ESP H-307

Late '90s neckthru 7-string guitar, see previous reviews for full details. One thing I will add: a few reviews have indicated that this guitar has a maple neck. Not so. The entire thing, except for the maple arched top on the body (complete with fake "photo" flame job), is mahogany. Originally came with EMG-HZ passive humbuckers, but when I got mine used, the previous owner had done the smart thing and installed active EMG-707s in it. This guitar comes with 24 medium-sized frets, and a Tune-o-matic fixed bridge. Overall, I was very unhappy with this guitar, but in terms of features, you can't fault it, so I give it a high rating, with a subtraction for not having jumbo frets.

Having a mahogany neck on a 7-string guitar is just plain stupid. Mahogany provides a deeper, bassier sound with less bite and high-end sparkle. On a 7-string guitar, you've already got plenty of low-end, and all that mahogany just gives you a bunch more low-end "whump," which does nothing more than walk all over your bass player's sonic space. Might be ok for somebody that's just going to bash out some two-finger chords in a nu-metal outfit. For lead playing, though, I thought the sound sucked, even with the EMG-707s. Not enough definition or voicing in the higher register. I will say, though, that the neckthru construction and active EMGs make give the low-B a lot more definition than you find on most 7-stringers, but that's not enough to overcome the lack of high-end sizzle, in my book.

This is where the guitar really sucked. Ok, the finish was fine. But the action on mine was some of the worst on any guitar I've ever owned. When I bought it at a used guitar store, it was set up for really high action, like you'd find on some toy guitar. When I got it home and did a set-up, I realized to my horror that you CANNOT get low action on this guitar. For two reasons:

1. The fretjob sucked. The frets were not even remotely level, and there were a lot of 'dead spots' and 'buzz-outs', where notes would either not happen at all due to the next fret being too high, or sort of 'die' instantly, due to level problems and a poor crowning. Ok, this guitar is a mass-produced Korean job, where you don't expect perfection, but I expect better than this. Frankly, every ESP LTD I've played seems to have had a similarly poor fretjob. Schecter Diamond-Series and the cheaper Ibanezes, which are made in the very same Samick factory as this guitar was, seem to come out with better frets. What gives, ESP?

2. Even if it had a perfect fretjob, you couldn't get low action, because the idiots at ESP and/or Samick did not match the radius of the fretboard to the radius of the saddles on the Tune-o-matic bridge!!!! That's a basic design problem, not a quality control issue. Here's the deal: the fretboard is 'rounder' than the radius of the bridge saddles, meaning that the low-B and high-E sit a lot higher off the fretboard than do the middle strings. If you try to get low action on the two highest strings (where you need it the most for lead playing), the D and G strings are going to be laying on the fretboard and be unplayable. And on a guitar with a Tune-o-Matic bridge, *THERE IS NOT A DAMN THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT*, since you can't adjust the height of the individual saddles. :( Short of having a repair guy recut the notches in the saddles, that is, which costs $$$. A guy should not have to do that to have a functional guitar. Major negative.

Also, the medium-sized frets were very uninspiring for playing leads--but that's just a personal preference of mine. There are plenty of really hot players out there who like smaller frets. The guitar does have a nice neck shape--flat and thin, compared to most 7-stringers. Too bad it's borderline unplayable.

I only had this POS for a few weeks, but it didn't break during that time, so I can't fault it for that. Seemed pretty sturdy.

ESP no longer makes this guitar, and you'd wouldn't know that they ever did, judging from their crappy web site. On the company's BBS, a lot of folks seem to be searching for H-307s and willing to pay big $$$ for them. I certainly made a nice profit off of mine when I sold it in disgust. My advice, try before you buy.

I was really jazzed when I found this guitar used, since they are hard to find. And then I was incredibly disappointed when I set it up and realized what a dog it was. Poor action and dull sound--is there anything worse or more uninspiring on an electric guitar? I now have a Japanese-market Jackson Stars 7-string Soloist that absolutely blows this H-307 away in every respect. My advice: look for a used Schecter A-7 Elite before you buy one of these. The A-7 Elite was a neckthru 7-stringer made around the same time as the H-307, but it has a maple neck, and plays and sounds about a zillion times better, even if it has a very weird body shape.

Bought at Mars Music in 2000. Came from Quebec, Canada to get there since it was backordered everywhere in Quebec and in the immediate north-eastern cost! This is a korean made guitar, and by far, it is the best-built korean I've seen so far in this price range. I won't go through all the features because everybody else seem to have done that already... I bought the fixed bridge version of the 307 because I played hardcore at the time, but now that I play metal, I realise this has been a big mistake!

I would have liked a 5-way selector with phase splitter, but other than that, this guitar has all I need! Oh damn. I almost forgot. CHANGE THOSE DAMN EMG HZ-707s!!! As most other folks mentionned, those are pure crap! They really aren't representative of the tone you can get out of this guitar!

As I said I now play metal, ranging from death, black, to "hair" metal. As I said, change those crappy PUs. I had a set of Seymour Duncan 7-string Invaders installed in my H307 and the sound coming out of those is simply monstruous! I plug straight into my Marshall TSL100 and, well, what can I say...OUTTA THIS WORLD DISTORTION! The palm muting is so tight, this can perfectly reproduce the recent Malevolent Creation type of sound (even if they play on Mesas :p). While playing clean, I can get a really nice, warm sound from the neck pickup; talk about versatility!
The only complaint I have with the guitar is some 7th string buzz. This might be due to the fact that I'm tuned a full step down (A to D), and that my 7th is a .060. I have no buzz on the other strings (.048 to .011).

I don't really know how the guitar was set-up at the factory, because after testing for about 20 minutes, I proceeded to get my Invaders installed at Mars Music (I don't remember where, in Massachusetts). Those dorks botched the job, however, and I was forced to go to Danbury, Connecticut, where the guys at a great music store (don't remember the name!) did a great job on repairing the mistakes the other tech guy did. The other actually inverted the wiring on the selector switch (bridge in "up" position...!) and set the action waaaay too high because he was too lazy to do some routing in the pickup cavities (those Invaders need extra depth).
Anyways, after he was done, my guitar was flawless!

Oh, and the finish is just gorgeous! I have the cherry red finish and it is just sublime. It's easy to leave plenty of finger marks on it however, but the occasional polishing will take care of that.
I wont give a rating for this because I did not play enough with the "stock" guitar, but if I had to rate the way it was adjusted by the second tech guy, it would easily get a 10.

I've never played any shows, but I'm sure this guitar can stand gigging simply because I've seen some guys use it in shows (I think a guitarist from Shadows Fall uses one, though I can't remember if it really was this band or not...whatever). The hardware is built to last. This of course depends on how much you take care of your stuff(I'm very carefull), but as long as you're not throwing or banging the guitar around, you should be ok. Besides, who would buy a guitar like this and mistreat it?!?
The bottom strap button screw was loose on my H307; this is quite common with korean-made guitars/basses. In my case, a few drops of permanent nutlock did the trick...it's been almost 5 years and it never came off again.
I would definately use this guitar on a gig without a backup, without thinking twice.

Never dealt with ESP.

I've been playing guitar for almost 6 years and bass for a month and a half (learning quickly!). As I said I play on a Marshall TSL100 head("Groove Tubed", GT-6CA7GE powertubes, SAG Marshall High Gain kit preamp tubes), into a 1960A 4X12 cab. I sometimes use a Dunlop variable Q wah, Digitech whammy, VoodooLabs superfuzz, and Boss FZ-2 HyperFuzz. The head is permanently plugged into a Marshall SE100 Speaker Emulator on 18db attenuation (for house playing, volume cranked at 6!).
If it was stolen, I'd plan the perfect murder and liquefy the thieve's corpse with one of those christmas tree grinders! Ehmmm, ehemmm, yes I would replace it. HEH!
Simply put, I would NOT have bought any other guitar in this price range. Ok, it's a korean, but hell, mahogany body, neck-through, flamed maple top...the only crappy component on the H307 is its pickups. I've compared it to other guitars in this price range, namely Ibanez (ACK!), Jackson (bolt-on was a no-go) and Schecter (not bad at all, but still not my LTD!). You simply can't be disapointed with this guitar, but to exploit it's full potential, once again, you'll have to change its pickups. For that reason only, I can't give it a 10.

it was made in 2000 in korea. it has 24 medium frets. one volume one tone and a three way toggel. it came with two humbuckers (emg hz)
which i ripped out, burned and threw away. the body is mahogany and the neck is maple with a rosewood finger board. it has a transparent carved flamed maple top. it has a tunomatic gibson style bridge. the body is a strat style with shaller tuners. it has a wide tin profile neck through body. i give it a 9 only cause of the pickups

it is perfect for my style of music. i use it through a peavy with a korg toneworks pedal. the stock pickups were noisy and just plain shitty.all i can say is chane the pick ups now. sounds like complete crap.the guitar it self is great over all sustain is awsome and the wood gives it a perfect tone with the new pick ups. with the swap i give it a 10 for sound.

