ESP LTD JR-7 - Overview and Best Prices

ESP LTD JR-7 Review
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  • 3 Prices - New from $1,999 >
  • From ESP LTD's 2022 Signature series
  • Javier Reyes Signature
  • Made in Indonesia
  • 7 strings
  • 27"'' scale
  • 15.75" Fretboard Radius
  • Quilted Maple top
  • Swamp Ash body
  • 5Pc Walnut / Maple / Padauk neck
  • Macassar Ebony fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker (Humbucker/Active)
  • Neck pickup: Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker (Humbucker/Active)
  • 1 volume and 1 tone Bell knobs
  • 5-way Switch
  • Hipshot w/ String Thru bridge
  • Thin U Neck-Through neck
  • 24 XL Jumbo frets
  • LTD Locking tuners
  • Weight around 8.9lbs (4kgs)
  • Side-By-Side Comparison
Show Specs
ESP LTD JR-7 Specifications
ESP LTD JR-7
General
Brand: ESP LTD
Year: 2022
Configuration: HH
Strings: 7
Made in: Indonesia
Series: Signature
Colors: Gray Burst
Left-Handed Version: No
Body
Top: Quilted Maple
Type: Solid Body
Body Material: Swamp Ash
Bridge: Hipshot w/ String Thru
Neck
Neck Joint: Neck-Through
Tuners: LTD Locking
Fretboard: Macassar Ebony
Neck Material: 5Pc Walnut / Maple / Padauk
Decoration: Custom white pearloid
Scale Size: 27"
Shape: Thin U
Thickness: 1st Fret: 0.787'' (20mm) - 12th Fret: 0.866'' (22mm)
Frets: 24 XL Jumbo
Fretboard Radius: 15.75"
Nut: Plastic
Nut Width: 48mm (1.89'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickups: Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker (Humbucker / Active)
Neck Pickup: Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker (Humbucker / Active)
Switch: 5
Knobs: Bell
Pickup Mods: Multi-Voicing
Volume Controls: 1
Tone Controls: 1
Hardware
Strap Lock: No
Hardware Color: Gold
Show Diagram
ESP LTD JR-7 pickups switch selector and push knobs diagram
ESP LTD JR-7's switch options

Our Scores and Tone Evaluation

Playability 78
Sound 77
Build quality 72
Value for money 71
Overall Score 76
Tone Evaluation
  • Heavy Metal
  • Hard Rock
  • Jazz
  • Blues
  • Funk
  • Country
Strengths & Weaknesses
ESP LTD JR-7
  • Locking Tuners
  • Expensive Wood
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Neck-Through Build
  • Multi-Voicing Pickups
  • Luminescent Inlay
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • Made in Indonesia
  • No High-Quality Nut
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Tremolo
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock

Price Overview

Its average competitor's price is $1000, which means that the ESP LTD JR-7 costs around 100% more than the competition. It might be due to it having additional features, but know that you can find cheaper similar alternatives. This takes into account all instruments of the same category in our database with 7 strings and Fixed bridge that are made in Indonesia.

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User Reviews & Feedback

Not all instruments are created equally. That's why it's important to have different opinions. Here's what our users who have played this instrument say. If you've played it before, help others by voting below!

Weight

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Tuning stability

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Neck speed (thickness)

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Neck access to high frets

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Neck profile shape

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Fret edges

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Pickups noise

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Pickups power

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Often Compared With

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Hand Size Comfortability

After taking into account the neck profile, scale size, fretboard radius, and nut width, we can conclude that the ESP LTD JR-7's construction favors people with relatively big hands.

Nevertheless, this comes down in the end to personal preference. Make sure you test this guitar—or another one with similar characteristics—before buying.

Big Hands
Small Hands

Beginner Friendliness

The ESP LTD JR-7 meets 5 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, which means that it's a good guitar to start with as a complete beginner. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players to get used to.

New Player Friendliness

ESP LTD JR-7
  • Comfortable shape
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Locking tuners
  • Tall frets
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale

Videos

No Talking...Just Tones | ESP LTD JR-7 Javier Reyes Faded Blue Sunburst
ESP Guitars: Introducing the LTD Javier Reyes Signature Series JR-7
ESP Guitars: LTD TL-7 Demo by Javier Reyes (Animals As Leaders)
Herman Li DRAGONFORCE & Javier Reyes ANIMALS AS LEADERS Shred Talk
ESP Guitars: Javier Reyes LTD JR-608 Demo & Playthrough

How Lightweight is it?

We found that the ESP LTD JR-7 weighs around 8.9lbs (4kgs). This was recorded from some online retailers that publish the weight of the instruments they sell.

Playability

Scale Length

Scale length is the distance the strings will span between the bridge and the nut. It can tell you a lot about the overall playability and tone of the instrument. A longer scale length means longer distance between frets, brighter tone and more string tension—which means lower action, but more difficult bending of the strings.

