Hallo,
I'm selling my Peavey 7-string guitar, and thought I'd offer it on here first before eBaying it. If interested, please e-mail your offer (excluding postage cost) to lee_ducaine@hotmail.com, and if I get an offer I like the sound of, we can sort something out. I won't ship outside the UK.
I bought the guitar used in late 2002 and paid £180 for it. It's since been upgraded with a Dimarzio Blaze pickup, worth about £50 or so.
This guitar was used as my main Mithras axe for a few years when I was the band's live guitarist, played at countless practices and 3 gigs (the London one with Bal-Sagoth and the two with Cancer!), and kept handy as a backup guitar since I got an Ibanez RG7 about 18 months ago.
It's a Peavey Predator ST7, and the bridge pickup has been replaced with a Dimarzio Blaze, same as you get on an Ibanez Universe. The neck pickup is stock, but sounds great, so I left it in. There's a 3-way switch, and the middle position is both pickups on in full humbucking mode, but out of phase, very nice for a non-typical tone. There's a volume control, but the tone control has been disconnected for more gain and clearer sound. You could easily reconnect it, but who uses the tone control for metal anyway?
The neck is excellent, and definitely comparable to an Ibanez Universe or RG7. It's actually a bit slimmer than those guitars, and more rounded/smoother, so a C profile rather than a D. Ibanez seems a bit flatter and chunkier. Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. The frets are standard profile and in great shape. It's a 21 fret neck, the big advantage of which is that the neck pickup is further towards the neck, so you get an extra smooth, warm, deep sound from it. I had no problems pulling off solos with "just" 21 frets either.
Fixed bridge means a big sound with solid, clear tones, and lots of sustain, and easier to deal with than a trem system. I also fixed the low B string saddle (turned it around) so it's in a better position to handle the intonation of such a low string.
The finish is jet black (looks a bit grey on the pics because I cranked the brightness so you can see the detail - it is pure black though), with a black scratchplate with subtle white bevel round the edge. Hardware is chrome. It's a weird stretched shape, and it really looks the business - a total heavy metal axe
. It's been well looked after, though it's in player's condition of course. There are no real dings, but some of the usual scratches and scuffs. There's still a bit of black tape stuck on the lower horn that I put on for the Bal-Sagoth gig to hold spare plectrums, easily removed though of course.
If money and space were no issue, I'd surely hang on to it, as it's a great sounding, playing and looking guitar. I don't need two 7-string axes though, so it's pointless to have it sat on the stand gathering dust when someone else could be rocking it (plus I'd like to put the cash towards yet more music gear
)
Any questions, you can post them here, but please send offers by e-mail only. lee_ducaine@hotmail.com
cheers!