Fanned-Fret 7-string Impulse Buy

[Demiurge]

Just won this on the 'bay. I've been curious over all the fanned-fret bru-ha-ha going around, and since I basically sold every last electric I owned to finance a wedding that's no longer happening I figured that I would treat myself.

It's made by Michael Dolan. The body is mahogany and maple with a walnut center block- reminds me of the old BC Rich Eagle shape. Pups are Duncan JB/Jazz with Bartolinis for the lower strings. 25.5"-28.75" scale lengths. It's a bit funky, but I like the way it looks. Considering how Novax fanned necks are anywhere from $520-1600, and with all the hardware expenses et cetera, it was a steal for $800.

[ibanezcollector]

looks like the one Charlie Hunter Plays but his is 8 I think

[Demiurge]

Yeah, it does a bit- kind of a similar spirit definitely, with the bass tuning machine and the positioning of the bass pickups. I find the CH body kind of pudgy because it was made to be played in a sitting position, so I'm happy that this one is more symmetrical along the center line of the strings.

[Jaden]

looking at that makes my eyes hurt...
no offence.

[Ayrton]

So how does it play?

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by Ayrton

So how does it play?

The auction ended today, but I will definitely report back. I've never played fanned frets before, so I'm really excited to give it a whirl.

[JTM45]

Certainly looks interesting.
Nice score!
I'm guessing he put one bass tuner on there to cope with the thick lowest string.Surely he could have drilled a regular guitar tuner ?
Looks like ABM individual bridge/saddle jobbies. Cool.

I suppose it's only recently that anyone is making an 8 string pickup and even now there's only Lundgren and a few custom pickup makers (Hauessel will make just about anything).
I suppose this piskup system works well with the bass/guitar pickups handling their specific strings.
I really fancy giving a fanned-fret guitar a try to see how much of a difference it makes.
I should imagine everything will feel more balanced,tension wise etc.

Look forward to a review of this beast !

[Flobanez]

Interesting looking guitar and nice score!

[Aris_T]

Nice score! I really want to try one! Post back with impressions!

[Demiurge]

UPS' target arrival date is Thursday- I want it now, dammit!

[Demogorgos]

Hey Demi,

I would like to have some of your impressions and feedback too once you got a a chance to "spank this lady" a little.

The looks of this axe are interesting. Do I see correctly that it has separate pups for the low E and B???

Best regards,

JP

[Demiurge]

The two low strings have the Bartolini pickups to themselves, which you can run on a separate output, or you can flip a switch and blend both bass and guitar pickup outputs. That's titillating enough, though part of me I wishes I could just lay an EMG soapbar slanted right in front of the bridge and get my metal on, but I hope this will push me to be more creative writing counterpoint, etc.

The tuning is something I'll be interested in exploring. The previous owner made it sound like he had it tuned like a normal 7 a whole step down (ADGCFAD), so I'm thinking that I can take advantage of the scale length more and do EADGCEA with the 2 bass strings and five guitar strings.

[C.Thep]

cool, but the pickups are whack.

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by C.Thep

cool, but the pickups are whack.

I know... I'm not huge on the polepiece hangover, with pole pieces showing without strings over them- kind of reminds me of this:



Maybe I'll put flat black covers over the pickups so they'll match the Bartolinis.

[fettouhi]

Congrats man, AWESOME score!

Regards

André