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What the hell? 7 string Epi Les Paul...?


JRizZ

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Ok, I realise that maybe I've just not been paying attention that much these last 12 years or so that I've been playing guitar, but I have never even heard of a 7 string Epi Les Paul! I just found this on eBay - anyone know any more about them to enlighten me (and others I expext) at all?

 

Check it out...7 String Madness!

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Aha i remember seeing it and playing it. it was in 2001, when at that time i was playing 7-string ibanez, but i like les paul, and were surprised to see they have made 7-string for les paul. neck is like a baseball bat, not like in your 50's les paul, bigger d**n big. they also have a 7-string fliying v at that time. but that time the shop sells it way up high, the price. i'm in malaysia, lp standard that time was about 600 something in your us dollar, and that model were priced at roughly 1500 usd. wow! korean made. what a rip off. here the price is high, way high. my les paul black beauty is listed 750 usd.

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7 string guitars don't work for me, somehow I can't play them at all. It's like a bad dream... I can't get any chords right or anything.

I tried one such Squier in Stockholm a while ago to confirm this. Hope none of you were around :D

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Hmm, from my experience, when i play 7 strings, i dont play 6. no problem for chords, in fact not a problem for my left finger at all. it the picking hand that have problems, when u rest your palm, your hand thinks, it the 6th string, and you will keep picking the wrong string. by the time you have gotten used to 7, you play 6, and your palm thinks it the 7th string.

completely retired my 7 string now. not much use though, unless you are playing korn, just drop your tuning if you wanna go lower. and in fact, palm mute downstrokes lower than D blurrs out, not tight.

the best thing is, you can do 3 octave runs with just 1 position switch.

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They aren't quite as rare as you may think. I am a sometimes-7-stringer, and have seen them for years popping up on the bay with some regularity. I don't mean to imply they are an everyday item, but common enough. There are a few different variations. The one you linked to is a bit rarer than the Goth version.

 

I remember when they first started showing up on the bay, they could be bought for a few hundred dollars. That was when they were really kind of new, and Epiphone isn't exactly known for its Sevens the way Ibanez is. Then they seemed to kind of spike up in price, and that black transparent flame-top can fetch quite a bit from interested parties nowadays.

 

The problem the Epis have is that they have the same 24 &3/4 scale length, which is pretty ridiculous for keeping a low B tuned up and not floppy (or even lower, as many of those "nu-metal" players down tuned everything).

 

I had a Dean Evo 7, which is almost like the LP shape, but better made IMO. It had the extra scale length of 25.5, and even then I had to put a .70 on it to keep it in proper tension. I have since sold it, and only have one 7, which I love to play (tuned B-E-A-D-F#-B-E, like a baritone w/ a high E, also known as lute tuning). My 7 has a baritone scale though, so it doesn't need such a huge B string.

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  • 1 year later...

I my self found an Epi Les Paul 7 string on ebay back in 2002 or so I believe. I'm in Michigan and it came from Hollywood Florida. $300 guitar and $25 shipping. I wasn't looking for a 7 string at all, but I couldn't pass that one up. Tobacco sunburst and I replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan JB-7. Also Swapped out the tuners with Gotohs. The neck on that guitar is like a 2x4 but man it sounds sweet. I love the clean tone through a fender tube amp with both pickups running and it sounds thunderous with my Russian Big Muff Pi.

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I my self found an Epi Les Paul 7 string on ebay back in 2002 or so I believe. I'm in Michigan and it came from Hollywood Florida. $300 guitar and $25 shipping. I wasn't looking for a 7 string at all' date=' but I couldn't pass that one up. Tobacco sunburst and I replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan JB-7. Also Swapped out the tuners with Gotohs. The neck on that guitar is like a 2x4 but man it sounds sweet. I love the clean tone through a fender tube amp with both pickups running and it sounds thunderous with my Russian Big Muff Pi.[/quote']

 

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

What kind of music do you play with it? I always associate 7 strings with the newer metal genres.

 

I can just make out the 4 pegs down one side of the headstock on your avatar. Any chance of a more close up pic?

 

Alan

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Guest icantbuyafender

Paula's are meant to be 6 strings in my opinion.

 

... 6 strings is hard enough!

 

:-p

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  • 4 weeks later...
Welcome to the forum.

 

What kind of music do you play with it? I always associate 7 strings with the newer metal genres.

 

I can just make out the 4 pegs down one side of the headstock on your avatar. Any chance of a more close up pic?

 

Alan

 

 

Thanks for the welcoming to the forum, Alan! Yeah I can get better close up pics. I'll make sure to post those within the next couple of days. I wasn't even looking for a 7 string, but wanted a Les Paul and since it was $325 brand new I figured what the hell. I play the Epi 7 in an instrumental noise rock group. So far I only use it for one song where there's a chugging guitar line based on the B string. During the first half of the song I play it clean and it's got a very smooth milky tone when using both pickups with the tone all the way up. I should note that I replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB 7. The neck is still stock and I was going to change it out, but with the two combined it sounds pretty cool as is. If you want to check out a sound bite, you can hear the song on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/expunk/170853253448 it comes in after the synth intro. and is the main clean geetar(not the counter melody that drops in here and there).

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Metal??

 

I'd go for the Jazz Noodling.

 

Remember that John & Bucky Pizzarelli play 7-string guitars....

 

Jazz guitarist George Van Eps pioneered the 7-string dating back to the 1930s. At that time' date=' he had his guitars custom built. In the late '60s, Van Eps signed an endorsement deal with Gretsch who then introduced a George Van Eps 7-String model:

 

[img']http://www.gruhn.com/features/vaneps/EG2974ang.jpg[/img]

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]
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