I made a small "L" shaped swing-arm out of plastic pickguard material that is held in place by the pickguard screw near the low E string near the Bridge on my Strat. It's inspired by what EVH did with a Quarter screwed to the top of his guitar. It allows me to essentially "deck" the Bridge from the top in about one second. It serves 4 functions: A) It makes tuning up a floating Bridge way faster, as when engaged, it prevents the other strings from going far out of tune as each string is tuned up. B) It makes retuning to Drop-D much faster, as lowering the E string "decks" the bridge on the swing arm. C) It can be quickly engaged to greatly lessen the effect of a broken string. D) Engaging it will "deck" the Bridge, which does sound different than a floating one - More PRS sounding. It's not a perfect solution, but it works well enough. John, I'll send you an image if you want.
Maybe you should make your action height adjustment a little clearer for the benefit of less experienced guitarists. Although a truss rod may need adjustment, it is only part of the equation. Step 1: Check the straightness/relief of neck. Then truss rod adjust if needed. Step 2: Check nut slot height. Step 3: Adjust saddle height. I have had so many guitars brought to me that have been unplayable because the owners only 1 (usually 3) neded doing.
HA! I took my Sire S7 out for a gig last night, also broke the top E, it absolutely EATS them in a way that none of my other guitars do. Mine's one of the earlier batches in from Andertons, completely out-strats my strat. Much nicer to play. Also really nice to find out at the end of the first half that, while my in ears sounded great (no backline), my channel was not going through front of house the whole time. Probably for the best
I love my Sire guitars. Breaking E string has been a problem with 2 of my S7s. I highly recommend a tech look at your guitar (which I do with all my guitars purchased, used and mail order new). It will help you avoid this specific issue and you’ll end up with a world class, fantastic playing guitar. John… thanks for all your excellent content and playing!!!
Those guitars look killer. I got an S7 Vintage in black a few months ago and the high E string broke once too. First time i've ever broken a guitar string 😅 The nut was not very well cut. The open A string rattles more than it should regardless of the set-up and makes a "sitar" sound that you don't hear through the amp unless you pluck it really hard wide open. Apart from that, it looks stunning, feels amazing and I love the sound of the pickups
My Sire's neck needed a light upwards nudge to adjust the high E from constantly slipping off the rolled edge(remember to also adjust intonation.- but its a total workhorse. Very happy with it- Especially with the DG20 pickup set installed.
My Sire S7 also broke E strings when I bought it from Chicago Music Exchange in the States. Luckily, I’m in the area and was able to take it there for a fix. No broken strings since but Sire clearly has a quality problem with the S7 bridge.
Haven’t bought a Sire yet , played a white L7 and found the neck a bit chunky and although everyone loves the rolled fretboard o found it too smooth ?? The soon to be released S5 with Alnico pickups and locking tuners might get swooped for !!
I have T7TM on pre-order , my only complaint is the wait. They announced these in January and Sweetwater says it will ship sometime in August. I had the same issue with my H7V, it took months to ship!
I'v had a few Sires now, both basses and guitars, and have found that the earlier models was better built. The last two had high action as well, and once I adjusted the trussrod, It got a lot of fret buzz. The frets needed levelling on both, one I had to send back as I just couldn't get the neck straight. The other I had to do quite a bit of setup work on. So, I can't say I've been as happy with their guitars as with their basses. I think Sire quality has dropped lately, yes.
About 18 months ago, the first H7 I had, had a problem nasty problem with the neck. I seriously doubt it passed Q.C., so probably happened after factory Q.C. But the replacement was really good. Got a Sire L7 last month, and that is just perfect, flawless & plays as well or better than my 1200-1500 eur guitars. For example, it plays better than Fender Vinteras, and my Gibson Les Paul Special. Though I do prefer the sound of Gibson. Though that's probably down to difference between maple cap+humbucker, and mahogany slab+p90. The Gibson looks a little cooler too, I will admit. Setup was better than my Guild Polara Deluxe too, though I like the light weight of the Guild, and it's hardware quality is a step above (switches, knobs, tuners, bridge). Pickups were similarly good on Sire v. Guild - maybe not _quite_ as good as Gibson pups. I also tried a Sire Marcus Miller V7 second edition bass in the shop against a Fender Player Jazz Bass, the Sire wins on quality / build, features, playability and on depth of tone - though again, the Fender's look very _slightly_ more right. Absolutely no contest with those basses, so I must try to compare the V7 with a Vintera Jazz Bass. I got a Harley Benton TE-62 Telecaster, and was suprised that it's more or less up there with a Squier Classic Vibe, at less than half the price. The overall quality was better than Squier, maybe the Squier had slighly better pups, so I upgraded to the Vintage Toneriders, similar to the Squiers, but lower output, and maybe the thinner neck on the HB was less my preference to the more typical neck profile on the Squier.
I have an S7 and it’s an excellent guitar. It also popped a few high e strings when I first got it a few years ago. I applied D’addario Lubrikit to the bridge and the problem resolved. 10 dollar fix for an awesome guitar. Better than most everything at the pricepoint and slightly above. Way better than my classic vibe out of the box, and way better than the Harley Benton I have. Does anyone make a guitar that does not need some work/ adjustment? Isn’t that what getting a proper setup is all about? By the way, the classic vibe is now a great guitar but needed a fair amount of fret filing to get there.
That is the one thing that Sire needs to address. I had ordered a Larry Carlton 335 for the ship and had to sand down a bit on the D string. It just wouldn’t tune other wise
Are Sire's made at the Cort Factory in Indonesia where PRS SE's (and maybe Ibanez AS73 and FGN) are made? If so, then that factory produces excellent guitars on a vast scale using robotics?
Looks like the high string on their strat style guitars are a problem, luckily I play without that string unlikely I can’t afford any purchases at the moment
My S7FM also has a high action AND lots of fret buzz. Gonna have to PLECK it, otherwise I'll have to sell it, it just destroys the playability and experience
My friend had the same problem with the E string breaking on his T style. He sent it back. I want to try a Sire but there seems to be slight issues. I’m on the fence.
I have two nice Sires, a Marcus Miller V7 from 2017 and a Larry Carlton A3 acoustic from 2021. I tried a Larry Carlton H7 back in 2022 but it was a mess and had to go back. Sharp, uneven frets and splits in the neck binding plus a number of finish flaws. It needed 0.012" relief just to lose the fret buzz. Add to that that I didn't like the pickups ... weaker than any ancient PAF I've encountered and none of the tone. I really hope for everyone's sake that they've improved their Quality Control.
I had a nagging problem with strings breaking at the bridge, especially the hi E and the G. I'm trying a set of Stringsaver saddles. Filing down my original saddles didn't help.
