Garry Goodman Clarifies Important Points About Octave4Plus Strings

Even before I remembered to mail him a link, Garry Goodman read my last post about Octave4Plus strings and e-mailed me a couple of corrections. Most of the special precautions I wrote about ONLY apply to certain of his strings. He was kind enough to write the details out for us and give his POV on what I said about the big string companies. Here it is, from the man who knows.

The Octave4Plus A440 hertz plain steel strings were developed over the last seven years. As you know, the current .007,.008 and .009 plain steel strings available from string companies will snap at G#4 on a 26" (25.5")scale guitar. Some have compensated by using a guitar with a fanned fretboard so these strings will tune to A440, but with a 23" scale. Some claim that these commercial strings will tune to A4 at the 26" scale, only to have them break within minutes. I have tested every .007 and .008 I could get my hands on and NEVER got past G#4(4th fret, high guitar E string).

Their strings can't handle A4 because the carbon steel wire used can't take the pull force that A440 puts on the wire. Octave4Plus has made G#4,A4,Bb4 and B4(octave above guitar's high B string) possible at the 26+" scales. It is not "off the shelf " wire by any means.

Octave4Plus .006,.007 and .008 plain steel strings will easily tune right up to A440 at the 26" scale lengths. They are durable and flexible and not under tremendous pressure when tuned up to A440. They DO NOT break easily. They can bend easily,as seen here using an .009 tuned to A4: http://garrygoodman.com/O4P%20.009%20Bend.mov

Your string order included .005 A440 strings for the 30" scale. Some would say this is impossible, including some luthiers. The .005 is as fine as a human hair and for it to be able tune to A4 at 30" and hold up under reasonable playing conditions requires some preparation. For those who would even consider having an A440 Hz string, and at the 30" scale at that, usually don't mind this stretch period. It is only common sense not to hit a string this size. It is only common sense not to set the fretboard against an amp where the .005 wire could be damaged. Winding and pulling this fine wire tight enough to reach A4 means removing metal burrs and sharp edges that would not affect an .008 gauge string, but would saw an .005 in half.

Many of our customers play 6,7,8 and 9-string guitars with scale lengths ranging from the 25.5" to 30" scales, and want a high A4 string,or the B4 above that(one octave above the normal B string on a guitar). Some of the Octave4Plus string need to "creep" so they can tune up and function properly at longer scale lengths. For 7- or 8-string guitarist with a 25.5" to 27" scale length, tuning to A4 is like tuning to E4 with regular strings. Since there has never been an open A440 string for the 28" scale until now,having this string stretch for about an hour before tuning up to A440 seems worth the wait.

Likewise, a short stretching period gives these string more flexibility and longer life tuned to E4,F4 an F#4 at the 34" scale length. The idea of a 30" scale guitar is to have the high A4 but also have bass strings like B1,F#1 and even C#1(34 hertz). With the Octave4Plus "Octave 1" series, that wound C#1 string is now possible at the 26" scale.

All our wire is custom drawn,and some of the wire ,like the .005, requires we use our patented ball ends to ensure perfect string function. We even have special order .004. Since most of our strings haven't existed before anywhere,they may require a different approach when stringing them up on the guitars.

I realize that major companies may be unwilling to make some of these special strings,but in the case of the A440 and B493.88 hz strings, or the F#4 for the 34" scale- they can't. Some think any .005 or .006 will work. it won't.I think that if guitarists are educated to what is needed to make these tunings possible,they won't mind the process. Nothing sounds as great as the High A Standard Tuning on a guitar, or octave b strings on a 12-string electric.
If anyone has any questions,they can contact us at
http://octave4plus
thanks

More Octave4Plus Strings, Why No One Else Makes Strings That Small

I got my Octave4Plus strings this week. The strings came individually packaged in standard string envelopes. Each is labeled for scale length, gauge and target pitch.

While I was waiting for my order I tried to imagine what a .005 gauge string was going to look like. I wasn't even close. You have to see these strings to believe them. .005" is really, really fine. If it didn't have a ball on the end I might not believe it is an instrument string. I'd probably think it was some exotic wire used for neural implants, perhaps alien in origin.

Until I get my extended range instrument put back together I won't be able to "road test" any of these strings. Rest assured I will write about the experience when I do.

Here is the single most important thing I have learned about these strings so far. I got hints of it on the Octave4Plus web site but when I read the two pages of instructions that came with my strings there was no missing it. These are not standard strings and you can not treat them like standard strings.

Garry shared some of the details with me over e-mail and the printed instructions drove it all home. These strings need to be brought up to pitch slowly and gently, lest they break. After they are up to pitch they can not be bent as much as standard strings. Because of their size they can be cut by rough or sharp bits on tuners, nuts, frets and bridges that would not threaten standard strings.

This all brings to mind some things I have noticed about what happens the moment one steps outside the main stream. You sacrifice a number of things. One of the first to go is convenience.

Garry Goodman couldn't buy the highest strings he wanted for his extended range basses so he invested in finding out how to make them. The rest of us can now benefit from his work but we also need to understand why Ernie Ball, D'Addario and the rest still don't offer such strings, even though they could. The reason is that most musicians would find the differences between these and standard strings inconvenient, if not entirely unacceptable.

This would create a serious marketing problem for a company like D'Addario. The manufacturing difficulties in adopting multiple new high tensile wires are not trivial either but I suspect marketing and customer education problems are the deal breakers here. How are they going to tell Joe Metalhead he can have a high A on his guitar but it will take at least an hour to tune up and he can't bend it, or that he can bend all six strings in this set but in that one he can only bend the lower five?

Because of Garry Goodman these highly specialized strings exist. If you need to be able to slap then on and start playing in minutes they are not for you. With the popularity of extended range bass and multi-string guitars in recent years it makes sense that if D'Addario could market a convenient (one requiring no explanation or special instructions) .005" string, they would.

If you need a smooth ride, stay off the shoulder. If you are ready for a few bumps, you are more than welcome to join us here. We're having a good time!


For more on "stepping out of the main stream" read my other blog, DJ Dual Core's Old Mix Tapes.

New 8 String Peghead And Nut Installation

This is just my 7-string brass nut clamped to my brass stock to measure for cutting the new nut. Keep in mind that is an instrument nut you are looking at. Those are very small C clamps.
In more clamping news, I cut the old (and mangled) peghead off of six-string bass neck that has been on my baritone up to this point. I cut a new peg head off of a maple neck blank. If I got the angle right it should tilt back somewhere between 9 and 13 degrees. Here is what it all looks like with four C clamps, waiting for the yellow glue to do its thing.



While the glue is drying I will cut the 8 slots in the new nut, using the calculations and SketchUp plan posted earlier.

Sketchup Design for 8-String Nut

Updated String Space Calculator Spreadsheet

Back in August I posted a screen shot of and download link to an Excel spreadsheet for calculating string spacing. I swiped it from Bill Jehle and modified it to do calculations for a 7-string instrument. I have now also created an 8-string version.


In the process I found some problems with the 7-string calculator and corrected them. If you downloaded it before you should download it again. The old version more or less worked but the new one is more precise.

Great Blog About Fender VI Guitar/Baritone/Bass and Related Instruments

Fellow Iowan, Mike Roeder, posted a very nice piece about the Fender VI family of instruments in his Time to Play B-Sides blog last year.  The Fender VI, in various forms, under various names, is a family of instruments that has caused more confustion than any other six-string instrument I'm aware of...hence it's semi-obscurity.  Roeder has played a couple recent versions and sorts it all out for you.  He will also make you want to buy one, so you might not want to read this if you are too dead broke.

Fender Baritone Jaguars and the Bass VI