Review: Schecter Jeff Loomis JL-7

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we are talking about one of the most popular 7 strings guitars on the market for metal: the Schecter JL 7 Jeff Loomis!
Schecter is a legendary american brand that counts several artists on its roster (The Cure, Avenged Sevenfold, Abbath, Type 0 Negative, Keith Merrow and so on), and that has the core of its production on rock-metal oriented guitars, basses and related accessories, and it has started producing instruments in 1976: the company went through a series of highs and lows, and today there is an American headquarter and a Japanese one (the latter one controlled by Esp) that are two separate companies which shares the same brand.

Jeff Loomis instead is one of the most influential extreme guitarists / guitar heroes of the 90s and early 2000s, one of the few artists that succeded in mixing shred, great melodies and heavy, articulate riffing with a tasteful songwriting, as guitarist of Nevermore, Arch Enemy, Soilwork (as a session player), Sanctuary and other projects. Basically some of the best bands in modern heavy music.

The union between Schecter and Jeff Loomis has produced one of the few signature guitars that doesn't feel like a signature guitar (like a Les Paul), that has enough character to break out from the niche of the fanbase and be adopted by a broader audience, due to its high playability and features.
The Schecter JL-7 is a seven strings guitar with body in swamp ash and a baritone (25,6 inches) maple neck with cross inlays, it has locking tuners, signature active pickups (the Seymour Duncan Blackout Jeff Loomis) and comes with a hipshot hardtail bridge or with a floyd rose.
The neck is particularly interesting, because it's a set neck guitar with easy access to the higher frets (which are 24), and the shape is "ultra thin C", with a radius of 16", which means extremely flat and shred-friendly.

In terms of playability the guitar is quite heavy (some source says 4.5kg) and the neck is very long, so it takes some time to get acquainted to, but the fretboard is just perfect, the build quality is very good and so is the hardware.
The sound is just impressive (even in the earlier models, which used to come with EMG 707 pickups): it's thick, but has a strong midrange capable of poking through very dense mixes, and it's very reliable both in studio and on stage.
If you will come across one don't miss the chance to play this guitar, you will find out why it's one of the most appreciated 7 string guitars for metal, and probably you'll end up buying one :)

Thumbs up!


Specs taken from the website:

- Tuners: Schecter Locking

- Fretboard: Maple

- Neck Material: Maple/Walnut Multi-ply

- Inlays: Metal Crosses

- Side Dot Markers: Glow In The Dark

- Scale: 26.5” (673mm)

- Neck Shape: Ultra Thin ‘C’

- Thickness: @ 1st Fret- .748” (19mm)/ @ 12th Fret- .787” (20mm)

- Frets: 24 X-Jumbo Stainless Steel

- Fretboard Radius: 16” (406mm)

- Nut Width: 1.889” (48mm)

- Body Colors: Vampyre Red Satin (VRS)

- Arched Top

- Set-Neck w/Ultra Access

- Body Material: Swamp Ash

- Bridge: Hipshot Hardtail (.125) w/ String Thru Body

- Volume/3-Way Switch

- Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan 'Jeff Loomis' Signature Active

- Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan 'Jeff Loomis' Signature Active


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!