Jim DeCava & Michael Coppola

We recently received an update from Jim DeCava, which included the following note from guitarist Michael Coppola:

In 1986, I came up with the idea for an eight-string guitar with higher strings between the 4th and 5th to be able to play piano chords and harp-type lines (like Lenny Breau harmonics). I went to James DeCava with this idea and have had, over the years, three eight-string guitars made by him.
 By the year 2000, I added another string and had five different nine-string guitars made by Jim. We call the first of these "the Hydra" named after the nine-headed monster of Greek mythology. This year, I came up with an idea to have an archtop nine-string guitar made in the style of the Howard Roberts by Gibson and other companies. I further decided to have a lower register/longer scale on this instrument. I've had the guitar about a month and have been toggling between 2 different tunings
1.       All strings down a fifth (low note A)
2.       All strings down a fourth (low note (B)
 In either case, the guitar has an amazing richness for solo jazz gigs, and my singers are in love with it! We call this new beast, "The Hydra Roberts."

Here’s Jim and Michael with the Hydra Roberts:

And here’s Tommy Emmanuel playing around with the Hydra Roberts while Michael looks on: