Schecter Damien 7

24 fret, no tremolo, no locking tuners, but no tremolo makes that unnecessary. I actually bought it because it didn't have a tremolo and I wanted the bass strings to stay well tuned, but it's still a missing feature.

This is the best 7-string, and the heaviest sounding guitar I've ever played. If you want more current, sure, pop in some EMG 81s and you'll be good to go. I like it both clean and at max gain on my 5150 head it sounds like killer, no active pickup needed. If you want more features (and price), get a higher end Schecter or Ibanez. If you just want a tool that sounds heavier than Tool, this is the axe. 7th string got a little wobbly when tuned down to A, but it didn't sound floppy like a wimpy strat in drop-D, was still tight and crisp even at this uber low tuning.

South Korean made, but very good. Fast, slick neck. Upper fret access a little difficult, but not too bad. It is a baritone scale (26-1/2), so people with smaller hands might have trouble fingering wide chords. I have the hands of a giant, so it works for me. The frets are all aligned perfectly, intonation on, no buzzing frets. I think it must be machine carved, and aligned, quality is better than a Gibson or Fender, and if the upper fret access would be a little easier, I would say on par with my PRS.

Guitar is solid, hardware seems solid. I've only had it a week, not much to say here. Strap buttons very good. Think is heavy, almost tanklike. Finish is matte, so it will hide any scratches pretty well too. I would never give any guitar 10 here unless it was encased in armor plate ala Steve McSwain, instruments are inherently fragile and should be treated with respect.

I don't know, if it broke, it would either be some kind of freak accident, or some electronics malfunction, which I would just fix myself.

I've been playing 15 years, had a strat as my main axe most of the time, have played pretty much every guitar out there. This sounds exactly like I want it to, and it wasn't very expensive either. I give very high marks to Schecter as a company for quality that is affordable. I also own a PRS custom 24, but this guitar kills it at drop tunings. I play it in doubled drop-D, D-D-A-D-G-B-E, which lets me play drop D with an extra heavy string and non-stop access to a low D pedal tone. Sounds so cool.

- 2006 Model
- 24 frets, 25.5" scale,
- Arch top
- Vol, tone, 3-way switch
- Hum(br), Hum(nk): passive EMG HZ's
- Basswood body and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard
- Black satin finish, no binding, double cutaway
- Tune-o-matic bridge, string thru body
- Grover tuners
- Pearl "bat" inlays

I play mostly heavier styles of metal, progressive and rock. And I should say rigth off that I have modified mine to get exactly the sound I want out of it.

First of all, I was very disatisfied by the stock EMG HZ pickups in this thing. They are very flat sounding and I didn't like the fact that they put the same type of pickup in the neck as they did in the bridge because while it may be ok for some metal tones in the bridge position, it really didn't sound great at the neck. The HZ's in general lack sustain and character unless your amp is drenching them with gain, and then, of course they lack dynamics.

So I switched those pickups out for real active EMG's: 81-7(br), 707(nk) which gave the tone much more diversity and sustain. I was also short on options seeing as how they were the only type of pickup I could find that would fit in the cavities cut for the extended encasement that EMG uses for its 7 string pickups(annoying). I even put in an EMG AB gain booster just to go all out with gain possibilities.

But the EMG's have that compression/limiting effect that they are so famous for so I still felt the guitar was falling short. Finally I removed them in favor of a DiMarzio D-Activator in the bridge and the thing sounds friggin awesome now. Tons of power and all the dynamics I need. The one drawback is that installing the DiMarzio required me to mutilate the mounting ears in order to fit it; plus, it looks kinda funny now.

The active EMG's were the quietist of the pickups I had in this thing. The HZ's were a bit quieter than the Dimarzio too. But I do get a much clearer, fuller sound with the D Activator than with either of the other configurations so I'm not too disappointed.

My set up: Damien 7>>Korg rack tuner>>Boss NS-2>>B-52 AT 100>>TC Electronic G Sharp and BBE sonic maximizer in the loop, B-52 4x12 cab.

I bought mine "like new" from an ebay seller so I can't say anything about factory set up. But although he claimed it had just been set up in his store, I got it with the bridge piece put on backwards. So I had to flip that plus the neck needed a slight adjustment but there were no other problems.

I've been using this guitar at live shows since early 2006 and it has held up just fine. It has, however, acquired some scratches to the paint from wear and tear(mostly my studded belt). I have used it without a back-up.

I've been playing for over 13 years and owned about a half dozen guitars including Fender, Epiphone and Dean. And while Dean is a close second, I'd say my schecters are the best as far as feel and sound( I also have a 007 Elite). In my opinion the Damien 7 also beats out other cometitors in its price range like Ibanez and ESP but then again, I had to do some serious work to it before I was satisfied. All told, I've probably spent close to $800 including the guitar and mods(which would've been more if I didn't know how to do the work myself) so I may have been better off saving up for something else. The C-7 Blackjack is probably the next guitar I'll get which is about that much. Personally I don't think any guitar is worth paying over $1000 for. I've played on Gibsons, PRS's, and ESP's that were rediculously expensive and I didn't think they were so much better than the 007 or the Blackjack.
If I lost it I'd probably save up for something slightly better. It would be a much better guitar if it came with higher quality pickups.