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12 and 8 String Basses


Hobbayne

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Talking bridges - I know the schaller is available as an aftermarket bridge, but what bases have a non-TOM bridge? The Hagstrom as a one piece, but if one wanted an 8-string bass with one piece bridge that  allowed independent intonation adjustment, just how narrow would the choices be?

 

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22 minutes ago, cattytown said:

Talking bridges - I know the schaller is available as an aftermarket bridge, but what bases have a non-TOM bridge? The Hagstrom as a one piece, but if one wanted an 8-string bass with one piece bridge that  allowed independent intonation adjustment, just how narrow would the choices be?

 

Schaller 471. That's it. As far as I'm aware no production bass uses it. They all use the same generic 8 saddle that the Dean, Spector, Schecter all use.

Unless you go custom, you won't see it on anything.

Don't bother with the Hagstrom. It's a 4 saddle bridge and is total crap.

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9 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

That schaller isn’t cheap either...

Yeah, it's not cheap. That's because if you exclude the Warwick bridge which can be sunk into the body, it's easily the best as you can adjust the height of all 8 strings individually. I don't think the Warwick allows that. Every manufacturer uses the same non descript bridge just for cost rather than functionality. The Schaller is a really great bit of kit.

Happy to post a few photos of mine if you're interested.

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10 hours ago, cattytown said:

Talking bridges - I know the schaller is available as an aftermarket bridge, but what bases have a non-TOM bridge? The Hagstrom as a one piece, but if one wanted an 8-string bass with one piece bridge that  allowed independent intonation adjustment, just how narrow would the choices be?

Tune Japan also make a one-piece 8-string bridge. I fact I'm surprised that they haven't been mentioned more in this thread. If I was going to buy another 8-string bass I wouldn't make any decision before trying a Tune.

However if you think the Schaller bridge is expensive you shouldn't do a currency conversion on the Tune one!

That means AFAICS there are only 4 different 8-string bridges with individual intonation adjustment for each string currently available.

What is the problem with the T-O-M style 8-string bridge? The generic one fitted to the Dean, Schecter, Spector etc. basses is a perfectly functional unit. It's just the horrible tailpiece that makes it look so ugly IMO.

 

15 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

Yeah, it's not cheap. That's because if you exclude the Warwick bridge which can be sunk into the body, it's easily the best as you can adjust the height of all 8 strings individually. I don't think the Warwick allows that. Every manufacturer uses the same non descript bridge just for cost rather than functionality. The Schaller is a really great bit of kit.

As the Warwick bridge is essentially for Warwick basses only, there shouldn't need to be any reason to adjust the height of the saddles individually since the radius of the bridge and fingerboard should be matched. The Schaller one appears only to be sold as an after-market part there is no way of knowing what the fingerboard radius on the bass is going to be so the saddles have to be individually height adjustable.

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9 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

Schaller 471. That's it. As far as I'm aware no production bass uses it. 

Don't bother with the Hagstrom. It's a 4 saddle bridge and is total crap.

Thanks - that was the conclusion I was coming to :-(


While the Hagstrom looks cool,  I had pretty much discounted it as being a tad behind.

P.

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54 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Tune Japan also make a one-piece 8-string bridge. I fact I'm surprised that they haven't been mentioned more in this thread. If I was going to buy another 8-string bass I wouldn't make any decision before trying a Tune.

able.

What is the problem with the T-O-M style 8-string bridge? The generic one fitted to the Dean, Schecter, Spector etc. basses is a perfectly functional unit. It's just the horrible tailpiece that makes it look so ugly IMO.

That's the problem - it may be perfectly functional, it's just ugly. 

Tune have been mentioned, it's just difficult to work out how viable it is to buy one. I do quite like http://usdweb.sakura.ne.jp/custom.order.gallery.top/framepage.tune.phoenix.custom.order.gallery.html page 16,  No.TP-000467...

P.

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The easiest way to buy a Tune would be if you were friends with a Japanese musician who could act as an intermediary for you. Unfortunately a lot of Japanese companies aren't geared up for selling outside of Japan and will generally ignore you as a foreigner because it is just to difficult and/or embarrassing.

Having said that Tune basses do show up in Ishibashi's U-Box (their second hand selection) and they are pretty good at dealing with potential buyers from outside Japan. The only thing you need to watch with Ishibashi, is because of the time difference between Japan and the UK, instruments can often be sold locally in the time between you seeing it on the website and their customer services dealing with your email enquirery. 

There was a very nice looking (and relatively inexpensive) 10-string Tune bass that showed up a few years ago on Ishabashi. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have the cash spare to buy it.

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38 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Is that for the Schaller bridge? I would have thought it would be cheaper to buy direct form Schaller, or through one of their UK dealers.

Could be interesting on pricing. The schaller site lists it as €108 - lnock off the discount and add postage and you are looking <>£100. Warmoth list it at $65, but their postage prices are geared around shipping bodies and necks, and are pricey even for that IMO. Cheapest puts it to <> $95 - £70, but you will be hit by the "handling charge" by importers, Duty & VAT so it's going to be close on price...

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On 2/13/2018 at 22:11, Al Krow said:

Yes :)  An 8 string or 8 string emulation is about as subtle as a full on dirt pedal. We're not talking about compression or nuances of tone here..

Unfortunately, I can attest to a lot of other musicians not really giving a toss: I took a 12-string Dean Rhapsody to a rehearsal of our originals band once, played it on  a couple of songs, and when we had a break, the conversation went exactly as follows:

"What did you all think?"

"About what?"

"The 12-string I was playing? I used it on *song name* and *song name*"

"Errr, did you? Oh. It was...OK. It's that black one, yeah?"

I didn't persevere. ¬¬

Having said that, I use the Zoom B3's Octave Up preset on a couple of our trio songs these days, and it fills the sound out...it's good enough for me.

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15 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Unfortunately, I can attest to a lot of other musicians not really giving a toss: I took a 12-string Dean Rhapsody to a rehearsal of our originals band once, played it on  a couple of songs, and when we had a break, the conversation went exactly as follows:

"What did you all think?"

"About what?"

"The 12-string I was playing? I used it on *song name* and *song name*"

"Errr, did you? Oh. It was...OK. It's that black one, yeah?"

I didn't persevere. ¬¬

Having said that, I use the Zoom B3's Octave Up preset on a couple of our trio songs these days, and it fills the sound out...it's good enough for me.

Are you still with that band? Sounds to me like they weren't paying any attention to what you were doing. Tools.

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6 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

That's not bad. Four grand for a bass that won't intonate properly. Hold me back.....

Hum. 

I reckon it’d be pretty good, I haven’t got the £4000 to find out.

I work on the principle that my hearing is so bad I don’t worry about intonation, much like buying an ultra HD tv when my eyes aren’t HD ready 😂

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38 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Hum. 

I reckon it’d be pretty good, I haven’t got the £4000 to find out.

I work on the principle that my hearing is so bad I don’t worry about intonation, much like buying an ultra HD tv when my eyes aren’t HD ready 😂

You don't need the money to find out. It's obvious. The bridge is a singular saddle. Once you get past the 7th fret it'll be out of tune by miles. For such an expensive instrument it's an epic fail.

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1 hour ago, Cuzzie said:

Maybe we could get 10p from every bass chatter interested and create a fund for you to get one, we may make a pound by the time the day is out

I get told off by @Osiris for finding 10p's on the street and then looking wide eyed for things to spend them on. So I'd best steer clear of the collection on this one. Soz mate.

Besides when I got 'back and sides' done (amber carbon or otherwise) it never came to anything like Euros 4,000 :D

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