7 string and baritone guitars

[Wireneck]

CellarDweller- A friend of mine owned one of the mid level Ibanez 7 strings. I forget the model but i think it sold somewhere in the $600-$1000 range. I personally thought the clean tone sucked through many different amps and the distorted tones were ok but not that great. I thought about buying one but never found one that felt or sounded right for me. Why couldn't they throw a 7th string on a les paul lol?
Guy Named John- It is probably a good thing that you have to readjust to playing a 6 string guitar. I think most of the guys/kids who came out of the Korn era and own seven strings never touch the bottom 3 strings (high e, b, g). They really don't even need 7 strings its just the lower gauge strings that they are into. Enough of my rant though.

 

[Light]

...(unlike like Charlies Novax)...

Ralph Novax, and I am given to understand he is basically retired these days.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[cellardweller]

I have an Ibanez and am not overly fond of it... The tone is okay for some things, some times, but overall I have to switch off back to either my crappy ol' epiphone, or my krappy kramer.

If it weren't for Stain'd they probably wouldn't be making baritones either...

Trey Azagthoth from Morbid Angel has played a 7 string since before kOrN hit the scene, how long I'm not sure though...
So they have been available for a while from SOMEWHERE..!?!

I'm leaning towards a baritone...

 

[Light]

Jazz players have been playing 7-strings for decades, mostly arch tops. Bucky Pizzarelli has been playing them since the fifties. Lenny Breu also played seven strings, but his had an extra high string, an A I believe. His was also a nylon string guitar. He probably had more technique than any other guitar player ever, and his playing was beautiful. The idea of additional strings is an old one. You can find classical guitars with a whole bunch of additional strings. The most I have seen personally is about 13 strings, none of them in courses (pairs) like a twelve string. In the classical world, they usually tune the additional low strings down by seconds, instead of fourths. Some of those necks get more than a little ridiculous. All of these instruments, however, were custom instruments, made by individual luthiers for the players who felt the need for them.

The first modern style production seven string I recall seeing was the Ibanez Universe, which was a Steve Vai signature model, years before any of the "Nu-Metal" bands came out. For myself, Ibanez makes fine guitars, but I have never been impressed with the sound of their solid bodies. Their arch tops, on the other hand, are incredibly good for the money.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[cellardweller]

What exactly is an arch top? A body style???

It'd be nice if these damned mass-produced-wannabe-a-custom-guitars would come down in price!

Tax returns are coming, but I don't think I can bring myself to "blindly" buy another guitar. I mail-ordered the Ibanez, and honestly would not have bought it had I played it before. I heard good things about Ibanez and believed them.

BTW Light, is there any hope for substantially improving the sound of an Ibanez? I still have the stock pickups in mine, would replacing these make enough of a difference to justify the expense in your opinion?

 

[Light]

What exactly is an arch top? A body style???

Wow, I guess I just don't even know where to start. Arch top guitars are a style of acoustic guitar, invented by Orville Gibson in the late 1800s. His first instruments were actually Mandolins, and his idea was to try and cross the traditional Mandolin with violin construction. Most people would tell you that the acoustic arch top was perfected in the 1920s by Gibson's then head acoustic engineer, Lloyd Loar. His F-5 is the most popular mandolin there is, and the L-5 is a great guitar. Personally, I like the really old Epiphones (before Gibson turned them into a cheap Asian knockoff brand). But that is me. In the 1930s, Gibson started making some of the first electric guitars by adding pickups to their arch tops. The Gibson ES-150 was made famous by Charlie Christian, who was the guitar player in Benny Goodman's orchestra. By the 1950s, the archtop with an electric pickup had become pretty much standard, though there are still players who love the sound of the acoustic archtop, which is totally unique, and very cool. Arch tops are, these days, primarily used by jazz players. The arched top and back plates on arch tops are, traditionally, carved from solid pieces of book matched spruce (for tops) or Maple (for backs). On many of the electric arch tops, the tops and backs are made by molding plywood into the shape desired. This reduces feedback, but also makes them basically unusable for acoustic sounds.

Originally posted by cellardweller It'd be nice if these damned mass-produced-wannabe-a-custom-guitars would come down in price![/B]

I was talking about custom made guitars, made by small shop builders who are not, I assure you, making anything mass produced.

Originally posted by cellardweller Tax returns are coming, but I don't think I can bring myself to "blindly" buy another guitar. I mail-ordered the Ibanez, and honestly would not have bought it had I played it before. I heard good things about Ibanez and believed them.

BTW Light, is there any hope for substantially improving the sound of an Ibanez? I still have the stock pickups in mine, would replacing these make enough of a difference to justify the expense in your opinion? [/B]

New pickups would almost certainly improve the sound. Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan, and Bartolini all make seven string models. I would imagine EMG does as well, though I do not like EMG pickups, personally.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[musikman316]

Light,

I was speaking of Charlie Hunters Novax 8 String, 3 bass strings/5 guitar strings (www.novaxguitars.com)... and showing that 8 string guitars are made by makers like Conklin. And to the people who think that a great jazz guitar has to be $10,000, check out www.mollinst.com

The laminate tops, although not considered to be "great" guitars by many jazz guitarists are wonderful and sell for under $3,000.

Later,
musik

 

[Light]

Light,

I was speaking of Charlie Hunters Novax 8 String, 3 bass strings/5 guitar strings (www.novaxguitars.com)... and showing that 8 string guitars are made by makers like Conklin. And to the people who think that a great jazz guitar has to be $10,000, check out www.mollinst.com

The laminate tops, although not considered to be "great" guitars by many jazz guitarists are wonderful and sell for under $3,000.

Later,
musik

Yes, but Charlie Hunters guitars where designed and made by Ralph Novax, who (among other things) invented the multi scale fingerboard of Charlie Hunters guitars. I wanted to make sure his name was put up right, as he is a nice guy, even if I haven't spoken to him in a few years.

I don't think a great arch top has to cost $10,000. Of all the recent arch tops I have played, my favorite one was a Heritage Golden Eagle, though Bob Benedetto makes an awfully nice guitar, and I like Tom Ribbecke's guitars a lot as well. No one has really made a great acoustic arch top in the last 40 years. They are all designed for pickups these days, even if they don't have them.

A laminated top is OK for an arch top electric, but they sound like crap acoustic. I have a thing for listening to guitars without any speakers, so that matters to me. I also have a couple friends who are among the top collectors in the country, including one guy who has probably the second best collection of arch tops in the country (the best one being the Chinery collection). I love acoustic arch tops, and you can NOT get that sound with a laminated top or on any guitar that has had a giant hole cut out of it for a pickup, much less two pickups.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi