Trivium fans had been hitting up lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu for quite a while now, wanting to know when there might be a more affordable version of his Jackson USA signature guitars available.
Earlier this fall, Jackson delivered, adding the new X-Series KV6 and KV7 signature models to the line.
“I got a lot of questions about it, so I was happy that the X-Series are finally out,” said Beaulieu. “There were a lot of people out there specifically wanting a seven-string V because that’s not, I guess, the most common guitar out there for people to buy.”
During a heavy slate of summer and fall touring, Beaulieu could be seen playing both prototypes fairly evenly. But at home, he’s been leaning lately towards the seven-string.
“Most of the time when I pick up a guitar when I’m at home, it is to write new music or to write riffs,” said Beaulieu. “But if I’ve got writer’s block and have been playing a seven-string for a while, I’ll pick up a six because it just gives you a different tone to work with and might bring out some different ideas that you might not normally have come across if you were playing a seven-string. I definitely go back and forth between both for songwriting purposes, but If I’m going to pick up a guitar and sit there and rock out and practice working on exercises, I just pick up my 7-string most of the time.”
Check out our exclusive video below with Beaulieu as he shares his history with Jackson and explains the feature sets of both guitars.