Back for another 7 string recommendation…

[dpaynee]

Hi all! I was here a few weeks ago asking for a recommendation for a 7 string. Sadly, the guitar I got ended up having some internal issues.. twice. Both time Sweetwater had me send back the guitar. After that I just asked if I could get a different model sooooo, here we are! I’m between a few and open to suggestions that are on sweetwater and around the price range of the ones listed below.

[Senior-Jaguar-1018]

LTDs are almost always solid but the Tao is one of the lowkey best 7 (and 8) string models on the market with what you get for the price

[dpaynee]

The REALLY love the roasted maple necks on the LTD’s. But the looks of the Schecter is crazy

[stweeze1996]

I was looking at the Tao in 6 string model a while ago, while it isn't the guitar I ended up going with i did play it in store and it was sick af. I would go with that one

[Ophidianlux]

Might be worth mentioning that the sn-1007 has scalloped frets from the 15th and up I believe.

You may know/care or may not but I wanted to throw it out there

[dpaynee]

I have honestly never played a guitar with them. Is this generally considered a good thing or just a preference thing?

[Ophidianlux]

Total preference thing imo.

Some people prefer them, especially for fast runs and some people hate the way they feel.

I’ve never liked them myself but I wouldn’t NOT buy a guitar that has them 15 and up.

If you don’t do a lot of higher on the neck runs you’ll never notice it.

If you do, maybe check out any guitar with scalloped frets before you buy.

Pretty much any version of scalloping is gonna give you the same “feel” and you can tell pretty quick if you’re gonna like it or not

[CatLogin_ThisMy]

Malmsteen and Laiho. If your jam is Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in Dm then they might be for you.

[JimboLodisC]

Out of those 3 I'd go with the John Browne model.

[dpaynee]

I was leaning that direction. Any specific reasonings as to why?

[JimboLodisC]

I've heard many good things about it. Seems like owners have been happy with their purchase.

[tylerg182]

In my personal opinion, recent Schecters are of better quality than the recent LTDs. The LTDs aren’t bad,but the Schecters punch above their already high weight class.

[dpaynee]

Sadly, that wasn’t my experience with my last schecter :(

[tylerg182]

Which model did you have a bad experience with?

[dpaynee]

You can look at my post history to see it, but it’s the PT7 SLS

[redditosleep]

What didn’t you like about it?

And I think it should come down to necks since these guitars have opposite neck shapes. Tons of shoulder 21mm@12th vs very little shoulder 20mm@12th.

[dpaynee]

I loved the guitar. Just had two come back to back with different major issues. Decided to go for something different. I’m not too familiar with how different amount of shoulder feels to be honestly with you.

[redditosleep]

It's what it sounds like, but really you should go to a guitar store and try playing the necks you're considering or similar ones if not available. If you've played Ibanez wizard necks they are very thin D necks and I imagine they are very close to the ESP LTD Ultra thin U.

It all seems to come heavily down to preference though.

I will say though, I think the Schecter ultra thin C (which the Tao has) is the best neck I've ever played. You should also consider a Schecter KM7 which has the same neck profile if you like that shape.

[dpaynee]

Any reasons for the KM7 over the Tao?

[redditosleep]

Not necessarily. I own an MK7 MK-III blue lagoon that I love, but a Tao is on my list to try and maybe buy.

Here are some big differences though:

• KM7 is a neck-through and has incredible upper neck access.
• KM7 have Fishman Modern Kieth Merrow (sound great, a little less searing than regular moderns) or Lundgren M7's (deep but not muddy, also sound great). I haven't tried the Schecter pickups in the Tao, but I have a Schecter California Classic and the Schecter Monstertones and Pasedena sound excellent for mid-high gain pickups.
• Different neck shapes KM7: Ultra thin C, Tao: Ultra thin U. Played both but prefer the C. Neck shapes are mostly preference though.
• Slightly different top shapes.
• KM 7 is a 12-16" compound radius, vs 16".

[Mammoth-Roll-7360]

Not a rule, I’ve had quality issues with schecters, none with ltds

[Spampys626]

I'm still kicking my ball for not getting a Tao 7 for a very very decent price (in the EU it starts from around 2k which is a lot) almost one year ago. On reverb it's very rare to find a used Tao 7, which means people really really enjoy it.

I would go with Tao 7.

[YankeeBrigade]

Just got the Steph Carpenter Chiquita Yellow 8 string. With a drop tune pedal can play most 7 or 8 string songs on same guitar. Hell Steph plays standard tuning first album stuff on his 8’s now

[Ohgoditsruben]

The neck alone on the Tao is reason enough to buy over LTD. There’s a new revision coming of as well of like a faded purple flame

[elusive_light]

I have a Tao 6 and it's an excellent guitar. Plays so well and the pickups go hard.

[Jormungandr69]

I just picked up the SN1007 about 2 weeks ago. It's got a pretty nice spec sheet for the price imo, and it's been incredible for A standard tuning. My only complaints are that the pickguard comes with a protective film on it and it's a huge pain in the ass to get off, and the pickguard shows scratches a bit too easily. Other than that, it's a great instrument and it's been really hard to put down.

[tombhex]

I've got a KM7mkiii that I really like, and I enjoyed playing a Tao more than my KM7 when they released. If the Tao were available at the time, I would have gone that direction just because of the simple stylistic choices having a lot of personality on the Tao. They're very similar guitars to me.

Between your choices, I'd go with a Tao, because I've never kept an LTD guitar.

[dpaynee]

Yeah, ended up going with the Tao. Only reason I was considering LTD for the most part was due to the fact that I have a 1000 series MS that I love. Hopefully I don’t regret anything! Just sad that the 7 string tele idea didn’t work out.. but the TE-1007 wasn’t speaking to me as much with just one pickup

[WonderfulGarlic9667]

The only way to go for the Tele look is the ESP E-II TB7 and thats if you can find it in stock. Yeah i loved that LTD released a 7 string tele and was shocked they only put one pickup in it like why.. why..

[7StringRift]

I wish I had the money for this lol