14 string acoustic

[Christopher Har V]

Like your standard 12 string acoustic, but based on a 7 string rather than a 6 string. 7 pairs of strings, rather than 6.

7 string electric guitars have never been more popular. So why have 7 string acoustics never been more rare?
7 string classicals are somewhat common, I have one myself. So the modern rarity of 7 string acoustics doesn't make sense to me.
Rondo, Halo, Ibanez used to make them, but now they've all been discontinued.

So I'm not holding my breath for the 14 string acoustic when I can't even find a normal 7 string acoustic. (Yes there is that ONE, the LTD with the little f hole off to the side but I want the real deal with a normal full sound hole.)

Hypothetically speaking, would custom acoustic shops be willing to make me one? If so does anybody know which one would be the best for the job? I don't need anything else about the guitar to be super fancy or crazy, just the 14 strings. I probably won't even want a cutaway... wouldn't exactly be a soloing instrument, so I'd rather have the extra resonance.

I want one so bad, look at how beautiful

The Martin Catorce 14 String Guitar

 

[Christopher Har V]

Apparently Ibanez used to make one too? Maybe it was a one-off like the Martin.

 

[Thesius]

Apparently Ibanez used to make one too? Maybe it was a one-off like the Martin.

View attachment 142081

That's a LACS

 

[Christopher Har V]

That's a LACS

What's that, LA Custom Shop?

 

[nikt]

Yep. Munky LACS for studio use

 

[tedtan]

Ask over at the Acoustic Guitar Forum Custom Shop subforum. There are plenty of luthiers there that can advise/build what you’re looking for, though it may not be cheap (potentially five figures).

 

[tedtan]

What's that, LA Custom Shop?

Yes, that’s Los Angeles Custom Shop (LACS) build, available only to endorsing artists.

 

[Shawn]

Very cool. I remember the Ibanez one.

 

[TheBloodstained]

Sorry for off topic, but I kind of want to see what a Carvin inline-headstock for a 14 string would look like. Their 12 string was already massive

 

[Christopher Har V]

Sorry for off topic, but I kind of want to see what a Carvin inline-headstock for a 14 string would look like. Their 12 string was already massive

My left shoulder hurts just looking at this

 

[Christopher Har V]

Ask over at the Acoustic Guitar Forum Custom Shop subforum. There are plenty of luthiers there that can advise/build what you’re looking for, though it may not be cheap (potentially five figures).

I hate that you're probably right about it being around 5 figures. Which I don't understand. 12-string acoustics you can get real cheap like $300-600. Why should adding one extra pair of strings make it go from $600 to over $6000? I get that it would be a one-off custom and that alone justifies considerable price hike, but for the price hike to be THAT much just doesn't seem fair if everything else about the guitar is just standard and nothing fancy.

 

[tedtan]

I hate that you're probably right about it being around 5 figures. Which I don't understand. 12-string acoustics you can get real cheap like $300-600. Why should adding one extra pair of strings make it go from $600 to over $6000? I get that it would be a one-off custom and that alone justifies considerable price hike, but for the price hike to be THAT much just doesn't seem fair if everything else about the guitar is just standard and nothing fancy.

It’s not that it’s a custom alone, it’s comparing a $300 guitar made in a Chinese factory alongside 499 other guitars that day to a guitar built by a skilled luthier in the US who may build between 12 and 60 guitars a year. The labor will be higher in the US, the materials will be higher, the rent/electricity/insurance/tools/etc have to be amortized over 12-60 guitars rather than 185,000 and so forth. Custom shops just don’t get any kind of economies of scale working in their favor the way larger factories do.

There are some Asia based luthiers that could probably build it for less, but I don’t know of any that I can recommend from experience. It’s definitely worth looking into, though.

 

[12 string scott]

My 14 was a custom x20-14 14 that emerald guitar built for me. It's the most unique and uselful guitar I have

 

[odibrom]

The problem with these guitars is the top's internal bracing that must be super strong or the top will break due to the string pull.

I have one of Ibanez '98 7 string acoustic and at one point the guitar became unplayable due to the top's belly at the bridge. It had to get a surgery with a "The bridge doctor" installed. Double corse 7 stringers... I imagine the strength of the string pull...

 

[12 string scott]

The problem with these guitars is the top's internal bracing that must be super strong or the top will break due to the string pull.

I have one of Ibanez '98 7 string acoustic and at one point the guitar became unplayable due to the top's belly at the bridge. It had to get a surgery with a "The bridge doctor" installed. Double corse 7 stringers... I imagine the strength of the string pull...

That's why I had mine built.of carbon fiber the sound is amazing and.it is so darn stable tuning wise