Editing Seven-string guitar (section)

==History==
The history of the seven-string guitar stretches back more than 230 years.  During the [[Renaissance]] period ({{circa|1400–1600}}), the European guitar generally had four [[course (music)|courses]], each strung with two [[Catgut|gut strings]], and the pair of strings within each course tuned in [[unison]]. By the mid-[[Baroque]] period ({{circa|1600–1750}}), it more commonly had five courses (still double-strung) and used a variety of tunings, some of them [[Reentrant tuning|re-entrant]]. By the early 18th century, six double-strung courses had become common.

Up to this point, most stringed instruments were strung with gut strings. At around 1800, quality metal-wire strings became widely available. These new strings were more durable, remained in tune longer and, most importantly, produced a louder sound than the traditional gut strings. As use of metal strings became more widely adopted, their greater volume output impelled luthiers to experiment more with single-strung courses on their instruments and, in a relatively short time, the modern practice of using six single strings became first common, and then standard.
  
The changing number of courses in these early guitars may also illustrate an ongoing desire on behalf of players to increase the range of the instrument, a development similar to that gone through by the lute in earlier days. It is likely that all of these factors contributed to the development of the seven-string guitar, which has been around ever since. The seven-string guitar never became as widely accepted in Europe as the six-string instrument, but a number of composers did produce a significant body of work for the seven string. French guitarist [[Napoleon Coste]] (1805–1883) composed works with a seven-string guitar specifically in mind. The Italian guitarist Mario Maccaferri (1899–1993) was a celebrated advocate of bass strings (diapasons or bourdons) and also composed for the instrument.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.luth.org/memoriams/mem_mario-maccaferri.html |title=In Memoriam: Mario Maccaferri |first=John |last=Monteleone |website=Guild of American Luthiers |access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>

By contrast, in Russia the seven-string guitar became widely popular, and entire schools of playing were developed around its use. Despite some brief setbacks in the mid-20th century, during which six-string instruments rose in prominence, the seven-string Russian guitar has remained popular in Russia to this day.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Gerald Stanton |date=1984 |title=Songs to Seven Strings: Russian guitar poetry and Soviet "mass song" |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-25335-391-7}}</ref>

In the New World, a {{lang|es|[[guitarra séptima]]}} or {{lang|es|guitarra sétima}}—with fourteen strings, strung in seven double courses—has been known in Mexico since at least 1776 (Antonio Vargas).<ref>{{cite book |last=Contreras Arias |first=Juan Guillermo  |date=1988 |title=Atlas Cultural de México: Música |language=es |location=México |publisher=[[Secretaría de Educación Pública]] |isbn=968-406-121-8}}</ref> These instruments may still be found in use in Mexico, although the modern six-string instrument has become far more common. Seven-string instruments retain current popularity in parts of South America, notably Brazil, where they became an important instrument in the ''[[choro]]'' [es] music of the 19th century, which is currently experiencing a revival.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/39850/313249_Adam+May+The+Brazilian+seven-string+guitar+Traditions,+techniques+and+innovations.pdf |title=The Seven String Guitar in Brazil: Traditions, techniques and innovations |last=May |first=Adam John |type=[[M.Mus]] |date=September 2013 |publisher=[[Melbourne Conservatorium of Music]] |access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>