johnsilver Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 I am considering building a 7 string guitar but the only templates available are for the 6 string model. This will be a single cut style. I can adjust the neck and head dimensions e.g. width at the nut, etc to accommodate for 7 strings. Of course, the neck will now be larger and thus heavier. I don't want the guitar to be neck heavy. How would you adjust to maintain balance? Change the neck/body join e.g. at 16th fret vs 17th fret? Make the body dimensions slightly bigger e.g. scale up the body shape a little to maintain scale with the new wider neck? Make the body a bit thicker? How do you go about ensuring good balance in a custom design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 How do you go about ensuring good balance in a custom design? A good balance of the correct woods. With my 8-string bass, the 8 tuners would end up making it neck heavy and would require a heavier body to balance it out, thus resulting in an overall heavier build. So I'll be using bridge tuners and using a lighter body wood. The overall balance is great so far, but I do not have the pickups yet. There is also the route of lightweight tuners, although I am not positive if those are made for guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 one litle trick is that under most conditions if the upper horn to which the strat button attaches is extended to the 12th fret,it will almost always balance properly. oddball shapes are tougher,because you need to counter weight on the neck with weight on the body. you can help by thinning the headstock to 1/2" rather than the standard 9/16"(or even 7/16")and use light weight tuners...and use a 4 by 3 headstock instead of seven in line,and take away as much wood as possible from the back of the neck(meaning thin neck) use carbon rods if you fear a thin neck on a 7 string. use a heavier bridge...if you use active pickups put the battery box as close to the end of the body as possible...little things add up. i do all of this stuff when building a vee...then balance is a major concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted December 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 Thanks guys. Helpful ideas. I will sit down soon and draw up a plan taking into account some of these thoughts. I can't use the upper horn to help since the plan is for a singlecut design. I may creep the neck/body join up the neck a bit though. The carbon rods are a good idea. In addition to stiffness, I guess they will reduce neck weight somewhat vs a solid neck. I'll also plan to use an LMI double action truss rod vs a Stewmac Hot Rod - not sure of a weight difference but LMI's will allow a thinner neck. I guess I could make my neck tenon a bit bigger - seems that would add some weight near the balance point. I did plan a 4x3 headstock design vs 7 in line. I looked around a bit for lightweight tuners but didn't see anything specifically referenced. Do you have a source? Also, Stewmac was the only place I looked that sold tuners individually so I could get 7. Any other sources? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 27, 2006 Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 www.guitarpartsdepot.com and www.universaljems.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted December 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2006 Thanks Wes. Helpful. Part of my original question was around templates. I can get templates for a 6 string model of the guitar on which I will base my next build (PRS single cut). PRS doesn't make a 7 string single cut, which is what I want to build (or rather base my build). I was contemplating buying the 6 string templates anyway to give me the correct body shape, etc. and then scaling up the body to fit the neck dimensions I want to use. That would maintain the body/neck relationships and increase weight in the body to help maintain balance. Thoughts? I think I will still use the carbon rods though. Good suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 most 7 string guitars are the same size as the six string couterparts...for playability purposes i suggest other ways of making it heavier..like a thicker finish than you would normally use on the body...paint weighs ALOT...my seven string vee weighed 7 poundsbefore finishing...14 after(i am going to strip it down and start over...) of course that is too much paint...i didn't realize at the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flickoflash Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 I am considering building a 7 string guitar but the only templates available are for the 6 string model. This will be a single cut style. I can adjust the neck and head dimensions e.g. width at the nut, etc to accommodate for 7 strings. Of course, the neck will now be larger and thus heavier. I don't want the guitar to be neck heavy. How would you adjust to maintain balance? Change the neck/body join e.g. at 16th fret vs 17th fret? Make the body dimensions slightly bigger e.g. scale up the body shape a little to maintain scale with the new wider neck? Make the body a bit thicker? How do you go about ensuring good balance in a custom design? I went with vintage 59 les paul spec for my 7 string Lp you must keep everything on treble side the same ( so normal pickguards & knob locations are the same ) move extra pickup & neck width to the bass side . You must relocate the toggle switch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 I went with vintage 59 les paul spec for my 7 string Lp you must keep everything on treble side the same ( so normal pickguards & knob locations are the same ) move extra pickup & neck width to the bass side . You must relocate the toggle switch I'm not understanding that at all. Why not just make it even on both sides and modify the standard pickguard? Or make another one? If you add all the additional width to one side it'll look totally uneven. You could probably get away with using the exact same size body as a normal 6 and just having a 7 string neck. Ibanez does that with their 7 strings..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flickoflash Posted February 7, 2007 Report Share Posted February 7, 2007 (edited) I went with vintage 59 les paul spec for my 7 string Lp you must keep everything on treble side the same ( so normal pickguards & knob locations are the same ) move extra pickup & neck width to the bass side . You must relocate the toggle switch I'm not understanding that at all. Why not just make it even on both sides and modify the standard pickguard? Or make another one? If you add all the additional width to one side it'll look totally uneven. You could probably get away with using the exact same size body as a normal 6 and just having a 7 string neck. Ibanez does that with their 7 strings it is the exact same body your center line though moves 1/4" to the bass side. to see the guitar it looks correct unlike the epi 7 string ( which have crooked neck center line is correct at tail piece but go off center at neck pickup this one is correct Edited February 7, 2007 by flickoflash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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