Sire Larry Carlton S7 FM Electric Guitar - Transparent Blue Reviews (2024)

Super unreal level of a guitar...

By Javy Bojorquez from Ohio on October 10, 2023 Music Background: Music producer, Arranger, Composer, MD, professional touring/session guitarist.

After looking for some additional guitars for some upcoming commitments, I was looking for instruments that would allow me to work with at the most diverse & versatile situations since that what is all about. As a professional I always strive to get something that instead of fighting with me when I play it, it would allow me to be expressive and pretty much becomes an extension of my self. After much research I came across this guitar, and to be truly honest I was extremely spectacle since the quality and specs look too good to be true, I also needed to make some custom adjustments but core wise, it looked like a boutique super stra, and OM!!! what a truly delightful surprise. I have use this on live streaming, touring, studio work, and every time sounds better, and better, also not flimsy but a truly exquisite, mega road worthy, solid, excellent quality instrument. I got so happy end exited that I had to get the has color as well. The days when you had to sell your car to purchase a truly great build swiss army knife of a guitar are long gone... This is a true masterpiece.

So Glad I Bought This! Thank you Sweetwater!

By Greg from Gainesville, Ga. on June 22, 2023 Music Background: Playing music for 45 years and guitar for 30 years

I researched for months and found a lot of information about Sire Guitars. This was everything positive people said it would be and the build quality and features are amazing. Plays perfect out of the box and the neck is superb!!! comfy in the hands, looks great and the pick ups work well with different amps and pedals I have tried. Price is well below other major manufacturers models with equal features. I highly suggest Sire Guitars. Thank you Sweetwater - I'll be getting more Sire's.

The guitar you didn't know you needed!

By William Scarbrough from ELKTON, MD on May 5, 2023 Music Background: Novice guitar player and collector

Amazing build quality and performance all in one package. Great tone and the electronics are up to par with much more expensive models. Fit and finish are the best I've ever come across in the same vein as Gretsch quitars in quality. The pickups have their own sound and don't just mimic a typical Telecaster. The neck is phenomenally good and better than every guitar I own (10). Pairs especially well with my Roland JC40 and numerous pedals. Had a complete pro-setup done by Sweetwater (Ben) which I have to admit is absolutely perfect. My sales engineer Brad DiCarlo contacted me for the specs I wanted and delivered in spades! And in really fast turn around time that beat my local luthier. Frets were superbly finished and intonation is spot on! It was shipped to me in perfect timing too so all I had to do was literally plug it in and play. The contour cuts in the body and the feel of the neck when you lay it in your hands feel as though it's a custom made guitar. The whammy bar and bridge block stay in tune even with some heavy abuse without having to add string trees on the head. The build here is top quality in EVERY aspect. The finish is the best I've ever purchased and the flame maple top rolls in the light Luke you would expect it to. Happy customer? Heck yes! Given my first major buy from Sweetwater I would definitely do it all over again. Best customer service and the extra money for the setup for me is a requirement now!

Very nice guitar!

By Sweetwater Customer on May 5, 2023

First I never leave reviews so this is special. I ordered the demo model because the transparent blue has some lead time and they had one transparent blue demo in stock. There were photo's and descriptions of the blemishes, all of which I couldn't make out in the photo's so I figured that's a win. I received the guitar a day earlier than expected and yes I followed the giant green sticker warning me about holding off 24 hrs to open. I would compare me opening the case to the scene in Pulp Fiction when John Travolta open's the brief case and it glows. This guitar will light up your face. Packaging: 10/10. Upon inspection of the guitar I cannot find any blemishes worth even being a consideration which tell's me Sweetwater must have a zero tolerance for any imperfection. I'm also impressed with Sweetwater's customer service, the fact that they emailed me the glamour shots of the guitar, and follow up's. Now onto the guitar itself. This thing is gorgeous, from the style, finish, color, the glossy fret's and just overall seamless build with great fitment. I Researched the snot out of this guitar watching every YouTube reviewer play their version of some thin-amped dorian filled solo before I pulled the trigger and I'm glad I did. This guitar boasts a strong Strat styling, however the hum bucker will give you enough heat to make her rip and the single coils are fat enough to give you that thick SRV sound. The guitar sustains well, and the harmonics are solid. The action is perfect, neck is straight, and best of all, the tiger stripe grain looks 6ft deep with a beautiful blue tint. I think my Fender Strat is jealous, and she should be, this guitar plays like it costs a lot more than it did. Overall I'm very impressed with Sweetwater's customer service and the condition of the guitar and I will definitely be purchasing more products in the future.

