Dan,

Yer right, we did void the guarantee. (I doubt Joe had one on his old Silvertone back then.) But my Martin had no problem taking the extra 3 treble strings. (Some would say it was more "treble" than it was worth. But it had a fine sound.)

I tuned down an entire note & kept a capo at the 1st or 2nd fret. No altering was done to the bridge; I just put the 2 first strings into one hole and the 2 second strings into the second hole. One bridge-pin in each hole still--of course. And it did help me get more sound with less work--which was what I needed at that time.

It was worth all of it just to see Mike Longworth's reaction every time he'd stand there and gaze at it in Winfield! It really was.

Art