the guitar was set up perfectly. it has a little rattle in the b string maybe cause i use a 70 gauge string. the flame top was exelent and the aqua burst could not have been any better. although it does smudge easily.the wood binding is amazing.

i would and do play this guitar live. the hardware is impervious to any thing.the finish is very well done and i think it will last.i canged the stap buttons to locking ones. not cause they were bad but because i do that to all my guitars.i would defently gig without a backup.

dont know never delt with them.

ive been playing for about 9 years. i own a prestige saber, rg55o,usa bc rich warlock,chrvel neck thruogh. this guitar is up in the bracket with them all for a fraction of the price.i wish i new the pickups sucked before i bought it.i love ever thing about it since i put the dimarzios in it. best sounding guitar i have now.ive playe ibanez,shecter,epiphone,kramer/jackson seven strings this blows them all away.the only seven string that compares is a carvin they rule.

Well, it is the same as listed as in all the others. This is my updated review. I have added Emg 707's. The active pickup version of the ones that came stock on the guitar. There is a huge improvement in tone and noise. With the new addition of the 707's, the noise has disappeared, and the overall sound if way fucking better. The pickups are a combination of the Emg 81 and 85, but in a 7 string version. They make this guitar rock. It is truley a heavy metal machine. The neck pickup is pretty muddy though. I can get a good sound due to my peavey 5150, but weaker amps may crap out. I would highly recommend this upgrade to someone who is serious about getting a very high quality guitar.

PERFECT FOR METAL. I don't know how many times I could stress that. With the new pickups, I would have to say that it rivals some of the new custom shop 7-string ESP's.

Eh, what happens when you get mail order, you have to set it up the way you want it, when it arrives.

I have had it for a few months and the finish is still really nice, and the strap buttons are solid. The hardware will stand long nights of playing and i woulg guess that they will probably hold up longer than the guitar. Always gig with atleast one backup, shit happens.

I heard ESP was really good, but i have never dealt with them.

i have been playing for a long time and this is a quality guitar. If I am to purchase another guitar, it will be a 6 string, because this will suit my needs for a 7, and I would buy a Paul Reed Smith, quite possibly the best guitar company in the world. This guitar though, is fucking awesome, and i love it.

It was made in Korea in 2000. It has 24 frets, and a fucking bad-ass see-thru aqua flame maple top. The body is mahogony with a nice strip for the binding. There is one volume and one tone knob. It came with two Emg/Hz humbucking pickups. They are passive, and if you are going to buy this guitar just for the Emg pickups, don't; they are really fucking noisy. They just don't carry the same quality of normal Emg's, mainly because they are not active. I have two Emg 81's in my SG, and I am going to go out and buy some Emg 707's for this, and when that happens, this guitar will fucking kill shit. The body is mahogany with a neck-thru body design. The headstock slightly resembles that of a flying v except there are 3 knobs on top and 4 on the bottom. Like I said before, the way this guitar looks is fucking amazing! It is stratish, but i think it looks way the fuck better, with a 7 string stop bar tailpice and tune-o-matic tremelo. The neck is wide and skinny, but it plays damn well, and it also had jumbo frets. Mine came with a custom Esp case and a crappy cable. I give it an 8 because of the pickups being too noisy.

I play heavy metal and shit like that, not Korn, Korn fucking sucks. FUCK KORN. I play Fear Factory, Slayer, SOAD, PANTERA, my own shit, and also some punk, but not really on this guitar, it can be played, but I enjoy metal more. It also sounds good when playing blues or jazz, but don't buy it for that. I have a Peavey 5150 combo with a Dunlop Crybaby wah, and a Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer pedal. I don't really know how to work the pedal yet, but it boosts the gain a whole lot. This guitar is really noisy when playing with distortion, but clean, it sounds pretty good. It sounds pretty good, way better than any fucking Ibanez, except for the Custom shops like Dinos' and those two fags from Korn, but once I get the 707's, I am damn sure this can hang with them. I really fucking like this guitar.

This guitar was set up really well, and it even came in tune. The pickups were adjusted really well, but i am going to get the 707's. The action was nice, but there is a slight buzz, now it's fixed. I lowered the action and now i play it the way i like it. There are no flaws on it, which if fucking nice considering it was made in Korea. Everything works great.

