ESP H-207

24 frets, interesting offset rectangle inlays, Duncan Design pickups, Ash body w/ bolt on Maple neck. GORGEOUS see-thru-aqua finish with natural wood binding and white neck binding. 1 vol & 1 tone w/ a 3 way switch. Tune-O-Matic with the stings thru the body. ESP case (made by TKL).

If it wasn't for a problem that will be outlined later, I would have rated it an 7. It sounds good... unplugged it's vibrant--plugged it sustains well. Sounds as good or better than every 7 string that costs less than $600. I have yet to change the pickups on any of the other guitars I own but, this one might have been the first candidate for it. Not because the pickups sound like garbage (they don't) but, because there isn't as large of a difference in tonality between the neck and bridge pickups as there is on all my other guitars. Weird.

Okay now for the grip: I bought this guitar as a scratch & dent model from American Musical Supply (a discount of $120 was applied). I was expecting some sort of blemish(s) that I could live with for the $120 savings and that was that. When it arrived the blemishes were definitely something I could live with UNTIL!! Lo and behold at the tune-o-matic, the bass side post was a little to snug (cracked the finish ever so slightly) and the treble side post was not properly seated (it still had an 1/8" to go into the body). This is unacceptable in a name brand guitar. As a result of this, the bass side sounded fine but, the high B & E strings had an slight additional odd resonance that messed with the tone a bit. Let me stress, I am not talking about the finish but, the stuctural integrity of the guitar. I just couldn't believe that the person who inspected this guitar at ESP and signed his name on the warrantee care didn't stop this guitar from shipping. The nut wasn't perfectly filed either. A word to the wise, inspect all Made in Korea guitars well because evidently the Manufacturers reps don't. I have played and inspected another H-207 (see-thru-black) that didn't have the bridge or nut problem. I set up all guitars to suit my style so I don't really care about how they come 'cause I change it anyway. The TKL made ESP case also leaves a little to be desired (just doesn't feel as sturdy as other $109 retail priced cases).

I returned it for a refund so I didn't have it long enough to really tell how it would stand up but, I will say this: the 3 way switch is really chintzy and probably will have needed to be replaced sometime in the future.

I didn't bother calling or complaining to ESP because www.americanmusical.com doesn't give any hassles for returns.

I've been playing 12 years. I own PRS, Heartfield, Ovation, Yamaha, Jackson, and Carvin guitars. I play through a Carvin Quad X-4 tube preamp with a digitech processor in the effects loop into a Carvin MosFet power amp through two Carvin 2X12 cabs. I also play through a Zoom GFX-707 into the power amp in of my Fender Deluxe 85. If the tune-o-matic bridge was installed right at the factory, I'd be to busy playing the H-207 instead of writing about it.

Year 2000, USA-made ESP LTD H-207 with 2-piece maple neck w/24 fret rosewood fretboard. This guitar is wired with passive Duncan Designed Humbuckers (neck and bridge) with controls for tone and volume (controls both pickups). The body is arched top, solid ash with a transparent green finish (which looks beautiful) and is very lightweight. The body style is somewhat of a straightened-out strat, very easy to play. There is a creme binding on the neck and head stock and natural wood grain binding on the body. I believe this has Gotoh tuners, but I'm not sure. 24 extra jumbo frets and a really wide neck finish this guitar off nicely. Came with perfect action, low enough to play as fast as you need yet the strings retain nice chunk and tightness in sound.

This is definitely a metal/hard rock guitar. I play in a modern metal (sevendust, machine head) style band and this guitar fits right in with the mix. I play this thru a Marshall Valvestate 100 watt head thru a Mesa 4x12 recto cab and this setup gives me the sound I've been looking for ever since I began playing. Nice tight, percussive low end, growling mids (on dist) and singing highs make this a very versatile guitar. I've gotten some awesome clean tones as well as blistering distortion from this guitar, which ranks it very high in the sound department (versatility is a must and this guitar provides). My only gripe about this instrument is the pickups have a little too much high frequency response for me, but a slight adjustment on my amp fixed that problem. This guitar has almost no noise thru my amp at any volume (besides for some feedback which I can stop by just turning down the volume knob on the guitar). This guitar has been everything I needed it to be: bright yet ballsy tone, excellent frequency response in every sense (hi, mid, low), can go from the sweetest clean tone to the most brutal distortion you've ever heard, and no problems with intonation or action. Definitely worth trying out if you're gonna be looking at 7 strings. My bandmate plays an Ibanez RG 7 string thru a triple rectifier and my setup sounds just as good (better in my opinion) but for a much lower overal price tag.

