7 String Guitar History
Sep 3, 2009 7 string
Posted by
freddy1955
The first 7 string guitar was the Russian guitar. It was created by Andreas O. Sichra (1772-1861) who also wrote seventy-five compositions for the 7 string guitar. These guitars were typically tuned to an Open G chord: DBGDBGD.
In 1938, legendary jazz guitarist George Van Eps commissioned Epi Stathopoulo, president of the Epiphone guitar company, to build a seven string jazz guitar using a modified Epiphone Deluxe.
The seven string guitar expands the harmonic and melodic possiblities of jazz guitars, including the ability to play scales spanning 3 octaves.
Other famous jazz guitarists have played 7 string guitars including Bucky Pizzarelli and Howard Alden.
The first solid body 7 string electric guitars appeared in the 1980’s.
At the January 1988 NAMM Show, the Maestro Alex Gregory signature 7 string Fender Stratocaster was disclosed to the public. This guitar added a high A string, rather than a low string to make the 7 string guitar. Issues with the manufacturing of the exceptionally thin high A strings led to production problems and very few Alex Gregory 7 string guitars were actually produced.
In 1989 Hamer Guitars signed a deal for the same guitar. This was offered at the NAMM Show in January 1990 ($2,500), along with a new Ibanez version ($1,399.95).
In 1998, Schecter signed on to produce the 7 String Maestro Alex Gregory Signature Model guitar based on the original specs. By 2000 the rights to the Alex Gregory 7 string were back with Fender.
Steve Vai began touring with Whitesnake with a 7 string prototype he codesigned with Ibanez, and used that guitar on the 1990 landmark instrumental rock album, “Passion and Warfare.”
Today’s 7 string guitars use an added low string, usually tuned to either A or B. Seven string guitar players tend to be either jazz guitarists, like Howard Alden, or metal band guitarists such as Stephen Carpenter and Christian Olde Wolbers.
September 4th, 2009 at 19:22
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September 5th, 2009 at 03:49
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September 5th, 2009 at 06:48
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September 11th, 2009 at 17:37
[...] 7 String Guitar History | Guitar Time [...]
September 13th, 2009 at 00:51
[...] 7 String Guitar History | Guitar Time [...]
September 15th, 2009 at 22:44
I just thought that since you have a history of the 7 string guitar you might want to include a link to the inventor of the electric 7 string. You can check out the patents on the “Inventions” tab.
September 15th, 2009 at 22:48
This is excellent thanks Missy!
September 16th, 2009 at 00:31
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September 30th, 2009 at 21:51
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October 25th, 2009 at 04:02
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November 8th, 2009 at 12:42
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November 28th, 2009 at 14:06
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January 5th, 2010 at 04:07
[...] 7 String Guitar History | Guitar Time [...]
January 16th, 2010 at 03:58
[...] 7 String Guitar History | Guitar Time [...]
January 16th, 2010 at 13:23
Hi I found your site when i was searching yahoo for this
April 3rd, 2010 at 08:28
[...] this reason is making the pickup manufacturers release more models for this kind of guitars that a7 String Guitar History | Guitar TimeThe first 7 string guitar was the Russian guitar. It was created by Andreas O. Sichra (1772-1861) [...]