Identification needed urgently

Hi guys and girls,

I have been trying to find the luthier who made the 8 string guitar with the very unusual headstock, does anyone know if any uke or guitars past or present that they have seen or played with this type of headstock, I have found one very accomplished pro 8 string classical guitarist who is seen on at least 4 album covers with an 8 string that matches it, but I have tried all lines of communication, e-mail, facebook, cellphone, I live in the UK and have come across one for sale, but the seller knows nothing, no label, price is OK, but a bit high, especially without zero providence, any help would be great, the guitarist that has one is a guy called Winston Tan based in Pasasdena, any lead would be great.

I have only posted the headstock as the rest of the guitar is a traditional shaped classical, apart from the wider neck to accommodate 8 strings,

the other image is Winston Tan with the guitar and another Tab=n cd, as I cannot find any other images of this headstock anywhere, I doubt it's a fake, but who made them ??????

Sorry I have no info, but wanted to say this headstock looks really cool, and different.

If you can haggle with some cash in hand, maybe you can get the seller to lower the price being that providence cannot be established, which I'd think is the responsibility of the seller to achieve his/her asking price, no?

Good luck with the quest, and please report back if you find any info as I'm sure it will benefit other folks in the future, especially due to the scarcity of such details for this instrument as per your previous efforts...

Hi Booli,

I received a text from the guitarist Winston Tan this evening, he said his guitar was around 30 years old, his text said that he got the guitar from a m s and Conrad knipfel in California, a m s I think is the Australasian music supply, and the luthier Conrad, I found a listing from 1995 for a used guitar by Conrad Knipfel 1984 model with a ticket price of £1800, so a quality builder, just not a lot of info, I managed to get the seller to include a case, as the guitar is bigger than a standard classical, 13cm deep body and both upper and lower bouts 3 and 4 cm wider too, so just need to decide if the price is right at $800

$800 is cheap! IMO, when taylor is selling laminates at that price. Assuming it's a solid wood guitar? Have you played it and do you like it, and have you found any other comparable 8 strings around? Is the neck straight and tight, no bellying between bridge and soundhole?

Sometimes the universe gives us a gift and it's so good we don't quite trust it...

mark howard said:

Hi Booli,

I received a text from the guitarist Winston Tan this evening, he said his guitar was around 30 years old, his text said that he got the guitar from a m s and Conrad knipfel in California, a m s I think is the Australasian music supply, and the luthier Conrad, I found a listing from 1995 for a used guitar by Conrad Knipfel 1984 model with a ticket price of £1800, so a quality builder, just not a lot of info, I managed to get the seller to include a case, as the guitar is bigger than a standard classical, 13cm deep body and both upper and lower bouts 3 and 4 cm wider too, so just need to decide if the price is right at $800

Click to expand...

Thanks for the followup with the info. Is this your FIRST guitar or have you been playing a while?

Teek said:

$800 is cheap! IMO, when taylor is selling laminates at that price. Assuming it's a solid wood guitar? Have you played it and do you like it, and have you found any other comparable 8 strings around? Is the neck straight and tight, no bellying between bridge and soundhole?

Sometimes the universe gives us a gift and it's so good we don't quite trust it...

Click to expand...

Yes, I tend to agree. If I had the cash in hand, and it was not painful for the ~$800 budget, with something apparently so rare, I'd be seriously tempted...

Having said that, if all you really want is an 8-string classical guitar, maybe something like this, cheaper will suffice:

http://www.rondomusic.com/product8635.html



and many more models on this page if you scroll down a bit:

http://www.rondomusic.com/acoustics-ss2.html