You can never tell if a guitar can stand up to playing live without a backup. Shit happens. Always gig with a backup. The hardware on this motherfucker is like that of a rocketship, it won't break or wear down. The finish is bad-ass, and will last, it does smudg when you touch it though; and that's what i hate about having a guitar with a damn nice finish. The strap buttons seem solid, but since it is my baby, i think i will get strap locks.

I have never dealt with Esp, but from what I have heard, it isn't half bad. 1 year warranty.

I have been playing for about 4 or 5 years, but not too seriously until about a year ago. I have 3 guitars, and Epiphone SG outfitted with dual Emg-81 pickups, this guitar, and a really old Mako TX-2 Traditional, which is an explorer copy.

If some person were to steal my guitar I would buy a new one, but for the person that stole my guitar I would
a) find them,
b) rape them in the ass with a boat oar and
c) stick him in the wolverin section of the zoo while he is covered in chocolate, and the pheremones of the female wolverines.

I would not compare this guitar to anything. It is head and shoulders better than all the other 7-Strings out there, unless they are compared to a custom shop, Jackson, Esp, or Ibanez. I am dead serious that this guitar is really fucking good. I had never played this guitar upon buying it online. BUT I DID DO A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF RESEARCH.

All the features from previous posts: Flame/maple top Mahogany body, neck-thru design, tune-o-matic w/ talepiece. Emg passive (stock) PU's
I give this section an 8 because of the pickups.

I play everything from progressive hardcore(metal), to melodic/tripy/alt/rock. Mostly i play harder music ala: Meshuggah, Fear factory and Deftones.

I have this guitar running through a Marshall 100 watt JCM 900 4100 head w/ one 4x12 Marshall 1960a CAB. Also with W/some effects through the FX loop of the amp.

This Guitar doesn't fit my needs in the "heavy-style" I blame this on the pickups. These are stock Emg hz707's. I was ripped off, Or actually confused, thinking that they were the same PU's Dino from fear factory uses, which i later learned to be EMG 707's. Big difference here. These stock PU's are wimpy and don't have any balls what so ever. They would be okay for lighter rock or pop but definatly not metal! The only thing loud or strong about the sound is the horrible hum i get from them VERY LOUD! On my cleaner styles it is decent, you can obtain a good clean lead on the neck PU.
I give this section a 7 only beacuse i understand that not everyone plays the same style i do, and may find this guitar useful, however, the Loud Hum docs a few points off.

This is one hot piece off ass! By far the coolest looking guitar ive owned. The flame is nice as well as the neck-thru and the binding.
The transparent finishes are very well done, i own the transp Aqua, my other guitarist owns the transp Black Cherry. The Aqua is my fav.
the gutiar was set up nice, very little buzz on the b string.
its a shame that ESP made suck a pretty guitar and stocked it w/ such nasty PU's

The guitar plays like a dream. The neck is the best 7-string neck made. and i have played and owned many others. The staps may need locking straps replaced but they are decent, if you don't move around much on stage. I on the other hand will need to replace them.
I have only played live with it once, because the noise from the PU's were overwhelming. So, it is currently my back-up guitar. Live I play my Schecter C7 which has stock duncan's in it that sound a hell of a lot better.

limited lifetime warranty, whatever the hell that means.
never had to deal w/ esp.

If you want a pretty guitar, well made, good finish but shitty pickups's this is the one for you.
i would change out the PU's, but i heard a horror story about that w/ this model on another review on this guitar.

This guitar was made in Korea. Has 24 frets, 1 tone, 1 volume, 2 EMG HZ-707 humbuckers, Mahogany body with flame maple top and through body neck, stop tailpiece, and tuners similar to Grover. The pickups are pretty shitty so I think I'll be replacing them soon. The sounds aren't real versatile. You can get heavy on the bridge, heavy on the neck or heavy in between, theirs not alot of difference. I'm going to blame that one on the pickups though. The tone control is useless (like all other guitars') so I rewired the pickups so that each knob controls their volume. I gave this a 8 because of the weak pickups and because I really like the configuration except the volume and selecter switches get in my way.

I just play for fun. Anything from Stevie Ray to Nirvana, to Korn. With a good amp, this guitar can be used for anything. I've run it through a zoom 505, boss ds-1, ada and digitech racks, carvin and fender amps, they all seem to compliment it really good except for the fender (suprising for the 505). I play with a peavey revolution 112 and I just shut the mids off for great metal distortion. I don't know whats up with these EMG Hz pickups, but they really sound awful. There just doesn't seem to be any real tone to them.

