Apollo

This unique 7-string guitar is the result of a successful collaboration with local pro guitarist Alex Moxon. He had imagined a guitar that would be capable of playing music like that of one of the gods of music, Lenny Breau, who famously used a seven-string guitar with the highest string tuned to “a”. We made a modern version and named it after an older god of music, Apollo.

The classy, elegant shape is perhaps somewhat conventional by my standards, but for a musician who’s constantly gigging and recording it was best to use a tried-and-true construction. The neck is torrefied birdseye maple with an african blackwood fretboard, bolted to a body of torrefied butternut with a claro walnut cap. Torrefication not only darkens the colour of the wood, it renders it much more stable in the face of changing temperature and humidity.

An integral part of Alex’s sound is the gentle warble of a jazzmaster-style vibrato system. I used the excellent Mastery vibrato as a base, with a unique modification. Since the original is only designed for six strings, the high “a” is fixed, fastened directly to a baseplate custom-made of 3d printed stainless steel. This makes interesting pitch-bending effects possible, almost the opposite of a b-bender. Other parts such as the bridge, strap buttons, and output jack, are also made from the same 3d printed stainless steel material. Hipshot supplied their excellent locking semi-open tuners.

For such a broad slant of the multiple scale lengths, I went to Bareknuckle Pickups for a custom-made seven-string set of their Stormy Monday humbuckers. They’re a versatile choice, useful in many musical contexts, and rock-solid reliable.

Sound sample coming soon.