th....few builders will do it. It's a custom feature and in many cases, these not normal dimensions kill resale no matter how good the build is because the guitar is so particular with dimensions, or switch, or neck size...whatever.

I have guitars in both these categories. Upper end builds that come from a menu, and real CUSTOM one of a kind dimensioned guitars. IMHO, the 100% hand built customs are better playing and better built guitars. That could be because they fit me so perfectly. My other guitars are awesome as well and very high quality, but when I pick one up compared to a full CUSTOM, the choice is obvious. And if I sell guitars, the CUSTOMS never go anywhere.

Who makes the best is anyone's guess and I can only speak from what I have owned. Full custom shop guitars; I only go to ESP Japan or Schecter Masterworks. My most recent Schecter masterworks is the best guitar I have ever owned without question.

The quality of the guitar exceeds guitars I have owned by TA, Suhr, Fender CS, ESP USA, Ibanez, PRS, Amfisound and Jackson by a margin. That said, all of the aforementioned guitars were outstanding in terms of fit and finish, and played very well. I still own guitars from these builders. I was and still am proud to own all of them and never had an issue. But I did not bond with any of them like I have my customs. I have been buying, selling, trading guitars for 30yrs now so I have had my mitts on a few, and I think if you play enough to really know what you want, it is better to have 2-3 customs then 20 run of the mill production guitars. When JEMs went through the roof I dumped mine and purchased CUSTOM to me guitars. Never regretted it for a moment.

 

also that batch was all 22 frets. which shrinks that pool of potential buyers even further. I think if he did a run of 7 string angels they would do really well though.

 

There aren't a lot of seven string trem options that AREN'T a floyd on the market. I don't know if you can get the Gotoh two-point trem Angel Vivaldi has on his signature 7 on its own now or it's just an OEM part on that bridge, but I really like the six string version and if you can I'd suggest looking at that too. I do find a seven string trem a little stiffer than a six - it's got however many more pounds of tension balancing it on knife edges that a low B represents at pitch - but not to any degree that really imp[acts usefulness.

I've never found this really an issue either.

 

At $1800 I think my credit card would swipe so fast my brain wouldn't realize what happened! Was trying to find some over the weekend, saw 1 at $8,500+!!!!

Wish I knew you back then.

 

You bring up a great point, but I think one big issue is that for many people (myself included) they really can't narrow down their true, personal best specs. And I refer specifically to things like neck shape, and not just "oh I like X shaped neck" but EXACT dimensions/thicknesses and such, like how you did it with your most recent Masterworks. Maybe you can confirm, but since I know you are around 50 or so, how old were you when you finally nailed down your specs? I feel like at 30 I just haven't played enough guitars to really narrow it down.

Now if a company like Schecter, as a part of the Masterworks process, would literally walk through every step, send as many idk styrofoam or cardboard (whatever material) of neck shapes to a customer to REALLY narrow down the perfect neck, I would put down a deposit this very second haha.

 

I was about 40 when I started to change my thinking. I have arthritis in my hands and I started going towards bigger necks. Turns out they aren't that easy to find other than a strat or gibson, and even those aren't great. SO I started down the road of doing it myself with warmoth, but then kept progressing. I measured necks and made notes and that is how I ended up where I am with neck size.

Also, if every single guitar felt the same to me I would play the same. Having variation is inspiring to me, so I have a lot of different features on my guitars. I have different set ups to get different things happening, like higher action with open tunings for slide, etc.

But I really only like to play bolt ons, so that is another reason for me to go custom. My favorite 7 is a newer to me ESP custom shop Eclipse. But it has a bolt on maple neck, TOM bridge, a single coil in the neck, and reverse banana headstock...almost as if it was made for me anyhow. I favor hum/single setups in my guitars but again, not the easiest to find especially in a LP shape with 7 strings and no stop tail.

And Shecter is very easy to work with. They have made plenty of cardboard bodies with strange shapes, but I gave the my neck profile and they confirmed all along the way. They kept asking if I was sure about it and I said yes. Lots of ways to get the perfect neck with Schecter. PM for more info.

 

I keep reading you talk about this axe and have no idea where to see it lol. If there's a ngd forum I need the link!

 

Sorry, I thought it had been posted before. I saw this guitar when it was made and it finally made it's way to me. It is a 2016 build with some unusual features...full thickness swamp ash body, oversize 5 bolt neck, custom contours, 1 pc swamp ash top and matching headstock overlay, TOM without stop tail, single coil in the neck, maple board. JUST how I would have ordered it, no joke. It is a beast of a guitar.

 

What an absolutely bonkers looking guitar, very cool!

 

This one lady, if one can find this lady out there looking for a new home, GRAB IT. With a good set up, new pickups (and pots?), this little lady rocks big time... used prestige for the win!...

This is an Ibanez S5527 TKS (?) and is a dream.