7th string as the "chanterelle"

[droic]

Hello everyone,

the "chanterelle" in french is the first string, thinnest and highest in a neck instrument.

I am considering purchasing a 7-string, perhaps a kiesel or a custom one.

I want to place this 7th string as the chanterelle, logically tuned in A3 so 440hz above high E .

Questions
- which thickness (don't know the term in english for "le tirant d'une corde")?
should I have to go to another string instrument to find the good tension etc ...
- Is there a risk of there being some form of incompatibility with the microphones? Or other .. ?

Any suggestion, point of view, idea is welcome.
Thanks for reading.

 

[budda]

Try a few gauges until you find one you like. Singles are cheap, availability might be a small issue.

 

[77zark77]

Salut compatriote !

tirant : gauge

It depends on scale and is - by experience - hard to reach
At 25.5", a .007 is breaking at the first bend - it needs an 23" or less scale

 

[CanserDYI]

Didn't Vai do this and ultimately found its just really difficult to not break that string?

I can't even imagine what it would sound like way up on the 24th fret lol

 

[77zark77]

I own a PGMM31 that is 22.2 inches scale, setted up with a .008-038 gives a huge difference between an anemic ADGCFA than a .... semi-tone for all

 

[RobDobble6S7]

Rusty cooley's old Dean sig is a multiscale 25.5 to something short to compensate for that high A iirc. You'd definitely want a guitar like that, where the top scale is really short.

 

[77zark77]

23.5 for the Rusty Cooley Dean unless I miss sthing

 

[RobDobble6S7]

Correction: His dean 8 string has the high A. Not the 7.

 

[droic]

Excellente réponse, immense merci

Salut compatriote !

tirant : gauge

It depends on scale and is - by experience - hard to reach
At 25.5", a .007 is breaking at the first bend - it needs an 23" or less scale

xce

 

[droic]

23.5 for the Rusty Cooley Dean unless I miss sthing

Great, thank you !

 

[droic]

Rusty cooley's old Dean sig is a multiscale 25.5 to something short to compensate for that high A iirc. You'd definitely want a guitar like that, where the top scale is really short.

Woh ! Thank you very much !

 

[droic]

23.5 for the Rusty Cooley Dean unless I miss sthing

Great !

 

[droic]

Sorry I don't reply to all. thx all for such reactivity !

 

[droic]

The Rusty Cooley's Dean RC8 is indeed a multiscale 8 String with high A and a 23.5 for the high side

 

[eaeolian]

Yeah, Rusty did the thing I always wanted to do...

There was a guy that used to hang out here that had developed specialty strings for tuning that high on a longer scale. I wanna say his name was Goodman? Anyway, if you search here you can probably find some information on the subject. I know some people tried the high-A 7 string idea.

 

[bostjan]

Hello everyone,

the "chanterelle" in french is the first string, thinnest and highest in a neck instrument.

I am considering purchasing a 7-string, perhaps a kiesel or a custom one.

I want to place this 7th string as the chanterelle, logically tuned in A3 so 440hz above high E .

Questions
- which thickness (don't know the term in english for "le tirant d'une corde")?
should I have to go to another string instrument to find the good tension etc ...
- Is there a risk of there being some form of incompatibility with the microphones? Or other .. ?

Any suggestion, point of view, idea is welcome.
Thanks for reading.

Oooh, very nice!

My main guitar is an 8 string tuned B1-A4. I use an .007" string for the high A. It's multicale 660 - 600 mm. Prior to its purchase, I experimented quite a bit with different solutions to achieve such a high tuning at standard (647 mm) scale length with highly varied results.

In my experience, A4 on a .007" at 647 mm is doable only if every surface contacting the string is absolutely smooth. Any small defect in the saddle or nut and the string will break from overtension. you can generally tell from where the string breaks - if it breaks at the saddle whilst tuning up, the saddle needs to be polished. If the same happens at the nut, there is likely a burr or a bad break angle at the nut. I have a cheap 7 string Samick that I have kept tuned E2-A4 which is standard length. The bridge loads strings traditionally, which I think helps reduce the stress on the string as well.

I would absolutely avoid string trees, since those are another contact point.

Garry Goodman has made the Octave 4 Plus strings that have higher tensile strength, but the strings themselves have a "stretchier" feel, so you may dislike them.

So, either go with a slightly shorter scale length, use special strings, or take a tremendous amount of care preparing the contact points of the string, and you should have a good time.

Another option, in case you run into trouble, although not ideal, is that you may find it much easier to detune 1/2 step to Eb2-Ab4, or, worst case one half step more to D2-G4, which is absolutely doable with standard equipment.

Best of luck and I hope to hear an update someday about how this went.

 

[Dayn]

In my experience, A4 on a .007" at 647 mm is doable only if every surface contacting the string is absolutely smooth. Any small defect in the saddle or nut and the string will break from overtension. you can generally tell from where the string breaks - if it breaks at the saddle whilst tuning up, the saddle needs to be polished. If the same happens at the nut, there is likely a burr or a bad break angle at the nut. I have a cheap 7 string Samick that I have kept tuned E2-A4 which is standard length. The bridge loads strings traditionally, which I think helps reduce the stress on the string as well.

I just wanted to second this. I've done A at 27" with a .007, but that was in an Ibanez Edge bridge (no ball end), over a smooth saddle, over a smooth locking nut, directly into a tuner. It was fragile, but it surprisingly wasn't too bad. But the tuner was the weak point. No guesses on where the string snapped...

You could always try a high G. Either tune the rest of the guitar down to D standard, or keep it in E standard with a high G for a minor third interval. It has its uses (and is an octave up from your other G string), so that's something you could play with.

 

[Emperoff]

I would recommend to tune the guitar a whole step down before attempting to do this. Short scale guitars like Gibsons or older PRS SE will help too.

Something like CGCFADG or BF#BEG#C#F# might work and would make you retain low tuned chug.

 

[Winspear]

Yeah its A4 not A3 As others have said, I've had temporary success here but tuning down a step will make a world of difference, unless you are willing to go significantly shorter than standard scale.

 

[Hollowway]

I had a 10 string tuned to A4. I had very little luck with the Garry Goodman 0ctave4Plus strings, through. I broke 5 in a row at the ball end. And when one was on there, and tuned up, it had next to no sustain, and was significantly quieter than the the others. Since then I’ve given up on A4. As others have said, tuning a step or more down makes it a much more doable tuning.