guitar test with Linde in RockHard, December 2000
(by Andreas Himmelstein)
With HIM through the seven-string wood
On our home page some weeks ago, there was a discussion among readers about seven-string guitars. In light of this discussion and of what's going on in the industry, with instrument manufacturers at present throwing one model after another onto the market, we arranged to test some of these guitars.
We selected four affordable mid-class models, which have actually only this in common: they each have two humbucker pick-ups in the bridge and neck positions. To add some spice, we dragged into our office Linde from HIM, who, as is generally known, has played a normal six-string guitar with seven-string tuning. Which is to say: he used a seven-string set-up, omitted the high E-string and tuned the guitar a fourth lower, thus B, E, A, D, F#, B. There's an initial surprise when Linde takes his newest darling from its case - a '77 Gibson SG -, which he acquired for just 1.300 DM in a small shop in Helsinki. The good man has indeed returned to standard tuning.
"I've played for several years with the low tuning, and after awhile it simply became boring for me so that I just had to change again."
Then your live songs probably sound a little different now.
"No, actually not. We will probably take some songs out of our set, but apart from that, for example, if I play a B power chord, I simply take the fifth (F#) down onto the low E-string, as Ritchie Blackmore often does. That sounds even more powerful than in the lower tuning because the chord comes across more transparently."
Why haven't you played a seven-string this year?
"When I decided to play with the low tuning there were hardly any appealing models on the market. Since I am a total Gibson fan, it was completely out of the question for me to hang something else around my neck."
It was natural for him first of all to strap on the Epiphone Les Paul and put it to the test. The guitar has a mahogany body, 22 perfectly fabricated jumbo frets, two Epiphone humbuckers, and a glued-in neck. Thus, everything is actually as with a normal Les Paul, except for the monster of a neck. The guitar gains so much mass from the additional width that it becomes rather hard for people with short fingers to manage on this tree trunk. When one has the habit, like Linde, of playing with the thumb over the fingerboard, it's just that a longer acclimatizing phase is necessary.
"Although of course at first it is rather strange to play on a seven-string, I find the neck good. It has a good feel when you play."
And Linde rips a few stoner rock riffs through the speaker, repeatedly interspersed with short rock 'n' roll licks in the style of an Angus Young. The Epiphone has a natural, full and warm sound, as one is used to from a Les Paul. Also, the moderate top-heaviness, which arises from the thick neck, does not seem to disturb Linde.
The Epiphone is a seven-string in traditional form, including all the pros and cons of a conventional Les Paul. For 1.300 DM one gets a good guitar that provides a little fresh air in the heretofore one-sided palette of seven-string models.
Next Linde straps on the Ibanez RG 7420. And again one hears his predilection for guitarists like Josh Homme, Neil Young or John Lee Hooker - don't mention dark rock. In a short break in his playing, he explains how he came to take up the guitar: "When I was about ten years old, I saw a guitar in a shop window and was immediately so fascinated by the thing that I absolutely had to have it. So it was not, as with most people, due to a song, a riff or a friend who already had a guitar that I came to the instrument. "
If the mere sight of a guitar so transports you, one assumes that you take care of and maintain your guitars, and don't regard them simply as utensils.
"Yes and no. At some performances I feel a strong need to break the thing up completely into its various parts. I would probably not do that if I particularly like a guitar. However I also have some guitars that I use only in the studio, for example, a Dia. I think this firm doesn't exist any more. The guitar is actually a Japanese SG copy, but it sounds very good. Since it is very old and rare, I never use it in live performances. Otherwise, I use live exactly the same gear as in the studio; the amp and the pedals are absolutely identical."
But back to the Ibanez. The axe is equipped with two V 77 humbuckers, 24 jumbo frets, and a linden wood body, as well as a Lo-Trs 7 tremolo. So the material, which is generally considered high-quality, is uncompromising, and there is nothing to be criticized in the workmanship, and with a little searching no more than 1.500 DM has to be put on the table for the guitar, so it need not detain us further.
"With distortion on, the guitar sounds a little harder than the Epiphone and might appeal primarily to pure metal guitarists. Certainly the thin neck facilitates changing from a six-string, but it doesn't please me personally very well. I prefer somewhat thicker necks, those have a better playing feel for me. But the technical noodlers might get real pleasure from it. The tremolo, on the other hand, makes a good impression. I myself don't really use any tremolo, but anyone who uses it is well-served here."
After this statement one would not believe at all that Steve Vai, who, as is well-known, was much involved in the development of various Ibanez-models (among others, the first seven-string models dubbed Universe, which came onto the market at the beginning of the nineties), had a big influence on the career of the man from Helsinki.
"In the past I was a total Steve Vai fan. Certainly, one does not hear this influence in my playing, but until today he is the only one of the whole group of shredding guitarists that I gladly listen to because he's got a unique style. This admiration culminated in the fact that I went a few years ago to Boston and took a two-month summer course at the Berkley Institute. During those two months I learned more than during two years at a music school in Helsinki that I attended four to five times a week. Before and after, I also had some private teachers, but nobody was able to arrange material for me as well as the guys in America. But the whole thing was naturally also combined with a lot of discipline and work. In some periods, I practiced up to eight hours a day."
