We continue our series of articles on seven-string guitars. The previous installment covered Schecter, where we looked at all its features. Now it's the turn of the Framus Panthera Studio Custom seven-string guitar. Framus is a German company with a long history, covering guitars in different styles as well as amplifiers. Its extensive catalog includes various models such as the Diablo, Camarillo, AZ, Renegade, Panthera, etc. It is in this last line that our star belongs.
First impressions
The Panthera's presentation is excellent: as soon as you open the case you see a high-end guitar, with details taken care of down to the millimeter, a highly attractive look and great aesthetics. The first things that catch our eye are the flamed body, the binding, the wide neck and the Framus headstock (similar on all models). When you play it for the first time, the cosmetic details take a back seat and we focus on things like the pleasant feel of the neck, how comfortably it fits against the body and how well balanced it is, both sitting and standing. We also notice its comfortable frets, not very heavy strings, and that it is slightly heavy, even taking into account that the neck is somewhat larger since it carries an extra string.
Technical matters
Woods
The Panthera Pro seven-string is built with high-grade woods: the body is mahogany with a flamed maple top. This choice of woods gives us an idea of where the guitar's sound is headed. Given that it's going for a thick sound with lots of sustain, the way the neck joins the body will also have something to say. The neck is one of the guitar's great strengths; made of ovangkol with a Tigerstripe ebony fingerboard, these are woods that emphasize sustain, the length of the notes, over attack; the ebony plays the role of rosewood, giving a dark, attractive color. It has no fret markers other than the dots on the edge of the neck, which we can see when looking down from above the guitar. So, as far as wood is concerned, it already gives us strong hints about the kind of sound we're going to find: thick, dense and with great sustain. What is beyond question is the look these woods give it: that of a high-end instrument, where distinction and elegance are obvious at first glance. This choice of materials, combined with the hardware, makes it, in my view, a guitar that is a bit heavy to carry through long rehearsal sessions with the instrument on your back. It isn't so heavy that your leg falls asleep under it when you play sitting down, as happens in some cases, but it can be a bit tiring to hold standing up.
Hardware
We've just talked about the more organic construction of the guitar; now it's time for the other essential part of the sound. It comes equipped with three Seymour Duncan pickups. In the neck position we find an SH7-1 humbucker, in the bridge position an SH7-5, also a humbucker, and in the middle an SSL2 single-coil. As we can see, the configuration aims to be as versatile as possible, and since the neck and bridge pickups can be used as either single-coils or humbuckers, they give us a wider palette of tones.
As for the bridge and hardware, the Panthera comes with a tune-o-matic bridge, which makes the sound even punchier, since it doesn't have a floating bridge, so the notes last much longer. It also helps tuning stability, something extremely important on a seven-string guitar, since with the strings on a completely fixed bridge, they don't shift at rest. At the same time, because the strings don't go through the body, we get more and more sustain, but we lose attack; this is a matter of choice, not only in hardware but also in the possible woods and other options.
The guitar's tuners are made by Framus and, as a touch that increases tuning stability as well as making restringing easier, they can lock the string in place, so the string is clamped against the metal without having to be wound around the post. Personally, I think that since we have a big neck, seven strings and a fixed bridge, the tension on the neck is quite high, so it may feel like it needs sturdier tuners; although it depends on use, they could possibly give some trouble in the middle of a tour. Bear in mind that gear takes a lot of punishment, and you should always be prepared for the worst.
A very important element in the guitar's tuning and tone is the nut, which in this case is made of self-lubricating carbon, known as a low-friction nut. This construction lets us rest a bit easier, since it reduces the chances of breaking strings, and it also helps achieve better tuning, since the string slides without any friction between itself and the nut. We should also highlight the position of the headstock: it is angled in such a way that the strings enter the tuners without the need for string trees, since the design keeps them at the necessary tension, along with the slight elevation of the nut above the neck. The angle is relatively steep; in other words, it is clearly more than that of a Stratocaster or Telecaster, but not as steep as that of a Les Paul.
Now we come to the guitar's controls, one of its strong points. This is where you can see that it was designed with working guitarists and real-world circumstances in mind. The Panthera seven-string Custom Studio comes with two selectors, one three-way and one two-way. They are located on the upper part of the guitar, Les Paul style. The three-way selector switches between:
1) neck pickup and middle pickup.
2) All three pickups.
3) Middle pickup and bridge pickup.
In other words, the single-coil pickup is always active, which might be a problem when you only want one pickup. For that we have the second, two-way selector: in position 1 it does nothing, and the three-way selector works as usual, but in the second position it overrides all the options and sends the neck pickup directly to the output jack. This is a great idea: sometimes the pickup selector can break, which makes the guitar go silent, a serious situation, but with this second selector we could keep going using the neck pickup until we could replace it. The guitar comes with three knobs: one volume and two push-pull tone controls. The first tone knob lets you choose between single-coil or humbucker for the neck pickup, and the second lets you choose between single-coil or humbucker for the bridge pickup. Note that the middle pickup is always active, even if we switch the humbucker to single-coil. Also bear in mind that when we split the humbuckers, we select, in the case of the neck pickup, the coil closest to the neck, and likewise for the bridge pickup.
Assembly
Let's talk about how the different parts of the instrument work together. One of the most critical areas of any guitar is the neck-to-body joint, and in this case there is a surprise we didn't expect. As we've been describing the Panthera, we've been getting an idea of its direction. With woods like these, we assume it's geared toward the thickest possible sound. For that, we would need the neck to be glued into the body. In this case, however, the neck is bolted to the body, which gives more emphasis to the attack of the notes. At the same time, access to the upper frets is made easier by a contoured neck-body joint.
Sound
We come to what I consider the most important section of any test. It doesn't matter what technical matters keep us busy; the acid test is to plug the guitar in and check that it lives up to its materials and construction methods. In this case, the Panthera seven-string offers a palette of sounds aimed at a fairly clear market, even though it aims to be a more versatile instrument. Let's say the guitar is designed for very thick and rather aggressive sounds, ranging from hard rock to metal and beyond with ease. This is one of the points where the guitar really surprised me: there's no doubt that it perfectly meets the needs of any of the styles mentioned above, but I had sensed it would allow more versatility. The humbuckers combined with the single-coil sound dense and full-bodied, with a bit of attack due to the bolts connecting the neck to the body, but the feeling of long, dark notes prevails. The seventh string lets us get an even lower sound, reaching tones from beyond the grave. When we use the pickups in single-coil configuration, what always happens in these cases happens: they sound like single-coils but aren't really single-coils. So it's a good option for any part of a song where you need to ease off the pressure you're putting out with your instrument, and you switch to single-coil for that; but the guitar's core sound is the humbuckers.
Feel
In this section there is one factor that personally appealed to me, and that is the feel of the neck; it's one of the most rewarding tactile sensations I've experienced lately. Your hand doesn't end up sticking to it as usual, and it makes you want to play and play. In terms of playing comfort, we have to bear in mind the size of the fingerboard. These guitars aren't overly comfortable by their very 7-string nature, but a very good choice of frets helps minimize any potential difficulties or drawbacks, resulting in a neutral overall feel.
Conclusions
The Panthera Studio Custom 7-string is a high-end instrument with great features, built with quality materials. It is a guitar aimed at players working in very rock/metal territory. So if you're looking for an instrument for those styles of music, the Panthera is a strong contender that will more than meet your needs.