Here's the ESP LTD JR-7's 27" scale length compared to other common sizes:

ESP LTD JR-7 Scale Length Comparison
ESP LTD JR-7's scale length (at the top) compared to other popular sizes

This is a scale used for baritones and guitars with more than 6 strings. Since the scale is so long, the tension of the strings will be high. This means that bending will require a lot more strength than with a shorter scale. However, it also allows you to use really low tunings without causing fret buzz and without needing to increase your string gauge too much.

More with the same scale length:

Neck Profile

ESP LTD JR-7 Neck Profile
ESP LTD JR-7's neck profile

The neck profile tells you the thickness (neck depth) and shape in cross section. Every difference will completely change the feeling and comfortability of the neck. This is a highly subjective thing, but most players indeed prefer certain types of necks (like Cs and Ds) because they feel nice in most hands.

The ESP LTD JR-7's neck thickness is approximately 0.787'' (20mm) at the first fret, and 0.866'' (22mm) at the twelfth.

These measurements were taken either from the official ESP LTD website, or, in case this information wasn't provided, by researching multiple online marketplaces and forums where owners of this model have posted their measurements.

It has a U type neck. This shape usually has more 'shoulders' than a C neck. It's great for guitarists who love the feel of a vintage neck. Most of them are thick, which makes it better for people with big hands. However, some of them can be thin like a C neck but with more mass to the sides for a better grip.

More for different hand sizes

Fretboard Radius

When it comes to fingerboard radius, personal preference will dictate which one is better for you. However, most people seem to agree that a more curved (lower) radius will make it easier to play chords while a less curved (higher) radius is better for soloing and bending.

The ESP LTD JR-7 has a 15.75" fingerboard radius.

Here's an image comparing this fretboard radius to other popular choices:

ESP LTD JR-7 Fretboard Radius Comparison with Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul
ESP LTD JR-7's fretboard radius compared to others

It's a radius that makes playing single notes (and bending, vibrato, sliding, etc) easier than on a classic Les Paul guitar. However, it's still more curved than some baritone and 7+ strings guitars.

Compound radius fingerboards give the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, the ESP LTD JR-7 has the same radius across the board.

More with the same fretboard radius:

Playability compared to main competitors

ESP LTD JR-7
This model
27'' Scale Length
U Neck Profile
1.89'' Nut Width
15.75'' Fretboard Radius
25.5'' Scale Length
C Neck Profile
1.85'' Nut Width
12'' Fretboard Radius
27'' Scale Length
U Neck Profile
1.89'' Nut Width
Compound Fretboard Radius
25.5'' Scale Length
C Neck Profile
1.89'' Nut Width
14'' Fretboard Radius
25.5'' Scale Length
D Neck Profile
1.89'' Nut Width
15.75'' Fretboard Radius

Nut Width

ESP LTD JR-7 Nut Width
ESP LTD JR-7 Nut Width

The ESP LTD JR-7 has a nut width of 48mm (1.89''). This is considered a wide width for a 7-string guitar. It gives your fingers the extra space you need to play without muting accidentally, but this also makes bar chords harder to perform, especially if you have small hands.

Frets

The ESP LTD JR-7 has 24 frets. A lot of people mistakenly believe that having more frets will always be better because it gives you a higher octave. This is certainly an advantage, but there's also a disadvantage to this.

Since the fretboard will be longer, the neck pickup will need to be placed closer to the bridge. And as you may know, the further away the neck pickup is from the bridge, the warmer it sounds. This means you'll have a brighter-sounding neck pickup when using a 24-fret guitar, even if you use the same pickup on a 22-fret guitar.

It comes with nickel silver frets, so they won't last as long as stainless steel frets. If you use your instrument a lot, you might need to replace the frets after a few years. But this is unlikely as most people change instruments before this happens.

More with the same amount of frets:

Fret Size

ESP LTD JR-7 Fret Size Comparison
ESP LTD JR-7's fret size (in orange) compared to other popular sizes

Finally, let's talk about fret size. Some people prefer tall frets because it's easier to press the strings and perform bends since there's less friction against the fretboard. On the other hand, some people like shorter frets because they like to touch the fretboard when playing, or because they got heavy hands and tend to press too much on the string and alter the of the note pitch accidently.

The ESP LTD JR-7's frets are XL Jumbo size. These are extra-large frets, which are perfect for people who truly want the least resistance for techniques like vibrato, bending, tapping, and just playing fast in general. You won't be able to feel the fretboard with these frets, so if you press too hard you'll get the notes out of pitch. It might take a while to get used to them because of this.

More with the same type of frets:

Playability Score

Bending & Vibrato Ease 85
Chord Playability 60
Solo Playability 90
Playability 78

Tone

Wood will have little influence in the final tone of an electric guitar or bass. Instead, the hardware, especially the pickups, will be the most important thing to look at. Bur first, let's see the quality of the wood.

