Harley Benton 8-String strung a bit like an 8 string bass

[Annoying Twit]

After going out today and trying yet another cheap bass (£85 S/H Vietnamese Peavey - seemed fine though if it was mine I would try shimming the neck as the action was a bit high up the neck, though the relief was almost zero), I had a look at the Thomann site to see what interesting cheapness might be there.

They're selling an [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_r_458_bk_rock_series.htm"]eight string guitar for £118[/url], which seems pretty cheap. The reviews on Thomann are very good, but some people on sevenstring.org had variable results when they bought one.

OK, so why am I posting this in Bass Guitars, not in Guitarchat?

I've had a look over at sevenstring.org, and found [url="http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/223665-ncgd-review-warning-lots-huge-pictures-c-isnt-custom.html"]this NcGD post[/url]. The poster made a lot of changes to the instrument, including replacing the original near unusable pickups with EMGs. He also restrung it as E-B-E-A-D-G-B-E, which he says gives him the full bass range and a full guitar range.

He recorded a version of Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing" using the Harley Benton for all bass and guitar parts. Listening to [url="https://soundcloud.com/robrechtv/sultans-of-8-string-swing"]his version[/url], the bass sound is a bit run of the mill, but it sounds reasonably clear and perhaps would improve greatly with more bass friendly processing.

The guitar has two truss rods. I wonder whether the neck would be strong enough to handle the tension of being strung up as an eight string bass from a low B. There would be the issue of it being very shortscale for a bass, but would it technically work? Or, if the instrument was strung E-A-D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb to be more basslike?

This is bass consumer mental masturbation for me. Unless my tapping skills continue improving for a considerable long time, it wouldn't make sense for me to consider doing this. But, I'd be grateful to hear other people's opinions.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Annoying Twit