Document:

<Page>

                                                                    EXHIBIT 10.7

                                             October 22, 2001

Robert H. Lessin
131 South Woodland Street
Englewood, NJ 07631

Dear Bob:

The purpose of this letter is to amend our agreement with respect to your
employment by SoundView Technology Group, Inc. in light of your expressed desire
to devote more time to the venture funds affiliated with the Company, charitable
endeavors, and a new business enterprise as further detailed in Annex A.
Specifically, our agreement of June 8, 1998, as amended by our agreements of
October 30, 1998 and January 1, 1999 (collectively, your Employment Agreement"),
is further amended as provided in this letter.

Section 1 is amended in its entirety to read as follows:

SECTION 1. EMPLOYMENT. You will be employed by Soundview Technology Group, Inc.
as the Chairman of SoundView Ventures Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of
SoundView Technology Group, Inc., the purpose of which is to act as the
investment advisor for the four Dawntreader Fund II parallel funds
(collectively, the "Dawntreader II Funds"), and as otherwise set forth herein.
You will continue to devote a significant amount of your time to working with
the employees of SoundView Ventures Corporation towards the goal of investing
the remaining capital of the Dawntreader II Funds. In addition, you will be
reasonably available to assist our investment bankers as requested in the
execution of advisory and other investment banking engagements. In order to
continue to be available to provide investment banking services, you will
continue to be registered with SoundView Technology Corporation. SoundView
Technology Corporation will not object and will support your dual registration
with your new venture, as further detailed in Annex A, if you deem it
appropriate or necessary for that company to be a registered broker-dealer. This
Letter Agreement covers the period from the date of this letter until September
30, 2002 (the "Employment Period"). The Company will continue to provide
secretarial support for your activities from your current secretary for the
duration of the Employment Period. In addition, the Company confirms that it is
the present intention of the Board that you be renominated to serve as a
director for a three (3) year term at the next annual meeting of stockholders at
which directors in your class are to be elected. You confirm that it is your
present intention to serve as a director, if nominated by the Board of Directors
and elected by the shareholders. In the event that you are not nominated and
elected to continue your service as a director to the Company for an additional
three (3) year term, the Company agrees to retain you as a consultant to the
Company at the end of the Employment Period on terms and conditions to be
negotiated at the time for the period commencing as of the date immediately
prior to the termination of the Employment Period and ending on May 31, 2005.
During such consultancy, you shall be available to answer questions for the
Company regarding the

<Page>

Robert H. Lessin
October 23, 2001
Page 2

operations of venture funds and past investments of the Dawntreader II Funds, as
well as such other matters as you and the Company may agree to at the time.

Section 2 (a) is amended in its entirety to read as follows:

SECTION 2. COMPENSATION. During the Employment Period, you shall be paid a
salary of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000), payable in periodic
installments, which are not less frequent than the periodic installments in
effect for salaries for other senior executives of the Company. Although you
will be eligible to receive a bonus at our discretion, it is our mutual
understanding that the Company may, in its sole discretion, elect not to pay any
bonus to you for your services during the Employment Period.

Section 2 (b) is deleted in its entirety and replaced by:

 "Intentionally Omitted."

Section 4 is amended to include a new Section 4(e).

SECTION 4....

          (e) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Letter
Agreement, the Company agrees that you may own and participate in any way you
deem appropriate in the management and operations of any organization as
described in Annex A to this Agreement so long as the activities of that entity
during the Employment Period are within the parameters described in Annex A. It
is the intention of both parties that you will spend no more time during the
Employment Period working on the activities of such business organization than
you do working for the Company. Further, during the Employment Period and for
one year thereafter, you agree that, the organization described in Annex A and
its affiliates will not hire any person employed by the Company during the
Employment Period unless their termination was by the Company, for at least one
year after such person's employment with the Company was terminated; PROVIDED,
HOWEVER, that the organization described in Annex A and its affiliates shall be
permitted to hire, following the end of the Employment Period, any person who
was a member of Dawntreader Partners II LLC at the date hereof or was your
secretary. Moreover, during the Employment Period and for a period of one year
thereafter, you will not, directly or indirectly, solicit, recruit or cause to
be hired any employee of the Company to work for a Person other than the Company
or directly or indirectly engage in any activity that would cause any employee
of the Company to leave the Company for employment with any other Person, it
being understood that this restriction shall not apply to any person who on his
or her own initiative contacts such third Person without any direct or indirect
solicitation by or encouragement from you or because they responded to a general
advertisement or a non-directional inquiry from a search firm. As used in this
Section 4(e), the term "Person" shall mean an individual, partnership,
corporation, limited liability company, unincorporated organization, trust,
joint venture,

