This Seven String 36 fret Yellow Gary Kramer R36 is a beast in yellow.

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Though this Gary Kramer R36 seven string guitar goes against a lot of what I believe in, I really kind of like it.

To me it looks like something that would have been made by Teuffel in his teen years, before he settled into a more mature style.

This particular one has had some modifications including the removal of frets 28, 30, 32, and 34 to make access easier for human-sized hands. This yellow beast was clearly designed for an alien so in it's intended hands it there would be no need for such a modification.

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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DeArmond S67 Seven String Solid Body Guitar

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I'm not a seven string player. Years ago I briefly owned a 7 string Ibanez Acoustic and found that i never used the low B string. I eventually took it off, then sold the guitar.

If I were to decide to try again, i think I've found the guitar I would get. 

This DeArmond S67 is a nicely understated take on an SG style body and to me looks a lot less "metally"or aggressive as many 7 string offerings. 

On a related topic, has anyone here ever tried to string a 7 string with a high A instead of a low B? I suspect much potential for string breakage, but maybe there is something I don't know. What is the thinnest high string you've seen?

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

One-off 7-string acoustic with massive 23"-wide lower body bout

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Here's what the eBay seller describes as a 7-String Non Archtop Acoustic Guitar, as if to suggest that archtop 7-string acoustics are reasonably commonplace. It is apparently a one-off luthier-built instrument, its most astonishing feature being that the lower boust is a mammoth 23" in width, which is longer than the scale length of certain classic guitars. The seller claims that the guitar fits comfortably on the lap; I'd imagine that with a body width like that the bass response would be fantastic.

Item is located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States, and is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $375.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Martin D7 Roger McGuinn signature edition 7-string acoustic guitar versus AddString

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Here we see a Martin model D7, which sadly is now a discontinued model. I say sadly, because it is one of the best ideas - dare I say innovations? - for acoustic guitar to have come along in decades, and like all the very best ideas it is so simple. A signature guitar for Byrds guitarist Roger McGuinn, the D7 aims to capture part of his signature 12-string sound but without the hassle of having a full set of twelve strings. The seventh string is an octave G string which is paired with the regular G string, so this guitar still has six courses and doesn't require any mental adjustments when playing.

The eBay seller tells us that:

Roger McGuinn describes this as 'the Swiss army knife of guitars'. It can be strummed, picked, flat picked and has nearly all the zing of a 12 string but the convenience of a 6 string. When finger picked the 7th G string isn't even noticed but when strummed or flat picked it sings out beautifully.

Indeed, this guitar was the inspiration for my own 8-string guitar conversion which we looked at recently and which is still playing very nicely - the top hasn't imploded with the extra string tension ... yet!. My original idea was to convert my (cheap) acoustic into a 7-string like the Roger McGuinn guitar, but I started thinking, "If seven strings sound so good, then what will eight strings sound like?" and ending up drilling extra holes in the head and bridge to accommodate an octave D string.

This above pictured Martin D7 is currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £1,299 and a Buy It Now price of £1,825. Bear in mind, before the guitar was discontinued the new price was £2,250.

That is a lot of money, but then this is a quality guitar from C.F. Martin. If you wanted a similar 7-string (or 8-string) guitar, then there's always the Do It Yourself route similar to the one I took, or if you don't want to go drilling holes in your favourite acoustic guitar there is this really neat conversion kit from Netherlands-based AddString which adds an octave G-string to your guitar without any modifications other than filing a extra slot in the nut (and the tool for that is provided in the kit).

One very crafty feature is the ability to switch between 6-string and 7-string modes using a string catch mounted in the soundhole. The AddString kit is available now at a special introductory price of $95.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Silvestri 7-string guitar from the 1890s

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The 7-string guitar has in recent years gained much popularity but I hope that most Guitarz readers will appreciate that the instrument was not a creation of the new metal movement, nor was it invented by Steve Vai or Alex Gregory. The first electric seven-stringer was probably a Gretsch hollowbody made for jazz guitarist George Van Eps in the late 1960s, although he had been playing acoustic 7-string jazz guitar since the late 1930s when he used a custom-made Epiphone.

But 7-string guitars were around long before this. Both Russian and Brazilian music had developed 7-string guitars as part of their culture. The Russian 7-string dates to beginning of the 19th century and utilised an open G tuning (DGBDGbd). It was said to have been invented by Russian guitarist and composer Andrei Sychra who wrote a method for the 7-sting guitar and a whole wealth of compositions for the instrument.

In Brazil the 7-string guitar was introduced in the early 20th century as an accompaniment instrument in choro and samba music. It is traditionally tuned as a standard 6-string with the addition of a low C string, although some guitarists took this down to a (more logical perhaps) low B.

In 18th century Europe, the baroque guitar evolved from an instrument with 5 courses to one with 6 courses - initially the courses were paired strings but later the consensus of popularity favoured single strings as is common today - so it was perfectly natural that someone would take this a stage further and add a 7th course (or string). Those advocating the 7-string guitar included French guitarist Napoleon Coste (1805–1883) who composed specifically for the instrument, and the Italian guitarist Mario Maccaferri (born 1900) who used additional unfretted bass strings (known as diapasons or bourdons) on his guitars.

The above pictured guitar is an Italian 7-string by Ermelinda Silvestri and dates to the mid 1890s. In keeping with most of Silvestri's instruments it bears the butterfly inlay which was a trademark of sorts. The seventh string seems to be very close to the edge of the fingerboard, which suggests that it wasn't intended to be fretted and would have been a diapason (or bourdon if you prefer).

