Me and my guitar: Frontierer/Sectioned's Dan Stevenson

(Image credit: Olly Curtis / Future)

Mathcore man Dan Stevenson reveals the only seven-string that can withstand his level of punishment.

Seven-string

“I play seven-string guitars and this is my go-to. It’s a Chapman ML7-T. Absolutely amazing guitars. I’ve been working with the company since January / February of 2017.

The only thing I’ve changed is the pickup in the bridge and that’s a Bare Knuckle Painkiller in burnt chrome

“Initially, I went to these guitars after I had some bad experiences with some other seven-string guitars, mainly in that I play quite aggressively and I had a lot of broken parts that would be road-worn quickly. So I changed to this brand out of interest and everything about it lends itself well to what I play... The body is swamp ash with a maple neck and ebony fretboard. Everything intonates well.”

Extended scale

“The extended 673mm (26.5") scale I find very useful for low tunings. I play in F typically in both bands, and there are variations on that. With the other guitars I’ve had in the past, they didn’t hold tune that well and I found a lot of the time, the way that I played just damaged the bodies. With this it works out really well. It has Hipshot locking tuners too.”

Pickup

“The only thing I’ve changed is the pickup in the bridge and that’s a Bare Knuckle Painkiller in burnt chrome and it accents everything in the low-end really well whilst maintaining a lot of heat. It gives you a lot of distortion but clarity too. It has a stock Chapman pickup at the front.”

Strings

I have to tape over [the string tree] is that I play far too aggressively and no guitar holds up with just the button itself

“The only reason I have to tape over [the string tree] is that I play far too aggressively and no guitar holds up with just the button itself, so I have a bit of extra tape... I change my strings quite regularly and I’m playing an eight-string set at the moment, using the low 74 gauge on that for the F tuning.”

Good Chaps

“I find Chapman to be a really great company to work with primarily because they care about their artists a lot. I’ve got a lot of friends who work with maybe bigger brands but don’t get as much attention.

“The first day I went on tour after the endorsement I got a call from the MD Matt wishing me a really good tour and he sent me a t-shirt. I don’t think you’d get that at a lot of companies, so it’s a nice team to be a part of.”

Sectioned’s new album Annihilated and Frontierer’s album Unloved are both out now.