The action came perfect on this guitar, low enough to be extremely fast, yet tight enough to chunk the hell outta any riff. The pickups are awesome beside a little too much high end response, but that can be fixed with EQ. Everything on this guitar lived up to ESP's tradition of quality in instruments. I found no flaws in any construction aspect of this guitar, I'm very happy with it.

This guitar is THE live 7 string guitar. It stays in tune thru the heaviest sets and hasn't warped on me yet and it's been thru a lot of different climate changes. The hardware on this guitar is excellent. The tuners do not slip at all, very sturdy bridge and nut placement, strap pins stay in place, and the neck stays super smooth even after those long sets in hot rooms when sweat is everywhere. The finish seems durable and thick, I can not picture it wearing away any time soon. I would definitely be secure with playing this guitar at a gig with no backup.

I have had no reason to deal with the company, everythings superb. I think ESP has a lifetime warranty on all instruments, so if any problems occur out of nowhere, they're covered.

I have been playing for 5 years but am very good at playing. I've played many different guitars, everything from low grade Strats to 12-string psychodelic SGs. I own an Epiphone SG which has given many years of happiness depsite it's very low price tag ($300). I also own a Hohner acoustic guitar, a Crate Gx-1200 stack, Marshall valvestate head, Mesa 4x12 Recto cab, and other misc merchandise. I would definitely buy this guitar again if it were stolen or missing and couldn't be recovered. I love the thick yet super fast neck on this guitar, but it may be a little too thick for the smaller guys (I've got big hands and this guitar is very comfortable to play). This guitar was in some competition with all the other brands of 7 strings, but I found this one beat them all when it comes down to feel and sound. I tried Ibanez, Scheter, and Jackson (nightmare, don't buy the 7 strings they make) and this reigned supreme, lol. My only request would be to have independent volume and tone for each pickup but thats a very small flaw, the pros HEAVILY outweigh the few cons this guitar posseses. If you want to get a 7 string to jam on, I highly recommend this guitar for anyone serious about having a heavy-ass sound.

Hey folks, I've already reviewed this guitar but want to add some updates I've since learned:
I found a GREAT place to buy Seymour Duncan upgrades (over the stock "duncan designed" which are functional but mediocre).
Go see www.gtrheaven.com in Tennesse, and not to be confused with www.guitarheaven.com in California which only deals in vintage gear.
The folks at gtrheaven were EXCELLENT! and they have an online-purchase website so you can order everything there; but the best thing for me was they had better information on what was available for 7-string humbuckers than even the manufacturers did.
I think their prices were good too, all 7-string Seymour Duncan humbuckers except one is $69, the Invader is $79.
If you're very picky about pickup tone then you MUST get the Seymour Duncan sample CD. They have 3 CDs but if you're only interested in humbuckers just get that one, you can find it on SD's website. This CD helped me a lot in deciding what to get, there's too many pickups to choose from and their descriptions sometimes sound too similar; hearing each pickup made all the difference in the world.
What I got:
I wanted the typical very-hard-rock sound in the bridge, like Staind or something, I got the Invader there. It's perfect! it looks really nasty too, it's all black with 2 rows of 7 big nasty looking allen-bolts instead of the usual 7 chrome-color screws only on one bobbin.
Its tone to me sounds a lot like the Gibson 500T; a very good high-output hardrock pickup. It allows pinch harmonics with ease, sounds great for solos and certainly sounds perfect for Metallica-esque low-end crunching. On the SD CD I could tell the Invader had more low-end than probably any other humbucker by SD.
In this axe I also wanted to be able to get some semi-clean sounds and a more classic-rock overdrive sound so I got the '59 in the neck. For me this one is also perfect; way better sounding than the stock one, pretty easy to still get pinch-harmonics in the middle and even the rhythm toggle position (think of Stevie Ray Vaughn kind of sound).
To me this combo (Invader & '59) is perfect, but if you're more of a Kornhead...or Kornmunky, ...just don't be a Kornholer, then I'd probably suggest getting the Invader in the neck also. Sometimes it's nice to have serious low-end and crunch in the middle and neck toggle positions so if I owned 2 7-string guitars I'd probably put 2 Invaders in one of them and have this Invader/'59 combo in the other.
A little note on buying strings: No need to search for sets of 7 strings, you can buy strings of 1 guage in bulk pretty cheap at musicansfriend or other places, and specify whatever guage you want. So I just get my usual Ernie Balls and then buy the 7th lowB string in bulk. I'm not sure yet what guage I'll get, I think the stock lowB is a .52 or .54, and I plan to put ErnieBall Powerslinky's on this axe which has a .52 lowE, so I'll probably want a pretty hefty lowB and NOTE: you'll want to file out the nut to accommodate this or else end up cracking your nut (ouch!!).
I hope this info helps; I think if you get any of the new 7-string guitars out (ESP, Schecter, Ibanez) and upgrade to better pickups you'll be pretty happy.

