Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All,

I've had an inquiry about building an 8 string (extra high and low string) fan fretted steel string acoustic guitar. I've been poking around on the internet but they seem to be pretty rare. Anyone here built one of these or know of one?

Thanks,
Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Built a 7 string fan fret nylon with a student years back .. high A string, he used 40 lb fishing line, just like Lenny Breau !!!! You will need to be somewhat short on the high scale length, in order to get a .007 or .008 to tune that high without breaking. Adding the low B is no problem

Try a .008 on your guitar and see how high you can tune it, and at what fret you are at to get the A, like maybe 2nd or 3rd fret - thats the short scale you will need to design around. Low B will work at at least 27 inches, 28 is better

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks Tony. Here's the link to the one example I found:

http://www.aheadbehind.com/guitar_geeks.html

As you can see, he used 27 3/4" and 23 3/4" scale lengths. Not sure of upper string gauge though.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Yeah, thats pretty much what I was thinking Pat . the high A is likely an 8 gauge.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"