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#1
10-29-2012, 07:12 AM
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Intro and I come bearing gifts (fanned 7 content)
    KR Guitars fanned 7 string, 27"-25" tuned like a conventional 7 string guitar. B-Band pre-amp with an AST soundboard pickup and UST piezo. It sounds great and plays nicely. I'm still getting used to acoustic action and strings after many years without an acoustic. I'm primarily a bassist, which made the low B come naturally because it has been part of my musical vocabulary for many years. Overall, I wanted something that was kinda sorta in between a 7 string and a harp guitar. The D'Addario .070 is a little weak in dropped A. It sounds good in B and C. As luck would have it, I can use a normal case and Shubb classical capo. The fan may look slightly daunting, but it plays normal to me and I don't feel that I need to own another steel string acoustic. I've let my bandmates play it, as well as a few people at a local shop when I was buying the capo. They seemed to think the fan was quite easy, but not the low B. I really like the B-Band. I can run either pickup as well as blend them in series and parallel. The onboard tuner seems accurate enough. 
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#2
10-29-2012, 10:18 PM
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I recognize that guitar! I saw it earlier this evening on TalkBass!
Great looking instrument  , care to pass it around so we can sample it? 
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#3
10-29-2012, 11:45 PM
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Tell us more, if you would, about the design and also some sound samples would be great if you have any. I'm very interested in this approach, perhaps as an alternative to a baritone.
__________________
~ Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence. ~ Robert Fripp '98 Martin HD-28VR, '98 Bourgeois Martin Simpson European, '98 Collings CJmha
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#4
10-30-2012, 06:51 AM
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His basses look impressive, too.
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#5
10-30-2012, 07:18 AM
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 My approach was simply trying to figure out which scale lengths to use given the strings I could find then trying to make sure that it's playable. Without being able to try it or anything like it first, 27"-25" seemed like it would work since you split the difference in the fan between the bridge and the nut. I'll admit that maybe 27.5"-25.5" might have a better low B string. I had heard a few guys who tuned standard 25.5" scale acoustics B-B and thought the low B was very weak. In theory, something 28.6"-25" would sound killer, but might not play so easily. Musically, my approach is kind of a mix between having basses with a low B for more than a decade and having messed with the Steinberger Trans Trem. I also like to hit inverse 5ths while playing on the low E string. That being said, I seem to be playing this guitar with a capo on the 5th fret. I get a really sweet sound and still have an E to play with. The funny thing is that my first experiences with 7 string guitars and 5-6 string basses was in the 90's with nu-metal and I thought the tone was the antithesis of what I wanted.
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#6
10-30-2012, 01:31 PM
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So, was this a custom BTO for you??? - Oops belay that, just checked out the KR website, so assume it must have been. Looks like EIR/Sitka? Aside from some of the more obvious features (sound hole, fan-fret), the thing that jumped out at me is the massive bridge. I can see on the KR site that they install a correspondingly larger bridge-plate that extends beyond (and under) the x-bracing. Speaking of which, the bracing doesn't seem unusually beefy, so I must assume the goal here is more-or-less to simply spread the additional tension load via the wider bridge. Anything you can add to these observations?
__________________
~ Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence. ~ Robert Fripp '98 Martin HD-28VR, '98 Bourgeois Martin Simpson European, '98 Collings CJmha
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#7
10-30-2012, 04:57 PM
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 Much like many small builders, KR doesn't quite have a "standard" acoustic yet. He has built several Ursa basses. Correct on the woods and I probably should have disclosed that. Mahogany/walnut neck, African olivewood fretboard, figured walnut trim. I'd have to defer you to Kevin on the bracing exacts. I just care that they sound good and are stable. I'm sure I have pics of the top somewhere buried in my e-mails. Being primarily an electric guitarist and bassist, very little of my time has been spent on acoustics. I've owned an Ovation, an Adamas, and an Alvarez classical, but sold them years ago. I hadn't really given much thought about acoustic guitar until my last band broke up and there was suddenly a shortage of good bands needing a bassist. Nonetheless, my first hand made acoustic made quite a first impression on me. I'm currently working on the logistics of a baritone 12.
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#8
10-31-2012, 12:53 AM
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Well aside from the hope for sound samples sometime in the non-wanking future (
) to get a sense of how it sounds, I'd still really be curious to know what some of the designers here on the site think of the wide bridge/plate combo. I may have to start a thread on that question if there's no comment here on this one. The same issue, obviously, would apply even more on a 12-string baritone. Still, beautiful and interesting instrument for an outfit that obviously specializes in solid body instruments. I assume you like their bases? cheers, scott
__________________
~ Music is the cup which holds the wine of silence. ~ Robert Fripp '98 Martin HD-28VR, '98 Bourgeois Martin Simpson European, '98 Collings CJmha
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#9
10-31-2012, 05:43 AM
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I really don't know a whole lot about the theory behind his bridges. Having seen the occasional bridge pulling off the body, I thought more surface contact was a good thing. I'm also very grateful I don't need to mess around with bridge pins. I'm extremely glad there's a forearm bevel. Having never played a handmade acoustic, I had no idea of ordering one and I'm glad it was part of the package. Needless to say, I'll never own an acoustic without one. I've never played any of the basses. There are a few guys on Talk Bass who like them. I was ogling his fanned basses and noticed he made an acoustic. To be perfectly honest, when I proposed the fanned 7, I wasn't even sure he'd accept.
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#10
10-31-2012, 07:10 AM
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Beautiful guitar - congratulations!
I'm a little curious - the fingerboard extension seems to be 'floating' a little above the body/top...is that true? If so, I'm curious to know what he did to make it strong enough. Kevin @ KR has a truly unique design sense - his solidbody basses really look great (IMO) and his craftsmanship is superb. Cheers! Martin
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#11
10-31-2012, 07:19 AM
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 I have owned this bass for several years and have no problems. Totally unsupported although this particular fingerboard is a lot thicker.
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#12
10-31-2012, 07:33 AM
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It is a really beautiful guitar; on one photo it's like a smiley face with a mohican!
__________________
Traudt: Aimee artist special (Cherry) Traudt: 14 fret Steelstring parlour (Ovangkol). Almansa: flamenco 447.
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#13
11-04-2012, 10:12 PM
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I have been slowly spending more time with the guitar. My latest kick is playing with a capo on the 5th fret. Something about it sounds and feels right. The cool thing is that I still have a low E at my fingertips, which almost makes me want to have a low F# string so I'd also have a low B......
If I had to do things over, I might consider 27.5"-25.5" since the D'Addario EXP .070 lacks a little muscle, but not much. I hope to get some clips up soon-ish. My band is trying to finish writing some tunes and get them recorded. I'm playing bass and very rusty due to a several year hiatus from bands. Long story short, the last band broke up at a very inopportune time and I couldn't find something that wasn't metal, cover, or uber-hipster. If'n it wasn't one of those, they wouldn't give me the time of day. So, I start getting back into guitar and suddenly I'm playing bass in a band.... go figure.
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#14
11-20-2012, 11:20 AM
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Revisiting, I brought my guitar to my guitarist's house. I thought the low B sounded a hair weak to my ears, but apparently, this is only heard by the player. A few feet in front of the guitar and the low B string sounds much bigger.
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