the death of the 7 string
I've played a guitar tuned A to A (with a hipshot D tuner at that
) for the last 7 years or so.
I wasn't opposed to 7 strings, I had just never played any that really appealed to me. The UV777BK did appeal to me, played well, sounded good, so I bought it.
I did also like the ESP Stephen Perkins model, but I preferred the UV more.
I don't think 7 strings will ever die per se, but they will certainly not have the popularity they had originally forever. New things stay trendy for a bit.
As far as heavy bands dissing 7 strings well... I think I can comment on this with some sort of authority since all I've played is really heavy stuff (with bands at least) for the last 10 years or more (and I don't mean Korn heavy; I don't consider Korn very heavy at all).
Guitarists that play primarily heavy music fit into two catagories: the 'cool' type that want to be just that and have the attitude and just bash out the same dozen chords or so all over 4/4 and diss everyone that can actually play. then there's the 'musician' type then likes all sorts of music but just prefers the intensity of heavy musc and trys to bring all of their other influences into it (this would be me).
The 'cool' ones diss the 'musician' ones because they can actually play and it's '80's' to be a good guitarist in a heavy band. Lots of the 'cool' type don't even put all 6 strings on their guitars (a la Max Cavelera; Soulfly, Seplutura, he only uses the top 4, doesn't string the rest).
It's almost more of an image thing. Kind of like how the wave of alternative/Seattle music made musicianship uncool and made it cool to be sloppy.
So they look at 7 strings as unneeded tools for posers that want to play solos.. but what it really boils down to is accusation and prosecution due to lack of skill and fear of someone being better then them.
Not
all heavy guitarists are like this, but a large majority of them are; I suppose this could apply to any genre of music tho.
In defense of heavy guitarists (since I am one
), as a group defined by a musical style, they tend to be the nicest group with the smallest egos compared to lots of guitarists I meet.
There's still a large anti-musicianship sentiment in the heavy community, which is really stupid imo, but hopefully they'll grow out of it.
I for one will probably never buy a 6 string again. My eyes have been opened to things that on a 6 string would just kill me to not be able to do.
But this is just me.
Hope my mindless drivel made some sense.