The Seven-String Guitar Is a Lot Older Than You Think It Is
The last few years have seen a rise in the seven-string guitar. YouTube is filled with technical virtuosos showing the range of this type of guitar, and seven-strings can be found in many progressive rock and heavy metal bands.
While it may seem like the extended-range guitar is a relative newcomer to the music scene, in fact its roots go back more than 200 years.
Classical seven-string guitars
While guitars, and their precursors, lutes, have been made for many hundreds of years, there was a technological innovation in around 1800 that changed the game. That innovation was the invention of metal-wire strings.
Metal strings were more durable and produced a louder sound than their traditional gut counterparts. This allowed luthiers to experiment with dropping double-course instruments in favor of single-course ones. Guitars with six strings became common and then the accepted norm, as it remains today.
But there were players and composers who wanted to extend the musical range of the guitar, so luthiers accommodated by designing guitars with additional strings. Hence the seven-string classical guitar was born, and although somewhat rare, they are still sold today.