This repaired but still playable antique 7-string guitar is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,450.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Andrei's doubleneck and 7-string guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hi Gavin, Nice blog! I sometimes play some funny guitars. Doubleneck:

Here I play 7 string guitar (solo, one guitar), 7th string fretless:

Maybe it will be interesting for you.

Best regards,

Andrei Krylov

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Teuffel Tesla glow-in-the-dark 7-string

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Everything about the Teuffel Tesla guitar screams "modern" and "innovative" at you, yet despite its space-age design the Tesla is the antithesis of all those modern "perfect" guitars and is designed specifically to emulate some of those idiosyncracies exhibited by some of those older planks we have struggled with. As Ulrich Teuffel says on his website:

In the early days of electric guitar building, you had to struggle not only with the guitar itself, but also with the unwanted background noises that guitars produced in those days, for example, pickup feedback resulting from pickups not yet being wax-potted, or loud humming coming from a loose solder joint. Sometimes the guitar signal would be interrupted when you randomly touched a knob.

Nowadays all these effects have disappeared as a result of technical improvements, although they have become part of music history as archetypes of guitar sounds. They are comparable to sounds such as the scratching of records and skipping of CDs, which have also become musical archetypes and are often cited in today’s music.

With the Tesla I have designed a guitar that, along with modern guitars sounds, also has these primitive sounds at its disposal. Contact points and push-buttons are situated all over the body, which, when pressed, activate the respective sounds.

The above-pictured 7-string Tesla, currently for sale on eBay with bidding at over $4,000 as I type this, has a glow-in-the-dark finish and - as requested by the customer - is the only example to feature glow-in-the-dark side dots along the top of the fingerboard.

The short neck (or is it an extended body on the bass side) make the Tesla an ideal candidate for a 7-string guitar, the rigidity of the body providing excellent bass response.

But if you're one of those "hook the thumb over the top of the neck" players, forget it. This guitar is not for you!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Danelectro Mod 7

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This Danelectro Mod 7 is a guitar to my heart! It has everything, the design - look at that blobish mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard! - the personality - did you ever hear of a 7-string with lipstick humbuckers? - plenty of cool technical details like the six-way rotary switch for pickups combinations plus an extra switch to go to lead mode with the 3 pickups in series, and the concentric tone/volume knob. 

It has the typical Danelectro masonite chambered body with a classical yet original one cutaway design, lipstick pickups with a double one in bridge position, a slightly gold sparkle black finish... A perfect combination of vintage feel and innovation, it's been strangely short lived in the late 90s, I guess that it's again one of these too brilliant guitars that didn't find its market because people just want cheap Les Paul clones... Well let me tell you, yesterday I was gigging with my Dan'o Longhorn Baritone plugged on a Sovtek Big Muff Pi and a Marshall bass combo a and I had the most terrific sound one can expect from a guitar!

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Hutchins sextuple-necked guitar/bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at this beast before. Just two years ago this ridiculous instrument was selling for £549 - now it's being listed at £899. That's inflation for you!

It's also a lot of money to spend on an "instrument" that is more or less a display item. Let's face it, it's not really going to be possible to even reach let alone play any of the lower three necks, and even if you just played the uppermost necks, can you imagine the weight and sheer awkwardness of that thing?

You could use it as a stage prop perhaps, just on the one song, but even then it's going to be an inconveniently-shaped piece of gear to cart around to gigs. It'd need one hell of a flightcase. I believe it only comes with a tent-like "gig bag" (see previous post on this guitar).

This seller suggests that even if you can't play all six necks it would still make a good "wall peice" (sic). I don't know about you, but if I hung that up in my house, I'd be worried about it bringing the whole wall down.

G L Wilson

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Roter Custom Extended Range Guitar

There are plenty of guitars to talk about, the historical ones from famous pioneering brands and makers, the cool vintage ones with all their anecdotes, the brand new phenomenons, the limited editions for chosen fews, the bizarre one-offs, the last unexpected cheap wonder from China...

Today I will present this guitar made by Roter Custom Guitars, a custom shop somewhere in Poland (until I checked I didn't know it was in Poland, their website is in English, they could have been in New Jersey like Krappy Guitars, another local shop I found on the Internet).

First when you go to Roter's website and check their custom gallery, they have like anybody else 90% of stratocaster or superstrat clones, plus a couple of SGs and a few copies of BC Rich models (and not the good ones) - same in the bass section. But if you click on Extended Range Guitars, you will find more interesting things, such as this 7-string Wintersun.

The design is on the edge of ugly, but on the good side, where it's called daring... The beveled body is made of Wenge with a beautiful slightly sunburst black transparent finish, and it looks like it's going to bite! That's the guitar of Riddick!

Bertram

Stephen Carpenter Baritone 7-String Signature Series Guitar from ESP

Alex Gregory's prototype Fender Stratocaster 7-string is on eBay: unlike modern 7-stringers this originally featured an extra high string rather than a low B.

New EuDaly Special model from Wendler Instruments: Available in 6- or 7-string models, the latest electroCoustic guitar features a piezo bridge along with passive pickups for a range of sounds.

This is one monster bass guitar from Conklin Guitars with twin 7 string necks!

When Alex Gregory originally came up with the design for a 7-string guitar he intended that it have a high A string, rather than a low B... The True History of the 7 String Electric Guitar.

Eventually, he realised that the world wanted a guitar with extra low frequencies, and after a couple more 7-string prototypes he abandoned the 7-string idea altogether and instead proposed a 5-string tuned in fifths, and thus having a greater range than a 7-string tuned in fourths. And thus was the celloblaster conceieved. See: www.pentasystem.com

Last week I bought this off eBay:

It's a Squier Stagemaster 7 ... basically a souped-up Strat with two humbuckers, 24 fret neck, hardtail bridge, and that all important extra low B-string. I love it!