Gear Review: De'Armond 7 String Guitar

De'Armond 7 string sg

De'Armond isn't a name you would usually associate with the 7 string guitar market, being owned by Fender after being taken over by Guild who were bought out by Fender. The company had seen a new market when the 7 string boom hit the globe and decided to go out on a limb and try to enter the market with a couple of models. The pictured model above is one of them. The model I have is the updated version of this guitar. all the main features are the same, but on the newer editions, the stop tail piece was replaced by the more common Les Paul style stop tail piece.

Features

This guitar features a 25.5" scale length, a bolt on neck, (I believe it may be a maple neck but I am unsure), possibly a Mahogany body (again i am unsure), 22 medium frets, 2 De'Armond 7 string pickups, 2 volume controls, 2 tone controls and a 3 way toggle switch. This guitar has a solid black finish and matching black finished neck.

Starting Out

If you have never played a 7 string guitar before, it is a very daunting prospect. The best thing to do is to just play the hell out of it, and try playing riffs that you already now on the lower string. This is a lot of fun, and can open up new possibilities for your playing.

The normal standard tuning on a seven string is the standard E-A-D-G-B-E of a normal 6 string, but with the added low B string. When I first picked it up, I was thinking to myself, "oh no, what was i thinking?" but i persevered, and kept playing it. It became very natural to me after only a few days of playing.

Opinions

In my opinion, the De'Armond has a lot of ground to make up, as far as taking on the rest of the 7 string market is concerned. It's bulky body makes it feel like a big guitar, but the most surprising thing on this guitar is the neck. The neck has a fairly slim taper to it, which makes you feel at home on this guitar. The wide fretboard feels huge after the first time you play it, made all the more obvious when you pick up a six string straight after you put the 7 string down. The 6 string feels like a kid's toy after playing the wide neck for a while. But after changing between the two guitars on a regular bassis, you begin to forget the difference and they both feel very natural.

The main downsides to this guitar, are it's pickups. The stock De'Armond's that come fitted, tend to be abit muddy when the gain rolls up. if you want glassy clean tones from this guitar, go buy a Fender instead. I had to re-tune the pole pieces on both pickups to get a bright, even tone, whilst still retaining a good dose of warmth. I think I might have been better off just slapping a set of EMG 707's in there and be done with it. But, it does have some nice classic rock/metal tones locked away in the stock pickups. The EMG's still sound very tempting though......

The other main down side is the lack of those 2 extra frets to grant the guitar that magical 24 fret option, but that is only really availiable with fitting a Warmoth replacement neck. But for those who want to start out with a 7 string guitar, the 22 frets are ample for lead playing.

Conclusion

I find that this guitar is a well rounded piece of kit. It can cater for almost all styles of music, ranging from punk, to jazz, and from blues to metal. The dual tone controls allow for unique tone blending possibilities, in conjunction with the three way toggle switch. The guitar certainly gets my seal of approval as being a good allrounder.