The seven string guitar I'm building is for playing Brazilian Choro music. It is tuned like a regular six string guitar, EADg'b'e' but it has a low fat 'C' string on the bass side so the tuning looks like this: CEADg'b'e'.
There are some structural challenges to building seven strings involving making the neck wide enough for the extra bass string. No big deal really, but you do have to mount three tuners on one side of the headstock and four tuners on the other so the design has a decidedly asymmetrical look. Behind the neck on the towel are all the tools I use for carving and marking out the neck. I never thought I used so many tools for necks, but when I made an effort to leave them out after I finished tonight I was amazed at how many I used. I always thought I just used one or two rasps and a knife, but there are scrapers, round files, rasps, smooth files, knives, calipers, pencil, rulers etc. I just use them like I'm speaking a language, picking up each tool and making a cut is like using a word or sentence to say something. Interesting lesson for me.
Oops! I forgot to finish up the oud posts. Tomorrow, it's late and I have been in the shop all night.
