Sunday, September 8, 2013

Add String - Add An Octave G String to Your Guitar

A friend of mine on Facebook turned me on to this unique device. It was first demonstrated at the Musikmesse 2012 music dealer conference.

What appears to be just a .009 guitar string and some bits of plastic, is actually an extremely well thought out device.

Perhaps some of you may remember back in 2005 Martin Guitars introduced the Roger McGuinn model HD-7 seven string acoustic guitar. To play like McGuinn, understand for his 12 string guitar solos he mainly utilized the G strings which are tuned an octave apart.






Martin designers understood this and worked with McGuinn to design an instrument with a normal G string and another string tuned an octave higher. This allowed Roger McGuinn to play his solos on a six string-like guitar, but get that extra high note on the G strings.

Merle Travis also used this same feature on a few songs that he recorded to achieve a richer sound on his recordings of Black Diamond Blues and Beer Barrel Polka.

Along comes the Addstring device. This allows anyone to attach a .009 G string to any guitar by means of a few easy to use attachments. These attachments are easily removable and will not permanently harm your guitar.

Rather than attempt to explain all the parts of the Addstring, I will let you watch the video. One unique feature is the small bit that fits alongside the sound holes edge that allows the player do damp the high G string when not in use.


The cost of this device is € 59.90 plus VAT and shipping cost of € 6.50.  I estimate this to be around $100 USD

If you can find a Martin HD-7, Roger McGuinn model, it will set you back around $4400 USD.

    




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Consider using spellcheck!

FZ said...

ohhh I'm a Cuban music aficionado and this a great idea to get some of the Armonico guitar type sound. GRANDE Gracias!

Unknown said...

Where can I find Addstring?