"Few" is supposed to intentionally get the point across that it's not too too many. "A couple" is for the lowest of amounts above 1, such as the 2 to 4ish range, and "a few" is for the lowish amounts just above that, but is at least 3. Can 7,000 be a few thousand? Sure. Can 100,000? Not even remotely close. No. By that point you've certainly gone past "several" and are either in the realm of or have even passed "many".
My vague colloquial scale:
One: 1
A couple: 2-4ish (stringent on verbiage? it means 2.)
A few: 3-12ish
Several: 7ish+
Many: bigger numbers, perhaps like 100,000 would be "many thousands".
The word "few" means "not a lot", so it aint 100.