Solo Guitars had a B-stock item available, one of two models that I’d been looking at. Since it was $50 off and requiring what appears to be a $5 repair, I went for it. An Ibanez JEM-inspired 7-string. No name as of yet, will need to wait until it’s in my hands and I have an idea of how to finish it.
The inspiration here came from wanting a lower-tuned guitar. Either a 7-string or a baritone, neither of which I’ve had in my collection ever. I was considering a Rhoads-style V, then either setting it up and tuning it to B-to-B as a fake baritone on a traditional 6-string scale, or in the wildest of fantasies, installing a custom baritone-scale neck from Warmoth.
Only problem with that plan was that the neck I designed at Warmoth ended up at $365 for the neck alone. So that’s not happening! But an ebony fretboard, with black perloid starburst inlays for fret markers?
Maybe some day…. Anyway….
The rated build challenge is higher than that of Blue-J or Ke Kai, probably because of the Floyd-Rose-inspired tremolo bridge. But lucky for me, Madeleine, my Jackson KE-3, has a FR trem that I’ve learned to adjust.
I’m not sure yet if I’ll go with the red theme to match my other instruments down at the permanent home or a blue/green to fit with the gear up north. I was leaning toward just pure green because of the vine inlay on the fretboard, and calling it Poison Ivy, but that’s kind of cliché already.
I don’t know, maybe something red and calling it Chateau Picard? 🙂
Not quite brutal enough for a 7-string, though.