Custom Customer Concoction | Octar Custom Set

• Product Type: Full Set
• Full Set # of Strings: 8
• Tension: Custom
• Full Set Material: Phosphor Bronze
• Winding: Round Wound
• Core: Hex
• Full Set by 1st string gauge: 0.012
• Full Set by last string gauge: 0.042

Octar Custom Set:

1st: D'Addario PL012 Plain Steel Ball End .012 in. (.30 mm), Single
2nd: D'Addario PL012 Plain Steel Ball End .012 in. (.30 mm), Single
3rd: D'Addario PL017 Plain Steel Ball End .017 in. (.43 mm), Single
4th: D'Addario PL017 Plain Steel Ball End .017 in. (.43 mm), Single
5th: D'Addario PB030 .030 inches (.76 mm), Single String
6th: D'Addario PL012 Plain Steel Ball End .012 in. (.30 mm), Single
7th: D'Addario PB042 .042 inches (1.07 mm), Single String
8th: D'Addario PB024 .024 inches (.61 mm), Single String

Guitar they are they played on:
1930s Harmony Archtop of indeterminate model. The top is a pressed plywood, overbuilt for six strings but just right for the additional pressure of the two additional strings.

Creator: David Nigel Lloyd

Creator Description:
The Octar embodies the Japanese aesthetic of shibumbi or wabi: the beauty of broken, lonesome and unfinished things. It has some gorgeous sweet spots and some funky spots too. But over the years, I’ve gotten on good terms with all of them.

The string choice was inspired by a Portuguese mandola I once met. It is tuned, low to high, in fifths: FF CC GG DD. The F's and C's are in octaves while the G's and D's are unison. Since the instrument itself is actually very low end, it keeps the octaved courses from sounding too lush which is my general problem with 12-strung guitars and Irish bouzukis. [I don’t like the sound of single-bouted Irish bouzoukis in general. Too solemn.] I imagine there is a high-end double-bouted eight string instrument out there for me but the ones I have met don’t sound as good as my lonesome broken Octar. I am fairly certain, however, that if (when?) I find that instrument, I would stick to these strings as they facilitate thinking of the instrument as two two-course instruments in one: one tuned in pairs, one tuned in octaves. For instance: melodic sketches and phrases can be played on the octave courses while one or both of the unison courses can act as drones. This makes it a much more useful instrument for a solo musician and vocalist. It is just more versatile in general than the normal stringing of mandola and mandocello type instruments in unison courses only.

If you would like your own custom set, please see the heading of each category for details.

• Model: C3 OCT
• Manufactured by: Strings By Mail C3
• Condition: New