Giannini GWNC1/7 Classical 7 String

Here it is, my review of the Giannini?s GWNC1/7 Classical 7 String guitar (built in 2005). To begin with, I acquired this guitar as an "evaluation project" to see if it can be played as a Russian 7 string guitar (tuned as D', G', B, D, g, b, d'). Although professional players can get a custom-built guitar for a price of over $1K, there are no decent mass-produced 7 string Russian guitars on the market. Whatever one can find in Russia is of awfully bad quality. Therefore, my attention was attracted by the reasonably priced yet attractive Brazilian-built Giannini's GWNC1/7 Classical 7 String guitar.

The sound is not too deep but definitely balanced and warm. It takes some exercising to get used to the soft and not-that-smooth fretboard (I would really want something harder and smoother!) And ? I really like the sound! Of course, it is not as strong and "full-bodied" as the sound of my Spanish-built Cuenca, with the 7th string added. However, it is probably as warm as the sound of the Russian-built petite (3/4) beauty (master Dmitry Zhevlakov, web site: www.zhevlakov.com), which was copied from the 19th century Russian guitar.

Here are my
"first" and "second" impressions. The first thought when I grabbed it from the box was: "gosh, this is as heavy as the German-made broomhandle Mauser! And the neck ? one really has to have big (and I mean ? BIG!) hands to grab it! This lady is fat! :) Okay, you can still grab the Glock 20 grip with two hands but you still need one hand to play the guitar ? so you must either have big hands or have three hands to play it! :)" As I was attempting to tune the guitar, I immediately realized that the strings that it came with are of a less than average quality: the 4th string produced some sad sound and cracked in the middle. For the lack of better choice, I put the Savarez Russian guitar set on it, although I would personally prefer synthetic gut strings from www.aquilausa.com - the 6-string set (Alabastro, Nylgut) with an additional 7th string from D'Addario (NYL056W, 1.42 mm) ? this set produces a very warm and deep sound. Alternatively, I would use D'Addario Pro Arte Composites Classical Guitar set EJ45C from www.daddario.com, with an additional 7th string, D'Addario's NYL056W (1.42 mm).This set has the longest-lasting strings that truly improve sound over the time ? as the manufacture says, and produces a very strong and powerful sound. Then again, others may prefer different strings. When you are tuning this guitar, be prepared to be covered with oil as if you are changing oil in your car! The guitar's tuning machines are all well-oiled, and I mean ? very well oiled! One thing that stroked my attention when I was putting on the strings is that the guitar's bridge is not well-glued to the top ? there are empty spaces, gaps between the bridge and the guitar's top, visible by the naked eye (approx. 0.5-1 mm in size). The guitar has a 3 year warranty and the first thing I did after I got my guitar was fill out the warranty form and send it to the provided address. The guitar has a truss rod whose purpose is to counter the pull of the strings. It is not meant to adjust the height of the guitar's strings as it can be done on the Russian guitar.

The guitar has a beautifully-crafted solid cedar top and neck. The fretboard is said to be made of pau-ferro ? and I did not like it that much since it is a bit soft for my taste. A more solid wood would be my choice. The guitar's back and sides are said to be made of laminated pau-ferro, and that is probably what adds significantly to the weight of this otherwise curvaceously-elegant lady. In the past, laminated parts decreased quality of the sound. However, modern materials allow for the maintaining decent sound and yet improve the structural strength of the guitar's sides and back (that is if one will ever consider using it to fight ? for fighting tips see the movie "Desperado").

This guitar is indeed an incredible value. To find this guitar for me was like discovering some penny-priced incredibly-good quality wine in a local store! Too bad it cannot be played "by the book" as a Russian 7 string guitar because of its unbelievably-wide neck (that is ? much wider than of my Spanish-built Cuenca or any other classical Spanish-built guitar I tried so far!). I just hope that maybe Giannini masters will make a similar guitar with a less-wide neck and will let me evaluate it ? for free? ;)

Solid cedar top, cedar neck, laminated pau-ferro back and sides, pau-ferro fretboard. Truss rod, gold plated tuners.....oh yea, and 7 STRINGS!

Very balanced sound; sounds very good for having laminated back and sides. It sounds a lot like it has a cedar top, which it does. I like that.
The tone of the extra string sounds very natural; I've tuned it to both B and A with great success. I think the lower string also gives a slight overall dark quality to the tone. It's not much, but it's there. I think the fact that one can detect this, even when not playing any of the lower notes available, is a testament to the type of complex sound this instrument creates. Very good value.

Plays beautifully; much better than one would expect at this price range. The 7 takes a little getting used to, but that's just the nature of the intstrument. It seems like a lot of attention to detail was given to this instrument; much more than one would expect at this price point.

Built like a brick shithouse.

n/a

Incredible value. If this were a 6 string, it would be ridiculously good for $285. Seriously, this is one of the best sounding non all-solid wood classicals I have played, and it is much better than some all-solids. Take into account the novelty of the 7 string and they could easily be selling this for 4 or 5 times the price. Grab one while you can; if you don't like it you'll be out $10 for the return shipping. I took the chance and I'm glad I did. It's a very fun, quality instrument for a very good price.