Antonio Pinto Carvalho 7 String 1S 7STR

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A Review from a Players Perspective (Marc Askew)

The features of this guitar that appeal to me are its playability and its tone/volume response.

The original 7-string guitars were made and used for accompaniment/ensemble playing exclusively and were built with a bracing to tolerate steel bass strings, which deliver a distinctive "thunk-thunk sound on the basses when struck with a metal thumb pick. These are still made and preferred by some Brazilian guitarists who specialize in the Choro style.

The fully nylon-string seven strings came to prominence as a result of the popular impact of the virtuoso guitarist Rafaello Rabello in the '70s, when he had a seven -string model made for him by a luthier based on his six string Ramirez classical guitar.

The greatest exponent of this so-called "Seven String Classical" is today, of course, Yamandu Costa. So the fully nylon-string seven-string guitars are built (ideally, at least) to be played BOTH as accompanying instruments and solo instruments.

I've tried quite a few Brazilian seven-string models over the years, and owned two myself, from the high-end Brazilian luthier-made models to the factory-made cheaper Gianninis and Di Giorgios.

Coming back to my point, this Hernandez guitar stands out very well to fulfill these requirements.

It has the flattest and thinnest neck profile I've encountered and this makes it comfortable to negotiate the 60cm-wide fingerboard (necessary to accommodate the seven strings) and eases pressure on the left thumb because of the left hand finger stretches necessary.

The left had playability is additionally enhanced by a very comfortable string action for both basses and treble strings with a very flat neck relief, which allows for comfortable playing of both barre chords and single lines.

For a cedar-top guitar it is quite bright in its tone, and it can almost sound like a spruce guitar, depending on how the right hand is positioned and how much nail is used - this applies both to trebles and bass strings. And on the other hand it can be used like a six string to generate nice mellow sounds with pieces such as Baden Powell ballads.

So it is both a very playable and a very versatile guitar, for accompaniment or solo work.