S7

By Sweetwater Customer on April 2, 2023

Excellent guitar at any price point

By Blain Connor Blain Connor from FORT WORTH, TX on March 15, 2023

So I have been playing this guitar for 4 months now. I wanted to get a feel for it before giving a review. First impressions were exactly what I expected from all the reviews I have read. Great fit and finish, excellent quality parts and absolutely beautiful. The setup that came on mine, that's a different story, but I am a fair Strat tech and was able to get it into playing shape fairly quickly. At first, I really didn't care for the sound util I changed the strings and played around with it for a few hours and suddenly the guitar came to life for me. It sounds like a Strat on the single coils and the humbucker produces great warm tones that handle music styles from soft warm blues to metal and with the added feature of split coil this guitar is extremely versatile and has become my go to guitar. Given the price the only other line of guitars that give this much quality for the money is the PRS SE line, of which I have a Custom 24. I expected to like this guitar but didn't expect it to become my go to guitar, which is nice. It allows me to give my beloved Fender Stratocaster a break.

Great guitar

By George M from San Diego on March 13, 2023

The S7 I bought has a great tone, very much a Strat sound. The neck is top notch overall, but it's not perfect. There's a spot where the neck joins the body where there's some lack of coverage - I bought the blue flame maple and there are tiny not blue parts.

As for what Steve wrote about the fretboard, I don't understand why he thinks there's nothing that can be done with his slightly high frets, just because the fingerboard is finished.

All you have to do is find the high fret spots, tape off the board around the high frets, and then use 1000+ grit emery boards to level the high fret areas.

A Brand to Watch

By Ross from Spokane, WA on January 23, 2023

I recently purchased a Sire L7V, and was so impressed with it that I bought an S7, as well. Judging by these two guitars, Sire is about the best value proposition on the market today.

The flame maple top is absolutely stunning--pictures don't do it justice. It's a veneer, if that bothers you; personally, I don't care. The fretwork is on par with guitars costing up to five times as much. Playability is top notch, and the pickups sound good, although that's obviously subjective.

This guitar undercuts the competition in price, yet goes above and beyond with features usually reserved for higher-end instruments: locking tuners, a roasted maple neck with a bone nut, and abalone inlays.

Great Guitar

By Alan on January 12, 2023

I have one in sunburst and it's a terrific guitar. Sounds great and stays in tune really well. The overall quality is top notch. I can't find any flaws in mine. The pictures just don't fully capture the beauty of this guitar. The neck is so nice. Can't imagine anyone not liking it. The rolled fret board and nice fret work make it a joy to play. Surprising what a difference this makes. With great pickups, locking tuners and the rolled fret board this is really comparable to a much, much more expensive guitar. I don't use the trem so can't comment on that other than reviewers say it is very good. Sweet water was great to deal with. If you are looking for a more upscale strat type guitar but don't want to spend the big money get this. You won't be disappointed.

New Sire S7 FM (Blue)

By Lou Serrano from Carlsbad, CA on April 17, 2023 Music Background: Dedicated student-intermediate player-Love the Blues style

The fretwork and neck are beautiful along with the rest of the build quality. Interestingly, the Tone knob splits the bridge coil (humbucker) but did not find that anywhere in the specs...eventually did read about this elsewhere but the article mentioned the "Volume" knob being the push/pull knob. I am trying the lighter 9-42 gauge DR strings (Fender Strats use 9 gauge) and plays wonderfully though the intonation is a bit harder to dial in (perhaps the pick ups are interfering and need to lower them when adjusting the intonation???). I love the playability of the roasted maple neck and much nicer than a plain maple neck guitar that I had. Fret ends are polished smooth and the rolled edges are noticed right away. AND locking tuners! Never had a guitar with locking tuners before and love them...headstock is also beautiful. I am an intermediate student so cannot review the guitar from a pros perspective but I love it and is a fantastic guitar for this price point. Am now thinking about the SIRE L7 which has a satin mahogany neck. I have a Epiphone Les Paul 100 and it plays nicely but I am wondering how the "satin" finish would feel compared to a polished mahogany neck which can "stick" at times with any moisture after playing a lot.

Amazing guitar!!

By Dan C. from UNION, MO on June 6, 2023 Music Background: Singer, guitar player, songwriter.