H-H pickups (duncan design), 3-way toggle, hardtail bridge, strings thru body, neck has binding (good!), tuners might be gotoh? they're very smooth, rosewood fretboard with interesting and good looking fret inlays on the upper side only of the fretboard (I'm so tired of dots), 24frets and very easy access to upper region but I don't really go there much on a 7 yet. Came with nice hardshell case & a little cord which is nice for an additional patch cable.
It has pretty much the exact features I wanted, but my wants were simple so I don't feel right giving it a 10 here, should I?
Anyhow, an important item to me was the toggle, vol, and tone were located in a very good location and I don't accidentally flip the toggle or spin the volume; this was one of the major reasons this beat out a Schecter model that otherwise looks the same and is priced the same (Schec's toggle was in a bad spot).

Sound: the "duncan designed" pickups in this axe do sound surprisingly good, but they do lack a little sustain and output level compared to the Duncans in my Jackson and the Gibson pickups in my LP; so I plan to upgrade the pickups probably to real Seymour Duncans.
I felt the exact same way on an ESP EX-200 I owned which also had "duncan designed"'s in it; good but would benefit from a pickup upgrade.
And that folks is the ONLY thing I plan to change on this axe, everything else I am extremely happy with.
Sounds I'm doing on it: - of course the obligatory low-B and drop-A metal stuff with heavy distortion.
- good medium-overdrive sounds, a prime example is Soundgarden's 4th of July. I've never been told they did that song on a 7string but I swear the 7 works perfectly for that song. Use standard tuning (or maybe down a 1/2 step?) with the low string being a B.
- I've also found a 7 string good for Herman-Munster Goth sounds, the clean side of Goth where you use rockabilly echo and heavy reverb, and try to have as many notes ring open instead of fretted. A 7 is letting me come up with new disonant chords I wouldn't have created on a 6.
Due to the pickups I'll only give it a 9; with real Duncans it'll be a 10.

At a price of only $567 with case from www.americanmusical.com I am completely impressed with the fit and finish of this guitar! I've never bought a new guitar this low and had it feel like it had this much quality and care to put it together properly.
I should note, mine is the "transparent black" color which actually looks slightly purplish. I like this color, and the wood grain on it really looks nice; but if you hate purple you need to be aware of this. They also have made a very good looking transparent dark green but I haven't seen it for sale lately. If I see that for sale at the same price I might get it too!

So far it feels very solid; the guitar feels like a lot better quality than its price reflects. If this got stolen I'd re-buy it without hesitation. No other 7 in this price range felt this good, that I tried in the stores.

I've dealt with ESP on another guitar, and was surprised I got thru their 800 number so quickly. I got good polite advice; I've had no extensive use of their support but the little time I spent with them was all good.

I've been playing a lot of years; I'm no guru but I've owned everything from a cheap Hondo II to Gibson LPs and Jackson Soloists, with everything inbetween along the way; I think I have a good handle on what is a beginner guitar and what is pro-level.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with a Jackson Soloist being a 10 from a player's viewpoint, and anything above a 6 being what I consider professional-level, I grade this ESP H-207 a 7.5 with its stock pickups and it will be an 8.5 when I pop in some real Duncans.
It's a bolt-on neck and I prefer set or thru necks (Soloist, LP) so I can't give it a 9. The Gibson LP would get a 9.5 as a player and a 10 for tone (the Soloist only a 9 for tone).
Now.... not to dog Ibanez, a company I like a lot who has many guitars and basses I like; HOWEVER, before owning this H-207 I briefly owned an RG7621 hardtail 7 string and was extremely unhappy with it, its price was ridiculous considering its poor quality and horrible pickups which quacked like ducks. Sorry, don't mean to offend any 7621 owners, just trying to help out potential buyers.