<Page>

Robert H. Lessin
October 23, 2001
Page 3

governmental agency, or other entity, whether domestic or foreign. In the event
that (i) the Company liquidates or disolves or (ii) there is a sale of all or
substantially all of the assets of the Company, all restrictions set forth in
this Section 4 shall be terminated. In the event that the Company is acquired by
another entity by means of any transaction or series of related transactions
(including, without limitation, any reorganization, merger or consolidation)
that results in the transfer of fifty percent (50%) or more of the outstanding
voting power of the Company (a "Change of Control"), all restrictions set forth
in this Section 4 shall terminate at the time that your Employment Period
terminates, provided, that the change-of-control provisions set forth in Annex A
shall apply.

 As amended by this letter, your Employment Agreement shall continue to govern
the terms and conditions of your employment. Please confirm your agreement by
signing in the space provided below.

                                            SOUNDVIEW TECHNOLOGY GROUP, INC.

                                            BY:
                                                -----------------------------
                                                Mark F. Loehr

Agreed:

-------------
Robert H. LessinPrepared by MERRILL CORPORATION

QuickLinks
 -- Click here to rapidly navigate through this document

 
 

AMENDMENT
  
    TO THE
  
    1997 EQUITY PARTICIPATION PLAN
  
    OF
  
    GUITAR CENTER, INC.    
  

    Pursuant to the authority reserved to the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Guitar Center, Inc., a
corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (the "Company"), under Section 10.2 of the 1997 Equity Participation Plan of Guitar
Center, Inc. (the "Plan"), the Board hereby amends the Plan as follows. 

    Section 3.4(d)
of the Plan is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows: 

    During
the term of the Plan, (i) a person who is initially elected to the Board after the consummation of the initial public offering of Common Stock and who is an Independent
Director at the time of such initial election automatically shall be granted an Option to purchase 15,000 shares of Common Stock (subject to adjustment as provided in Section 10.3) on the date
of such initial election, and (ii) a person who is re-elected to the Board after the consummation of the initial public offering of Common Stock and who is an Independent Director
at the time of such re-election automatically shall be granted an Option to purchase 7,000 shares of Common Stock (subject to adjustment as provided in Section 10.3) on the date of
each annual meeting of stockholders at which the Independent Director is re-elected to the Board. Notwithstanding the first sentence of this paragraph (d), no grant shall be made to
an Independent Director pursuant to clause (i) of such sentence if (x) an Independent Director Affiliate of such Independent Director served on the Board within the twelve-month period
prior to the initial election of such Independent Director and if such Independent Director Affiliate is not a member of the Board at the time of initial election of such Independent Director, or
(y) such Independent Director is an employee of the Company who subsequently retires from the Company and remains on the Board. Notwithstanding the first sentence of this paragraph (d),
no grant shall be made to an Independent Director pursuant to clause (ii) of such sentence if such Independent Director was initially elected to the Board within 120 days of such annual
meeting of stockholders. 

    I
hereby certify that the foregoing First Amendment to the Plan was duly adopted by the Board of Directors of Guitar Center, Inc., effective as of July 26, 2001. 

	 	 	/s/ BRUCE L. ROSS   
	 	 	
 Bruce L. Ross

Secretary

QuickLinks

AMENDMENT TO THE 1997 EQUITY PARTICIPATION PLAN OF GUITAR CENTER, INC.

Source: [{"source": "alea-institute/alea-institute/kl3m-data-edgar-agreements/train-00031-of-00352.parquet"}, [{"source": "alea-institute/alea-institute/kl3m-data-edgar-agreements/train-00031-of-00352.parquet"}]]