ESP Custom Shop Brian "Head" Welch SH-7 Guitar

[zimbloth]

Hey guys. I don't post much of my stuff on here anymore with life and work being so busy, but I thought I'd share this really cool piece I snagged recently. This is the hand-crafted, ESP custom shop version of the LTD SH-7 ET guitar. I have a few sick CS Horizon 7s in my collections that are all baritones, this one is a 25.5" scale and feels amazing. I have it setup in ADGCFAD and the Fishman Fluence Modern pickups sound brutal as all hell.

Whats cool about this one to me is it has an Ibanez-like feel in terms of the neck shape/radius, but with the immense quality and resonance of an ESP CS build. Yes I know, pickup rings, boo, but I think it works okay on this one and its what Brian wanted

The only thing I'm not 100% in love with is the EverTune. It works well, but I'm used to the Lo Pro Edge and Gotoh TOM bridges on my other 7s. When you set them up right its nice, but still wonder how even more amazing it could sound without the ET being there.

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

Cool Guitar Meter = OFF THE CHARTS

That is cool AF.

 

[narad]

Love the blue flame ESP CS stuff. Need to get a Kiko Loureiro SE sig one of these days...

 

[Hollowway]

Man, the finish on the back of that thing is cool!

 

[zimbloth]

Cool Guitar Meter = OFF THE CHARTS

That is cool AF.

Thanks

 

[Vyn]

Fucking OOF. Congrats and HNGD!

 

[Señor Voorhees]

Dang, the flame on that thing is bananas. Beautiful guitar. The LTD's are nice, so I can only imagine this one is stellar. Consider me envious!

 

[Musiscience]

The guitar looks stunning to say the least!

I have a little trouble understanding why you ordered a CS instrument with specs you didn’t 100% love though. Didn’t you try the Ltd version before ordering a CS version?

 

[cardinal]

Congrats! Thing looks awesome.

The ESP custom shop is just phenomenal.

 

[Leviathus]

So cool, Congrats!

 

[zimbloth]

The guitar looks stunning to say the least!

I have a little trouble understanding why you ordered a CS instrument with specs you didn’t 100% love though. Didn’t you try the Ltd version before ordering a CS version?

I didn't order it. It was made available to me. But also you can't customize signature models.

 

[A-Branger]

i dont see the issue with pickup rings. In the right context it helps with the look, and they dont ffect my playing. Congrats!

 

[Merrekof]

Nice guitar!
A couple of years ago I saw Korn live and I was shocked when Head came on stage with his grey (or I think it was grey) ESP. This was just before ESP announced Head as one of their endorsed artists. I know Korn since the early 2000's and as far as I knew they were loyal as hell to Ibanez.

Nice to see he moved to ESP, that is another awesome 7 string on the market.

 

[Vyn]

What was the reason for the shift to ESP over Ibanez for Head? Does anyone know?

 

[stinkoman]

What was the reason for the shift to ESP over Ibanez for Head? Does anyone know?

From my understanding, and could be wrong is he wanted to try new things and Ibanez wouldn't let him use things like an evertune on his guitars.

Zimbloth does the neck carve differ from the LTD version? You mentioned it was very Ibanez in feeling, but all the things I read said it's not like in Ibanez. I ask because as an Ibanez guy I actually ordered sh-7 Ltd and bought it on not feeling like an Ibanez to change things up.

 

[Imalwayscold]

Nice guitar!
A couple of years ago I saw Korn live and I was shocked when Head came on stage with his grey (or I think it was grey) ESP. This was just before ESP announced Head as one of their endorsed artists. I know Korn since the early 2000's and as far as I knew they were loyal as hell to Ibanez.

Nice to see he moved to ESP, that is another awesome 7 string on the market.

I saw him with a Ken Susi signature in a few pictures before ESP made it official, so I imagine that's what you saw. It was still quite a surprise when he made that shift though!

 

[Merrekof]

I saw him with a Ken Susi signature in a few pictures before ESP made it official, so I imagine that's what you saw. It was still quite a surprise when he made that shift though!

Yeah now you mention it.. that was that model.
I was litteraly shocked to see anything but Ibanez on a Korn show. Back then at that show he played both Ibby and ESP.

 

[zimbloth]

Nice guitar!
A couple of years ago I saw Korn live and I was shocked when Head came on stage with his grey (or I think it was grey) ESP. This was just before ESP announced Head as one of their endorsed artists. I know Korn since the early 2000's and as far as I knew they were loyal as hell to Ibanez.

Nice to see he moved to ESP, that is another awesome 7 string on the market.

Yeah I was surprised too, but it does make sense. I still love and own many Ibanez, but ESP custom shop builds are definitely a level up and he probably just wanted features Ibanez wouldnt offer.

Zimbloth does the neck carve differ from the LTD version? You mentioned it was very Ibanez in feeling, but all the things I read said it's not like in Ibanez. I ask because as an Ibanez guy I actually ordered sh-7 Ltd and bought it on not feeling like an Ibanez to change things up.

Its definitely not like an Ibanez, its just more similar to that than other ESP Horizon 7s with the unfinished neck and thinner D shape. Its a nice middle ground.

 

[Politics of Ecstasy]

Hey guys. I don't post much of my stuff on here anymore with life and work being so busy, but I thought I'd share this really cool piece I snagged recently. This is the hand-crafted, ESP custom shop version of the LTD SH-7 ET guitar.

Whats cool about this one to me is it has an Ibanez-like feel in terms of the neck shape/radius, but with the immense quality and resonance of an ESP CS build. Yes I know, pickup rings, boo, but I think it works okay on this one and its what Brian wanted

The only thing I'm not 100% in love with is the EverTune. It works well, but I'm used to the Lo Pro Edge and Gotoh TOM bridges on my other 7s. When you set them up right its nice, but still wonder how even more amazing it could sound without the ET being there.

Very nice guitar, and really cool features! I totally agree, the ESP CS necks DO indeed feel very much like a cross between a Jem/UV and a Wizard if anyone else feels that way? I think you might....anyway, enjoy it and congrats. Can you tell the feeling of the evertune vs Lo pro like you said?

By the way, how did you snag a custom shop ESP from Head if you wouldn’t mind sharing the story? That looks like a rare, one-off?

 

[zimbloth]

By the way, how did you snag a custom shop ESP from Head if you wouldn’t mind sharing the story? That looks like a rare, one-off?

My shop the Axe Palace is one of the top ESP dealers in the world, so we get a lot of cool rarities and I often visit Tokyo and check out some of their stuff in person. In this case, I didn't custom order it, it was made available to me and I jumped on the opportunity.