Victor Baker 7 string archtop

flamed sundurst 7 string archtop with an adjustable bridge and an amazing ebony tail piece that is magnitized to stay on to the brass frame to allow for rapid access to the strings. 25inch scale. made from maple spruce and ebony with a quality hard case. made in 2006 in philidelphia usa. i'm not sure about the amount of frets- enough! one floating pick up- kent armstrong i think- (very good)

i am interested in working in small combos where the acoustic voice of the instrument is part of the sound. Victors guitar through an AER compact 60 is truly inspirational. It is silent unless you make it sing and gives the most lush deep bass that will only improve over the years as the carved wood settles in, and a bright top end that cuts through a bebop head with ease despite it being a 7 string. The only thing i am not sure about is the floating pick up and pick guard- because they float!- which is what i asked for... and the wheels for volume and tone seem a bit stiff under the guard which then moves slightly as you change settings. My guess is they will loosen up.

i bought the guitar on line from england. Victor is in Philidelphia. he sent the guitar very well packed in a very posh case- which is very heavy and robust, and then two boxes outside that. Once i waded through the packaging i was shocked to find the strings tied together with tape and the bridge put away in the case's string box and instructions on how to access the ball ends of the strings by lifting off the top of the tail piece which seemed to be just resting on the brass structure underneath. It was then i realised i had no idea what i was doing! - it took me about 30 mins to work it out and then i emailed victor to make sure i was on the right path. he responded immediately, which has pretty much been his style all the way through and put my mind at rest that i had put the bridge in the right place and gave me tips on adjusting it to get the action i wanted. One week later i'm still making minute adjustments and loving the freedom to do that. The guitar is very well made, hand carved in beautiful maple and ebony and spruce, the hardware is great, the frets are smooth

I would play out with this guitar and am looking forward to doing that. This guitar will get really good- perhaps even great, in 5 yeras time i think.

difficult to send it back- we never discussed a warenty but i think there is one, i think that victor would take responsibility for anything that could be considered his fault. There are places here i could take it too. It looks so damn solid i cant imagine anything falling off.

i've been playing 30 years, jazz for 10 years. I've got a handmade Wechter acoustic as well which is amazing but victors is up there with it, and is different. I use an AER compact 60 and use pro-tools and digi 002 to record. I think i should have requested a small felt spacer underneath the pick guard- i might email victor actually i bet he'd send me one. If this guitar was lost or stolen i would cry. Then i would ask for pretty much the same guitar from the same man. I love the look of the sunburst maple and the huge sound through an amp. when I play a 9 sharp 11 chord with the root on the 7th string, the sound is like a piano played with two hands- it pretty intense. I checked out some factory made 7 strings up town and this is in a different class.I would like to thank Victor for keeping me in the loop and providing photos of the guitar as it was being built to asuage my paranoia that he had gone on holiday with my $1000 deposit! suffuce to say the guitar did exist after all