I am so glad that I decided to go with this guitar over a Fender Player series. Don't get me wrong, the Fenders are amazing, but for the price difference, the Sire punches way above its weight class. The roasted maple neck is simply amazing. The rolled edges are so comfortable to play, the two point trem stays in tune, the locking tuners are great, bone nut, and the pickups sound amazing with lots of strat twang. The reasons I gave it 4 stars instead of five (and keep in mind I purchased a demo, so who knows how it was handled overall) is that the tremolo block rubbed against the routed edges of the body causing the trem to not return to its original position. This in turn caused all sorts of tuning stability issues. I figured it out and wound up slightly sanding the opening a bit, which fixed the issue. That said, come on Sweetwater, I know you're better than that. The 55 point inspection sure should have caught that issue. (But I still think you're awesome).

Excellent guitar for the price!

By Sweetwater Customer on February 22, 2023

So I currently own 2 of these. I managed to get my hands on the black version of this guitar used a few months ago. Lovvvvved it but really wanted a blue one. Put in my order for one. After several months I was told that model was discontinued and I can automatically switch my order to the new model that's exactly the same minus pickup colors(old version were all black, new are cream and black). I was skeptical but decided to go forward. I had my black one professionally set up and got a good look at internals. Very well made with a treble bleed circuit and high quality pots. When new version came in I did an A/B test and sadly I feel like the electronics suffer on this iteration. Fit and finish are immaculate though. Fretboard is stellar, body is beautiful and hardware is stout. But with volume on 8 or lower you lose a lot of your treble tone. Pickups still sound great though at full volume. Even with that said this thing is still valued far below its feature set and look. Just something to consider.

Solid Guitar, but had some QC issues

By SaxAndGuitarGuy from Nebraksa on October 18, 2023 Music Background: Sax player that collects guitars :-)

After getting a T7 FM natural guitar and really liking it (see my review of that), I decided to get a Strat from Sire as well.

However, this guitar wasn't quite as solidly built as the T7.

First, the input jack was loose. Turns out that the locknut fastening it was the wrong type. So the jack would momentarily stay put, then slip and the jack would be floating loose and the sound would cut out.

Second, one of the locking tuners was very tight. And others were pretty loose. The repair shop tried to do some adjusting on the tight one, but they said it appeared that there was an internal gearing issue with it. I ended up replacing the stock locking tuners entirely with a set of Schallers that worked much better :-).

Third, the trem was a bit "catchy"/ "bindy" and not as smooth as the one on my Telecaster. My repair tech did some filing of the bone nut while doing a setup on the guitar, so the nut may have been the culprit. But I had the trem blocked anyways so I don't think I'll have any further issues with the bridge.

Forth, and lastly: There was a slight issue with the top paint seeping into the natural binding where the line between the top and the binding was not crisp (looks like the masking tape didn't seal completely and a little paint bled through). This was on only one spot of the guitar and was only a finger's width big. So it wasn't really a huge issue. And for a $ guitar, I'm not sweating it since no one is likely to ever notice it. But I thought I'd report it here just the same.

The rest of the guitar's features and presentation were great however. And unlike the Telecaster I got from Sire, the pickups on this guitar seemed to sound better. So I'm going to keep those on the guitar for a while.

Overall I'm giving this guitar a 3 star rating. Unlike my Telecaster from Sire, this seemed to have a few QC issues. Not sure if this was a one-off occurrence or not. But just an FYI that the quality of the Sires may vary from one guitar to another. YMMV though. I would probably need to purchase more examples to see if this was just an anomaly of some sort.

Fortunately, the issues on this guitar were very easy to fix. And even with getting Schaller tuners and getting some additional work done on it, it still came in at a much lower cost than many comparable guitars out there. And after the additional work, it's now one of my favorite guitars of my collection (which includes much more expensive guitars from Gibson, Guild, and Jackson).

Thanks to Danny Mosco for helping me out with my newbie questions and providing me with great customer support!
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Not Great, Not Horrible

By Steve Z from Boston on March 9, 2023

This isn't a horrible guitar, and for the price it would be a keeper, except for one item: It has a lacquered fretboard. The issue with lacquer on the fretboard is if the frets aren't spot-on level, there's no easy fix. And the that was sent to me has issues. If I had known it had a lacquered board I never would've ordered it; at least not at this price point. But that item wasn't listed in the guitar specs. I am not anti-lacquer, I own a Strat and a Tele that both have lacquered boards, but the frets are spot-on level. I would ask for a replacement, but I'm 99.9% sure every guitar will have the same issue.

Sound-wise, the guitar has very nice tone, and the neck feels pretty good. The action is high to compensate for the uneven fret work. Which unfortunately can't be easily addressed due to the lacquer.