More players are exploring below the 6th string than ever before. Here’s a raft of options from across the tonal and aesthetic spectrums to help you develop your low-end theories.
Schecter Hellraiser C7
Here’s a sleek rock machine with an arched mahogany body, 24 jumbo frets, a Graph Tech XL Tusq nut, and a pair of EMG 707TW humbuckers.
$1,049 street
ESP LTD Eclipse EC-1007
Loaded with an EverTune bridge, this single-cut shred monster is bound to keep your djenty riffs in check. It features set-thru construction, a Macassar ebony fretboard, EMG active humbuckers, and thin neck profile.
$1,399 street
Ibanez Axion Label RGD71ALMS
Powered by a set of Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers, this multi-scale 7-string keeps things dead simple with only a master volume and pickup toggle plus two different voices via a push-pull knob. Its Wizard-7 neck shape is ready for speed.
$1,199 street
Jackson Pro Series Soloist SL7A MAH HT
This modern take on a 7-string houses a pair of Seymour Duncan Distortion 7 pickups along with 24 jumbo frets, a compound radius fretboard, and a mahogany body with an ash top. And dig the new take on the pearloid piranha-tooth inlays.
$1,299 street
Ernie Ball Music Man JP15 7
Legendary prog-metal shredder John Petrucci’s latest signature model 7-sstring is built for speed and chugs. It’s loaded with custom DiMarzio Illuminator pickups, a piezo bridge pickup, and an onboard gain boost.
$3,999 street
Strandberg Boden Prog NX7
Looking for a guitar with untraditional style? This headless 7-string is an ergonomic wonder. It comes with Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers, a sassafras body, a multi-scale Richlite fretboard, and the company’s EndurNeck profile.
$2,495 street
Epiphone Matt Heafy Les Paul Custom Origins
The third collaboration between Epiphone and the Trivium frontman is undoubtedly metal. Each guitar sports a pair of Heafy’s signature Fishman Fluence humbuckers (with three voices), a SpeedTaper D neck profile, gold hardware, and Les Paul Custom cosmetics.
$1,099 street
Caparison Guitars Dellinger 7 Prominence
Built with a carved mahoghany-maple-mahoghany body, this 7-string can be customized with either a Schaller or Floyd Rose bridge and is available in three different colors. It also has a 5-piece maple and walnut neck, 25.5" scale length, and custom Caparison pickups.
$3,699 street
Charvel DK24-7 NOVA Angel Vivaldi
Building upon a modified Dinky body, this signature model comes in satin sage green or black with gold hardware. Dig the reversed Fender headstock and the pair of DiMarzio pickups (Air Norton in the neck and Tone Zone in the bridge). The five-way switch also offers standard and parallel pickup options.
$1,749 street
PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN
As 33.3 percent of Periphery’s guitar army, Mark’s latest signature model is an affordable update that comes loaded with his signature Seymour Duncan passive humbuckers, a push/pull knob for single-coil tones, and a newly designed violin-top carve.
$1,099 street
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Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