The guitar came set up and the action was nice and low. The low B buzzed just a little (even more when tuned down to A). The finish is beatiful. It is aqua burst with a dark green stained neck and back with natural binding on the side and cream on the neck. This is by far one of the best looking guitars I have ever seen. The flame doesn't match on mine but I don't really care. I can't see any bad side to the construction and finish. A+

This thing is about as solid as a rock. The hardware is good. The finish is excellent and with proper care shouldn't ever come off, it does smear rather easily though. I was going to put strap locks on it but after playing for awhile the buttons seemed so solid that I figure I'd leave them on. I can depend on it and I would gig without a backup . I give this a 9 because it fell off of my strap while playing one time. Hmmm... maybe time for those strap locks...

Never dealt with them. Probably never have to. It has a lifetime warranty but since the tone to volume control change, I probably voided it.

The reason I got a 7 string is because my hands are pretty large and they get cramped up on those fender necks. If I had to loose the extra string, no big deal. But I don't think I would ever give up the neck. It's like handling a 2x4. Most people probably think that sucks, but to me its wonderful. I love everything about this guitar except the pickups and the position of the volume and selecter switch. My advice is play it before you buy it. I'm not sad that I made this purchase and I would defianatly buy another.

1 vol, 1 tone, 3-way toggle. The location of the knobs is great for me, I never accidentally flick the toggle or spin the volume down. Location of the toggle is one reason I like this over the similar looking Schecter where the toggle is in my strumming path.

Flametop!!, Thru-neck!! neck goes all the way thru to form the center of the body, with 2 flanks glued on either side to form the rest of the body. Amazing you can get these features for this price ($608 with deluxe case, plus shpg); any other guitar maker charges thru the roof for flametop and thru-neck.

Off-white binding on the neck (on 207 it's regular white), and natural-wood binding on the body. Binding on the H-307 body (as opposed to the H-207) is more on the sides and not the top; to me this looks better, the top has a sleeker overall look, you don't see the binding that much when looking straight-on. ...you don't want your 7-string to look like Waylon Jenning's custom Telecaster do you? :-)

The body has a nice carve-top which looks great, I prefer the sculpted look of a carve-top (and archtop) vs. a flat plank of wood which says "econo" or looks like dough after you went at it with the cookie cutter.

Back of the neck is super smooth, painted black, and blends into the body excellent just like a Jackson Soloist. The neck is a little thinner than the H-207; also the 207 neck is natural wood and to me those feel slightly dry and less smooth than a painted or finished neck.

The body is lighter than the 207 but I personally like heavy guitars; however most folks want lighter weight. ESP managed to get the 307 lighter by thinning out just certain places on the body, some beveling goes farther, and the 2 horns are slightly thinner from the front-view; also the neck is thinner.

I liked the solid but mild heft of the 207 but the 307 still feels good mostly because of the neck and sculpted neck-to-body area which is excellent. One minor thing, the area where your picking arm comes over the guitar is not contoured (like a Strat) and I think it should have been, after all it's basically shaped like a Strat and has excellent countouring other places.

Comes stock with EMG HZ pickups which are passive not active thus don't require a battery; they sound so-so but they are NOISY! Without a noise gate you are scr*wed, it's as bad as a cheap Strat single-coil noise when you use any distortion at all.

The SD Invader and '59 are very quiet. The Invader and '59 also stomp those dumb HZ's butt in terms of output, definition, harmonics, gain, you name it. HZs are just yet another cheap stock pickup, which wouldn't bother me much since I can replace them with SDs,.....except for the horror story I'm about to unleash on you, please read on before you buy anything.

After putting the Invader/'59 combo in my H-207 and realizing how great it sounded I knew my H-307 would be the same. I only got the H-307 because I love a set (or thru) neck, and I've sold the 207 to my bud.

(((Here's the pickup horror story)))
The EMG HZ pickups are a sealed unit with only 5-prongs sticking out, no wires coming out of the pickup at all, and pickup height is adjusted by the same 2 screws that hold the pickup in place, with 2 sponges glued to the back of the pickup to give resistance while adjusting pickup height.

Out of the hole where the wiring comes from the conrol cavity is a wire with a heat-shrink attached EMG-proprietary receptacle that the 5-prong pickup fork goes into.

This *might* be a super-easy way to let you upgrade to another EMG-ONLY pickup design....but what the hell if you want to buy pickups from Seymour Duncan? or anyone else on the planet?

