BY: DIGITAL WAX MEDIA STAFF

 

 

Led into the charge by singer Roger Mcguinn’s innovative 12-string guitar work, The Byrds changed the landscape of popular music irreversibly with their 1960s output. The distinct jangle of McGuinn’s 12-string Rickenbacker at the down of pop-rock gave way to a subgenre of its own in what would be dubbed, “jangle-pop.”

 

 

Rising to prominence through their interpretations of folk numbers such as Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” The Byrds would utilize this stylistic approach to dramatically reimagine existing material. Many contemporaries, including The Beatles, would be inspired by the unique sound and would adapt it in their own work, in turn inspiring legions of listeners and musicians in their own right by way of the 12-string.

 

These days McGuinn has downsized his string palette substantially, but the “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” songwriter hasn’t quite curtailed his setup down to a standard six-string. Some time ago, the Martin guitar company produced a special signature 7-string guitar in collaboration with McGuinn known as the “HD-7.”

 

The instrument features the standard six-string setup with an additional string, though not the typical 7-string addition of a low-pitched B-string which can be heard in heavier musical genres. It also doesn’t feature a high A-string as would some of the instruments used by jazz players such as Lenny Breau.

 

McGuinn himself took time to offer some insight into the unique instrument, which utilizes the additional string as a higher-octave G-string, during a recent performance.

 

“Some guitars have an extra string on the bottom. Other ones – jazz ones – have an extra string up on the top. But this has an extra string in the middle like a 12-string” the musician explained of the instrument. “For me, the best part of a 12-string is this pair of strings here,” he continued before playing a series of banjo-style passages on the pair of octave G-strings.

 

During the segment, McGuinn would explain the origins of the “HD-7,” noting that he had initially requested Martin design a custom 7-string in this manner specifically for him. This guitar was observed by other musicians in McGuinn’s circle who then inquired about having one of their own made in a similar style, this igniting the idea for the Martin HD-7 Roger McGuinn Signature Series acoustic guitar.

 

Players hoping to get their hands on the signature series model of this unique instrument may have their work cut out for them, as the instrument does not currently appear to be in active production by Martin. This is likely due, at least in part, to the decidedly niche functionality of the instrument and the potentially low demand for a guitar featuring a set of 12-string octave-style G-string notes.

 

The instrument also carried a fairly hefty price tag while in production, as is to be expected with many signature series instruments, particularly those which also function as high-end model Martins. For the determined player, pre-owned versions of the instrument can likely be found should one scour the web for a long enough time, though these instruments are also not likely to come cheap.