Guitar Makers

[jofranari]

I'm looking for some guitar makers to make me a 16 string tapping guitar. If you know somebody, please tell me. Thankyou.

[rjgoos]

16??? Yowza!!! My hands aren't big enough for a 10-string Stick!!


RJ

[rockola]

Here's a picture of a 17-string tap guitar:

Wolfgang's Mega Surfboard (http://www.tapguitar.com/pics2003/9560wolfie.jpg)

[jofranari]

Very interesting instrument. Who is the manufacturer?

[rockola]

Wolfgang's instrument was built by German luthier Siggi Abramzik.

[rjgoos]

Ola wrote:

>Here's a picture of a 17-string tap guitar:

Wolfgang's Mega Surfboard<


That is one impressive instrument!

Am I correct to assume that you can only play such a wide instrument with a parallel-hand technique?


RJ

[rockola]

Am I correct to assume that you can only play such a wide instrument with a parallel-hand technique?

I certainly wouldn't attempt playing with crossed hands on that behemoth, and neither would Wolfgang, for that matter. The instrument has been custom-made to suit his tuning and style of playing. It has 9 strings in 4ths mirrored on both sides, except that the low bass string is not doubled, hence 17 strings. Strings 8 and 10, 7 and 11 etc. are tuned to the same pitch. Wolfgang often plays parallel lines in his jazz solos, something that's nearly impossible on a 4ths-5ths tuning.

Also, Wolfgang often plays sitting down, and I'm sure that with this instrument he will always do so. I don't know the exact weight, but it's a lot.

For the benefit of those whose gear lust was aroused by this tidbit, I have better pictures of the instrument that I'll put in the Equipment section of tapguitar.com (http://www.tapguitar.com/) in the near future. I'll also put up some pictures of Siggi's acoustic tap guitar - he's the Gyro Gearloose (http://www.toonopedia.com/gyro.htm) of tapping instruments!