History of the 7-string - Who was the first?

Two hands31 · #1 01-23-2002, 10:42 PM

Ok, I want all the dirt! *Who was the first player, company, etc.? *When, where, etc.

yurich · #2 01-23-2002, 11:44 PM

Steve is the first 7-stringer that I know of...but I'm sure about the last - Joe Satch!
:laugh:

caprile · #3 01-24-2002, 01:34 AM

i think a guy called alex gregory has a patent on the 7 string. this guy calls himself 'maestro', and he makes yngwie look like a humble person. he actually said that he will piss on SV's grave!
Uli john roth had a 7 too i think.
that's about electrics, cause maybe in the 12th century there were instruments with 7 stringsd or something.

darren wilson · #4 01-24-2002, 01:55 AM

This may be biased, but i thought it was a good read on the origins of the 7-string guitar.

It pre-dates Vai and the Universe by about 50 years.

Spiral Acid · #5 01-24-2002, 10:42 AM

I'd have thought it was pretty common knowledge that Steve Vai wasn't the first 7 stringer, much less inventor... But he did put it into the limelight, which was subsequently picked up by Korn. I guess who invented it is a long and mysterious story, but I like to think that the man who relaunched the 7 was more of a genius.

rlintz · #6 01-24-2002, 02:54 PM

Several jazz guitarists have been playing 7 stringers for a long time (I believe since the 50's or so). *George Van Eps comes to mind. *Guitar Player magazine ran a feature on him not long ago (within the last year or two).

Uli Roth (of the Scorpions) was also playing a 7 string in the 70's and 80's.

darren wilson · #7 01-24-2002, 03:13 PM

Okay... since it's obvious nobody actually read the article i linked, here's the first two paragraphs quoted from Gibson:

Quote:

George Van Eps pioneered 7-strings in 1938 with his Epiphone Deluxe

The late guitarist George Van Eps was know as the "Father of the Seven String Guitar." No tatoos or nose rings or stage pyrotechnics typically favored by modern 7-string guitarists. 1938 was a more restrained era.

That was when Van Eps commissioned Epi Stathopoulo, president of the Epiphone guitar company to build him his first seven string wonder. He had the namesake of the modern Epiphone company graft a seven string neck onto the body of his much beloved 1931 Epiphone Deluxe hollowbody electric. It was that guitar he would play almost daily with the Paul Weston Orchestra and with staff orchestras for network television and New Yore and Los Angeles radio stations as well as on now classic recordings for the Capitol and Concord labels. "That's my 'lap piano'," Van Eps once said. The extra string enabled the sophisticated, pianistic, and complex voicings Van Eps pioneered.

Project Guitar · #8 01-24-2002, 04:17 PM

I'm not sure about production model, nor artist but I have seen a couple of 7 string guitars in a museum dating back to the 1600's....

That kinda proceeds the concept of Gibson all together. Next time I go I'll try to sneek a picture or two.

They were beautiful guitars with really exotic inlay work......

darren wilson · #9 01-24-2002, 06:18 PM

Well, i guess it depends on when you start the history of what would be considered the pressent-day "modern" guitar. There were all kinds of many-stringed fretted instruments going back to lutes and beyond, but guitar design wasn't standardized until much later.

bob oakman · #10 01-26-2002, 02:21 AM

Darren, I read the article.

IMHO, it's not so much about who invented it as it is about who mastered it. Also IMHO, nobody has done that yet.

Big Job · #11 01-27-2002, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Two hands31 on 9:42 pm on Jan. 23, 2002
Ok, I want all the dirt! *Who was the first player, company, etc.? What, witch,*when, where, etc.

yeah there right

Drew · #12 02-14-2002, 01:37 AM

Well, Van Eps is the first i know of... although, i found that article pretty amusing...

"It was Van Eps' legacy that has inspired Epiphone to introduce two seven string models this year."

Like hell.

-Drew

Polaris20 · #13 02-14-2002, 09:40 AM

Quote:

caprile on 11:34 pm on Jan. 23, 2002
i think a guy called alex gregory has a patent on the 7 string. this guy calls himself 'maestro', and he makes yngwie look like a humble person. he actually said that he will piss on SV's grave!
Uli john roth had a 7 too i think.
that's about electrics, cause maybe in the 12th century there were instruments with 7 stringsd or something.

Alex Gregory is not that good, he's definitely not better than Malmsteen (and believe me, I can't stand Malmsteen) and he's a pompous egotistical ass.

I had a few of his recordings, and I wasn't that impressed.
He didn't invent sh$t.