Jackson DR7 Seven String Electric Guitar Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI acquired this guitar from Musician's Friend at a cost of $225, give or take a couple of dollars.
The guitar is a surprisingly well crafted and designed instrument for the price. The Duncan Design Humbucker pick-ups gave me a meatier sound than I was expecting, as I previously used single coil pick-ups. The Hums also reduced the amount of noise my amp made when not playing the guitar. The added seventh string, a low B, has come in handy when I had to play without a bass player. Although it was no substitute for a bass player, the added string gave a lot of bottom to compensate while playing rhythm. The added string also helped me learn to "see" things the way a bass player does. As a result, I am able to understand why bass players play the way they do, in terms of scale positioning on the fret board. In additon, the low B string can create a thunderous variety of chords, making the bass player seem god-like, even though they didn't play the notes or chord. Furthermore, the instrument is extremely light, and the body is somewhat small, comparatively. The action is phenominal; I can seriously say that my solos were faster, more precise, and more defined than on my other guitar: a Fender Mexican Strat. The guitar sounds un-real on distortion, but is equally un-real clean. I have read reviews stating the Jackson DR7 doesn't sound well clean; these reviewers simply don't know what they are talking about. I play jazz, and, though this instrument is no substitute for a hollow body, it beats a lot of other makes and models in the clean category. The fretboard is wider than a six string, duh, but takes little time to get used to if you have medium to large hands. This is not an instrument for someone under 5'6"; unless, of course, you have gigantic hands.
The only thing that I had a problem with is that it took a little while to re-train my hand to get used to the wider fret board. As with any new instrument, be aware that you may experience some discomfort, i.e. repetitive stress pain, in the fret hand. The wider fret-board does take getting used to and the seventh string as well. At times, i have accidentally hit the B string in songs with a key signature of Bb or Ab: not good. But then again, you're a rock star and most people won't notice if you have good technique and can quickly mute that ol' B string. Most imporatant: I have yet to find a hard shell case to fit this beast.
The construction is solid: I've banged it around a bit, no damage. The knobs attached, however, are aluminum and can easily lose their grip on the volume or tone posts;no big whoop, though.
Great instrument for the price, could not be happier.
M. Morpurgo rated this unit
on
2002-12-04.
