Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

This is a great instrument!! Most importantly I like how musician's friend explained to me whenever i contacted them that the instrument was on its way. Even though I was impatient they were patient. The bass was shipped without a scratch. The ony con is that it is a heavy instrument! I am going to buy a new strap this weekend! It is a must to have a good strap to take the weight of your shoulder! I played outside in the cold last friday and all the circulation from my arm down to my hand stopped! My thumb was swollen. That was due to the weight of the bass. But if you want a instrument that you can experiment on this is the one!! It is at a price you can not beat!! Dont let the weight of the bass stop you! This bass will surely be my main ax!!

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

Quality control must have missed this bass.Out the box , it had a horrific noise when the potentiometer were on certain positions. One pot was loose and the circuit board was just wrapped and placed without mounting hardware , inside of the cutout for the preamp.Also it had bad frett buzz in many places on the frett board .

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I've been using this bass for 12 years and it still delivers like a champ. Deep tones when you need them and bright sounds when you want to do sme slapping. Great bass!

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I have both the fretted and fretless versions of this bass. I would not recommend the fretless version since the upper strings produce a very sitar-like twang unless you adjust your playing technique to point your left-hand fingernails toward the bridge in high positions. But the fretted version seriously rocks for all styles. Being primarily a guitarist I tune my bass like a 7-string guitar (B-E-A-D-G-B-E) so I can play familiar chord shapes up high. The Barto pickups are quite nice although they don't have the the high end snap of the EMGs I'm used to. But forget about getting third-party pickups for any 7-string bass. The neck and string spacing are plenty wide but you can deal with them. Anything more narrow would compromise your finger-picking and slap styles. If you are feeling compromised in any way by this bass, listen to Alain Caron slap "Donna Lee" on a 6-string bass, then go back to the woodshed and practice.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I think its a great deal. Its a solid instrument. The only downside I could think of is maybe some people wouldn't like the weight. It is very very heavy. I actually prefer heavy instruments because of the sound and they don't flop all over the place when you play hard. But it is something to consider if your a smaller player. A nice padded wide strap helps a lot. I don't think I'd play it standing up with a cheap $10 strap. If your a pick player this is probably not the bass for you. I play fingerstyle but I can't imagine playing this bass without using both hands for muting all the strings. when I'm on the higher strings, my right palm is muting the lower strings. If I'm on the e string my right thumb is muting the b and my left hand is muting the higher string and so forth.....
The neck is intimidating to look at but its actually easier to play than any 6 string I've tried for some reason maybe its the shape of the neck. I'm actually considering having Conklin build me an 8 string because I can reach far enough past the fretboard and I'd like to have the low F# and the high F at the same time. Bartolini pickups are great. Controls are simple but effective. I suck at tapping (touch style) but on this bass it is so much easier I actually sound like I know what I'm doing.
the bass feels very solid. Much more like a neck through bass than a bolt on. The neck is insanely stable feeling. The neck finish I would compare to the feel of a german made Warwick . Pickups are good and string to string balance is suprisingly great.
I got mine used but I would be happy to pay full price if it was stolen. The neck on this bass compares to the craftmanship on my 4,500 dollar Warwick thumb neck through. The string to string balance is great. your basically getting a 5 string and a piccolo bass all in one instrument with this one. ONe of the reasons I got this instrument is the range. Its really fun to play on your own, where 5 strings and especially 4 strings are somewhat boring to play if your not jamming with a full band if you've been playing bass as long as I have.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I was looking for a bass to play brutal death cellogrind and I liked the extended range. But, the tone was not quite HEAVY enough. Replace the pickups with precision pickups, and the tone might get heavier. But,until then it has a really punchy-pokey pop punk sound.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

very well crafted instrument playing in finger and plucking style very fluent im loving it have a lakeland skyline 5 but will consider this as my main bass.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I still love this bass. I bought this bass several years ago and I still love it like the day I brought it home from the dealer. It is built like a tank and the tones I get are perfect. Ironically I find this beast has the easiest access to the uppermost frets of any of the instruments I own (including a ton of guitars). The neck is obviously very wide but I never feel that it is hard to reach anything. Plays great sitting down or standing up (although it weighs a ton). The action is great and the neck is very stable with its 2 truss rods keeping things in place. This is a very high quality bass for the money. Highly recommended.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

After 4 years of owning it I still Love this guitar. I got it when i was 17 and since then i've gone along way because of this guitar. Its close strings makes is great for finger playing and the neck is really easy to work with. The sound is unreal! Those pick-ups with the dean strings is some mean steam baby. Seriously perfect bass sound from high to low. As far as slap goes it is a little hard to slap with at first because the strings are so close, but when you do learn how to slap this bass you'll be perfect at slapping any bass. When my Band and I Jam i dont practice with the GT-7 Because its very heavy and my lower back tends to pop every time i bend over after playing it. But my Guitar player always begs me to practice with it due to its sound. Its very beautiful up close, infact due to its size and beauty it alone tends to attract a crowd.Over all a 10.jazz 10blues 10metal 10slap 10Its weight is the only thing that bothers me about it. but swords and axes are heavy too. any ways this is the master of my guitar collection and my ring of power.

Comments about Conklin Guitars GT-7 7-String Bass:

I have both the GT-7 and the Bill Dickens signature series.The GT-7 is my main ax, mainly because the spacing is a little wider then the signature, so it makes it a little easier to slap. The neck on the signature is a little thinner. The signature is a little more versatile then the GT-7 (with more frills), however the natural punch of the GT-7 is a lot more prevalent then the signature. It is on the heavy side but with the top horn reaching to the 12th fret, it does hang very well.One thing to take in account of if deciding to invest in an instrument like this...getting a replacement pickup is practically impossible. My front Bartolini pick up on the signature bass went out and when I tried to replace it with another, I found out that I could not purchase pickup directly from Bartolini, and every distributor that can sell Bartolini's did not, could not, and would not order it. I called Conklin...and even though they could not send a Bartolini pick up, they said that they have there own pick ups that will fit. Being that this was my only option, I ordered it. Bass does not sound the same anymore. Very disappointed. Another thing to remember with these basses, you have to be very careful with the choice of strings. Certain strings played on this bass do not intonate very well. Ken Smith set seems to work the best. Dean Markley set works well except for the "F" string, it is not a wound string, thus making the volume of the string louder then the others. DR set is probably the hardest to intonate on this bass.Aesthetically, both models are very eye appealing. The natural look of the wood really stands out. It is worht the price. I'm thinking of getting another one and stripping it down, and giving it a new paint job.