My brother had a NINE-way back in '96 and he's still fit as a fiddle -- a very cheap fiddle, with no pegs, crushed F hole...the works.

(Actually, he's served two terms on the town council, hunted a lot of deer, dumped a riding mower on himself twice, lost two runs for mayor, married off one kid and second this coming September, spoils three grandkids, and I can't remember what all. He's also nuts, but he was that before the surgery.)