Keith Merrow is one of YouTube’s most watched gear reviewer/demo-ers, with 41,000 subscribers and over 6 million views. Known for his extremely heavy and technical riffage and sophisticated modern metal tone, he is revered as well for his songwriting and production techniques. He also recently finished work on an album with Jeff Loomis, Alex Webster, and Alex Rüdinger called Conquering Dystopia, due out in early 2014.
After spending many years playing and reviewing just about every guitar and amp out there, Keith has settled on a company he felt could match his every move, and as of today his signature KM-7 from Schecter Guitar Research is available for pre-order through GearHounds. Although no specs are listed, the guitar features a classy as hell trans white finish on a flame maple top, seven strings (Keith tends to play in drop A a lot), and the prototype was a 26.5″ scale with Seymour Duncan humbuckers (probably a Nazgul/Sentient or Pegasus combo) so I imagine this one is as well.
It also has a couple of subtle features that are not immediately obvious, one being a reverse headstock, which is not that drastic on a Schecter, but lends it just a bit of a meaner look, and offset fret marker dots that change sides at the 12th fret. That’s a cool idea I haven’t seen before, one of those ideas that makes you think, “Why the heck doesn’t every guitar have this?”.
The bridge appears to be a Hipshot hardtail, with a single volume knob and a three-way selector switch. Pictures of the prototype posted by Keith a few months back were either a set-neck or a neck-through. At this point, I’m done guessing about specs, so you’ll just have to wait like everyone else.
Or, at a very reasonable $999, you could could just buy one and see for yourself.
Check out Keith on his popular YouTube channel or his official website.
