HENRY OLSEN

"In 1983, sitting in a library at Salford University, I started to sketch out an idea for an 8-string acoustic guitar. The idea was that the guitar's lowest string would sound at the same pitch as that of a bass guitar or double bass, so I settled on a tuning of E A D G C F A and D and having seen a picture of an ancient stringed-instrument called a Cittern, which employed multiple scale-lengths to the neck, I decided to use a fretting system which later became known in guitar-building as 'fanned frets'. The rationale behind this new design was that I couldn't decide whether to be a bass player or guitarist, so I wanted an instrument on which I could be both... I remember my guitar teacher chortling as I ran the idea past him one day. 'You should buy a double neck and be like Jimmy Page', he ribbed. But I'd already discounted the idea of two necks on the grounds of portability (and I didn't want to be like Jimmy Page). When I showed him the rough sketches for my design, his reply was..

Also known as: HENRY OLSEN: DOCK STREET