ghost FAQ: 7-string

Do you make a MIDI bridge for 7 string guitars?

Many of our saddles that are made for 6 string bridges will also fit on 7-string bridges. If you do not find a 7-saddle set on our Web site, but see a saddle that looks like it would fit your guitar, contact us and we will put together a custom set of seven saddles for you. We will divide the price of the six string set by six, multiply by seven, and that's your price for seven saddles.

Will the Hexpander allow me to play 7-string MIDI?

Currently, no manufacturer is producing a MIDI converter for more than six strings. To get MIDI on a 7-string guitar you either have to buy a second MIDI converter, or choose 6 of the second strings and run the 7th string out as acoustic only. For some styles of playing, it works to split it 5 and 2 strings, especially if you play a lot of bass lines on the bottom two strings.

Do you make a 7-string LB63?

We currently do not make a 7-string LB-63 bridge, but we are getting more inquiries about this and we are looking into expanding our product line to include it. It is within our capabilities to design a 7-string version of our popular Hexpander (the Hept-ander?) but we have no immediate plans to produce it, as MIDI converters are currently limited to 6 strings.

Can I install the ghost Acousti-Phonic on a Schecter C-7 Hellraiser or Omen?

There is a quirk when installing the Acousti-Phonic in a guitar with this style of string loading and a Tune-O-Matic style bridge because the strings load through metal ferrules embedded in the wood of the body. The ghost saddles are non-conductive, so they isolate the strings from the string ground attached to the bridge. In most guitars with a Tune-O-Matic style bridge, you simply run a ground wire to the tail piece, which in your case you have not got. Your strings will have to be grounded another way. Grounding the six individual ferrules is a possibility, but takes some creativity to do it invisibly. I have done it by pulling out the ferrules and running a fine wire along the sides of the ferrule holes. It may be possible to accomplish this by painting the ferrule holes with conductive shielding paint (as is used in guitar control cavities) and trailing this paint through a hole drilled back to the main cavity. But I have not yet tried it this way.

We don't carry the 7-string Tonepros bridge, so you will have to send us your bridge to have the ghost saddle pickups saddles loaded into it. We prefer to load the Ghost saddles so that we can test the outputs and make sure the string balance is correct.

Does Graph Tech offer acoustic capability for 7 string electric guitars?

The ghost Acousti-Phonic offers 7-string compatibility right out of the box for acoustic sound. It was designed anticipating the increased popularity of seven string guitars. The Hexpander is limited to six strings for MIDI capability because currently no manufacturer is making a MIDI controller that processes more than six strings. But it accepts input from seven saddles to pass the summed signal to the Acousti-Phonic. So while you can plug seven strings into the Hexpander it only interfaces six of them with the MIDI input.