I've never been a fan of EMGs, but live and let live. But now after they pulled this proprietary crap on me and my 307 I want to go drive a carbomb into their damn corporate headquarters! damn crooks trying to force me to use only their lousy pickups. ...didn't Microsoft just lose a huge lawsuit over this behavior?

The cavity routed for the pickup is wider than a normal 7-string-humbucker cavity, so using my pickup rings to hold my Seymours in place didn't at first look like an option....aarrrgghhh!

But I've found a way around EMG's insidious proprietary-only design.

The inside corners of the cavity line up with the 4 pickup-ring install holes, and using some extra pickup-height screws I have which are small enough to fit in the pickup-ring holes yet long enough to go all the way thru to the bottom of the cavity I am able to mount the pickup rings by drilling 4 holes at the inside corners of the cavity, and thus can install my SDs (hooray!)

BUT it also requires you do some routing of a half-moon shape at 2 sides of the cavity to accommodate the pickup tab which has the screw hole for the height-adjusting screw. Not only route enough to put the tabs in the bottom of the cavity, but route it all the way to the cavity opening so you can also adjust the height.

(((My Results))):
This procedure is NOT for the timid or inexperienced and you can kiss your warrantee goodbye! This procedure involves permanent undoable routing to the cavity and you will never be able to reinstall the stock pickups. Even the holes the stock pickups install with have to be routed to give room for the new pickup-height adjuster screws which go into a slightly different spot and need room to go deeper than the cavity.

However, yes this install can be done, I've just completed it in the bridge position (SD Invader) and am totally happy with the results, but MAAAN what a bunch of work for the non-luthier that I am. I'm just lucky I have a serious knack for these types of projects, having honed my skills as a kid building model tanks and little dioramas (yes I was one of *those* geeks, but hey I played football too).

For the moment I left the HZ in the neck position....man what a hunk of hooey compared to my SD. Later this weekend I am routing out the neck cavity too, my '59 is going in there pronto. Noise-wise the HZ just seems unuseable compared to the SD.
The SD does WWF Smackdown on these peewee-Herman HZs. ;-D.

So

INCREDIBLE!!! The pics at the ESP website look great and the guitar looks pretty much just like that but mine is slightly darker overall which is better than lighter which would be gay :-). Excellent looking flametop aqua burst, it's beautiful in person and I've gotten big compliments from everyone who's seen it. Why do all the other guitar makers double the price if you want a flametop?

I haven't found any flaws anywhere in the fit & finish, it looks and functions excellent.

The back of the neck seems to be black, and the back of the body is almost black but just slightly you can see the wood grain thru the dark aqua color, and it's cool you can see the neck going all the way thru the guitar body on the back. First neck-thru I've ever owned.

The bridge on this guitar is the same on the 207, the standard Gibson-style tune-o-matic. This 307 has the Gibson-style stop tailpiece; the 207 has strings-thru-the body, and I don't notice any difference in the 2 designs as far as sustain or any other functionality.

This model comes in a very nice deluxe case, a step up from the standard hardshell the 207 came in which itself is a decent case.

Only owned it a month so don't know but it seems solid. I love it so I hope it lasts for decades. I don't have any plans to buy any other 7.

I've owned 3 ESP guitars and 1 bass and nothing has failed yet; but I'm not an onstage thrasher either. If you thrash onstage like a fish on a boatdeck then buy cheap(replaceable) guitars, afterall it's not as if your fans are going to notice your tone or finger technique anyway. :-]

ESP has always been helpful to me.

...their web forum has a bunch of immature twits that all rail against you if you dare say something against a band they like, or speak how you like Gibson guitars, or heaven-forbid insult one of their clique; and there's not much useful info there, but some good humor sometimes and a cool picture of a dissected hotpocket :-D. Screw the forum, the guitars kick!

It's a gem. I would've been content with my 207 until this thru-neck was available at such a great price. Granted the tone of an axe with this low of wood mass isn't going to match my Les Paul, but with the Invader & '59 its tone is about as good as my SG.

But before buying I urge you to think long and hard about the pickup situation; if you intended to upgrade to EMG actives then make sure they use the same 5-prong plug first. When you compare the noise from the HZs to other guitars I don't think you'll like them so a pickup upgrade is pretty important.

Since currently I'm only using a 7string on 10% of what I do this guitar is way nicer than I actually need but the price was way too good to pass up. Nothing built this nice at this price was ever available to me as a teenager, I wish I was 15 now (and not just to date 15yr old girls either, although that's a thought) ;-D.