I've personally never had any use for a 7 String, I've always had the idea of "why do you need 7 Strings, when you can't even play 6" and I know that doesnt apply to everyone, that was mainly aimed at the rap/metal from the late 90's, I feel like you know who I'm talking about, but lately I'm becoming more interested in bands like Animals As Leaders and Periphery. Some may say I have poor taste in music, but thats your opinion. So today I found myself wondering if Fender has ever made like a limited run of 7 Strings. I didnt really find anything in my search on bing or google. I did find a few Squier 7 String Strats. If I ever came across one I'd probably have to buy it. I'm not a "Steve Vai/ Rusty Cooley" by any means, but I am interested to see what I could do with a 7 String, and I'd want one even more if Fender made one, mainly because the Strat is my favorite guitar. Is there anyone else out the that might be interested in one? Have you ever seen, played, personally own, or know someone who has one? Just Curious....

Check this out:

http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?di ... rticle=460

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Now thats what I'm talkin about!

We've talked about 7 String Fenders before, but I can't seem to find the old topics.

I believe that the patents that Alex Gregory holds has stopped Fender from getting into the 7 string market back when it was peaking (because Fender would have had to pay fees to AG). The Alex Gregory Signature model never came out and probably caused a riff between AG and Fender.

Now you should ask about a Fender Double-neck!

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

The only "official" 7-string Fender was the Showmaster with Duncan humbuckers. It was produced only 1 year.

There was also the Squier Stratocaster VII in both HH and HSS configurations. Unlike the Stagemasters, these were pretty much regular Strats with 7th string. It seems that they were short-lived though.

Ah, these veteran Forum members and their marvelous shovels. You never know what they're gonna dig up next. Great background. I always wondered what happened to that signature series guitar. One of the first.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I was surprised to see that Fender had a page on Alex Gregory.

It didn't sound like they had pleasant dealings (poor Alex, he could have been a lot richer).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Ha. This turns out to be an unexpectedly interesting thread:

Thank you for that. Never seen that page, and I admit I've barely heard of "Maestro" Alex Gregory either.



Bless my soul, really? Didn't know that - is it for real or a late April Fool joke? He's not an obvious choice for that distinction, to my eyes. (I won't say whether I think Yngwie is an obvious choice either...) Still...

Classical music played on rock instruments usually has me stuffing my fingers in my ears and running for the hills. But that article makes me strangely curious to hear Bach on Steroids. Here we go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sX3EHSYO84

Yup: that's pretty much what we expected. Hmmmmm... no comment.

By the way, that article also says:

Bwaaaaahahaha! That is sheer nonsense!

Like in most countries, the British government has a range of "honours" it confers on citizens in recognition of some achievement or other. There are various catagories available - and none of them is the term "Maestro". Alexander Gregory has most definitely not had the title Maestro confered upon him by the government.

Someone is suffering from an over active imagination. Maybe this really is all an April Fool joke?

Cheers - C

EDIT: spelling. As always.

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Now we get to the properly interesting aspect of the thread. Do Ibanez pay a royalty on a patented seven string guitar neck, given that they sell plenty of them? I'd presumed that it was just another area where Fender and Ibanez tacitly agree not to step on each other's territory - like the HSH pickup configuration. But perhaps that's patented too?

Anyhow. How do people feel they'd use a seventh string if they had one? An extra B string below bottom E? Or an extra A above top E? Or something else - I notice that Alex Gregory page quotes him as saying:

Fascinating.

Also. Do we need to be limited to just seven strings? The lute (ancestor of the guitar) can have as many strings as you like, from six courses upwards (the pairs of strings are called courses). Here's a ten course lute:



My understanding is that the lower courses are mostly played open as bass notes while the higher courses are fretted for the tune. Sometimes they don't even bother to run the bass strings over frets:



(Paul O'Dette is just a fabulous player, by the way. Eat your heart out, Alex Gregory.)

Does anyone think electric guitars with lots more strings would be interesting? Do any of the makers here think that would be an interesting project to build...?



Aw, go on then. What can you tell us about double-neck Fenders?

Cheers - C

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These guitars lacked off a tremolo.

Not an April Fool joke, though it does seem like a big Spinal Tap type of joke.

Over-active imagination is a good way to put it. The Wikipedia page on the Dutch prog group Focus does not mention Alex Gregory, so I doubt he was ever in that band! Obviously, Alex is quite a character. The cover of one of his CDs shows him "relieving" himself on grave stones marked SV (Steve Vai) and YM (Yngwie Malmsteen.). I'm sure Alex wishes he had sold 1/10th of the CDs that those two have sold.

I first read about the non-produced AG Signature model in Andre Duchossoir's book on Stratocasters. In 1991, I had a shop inquire to FCS about getting a 7 string built for me. The word came back that they wouldn't make one.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Ha. I wonder if they'd make one now? That article indicates the CS has built a small number seven string Strats over the years. They are obviously jigged to do it if they can be bothered. What does Mike Eldred say?

Anyhow, are you still interested in a VII, Orville? Obviously, if Fender don't want to help then there's always Ibanez. But much more satisfying would be to find a small maker to build one to your exact ideal specs. It raises some fascinating issues. Would you want 24 frets? Should the wider neck heel fit a matching wider neck pocket? Or would you have a standard width heel on that wider neck and fingerboard, so it could be fitted to a standard body? That would be a mildly challenging bit of carpentry, but perfectly do-able. And would we like two trussrods to handle that extra width and string tension?

A lot of exciting stuff for the right kind of builder to think about in such a project...

BTW: I never took you for the thrash-metal type, OO!

Cheers - C

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This was true of the HH version, but the HSS model had a trem.

They also describe Windsor as being on the outskirts of London....which my Mother (who's from there) assures me is not the case and I would agree with given that I've driven past it on my way to London and it's a decent distance away...in UK terms!!

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How did it sound to you?