Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: North London, innit bruv, safe, UK
Posts: 1,717
Re: The rise of the seven string
The fact is that for years 7 strings did not sell well at all, nu-metal died, and the number of players went down significantly as a lot of kids sold of their 7strings and went to baritone 6 strings. An abundance of second hand gear just meant a lot of new guitars weren't getting sold.
So when the 27" scale 7's came out, the 2027 (with piezo's), and all the other "different" models, noone bought them.
As a business, if something doesn't sell, you don't keep producing it "just because" hence all these models probably won't be bought back, at least not in the forseeable future.
However, with the introduction of the s7320, and the xiphos 7, those are new models, testing the water again.
As drew pointed out, schecter have the extended scale market pretty much cornered, so getting back into that, well, it's not exactly easy really!
Anyway, there are more 7 string players now, but the current crop is more technically minded, and a lot of people see it more as a speciality instrument for musos in a way rather than the view of it being a nu metal fad, which is a good thing.
7 strings aren't going to go away, but the demand for them is such that companies can't really make as many options as 6 string guitars, as it's just not profitable, and despite what everyone would like to think, profits are what drive guitar companies.
Now, all it is going to really take to initiate another boom, is a hugely popular band playing 7strings, which could happen.
But, have faith, the 8string bought out is doing a lot better than what ibanez thought it would do, so there is hope!