C4, part 1

In 2017, I once again collaborated with Emerald Guitars in Ireland to design and create the 17-string Hybrid Extended Classical guitar.  Extended because it consisted of nine double courses instead of the usual six single courses found on classical guitars.  Hybrid because each course was comprised of one steel string and one nylon string.  To my knowledge, that had never been done.  The body had extra depth, a bit more than a typical dreadnaught guitar, and certainly more than any classical guitar I've ever seen.  The nut width is just under four inches (101mm).  A few months after its arrival, I added an octave string to the low single sub-bass course, turning it from a single course into a double course, and bringing the string total to 18.

It's also a multi-scale, or "fan fret" design wherein the bass strings have a longer scale length than the treble strings, giving each string has its own scale length.  While it looks very futuristic, in fact multi-scale instruments were first developed in the 15th century on an instrument called an orpharion.

Creating this instrument brought many challenges, and we didn't know if it would completely work in that steel and nylon strings have never been utilized together.  However, it turned out to not only work, but it worked beautifully and was quite successful.  I used this instrument on multiple album projects, and also on a live performance broadcast on WNYC radio in New York City.  You can hear it here.

Since the 2017/2018 period, I utilized the 18-string less and less, as my aesthetics leaned more toward steel-string voices and instruments.  

Ever since I received the 18-string in 2018, I've wanted a Contraguitar with the multi-scale configuration.  I knew that something like the Contra with its extremely wide range and much longer scale length would greatly benefit from the multi-scale format.  Recently, it occurred to me that I might be able to convert the 18 into a Contra.  To do so would require a full set of steel strings which have far more pounds/pull on the top and neck than nylon strings.  In a spreadsheet, I determined the new Contra tuning, configured a set of steel Contra-gauge strings, and consulted the D'Addario string reference to determine the existing hybrid string set pounds/pull and also the proposed pounds/pull from a Contra set of all steel strings.  In the Excel file, I included two different Contra sets: one based around phosphor bronze-wound strings, and a second set based around nickel-wound strings.  Nickel-wound strings have less pounds/pull than phosphor bronze, and both types of winding compounds have their own voice as well.  I then subtracted the hybrid classical set's pounds/pull from the Contra set's pounds/pull.  I created an Excel file with the various string scenarios and numbers, including the increased percentage of pounds/pull as a Contra.  I emailed the Excel file to my friend Alistair Hay, the luthier at and owner of Emerald Guitars, as Alistair built the 17, and he would know if this proposal would work without damaging the instrument.  A few days later, I gave him a call, and he said yes, the proposed string set and conversion would work.  Exciting news indeed.

I put together a Contra string set, took some measurements of the existing action, and begin planning the work required for the conversion into C4 (Contraguitar number 4).

More to come.

-kk