Throughout my 35 year career as a guitar player I have always loved the sound of acoustic guitars and especially nylon string classicals. The big problem they all had was not being able to amplify them in a practical way so I could play with a drummer and keep the picking hand under control. The only other guitar I own which comes close is a Godin Multiac.
After I got heavily involved with my Giannini seven string classical around 2008, I started playing solo gigs on it. That worked out fine because you don’t have to be too loud. I tried exactly one single gig with my fake Brazilian band Earplane, but I just couldn’t get enough volume without feedback. One gigless evening I went online and searched for 7 string classical guitars. I found the Frameworks web site and saw that they make a 7 string classical model. I was fascinated and emailed for a price. Of course, no surprise there, it was a bit out of my league – especially with euro/dollar exchange rates and various import charges.
I don’t visit eBay much. Don’t have much money or time to spend. Imagine my surprise when on a hunch I searched eBay for seven string guitars and there was a Frameworks 7 Classical listed – and with a MIDI pickup on top of it. For less than half price of a new one. A friend had just told me about this web service which places bids for you and raises your chances of winning an auction (this friend has bought a wall of Marshall stacks for a pittance using this service.) I didn’t want to let this Frameworks slip away. I signed up and thought I had set up everything correctly. Then I had to go to a gig. After I came back home I checked eBay, the auction had ended and I hadn’t won the guitar! Nobody had. No bids were made. This was just too crazy. It had slipped out of my fingers.
The next day I found the seller’s email address from the eBay listing and send him an email that I would buy the guitar from him, name the price. I never heard back from him. But then, thanks to the intelligent algorithms of eBay, I went back on the site and got this picture of the same guitar, “you were interested?.” The guy had relisted the guitar. And this time for even less money. I bid. Stayed the only bidder until the end and won.
And I was not disappointed! While the strange shape might have scared off people to bid on it, once it’s in your hands it feels great. Very light. Obviously great for late night practice or recording when the family is sleeping in the next room. And the plugged in sound is incredible! I use it together with a Fishman acoustic guitar preamp and go through a PA (if there are monitors). Of course, the MIDI pickup is icing on the cake. Works great with the Roland VG8 guitar synth. To get it in the small bag, I take off the black side pieces and the whole thing fits easily into an airplane overhead. At first I did miss some sort of pickguard to rest my right-hand pinky and ringfinger for playing with a pick. But I got used to it and actually find myself not using a pick much anymore.
Here is a little example of the sound.