Are you into shredding everyone’s faces off? Are you looking to tune your guitar down and compete with your bass guitarist for who can hit the lowest note (your bassist is gonna win, so don’t try it)? Well I have someone you should meet!

Meet: Mr. Seven.

Okay, that doesn’t necessarily mean Mister, but that’s what “MR SEVEN” looks like to me, so that’s what I’m gonna call this guitar.

Let’s try out Mr. Seven and see what he’s capable of…

Features:

– Alder Body

– 3-Piece Maple Bolt-On Neck

– Ebony Fretboard

– Thin ‘U’ Neck Contour

– 24 XJ Frets

– 12″ Radius

– Gotoh Locking Tuners

– Schaller Straplock

– Floyd Rose Original Bridge

– Seymour Duncan Sentient/Nazgul Pickups

– 1xVol/1xTone/3-Way Switch

– Black Hardware/Black Finish

I’m going to start this off by saying that this guitar has some really awesome features and hardware choices.

Visually, the guitar represents what it’s made for. It’s a metal player’s guitar. Definitely inspired by the RG shape (It very much reminds me of the Ibanez RG350DX that we reviewed a while back), this guitar features smooth contours and a nice forearm cut for right hand comfort. This guitar comes in any color you could possibly imagine, as long as it’s black. Black body, black headstock, black hardware, and an ebony fretboard make up this beast. I’m particularly happy with the decision of adding the white celulloid pickguard, as it definitely breaks up what would have been a monotonous color scheme.

Personally, I think a 27″ scale generally suits a 7-string better, particularly when tuning low. On the other hand, ESP offers this “Mr. Seven”, which is a high end 7-string that sports a 25.5″ scale. You don’t see this super often and it’s something that would allow a player who generally uses 6-strings to be a bit more comfortable on this guitar without much adjustment.

A big win on this guitar is the quality of the hardware. ESP spared no expense and gave this guitar Gotoh Locking tuners (hands down some of the best locking tuners on the market), Schaller Straplock (high quality strap lock that made it on our Top 5 Strap Locks list), and a good ol’ Floyd Rose Original. These features are super important in making sure your guitar stays in tune, performs and sounds well, and doesn’t get smashed on the ground during a gig.

Tone:

Let’s talk about how this bad boy sounds..

The wood choices are wonderful for this guitar, and I’ll tell you why! The Alder body and Maple neck make for a super neutral sound that will work well for just about any pickup you could imagine. Low quality Alder gets a bad rep, but when using high quality cuts of wood, they make for a super lightweight, versatile tonewood.

If you want to learn more about tonewoods, we have a little guide that generalizes the different characteristics of a few popular woods. Check out our “Ultimate Guide to Tonewoods“.

As for the pickups chosen, ESP made it clear that this guitar is intended for the most aggressive of sounds by including the Seymour Duncan Nazgul/Sentient set. The Nazgul offers a really thick mid range and cuts through the mix well without any icepicking qualities. Clarity isn’t it’s strength for playing big jazzy chords, but it really shines for chuggy riffing styles and single note runs.

I don’t want to be harsh and say this guitar is a one-trick-pony, because the Nazgul really is a sick pickup if you are wanting it for extreme metal styles. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t clean up well and mid-gain tones are practically non-existent. It suits what the guitar was intended for, and if you like the guitar but want to use it for something else than what the Nazgul is capable of, then maybe try a pickup swap!

If you want to read more about the Nazgul, check out our Nazgul Review for a more detailed write-up on how it sounds.

Build Quality:

I’m not going to do it, but I could probably copy-and-paste this section from most of the other ESP reviews we’ve done, because the consistency in quality I’ve been seeing from these high end models is getting to be ridiculous.

In all seriousness, the guitar plays fantastically, and pretty much came perfectly intonated and in tune (Don’t forget this thing has a Floyd Rose).

It was a blast to play on, as the fret ends were extremely smooth and the neck was a joy to riff with. I’m primarily a 6-string player and the guitar managed to feel like home to me.

I literally only have one tiny complaint. There was a reasonably sized scratch right down the pickguard. I know, it’s a pickguard, that’s what it’s there for. It just bugs me a bit when a guitar isn’t pristine out of the case. I’d rather make my own scratches, thank you.

Final Verdict:

If you’re looking for a flawlessly executed death metal workhorse, then you’ve found it. Mr. Seven delivers the looks, the feel, and the sound that a low-tuning, metalhead craves.

The quality is great, the guitar plays brilliantly, and it requires zero upgrades to be a perfect workhorse guitar for $1799.

The only thing that may not tickle your fancy is the limited sound that the Nazgul offers. Luckily, a pickup change isn’t so hard and we’re Seymour Duncan dealers. We can help you find the right pickup that suits your needs!

All-in-all, the ESP E-II MR SEVEN is a killer guitar. Thanks Mr. Seven.
7.5-9-9
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This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.

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