The Gallagher Steve Kaufman Model Seven String Acoustic Guitar, The Best 7 String Acoustic Ever Built.

In one of my favourite short stories I Was A Freshman Provocateur, by Joshua Gallagher - the protagonist lives by the epithet that all are born unique originals, but most die as mere copies. I find that to be true, but not just of persons deluded by a mass media world - but also of very fine works of art, like fine acoustic guitars. Every last one of them is as unique as a snowflake - but often the intentions of the luthiers was to make a copy. Not so with the Gallagher Steve Kaufman Seven String Guitar! This canon of an acoustic guitar is unique and original in so many ways that I'll probably have to do some editing to make this review of the thing non exhaustive to the interested reader!

So, why would someone make a 7 string guitar? The answer is: Because Steve Kaufman, a world renowned master musician wanted one!

Simply put, you can do things with seven strings that you can not do with "just" six strings. The seventh string is a "D" string, and is a larger string in diameter than is found with a six string guitar. Logically, the "D" string is directly above the large "E" string that is the largest string on a six string guitar. Without the seventh string, the large "D," what is often done is that a guitarist will have to use a "Drop D" tuning - which is simply, lowering the large "E" string to a "D" tuning. With the seven string guitar - and there isn't a finer one on the market than the Gallagher Steve Kaufman Model - one can play "Drop D" tunes, and also have the low "E" string to enhance them, as it is still tuned to "E," and there's no need to "Drop" the "E" string's tuning!

In The following video you can hear music made with the Steve Kaufman Model Gallagher Seven String Acoustic Guitar! This music CAN NOT be reproduced on a six string acoustic guitar. Enjoy!

Gallagher guitars are OUTSTANDING guitars. The Gallagher guitar company has been around for a while, and makes as good an acoustic steel string guitar as any other company in the world does. Doc Watson made the initial buzz for these guitars, and used one to record the seminal Will The Circle Be Unbroken double album with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The chatter of the musicians, in the studio, and between cuts, proudly displays a conversation between the late Merle Travis and Doc Watson. Mere asks Doc,

What kind of box is that?

Doc Watson replies

Mr. Gallagher made this thing for me!

. . .to which Merle Travis replies,

That's a FINE sounding box!

The Specific Guitar in question, "Old Hoss," is now in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Years ago at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas - I got to talking with a Gentleman from the Gallagher guitar family. The festival last several days, and I got to talk to him on several occasions. Now, I'd already met Steve Kaufman years before this, but he was there at the festival again, and because he plays a Gallagher guitar, the seven string cutaway guitar that I'm talking about, amongst others, he and the Mr. Gallagher that I'd met knew each other pretty well. I approached Steve Kaufman, and bought some books from him at his booth. Mr. Gallagher saw me, recognized me, and practically grabbed me, and pulled me behind Steve Kaufman's "public access" barrier, and handed me Steve Kaufman's Gallagher Seven String Cutaway Acoustic Guitar.

I've not just played one of these guitars - I've had my hands on, and played THE EXACT and ORIGINAL Gallagher Steve Kaufman Seven String Cutaway Guitar.

Now, Steve Kaufman is a really nice guy, so I do my part to promote him, and I also love the kind of music that he produces, plays, and teaches - and despite the fact that I couldn't find a video of Steve Kaufman playing his seven string Gallagher guitar - I figured that knowing something about who he is would be good for anyone interested in his signature model acoustic guitar. So enjoy the following video before I tell you the specifics about the specifications of the Gallagher Steve Kaufman Model Acoustic Seven String Cutaway Guitar.

The specifications for this guitar are mostly in the top most video. You can also hear the beauty of the thing being played in that video, and hear the triumphant and deep thump of the low "D" string, the seventh string that this guitar features, but here's some things that you should be very clear about when you think about buying one of these guitars.

Brazilian Rosewood is VERY expensive, and VERY rare, and that's what the guitars back and sides are made of. There is also a Brazilian Rosewood veneer on the headstock.

Engleman Spruce is a VERY expensive tonewood, and that is what is used for the soundboard of this guitar.

Now here's what you need to know about ANY seven string guitar with a BIG LOW "D" string on it.

1. It takes a wider neck for seven strings than it would for six strings, and that should be abundantly obvious to you. I'm willing to be proved wrong, but I'd never recommend this guitar to a female, and the reason for this is that few women have big enough hands for playing such a thing. I realize that there are people like Ani DiFranco in the world who CAN play a guitar such as this - but that's rare. With the wider neck that this guitar has, you can't expect to blaze up and down the fret board like a modern Paganini of the guitar - without having very long fingers.

2. Acoustic guitars are fragile things - and the most expensive ones are often even more fragile, as they were built for playability and sound, and with the idea in mind that only serious persons would buy them. The guitars are basically glued together, and the stress from the strings is the thing that could, literally, pull them apart should they be allowed to get too hot. That great big ol' "D" string with it's glorious THUMP is a high tension wire, and so one should always be cognizant of that, and that the bridge, neck, and soundboard of a guitar like this one is under even MORE stress than a normal six string guitar. I'm positive that a fine manufacturer like Gallagher Guitars compensated for this appropriately with a sturdier steel rod adjustment in the neck of this thing, but one must still be mindful of it.

3. You aren't going to find any sets of strings for a seven string guitar. There might be some sets packaged for this on the market, but you'd have to order them. If not, you'll be buying a big "D" string for an acoustic bass guitar to add to a set of the regular six string guitar stings. I ALWAYS recommend Elixir Brand acoustic guitar strings - because they are simply, and in my experienced opinion, the BEST acoustic guitar strings made.

I hope you've enjoyed this hub about the Steve Kaufman model Gallagher Seven String Cutaway Acoustic Guitar. With seven strings and a cutaway - there's far more options for making music with this thing than with any other six or twelve string guitar. You'll be paying for those options though, and I've priced this guitar at $7,000.00 used.

And remember the quote from Joshua Gallagher? This guitar is no mere copy, but a unique individual!