For guitar players/ guitar customizers...I NEED YOUR HELP!

[Commander_Miseria]

I'm interested in starting an ongoing project on my epiphone les paul gothic. Recently i was introduced to an interesting tuning to my lovely little 6 string. I would like to string a set of 7 string guitar strings onto it, but leave off the last e string of the set. the problems are:

Nut slots arent big enough

bridge slots arent big enough

So what i'd like to do is chop the last string space off of a 7 string guitar nut piece and cut a hole into my guitar to accomidate a new bridge so that i may string those strings through my guitar.

Would it be easier to just by a 7 string guitar? probably. but what fun is that??

anybody go about doing this at all or know if this is possible?

[jokabofe]

Would it be easier to just by a 7 string guitar? probably. but what fun is that??

Not just easier...

I don't think that conversion would work. The tonality of the 6 string guitar is different from the tonality of the 7 string. The intonation is going to have to be worked on, probably big time... and I'm not sure the tension rod - if your particular guitar even has one - can be adjusted to work with strings of that thickness. This is a project you should definitely get professional advice on before starting, just to find out is it will work.

Good luck.

[Angry Ewok]

Just get yourself a second guitar... I own 2 electrics and about 5 acoustics, and I'd never dream of butchering one up like that.

Let us know what you end up doing - show some pics, too.

 

[Nicklab]

It can definitely be done.  I may be a bassist, but the fact is that a lot of bass players have been doing similar things with their basses for some time.  But you will defiinitely have to modify the guitar.  The nut slots would definitely need to be widened to accomodate the heavier gauge strings.  The bridge *might* need a tiny bit of modification, but you may be able to do without that.  You can actually use a file to widen the bridge slots if need be.

But you'll definitely need to adjust the truss rod because there's going to be greater tension across the neck.  That's just an unfortunate fact of life.

It would definitely be simpler to get a 7 string, but this type of modification is not impossible.  But the thing is you need to be proficient with tools to do it.  That and you would be stuck with the guitar in this state and it wouldn't be easy to get it back into a standard playing condition.

Then I would factor in the cost.  If you can't readily do this yourself then you need to get a decent luthier to do the job for you.  Also take into consideration how much your guitar cost.  If the guitar cost in the neighborhood of $300 (Epiphone Les Paul gothic studio) - $500 and the work is going to cost you in the neighborhood of $100+?  IMHO that's too much money to sink into a guitar that costs that little.  Save that money and invest it in a 7 string.