New LTD AW-7

[toejam]

Got this on Saturday, as an early Christmas gift from my fiance, and I love it! It's the signature model of Alex Wade (one of the 3 guitar players in Whitechapel). Korean made, Blood Red Sunburst finish on flamed maple top, mahogany body, 3-piece maple neck-thru, ebony board, DiMarzio D-Activator 7s, V/T/3-way blade. matte satin pickguard. It's even got ESP's own locking tuners which are similar to Sperzel or Schaller locking tuners. As far as frets, ESP calls them Extra Jumbo, but these are not wide like Jackson, and certainly not as tall... they seem like the same width as my Carvin's medium jumbo, just maybe a hair taller. The only thing I did to it was lower the saddles a tiny bit since the action was a little high. Of course, I still love my USA Carvin 7 more, but the build quality coming out of Korea these days is great. I also paid extra to get ESP's form-fitting case which I believe pretty much fits all of their strat models, and it is also very nice with plenty of room for storage.
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[dvscool]

Very nice. I'm liken the ebony with no markers.....nice axe dude...

[ekalb09]

Nice one toejam! I saw your post on SSO about fret sizes. I actually ordered one of these myself but was basically black (only red near the window with the lights on...) and in addition it just didn't feel right. I loved the nut width and the neck shape though and the pickups just ripped! I'll probably spring for the NT7.

[toejam]

Thanks! The finish is pretty dark, but that's what I like about it. It reminds me of a Carvin DC400 I had years ago with their ruby red stain on flamed maple. I was never really big on no inlays, but it works on this, and I like it a lot. I had a Schecter 7 some years back with only an inlay at the 12th, and I realized I mainly look at the side dots anyway. The frets were a pleasant surprise, as I don't care for them too big. And the pickups do sound nice without being over-the-top in output.

[j2379]

very cool, but it has too many strings.

[Hellbat]

Looks nice!

[Trem]

I was curious about the frets, seeing other ltd's in store and comparing them to jackson the frets were definitely smaller.
Otherwise most all the things that matter about it seem exactly right. Controls in the right spot. Nice to see a pickguard on something out there, i prefer the look of them.
What do you think of the Deactivators?

[toejam]

The pups are pretty good. They seem a little muddy/fuzzy (especially the low B) through my Carvin V3M head I've got set up in my living room (I'm also running through a Mesa 1x12 Thiele cab which has a lot of low end to begin with), but I tweaked the settings a little and am getting some better tones out of it.

[xenophobe]

Sweet! Grats!

[horns666]

Holy Shit..that's nice Joe!

[toejam]

Thanks. It's a blast to play. Now I've got to decide whether the Carvin or this one gets tuned a half-step flat and which one stays in standard.

[Devotee]

That looks real classy. I've been considering a 7-string for a while now. What's the scale length on this one? Looks like 27".

[toejam]

It's 25.5" scale.

[chrisolson]

Sweet! I have always liked that headstock.

[chrisolson]

Thanks. It's a blast to play. Now I've got to decide whether the Carvin or this one gets tuned a half-step flat and which one stays in standard.

Tune one to A. Powerful. I actually have one of my RGD 2120z 6-strings tuned A-flat...crazy!!