TRADED: One-of-a-kind Conklin 8-string Bass (now £999) £1100

[therealting]

I'm still in two minds about this as it was my dream instrument several years ago that I spent considerable amounts of time and money on. The aim was to have an instrument that would have the range of a guitar and with tapping / touchstyle potential, but with a manageable string spacing for my smaller hands.

The base is a Conklin Groove Tools 7-string that I had imported from the States. Swamp ash back and thick figured maple top, purpleheart fingerboard and incredibly stable yet thin 7-piece wenge / purpleheart laminate neck. Bartolini pickups and active preamp.

Hipshot made me a custom 8-string bridge with 14mm string spacing, and I added an eighth tuning machine and had a new nut cut. Custom Newtone stainless steel strings brought the thing to life.

Just to push it over the top, I had SIMS Custom add LEDs, including a butterfly inlay at the headstock (easily covered if not to your taste) and edge dots that act as front or side dots. These can be switched on or off via a toggle switch on the front.

Will take some better photos, but these give you an idea.




The 14mm spacing sounds very narrow for a bass, but it means that the B string is still reached relatively easily for an 8-string. Slapping is possible, albeit requiring some adjustment. I currently have it tuned to BEADGCEA, but it could easily be tuned in 4ths (BEADGCFBb). I know some people have tuned them with a low F# instead.

Interested in trades for:

- Sadowsky 5-strings, particularly NYC ones (can add a little cash as appropriate)
- high-end relics e.g. Fender Custom Shop, MJT, Bravewood
- ... try me? (but I'm sure you'll understand that not everything may be to my taste)

Edited February 21, 2019 by therealting

[HazBeen]

This is both the maddest and coolest thing I have seen for a while. For the right person an incredible musical tool I am sure. GLWTS

[therealting]

Indeed - thought I'd shoot some demo video and ended up breaking a string so am going to order more from Newtone and get some done!

[therealting]

Bump. Complete with all strings now and has had a fret level and setup by Feline Guitars in Croydon.

[CaptainBlackarm16]

What an awesome piece of kit! Do you have any closer photos of the Butterfly inlay?

[therealting]

Bump! Still interested in Bravewood, Sadowsky etc but also interested in medium scale instruments, particularly Precisions, singlecuts or five/six strings  

Will consider an outright sale too. 

Edited January 1, 2018 by therealting

[Hellzero]

Russ, where are you ? ;-) 

[Hellzero]

Would it be possible to have some detailed photos and especially better ones ? ;-) 

[AlexiaSpring]

What’s with the Butterfly inlay? Bit of Fodera inspiration there?

Edited January 1, 2018 by AlexiaSpring

[binky_bass]

55 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Russ, where are you ? ;-) 

I'm here! Nice bass but 14mm spacing wouldn't be for me! Plus I already have a USA custom 8 Conklin.

Someone will definitely have fun with this though! 

[rumour6]

When i got my GT7 I thought, nowhere else to go... et voila, 'one upmanship' on a most practical level! If spacing has been reduced but neck width the same, i can definitely vouch for everything being reachable.

GLWTS

[binky_bass]

On 05/05/2016 at 09:34, therealting said:

Will take some better photos, but these give you an idea.

Keen to see those better photos though! 

[Hellzero]

So where are the better pictures and the demo ? 

[therealting]

Taken a while, but some better photos.

[HazBeen]

Beautiful

[therealting]

Not tried attaching an MP3 file here before so this is a bit of an experiment, but here is a rough little demo of me playing Billie Jean on this monster. All parts played on this bass, including the beat, bass parts, chords and melody!

Best heard with headphones - forgive the very quick mix.

Billie Jean - Conklin Custom 8 String Bass.mp3

[therealting]

Bump. Interesting trades considered, particularly a Noble preamp or a medium scale Precision... I have a few things listed so could combine for the right trade.

Edited June 9, 2018 by therealting

[therealting]

Please do feel free to try me with offers if at all interested. 

[therealting]

Bump.

[TolerancEJ]

Wicked!!

[therealting]

Price reduction to £999

[binky_bass]

A contender for the oldest for sale thread on BassChat! 

There's very few of us 8 string players out there! Me and maybe 2 others on BC tops. 😅

Looks like a factory bass, a GT7 is ideal to mod into an 8 as the headstock and machine head placement are literally perfectly placed to add that extra machine head. 

[therealting]

@binky_bass I guess it is somewhat niche! A killer touch-style or chordal instrument for the right player though. Someone out there needs this and just doesn’t know it yet.

[itu]

There are far too many strings for me, as I am a bassist. I go to the other direction, have converted six strings to 5... But how much did that bridge cost you? A special order is probably a special price, too? If you are not able to reveal the actual price paid, even a ballpark figure would be helpful, thank you.

[binky_bass]

Hipshot do have a great customs process, I reckon it would have been circa £150 as a custom spec order... curious to know how close that guess is!