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Seven-string guitar
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===Semi-hollow and hollow body electric guitars=== In the [[United States]], the jazz guitarist [[George Van Eps]] had a seven-string guitar built for him by [[Epiphone Guitars]] in the late 1930s and a signature [[Gretsch]] seven-string in the late 60s and early 70s. The Van Eps signature guitar may be the first regular-production seven-string electric guitar. Van Eps tuned his 7th string to A. Several others began using seven-string guitars after Van Eps, including [[Bucky Pizzarelli]], [[Howard Alden]], [[Ron Escheté]], Chance Russell, and [[John Pizzarelli]], son of Bucky Pizzarelli.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.johnpizzarelli.com/bio.html |title=Biography |website=John Pizzarelli Official Website |access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref> [[Lenny Breau]] also used seven string instruments, but whereas the other players all used instruments with an added bass string, Breau had at least one instrument in which the seventh string was an added ''treble'' string, tuned to the 'A' above the high 'E' string (A4). At the time he began using the high A string, no commercially manufactured string could withstand being tuned that high, so Breau substituted a piece of [[monofilament fishing line]] of appropriate gauge. A year later, advances in materials science allowed the La Bella company to begin manufacturing a custom string for Breau's high A.<ref name="lennybreau">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.lennybreau.com/lbart2.html |last1=Ferguson |first1=Jim |title=Lenny Breau Remembered |magazine=[[Guitar Player]] |date=November 1984 |access-date=19 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703180304/http://www.lennybreau.com/lbart2.html |archive-date=2008-07-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Seven-string [[semi-acoustic guitar|semi-acoustic]] [[archtop guitar]]s were used by jazz-guitarist [[Ralph Patt]] after he began exploring [[major-thirds tuning]] in 1964.<ref name="Griewank1" >{{harvtxt|Griewank|2010|p=1}}</ref><ref name="Kirkeby">{{cite web |first=Ole |last=Kirkeby |date=1 March 2012 |title=Major thirds tuning |access-date=10 June 2012 |url=http://v3p0.m3guitar.com/ |website=M3guitar.com |id=cited by {{harvtxt|Sethares|2011}} and {{harv|Griewank|2010|p=1}} |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411064851/http://v3p0.m3guitar.com/ |archive-date=11 April 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Patt">{{cite web |url=http://www.ralphpatt.com/Tune.html |first=Ralph |last=Patt |website=RalphPatt.com |title=The major 3rd tuning |date=14 April 2008 |access-date=10 June 2012 |id=cited by {{harvtxt|Sethares|2011}} and {{harvtxt|Griewank|2010|p=1}}}}</ref> Patt's tuning is a [[regular tunings|regular tuning]], in the sense that all of the [[interval (music)|interval]]s between its successive [[open string (music)|open string]]s are [[major third]]s; in contrast, the [[standard guitar-tuning]] has one major-third amid four [[perfect fourth|fourth]]s.<ref name="Sethares2001">{{harvtxt|Sethares|2001|pp=[http://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/alternatetunings/regulartunings.pdf 52–67]}} and {{harvtxt|Sethares|2011}}</ref> Major-thirds tuning has a smaller scope than standard guitar-tuning,<ref name="Sethares2001"/><ref name="Peterson37">{{harvtxt|Peterson|2002|p=37}}</ref> and so Patt started using seven-string guitars, which enabled major-thirds tuning to have the E-e' range of the standard tuning. He first experimented with a wide-neck Mango guitar from the 1920s, which he modified to have seven strings in 1963.<ref name="Peterson36">{{harvtxt|Peterson|2002|p=36}}</ref> In 1967 he purchased a seven-string by José Rubio.<ref name="Peterson37"/> The first seven-string electric guitars were built in the "hollowbody" or "semi-hollow" archtop styles, where the guitar has a central resonating chamber, or a central block with resonant chambers on the sides. This gave the guitar the dark woodiness, breath, and richness that is associated with traditional "jazz" tone, but also made prone to feedback at high volumes, making it problematic for rock guitar playing.
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