Nick Reynolds with his first 8 string guitar. This was converted from a Martin 2-18T and later converted back to a 4-string. This picture answers the question about whether Nick used octave pairings on the G and D strings. All four sets are doubled, no octaves. I love the tuning knobs. Notice that Nick's right hand is obscuring the bridge. I have seen other pictures of this guitar with the bridge visible, and it still has only 4 pegs for 8 strings. Each pair of strings goes into one peghole. Nick has said that keeping this guitar in tune was difficult. This might explain why. Word has it that Bob Shane never liked the sound of the 8-string. As a tenor guitar player I have always been interested in having an 8 string version. I found out that Martin had made a total 5 of them in 1969 and 1970. I contacted Martin, but they told me that they had no blue prints and weren't interested in such a project. So, after interviewing several luthiers I found one very interested and knowledgeable about tenor construction, and he was enthusiastic about the project. This was Edward V Dick of EVD Instruments in Denver, a transplanted Canadian and fellow hockey player. I helped Edward obtain specifications in several ways. Through the Tenor Guitar website and forum I was able to locate the owner of the first Martin 0-18T8 constructed in 1969. In fact he was the person responsible for getting Martin involved. His experience in helping Martin was passed on to me and proved very helpful. Ironically, he told me that he wasn't a big Trio fan and wasn't aware at the time that Nick Reynolds had an 8-string.

This picture shows pieces of the guitar, braces, and patterns. Through a link on Ken's website I saw in a picture that the Kingston Mark III, a Trio cover band in Japan, used an 8-string. I was able to contact them by e-mail. I can't find the name of the men in the group (it's in an old computer), but the "Nick" of the group doesn't speak or write English, so the "Bob" of the group replied with information on their 8-string. It was made by Seagull Guitars of Tokyo (I don't think they have any connection to the Canadian guitar company of the same name, but I'm not sure). He gave me measurements and a description, which was basically an 0-18T with 8 tuners and pegs. The woods were the same.

This picture was taken the first time I saw the guitar more or less put together. The bridge was not attached, but I found a couple of drill bits in the shop and stuck the bridge on for a better picture. Edward Dick had to concern himself with the construction of the guitar, but I had the enjoyment of having everything done exactly as I wanted it. I lent Edward my 0-18T so he could take measurements, look at bracing, etc. In the meantime I was deciding on woods, inlays, pickguard, tuners, and pegs. I made my decisions after studying almost every guitar on the Martin website, and reading about woods and their effect on sound.

This picture shows the body of the guitar in the form. Edward began initial work in November with a projected finish date of late February. I wanted to keep up with everything, so I stopped in every couple of weeks. It was always exciting to see the progress, and it helped the time go faster too.

This picture is of the form with Edward in the background This picture was taken during a jam session in 2000 in Chicago at a John Stewart Bloodliner and Trio get-together weekend. That's John August Lee (Triofan) of Atascadero, CA on the banjo; Jerry Peterson of Grand Blanc Michigan on the Martin D-28, and me on the Martin 0-18TKT. My bandmates were both really good. Out of pity they let me join in, mostly because I had the correct instrument to fill out the trio. Thanks guys. In the summer of 1998 I was in Intermountain Banjo and Guitar in Salt Lake City looking at a pair of 0-18T's that were in the shop, an early 60's and a mid-50's. I told the owner that I wasn't overly impressed with the sound of either one, and he told me that he had one other in the back that I might be interested in. Little did I know that he would be bringing out the 0-18TKT from a Kingston Trio commemorative set built in 1997. He had sold the D-28 and Deering banjo separately, which left the only one of the three I would have be interested in anyway. Besides being a beautiful instrument, it sounded better than any tenor guitar I had ever played. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time! This label inside shows that I have #21 of 40. Martin's original plan was to build 40, but I think that 35 was the final number. It is signed by Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane, John Stewart, George Grove, and C F Martin IV. This picture shows the inlays on the 0-18TKT. The ebony fretboard offers a beautiful contrast. And now on to the finished 8-string. The next two pictures show the 4-string and 8-string side by side. The obvious difference is in the woods. The 4-string has mahogany back and neck with dark stain, the 8-string has koa back and mahogany neck with natural stain. The heel on the 8-string is bigger. That is part of the strengthening necessary for the extra strings and additional resulting tension. An adjustable truss rod was also added. For the front I decided on a smaller tortoise pickguard for the 8-string. Description of the materials used in the 8-string: Flamed Koa for the backs and sides; mahogany neck; striped ebony bridge and fretboard; bone saddle and nut; Sitka spruce top; Indian Rosewood headplate; Gotoh chrome tuning machines. The major wood decision, of course, was for the body and side. I decided on Koa for three reasons. 1) Mahogany is perfect for the 4-string, bringing out the treble sounds cleanly. I thought with the extra volume of the 8-string that Koa, which isn't quite as loud, but still good for trebles, would be a good fit. 2) I love the look of Koa and 3) Edward found a gorgeous piece of wood that I couldn't say no to. We had planned to have an insert in the middle of the back, but the Koa pieces blended so well together that we left it to look like one solid piece. The Martin 0-18TKT has a solid ebony brdge and fret board. I wanted the 8-string to be different, so I looked at the koa-wood guitars that Martin makes, and striped ebony is used quite often. I really liked the results. I wanted this guitar to look unique, especially different from a Martin, and the single change I made was to the head shape. I did not want the Martin signature flared, round cornered rectangle. After coming up with a shape that I liked we added a decorative inlay around the outer edge. The face is dark-stained rosewood. The striped mahogany fretboard is 1/16" wider than my 4-string. The herringbone rosette. If I had anything to do over, I'd probably have a fancier look in this area. At the time I wanted to keep it simple.

All in all, this was a great experience. I'm glad Martin didn't want to make this guitar because I would have missed out on a lot by not having it done locally.

The last aspect of this guitar that I haven't mentioned is the sound. First of all, it is louder than my 4-string. Second, it doesn't have quite the "jingly" sound of the top four sets of strings on a 12-string. It has a unique sound, an interesting sound . At Fantasy Camp this past summer I had both of my tenors. In the jam sessions with many, many guitars and banjos going at the same time, the 4-string didn't make much of an impact. The 8-string, however, held its own volumewise. It is a great complement sound accompanying a 12-string.