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7 String Acoustics anyone?


Shart

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Martin HD7. A couple of forumites have them.

 

It's not a true 7-string in the conventional sense. The extra string provides a double course on the G string for a 12-string guitar effect instead of an extended range as is the commonly understood function of a 7th string. Ibanez and Dean both made a true 7-string acoustic. Neither were great, but the Ibanez was significantly better than the Dean. Giannini also makes a 7-string classical. Matt Raines also imported both a steel string and a classical from China that he sold on e-bay for quite a while. If you watch e-bay, a variety of one-offs and off brands also show up from time to time.

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What Jim says is true - the McGuinn is a pretty special guitar (with a kind of unique sound). If you want to try it just pull the bottom 3 octaves off of a 12 string.

 

I would think that by cutting a new nut (and ramping the pin slots) on a twelve you could string it like Jim suggests (which I think is a lower bass string). You could also fit a mini tuner on the headstock of a wide necked six, make a new nut and drill another pin hole (probably be best to fill the old holes and drill 7 new ones). There were also some 8 strings floating around.

 

All of which sounds like a heck of a lot of work.

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What Jim says is true - the McGuinn is a pretty special guitar (with a kind of unique sound). If you want to try it just pull the bottom 3 octaves off of a 12 string.


I would think that by cutting a new nut (and ramping the pin slots) on a twelve you could string it like Jim suggests (which I think is a lower bass string). You could also fit a mini tuner on the headstock of a wide necked six, make a new nut and drill another pin hole (probably be best to fill the old holes and drill 7 new ones). There were also some 8 strings floating around.


All of which sounds like a heck of a lot of work.

 

 

12 to 7 string conversion have been done but they're awfully narrow for a 7-string. Generally 7-strings are 1 7/8 to 2/18 at the nut. Probably the best 7-string acoustic I've seen was a classical conversion on an Alvarez Yairi. It's a fairly easy conversion for a competent luthier and the total width of a classical is very similar to a typical 7-string.

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