Wood

Ash wood pattern used for guitar building
Ash Body
Maple wood pattern used for guitar building
Maple Neck
Ebony wood pattern used for guitar building
Ebony Fretboard

Ash Body: The most popular Ash wood for guitars is swamp Ash. It has a really light color with beautiful patterns, which makes it perfect for a natural-looking finish. It's not as lightweight as Alder, but also not as heavy as Mahogany. It's known for producing a bright tone with solid mids and lows.

Maple Neck: This is one of the most popular types of wood used in all kinds of guitars. It's heavy, strong and compact, which makes it great for necks. However, it's also used for fretboards, bodies and tops due to its light color, resistance and beautiful patterns. When it comes to tone, it highlights the mid and high frequencies.

Ebony Fretboard: This is one of the most expensive woods there is, which is why it's mostly used for fretboards. It is dense, heavy, highly resistant and comes in a really dark color that gives any guitar a classy touch. Tone wise, it helps the high side of the spectrum and provides good sustain.

Pickups

This guitar comes with pickups from one of the top brands: Fishman. So you can expect well built pickups with great sound that shouldn't need an upgrade anytime soon.

These are active pickups, so you can expect a lot of output with a highly compressed signal that will give your tones more distortion while retaining a clear, defined sound, which is what many Heavy Metal players need. However, they have the disadvantage of sometimes lacking a fully clean sound when playing without distortion.

The ESP LTD JR-7's configuration is HH. With this pickup combination, you'll get warmer tones and more output than using single coils. Humbucker pickups cancel the noise that single-coil suffer from, which also results in a warmer tone. This pickup combination isn't only for high-gain music like Hard Rock or Heavy Metal. Their warmness is also popular for Jazz, Indie, R&B, Blues and more.

More with the same pickups

ESP LTD JR-7
This model
24 Frets
Fixed Bridge
Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker Bridge Pickup
Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker Neck Pickup
24 Frets
Fixed Bridge
Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker Bridge Pickup
Fishman Javier Reyes Open Core Humbucker Neck Pickup

Versatility

It gives you a good amount of tone options with its 5-way switch. You can use it to choose at least 5 different pickup combinations.

It has a Multi-Voicing option. This means the pickups can change their output, tone, or sound. Piezo, Fishman and similar are considered multi-voicing pickups.

What music genre is it good for?

As a 7 strings, Solid Body guitar with HH configuration and Active pickups, we'd recommend it for genres like Heavy Metal or similar. However, you can use almost any guitar for any genre. This is just the typical type of music for this particular one.

Sound Score

Pickups 85
Sustain 85
Versatility 62
Tuning Stability 75
Sound 77

Build Quality

Country of Origin

Knowing where the instrument is produced is a good way to know how well it's built. Some manufacturing countries are known for having higher quality standards. For example, most expensive instruments are made in the US or Japan, but there are some exceptionally great countries—like South Korea—that are building a good reputation.

The ESP LTD JR-7 is made in Indonesia. Many people prefer the quality of an Indonesian guitar over a Chinese. Respectable brands like Epiphone, Ibanez and Schecter are building in this country because of the great quality and lower price. Some people like to compare them to the ones built in Japan during the 80s, when Japanese guitar makers made a name for themselves.

Bridge

Hipshot w/ String Thru: The advantage of fixed bridges is that they don't require any kind of set-up. This makes it extremely easy when changing strings because you don't need to adjust anything besides tuning the guitar. Also, the fact that the bridge is directly attached to the body will help to increase sustain. The disadvantage is the lack of versatility since you can't create the same vibrato effects as with tremolo bridges.

More with the same type of bridge:

Tuners

The ESP LTD JR-7 comes with locking tuners, which helps with tuning stability and makes changing strings a lot faster and easier. As long as they're high quality, these are the best tuning machines you can have. The only disadvantage is that they are a bit heavier than normal tuners.

Nut Material

Another important thing to analyze is the nut material, as it's one of the most important aspects that can affect the sound and playability of your guitar. A well-cut nut will make sure it stays in tune and will make it more comfortable to play.

In this case, the ESP LTD JR-7 has a Plastic nut. This is a low-quality nut that you might want to consider upgrading soon. Bone and TUSQ nuts are the best for guitars with a fixed or simple tremolo bridge.

Neck Joint

The neck joint is the part where the neck of the guitar meets the body. There are three main techniques to attach both parts together: Set-In, Bolt-On and Neck-Through. The latter two provide different advantages, although neck-throughs are the most expensive.

This guitar has a Neck-Through neck joint. Many people believe a neck-through build delivers the best sustain because some of the vibrations from the neck aren't lost like with other neck joints. However, no one has been able to prove this. What we know is that a neck-through build is usually the most comfortable when playing the upper frets because there's nothing on your way at the neck-body joint.

More with the same build:

Build Quality Score

Quality of materials 55
Features 80
Quality Control 80
Build Quality 72