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turnermoran -> RE: My 7-string flamenca (Feb. 20 2010 16:13:55)
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As the owner of Stephen Faulk's 7 string guitar, I thought I might weigh in on some of the things that have been posted about building them, playing them etc.
I am pretty clueless about the finer points of luthiery, but as someone who has owned about seven 7-string nylon guitars, it seems that over-building them to compensate for the extra string is neither necessary, nor produces very good results. That probably goes without saying, as any overbuilt guitar doesn't sound so hot, but I can say this: Stephen's guitar is f'ing amazing. I've had it for about 4 months now, and the top does appear to be quite thin, but it shows no signs of stress from the extra string. It's so loud when I play it (in the good way!) that I fear I might get hearing damage! :)
I own two 7 string guitars by brazilian luthier Lineu Bravo. (a TON of people are playing his guitars right now in Brazil). I have a cedar/brazilian rosewood guitar that he now charges $11,000 Reis for, and Stephen's guitar blows it out of the water in terms of projection, volume, tone palette, etc.
On the subject of 7 string guitars in flamenco: personally, I think it's possible to get used to the oddities of any quality instrument. Is it easier to play certain things on a 6 string?..sure. But obviously, you can do things on a 7 string that you can't do on a 6, so if you're into it, why not try?
The Lineu Bravo guitar has an elevated fingerboard and personally, that was the one thing that drives me nuts. Indeed, index golpes above the bass string are virtually impossible. But on Stephen's guitar, I find it's possible to mute the 7 thing when needed for that technique about 90% of the time, and you can use the string in the chord about 75% of the time. So yeah 10 - 25% of the time, you can't land that golpe for a chord with a 7 string, which is a bummer. But you get used to it. Like anything.
On a random luthiery note: 7 string guitars are very common in Brazilian music. The first incarnations (made in the 40's, and perfected in the 50's) had the following string combination: high E and B strings of standard nylon, string G down to low E with metal flatwound elec. guitar strings, and the 7th string - traditionally tuned to a C - was a low C string from a cello. No one made nylon 7 string guitar until the 80s!
Anyway, a friend of mine has one of these guitars that was made in the 70's, and I examined the bracing. It had 5 fan braces I think (maybe 7), but the 3 braces closest to the 7th string ran half the normal distance before then ran into another brace that ran in the perpendicular direction, making a T-like pattern. That brace ran from about the top of the upper bass bout to the midway point of the top, terminating near the rim of the top. (confusing to explain). Anyway, I don't know if that was normal, but that luthier - Mestre Silvestre, making Do Souto guitars - was considered the best luthier.
One of my other Lineu Bravos is this type of guitar, and he opted to just use standard bracing but to brace a little stiffer. That seems to work well too. The guitar is useless with nylon strings, but sounds great with the trad. string setup.
Anyway, sorry for the epic post. (my first one).
In summation, I'd highly recommend Stephen's guitars.
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