Meanwhile he has strapped on the ESP LTD M 207 and shredded once more through the same riffs and licks. The guitar is very similar to the Ibanez. In appearance, it differs principally in its reversed headstock and the so-called arrowhead inlays on the fingerboard which give the instrument a look that's a little more stately. Instead of the Lo-Trs 7 tremolos, there is a Floyd Rose Licensed 7 which, among other things, is striking for not only being routed in (as with the Ibanez-model), but also screwed in. It is really a bit disappointing that the engineers after all these years have still not devised a better solution. Even if one tightens the nut very firmly, the arm still has too much play, so the signals reach the strings more or less indirectly. In this respect, Ibanez very simply still has its nose out in front. Apart from the two Duncan Design humbuckers, the rest of the ESP is identical to the Ibanez. Three-way switch for the pickups, a potentiometer for the volume control, one for tone control, and 24 jumbo frets on the neck, which again is quite flat. But it is a bit wider than on the Ibanez, meaning that handling it might again be a little difficult for people with short fingers.
Linde comes to an almost identical conclusion: "Again a guitar for the shredding department, and that that does not include me, as I have already mentioned. The instrument does not sound quite as aggressive as the Ibanez; however, it has a little more fullness to the sound. On the other hand, the fact that both guitars have less sustain, due to the bolted-on neck and the tremolo, doesn't much disturb me since I don't play any solos with endlessly drawn-out notes."
Even if these thin necks let one whiz around wonderfully, one should not forget that they react with a corresponding sensitivity to external influences. Thus sometimes just a small bow is enough for the tone to be lowered audibly downward. The fact that for the ESP two more blue ones (an extra 200 DM) must be forked over than for the Ibanez also does not affect the evaluation particularly positively.
Before Linde straps on the last guitar, a Schecter A-7, he gives some brief insight into the song-writing process within HIM: "Ville actually writes all the songs and often comes to the rehearsal room with songs already finished. So naturally I have only a limited framework in which I can put my things. However, within these boundaries, I can play what I want. Also, if something really doesn't please me, I don't play it. However, it also happens that we jam with the material for a long time in the rehearsal room, and a song is changed several times. If with this jamming, a nice riff comes out, it can be that the whole song is then based on it or that a completely new song is born."
Meanwhile Linde bangs his riffs on the Schecter through the speaker and shows a little enthusiasm for the first time: "That is the best guitar up to now! I do very well with the neck, and the thing sounds full and fat. The physical appearance is not really what I like, but that is a matter of taste."
The Schecter comes in an original design, which, given the two different-length cutaways, one can probably call more than anything a considerably modified Strat form. The bulky mahogany body is painted matte black and gives the instrument a metal look, without, however, putting it on thickly. There is the same Duncan Design humbucker as comes with the ESP, and also the number of frets at 24 is identical to the two preceding models. The neck is a little thick, but is still at a considerable remove from the massiveness of the Epiphone. The mechanism for the additional string is at the top edge of the headstock, while the other six are attached on the lower edge, which simplifies orientation for tuning. Otherwise everything is as before: three-way switch for selection of the pick-up, and potentiometers for the volume and tone controls. However, the guitar gets along without a tremolo, and thereby gains more in sustain. Due to the massive body, it puts a good kilo more than the Les Paul on the scale (the Ibanez and the ESP are absolute lightweights), but because of this it has the advantage of an even fatter and more powerful sound. Even the deepest chords are absolutely transparent and not a bit fusty, and the pickups lend the necessary aggressiveness to the sound, without letting it lose warmth. For 1.700 DM one gets a guitar first-rate in quality, with an unusual design.
Finally, while Linde once more straps on his '77 SG, he chats about a side project: "In Helsinki I play for fun in a stoner rock band called Daniel Lioneye and The Blues Explosion, in which I sing and play guitar, while Ville is at the drums and Mig� handles the bass."
Since your US plans with HIM are on ice for the moment, you should be able to find enough time to record something and possibly even release a disc.
"There were definitely some labels that were interested in releasing 'Razorblade Romance' in America. However, shortly before the completion of the contracts, they decided that lyrics like those from 'Join Me' were probably a little too hot for a country like the USA, and then they simply wanted to take too much control, so we decided to let the whole thing ride for the time being. Even though HIM has absolute priority, it could be that we will go into the studio with The Blues Explosion if there is enough time between the next European tour and the recording of the new HIM album."
After the last note has died away, Linde's conclusion concerning the seven-strings did not come as a surprise: "Because I have returned to standard tuning, I don't actually need to think about getting a seven-string. Also, in the test none of the four guitars could convince me to replace my Gibson by something else. However, if a friend were to ask me for advice on purchasing a seven-string, I would recommend the Schecter to him. With respect to playability and the sound, it most matches my taste. But shredding players would for sure be happier with the flat necks of the ESP or Ibanez."
For the sake of the completeness, it should also be mentioned that Schecter offers the A-7 and other models with tremolo, while Ibanez and ESP deliver various models without tremolo. Anyone who has decided on a seven-string and who finds guitars in a shop at the above-mentioned prices, should get one as quickly as possible because it is likely - thanks to the euro -, that the prices will rice significantly in the future.
