7string Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 (edited) I met up with Scoop at ACG HQ yesterday and swapped cash for bass. Both of us are ACG customers, so we could meet Alan and talk all things ACG as well as do the exchange. Excuse the dodgy pictures, but the wife's out and my photographic skills are only just above those of a 5 year old. I'll ask her to do some more when I've given this big bass a polish This is a Dean Rhapsody 12 string which has mahogany body with a maple top finished in transparent black. The maple and walnut bolt-on 5 piece neck carries a 24 fret rosewood fingerboard. The dots on the 'board have not escaped the attention to detail being abalone, a nice change from the regular, plain variety. The strings are fed through a black chrome bridge and wind around quality Grover tuners which you really need on a bass with so many strings. Unlike some of the Hamer 12 strings, the Dean is a standard 34" scale It's not 12 strings tuned in fourths but four groups of three. Each set has a regular bass string in regular tuning and two strings tuned in unison an octave higher. It is possible to get strings so that you can have triple octaves and I'll look into those. The top G will be the equivalent of the G on the 3rd fret of the top E string on a guitar, so it has to be a 0.007" or 0.008". Even though I'm not really a Pearl Jam fan, the 12's most famous line is from their song "Jeremy". Doug Pinnick from Kings X also plays a 12 string. The bass itself is quite weighty at 10 lbs (4.5kg) but not stupidly heavy like my 14lb Conklin 7 string The neck isn't too wide either at 2.14" (55mm) at the brass nut. The fingerboard widens to 2.7" (70mm) at the 24th and last fret. Even though it looks really unwieldy, it's not that bad to play. Unsurprisingly, it sounds exactly like a guitar and bass playing in unison so if you're in a 3 piece band with no rhythm guitar, this could be the bass for you. There are also 8 string basses (which have just the one octave string) and 10 string basses (based on a 5 string bass and with the 1 octave string). I have a short soundclip which I recorded on a digital dictaphone. Unfortunately, I don't know how to post it. If anybody can help me, I'll gladly put it up for people to hear. Edited December 19, 2008 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassmurf Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Coooooooooool! Really like the look of that 12 (I'm a big fan of Dug from King's X) I myself used to own an Ibanez Musician 8 string (which I used to bi-amp) - wished these Deans were around 15 years ago! Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 How do you find the difference in fretting the notes? It looks like carpal tunnel waiting to happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) The frettings not that bad. But setting the bass up so that the fretting's easier is not !! First of all, if anyone asks you to set one of these up, [b]JUST SAY NO!![/b] as this has been a job and a half. Tuning and de-tuning one of these is bad enough (even if you have a stringwinder) but doing it several times is a real pain in the proverbial. Luckily, the Dean has double truss rods which adjusted very well, a brass nut which is cut just right and an adjustable bridge which holds non-adjustable saddles. This makes the job a little easier, but it's still extremely long-winded. So now the Dean is set-up lower than Fender USA 4 string spec Fretting the lower strings is easier than a barre chord on a guitar. If you can fret the lower strings then the octave strings are fine and it sounds absolutely huge. I'm just glad I got the set-up out of the way today so that I can enjoy playing the bass tomorrow Edited December 20, 2008 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I quite liked the 12-String patch on the Variax... Ouch! Who threw that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Oh, cool Do you play it with a pick, or fingerstyle? Is it even [i]possible[/i] to play it fingerstyle? I'd love an 8 or a 10. How about doing a full Review for the, errm, Reviews section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 [quote name='7string' post='359142' date='Dec 19 2008, 08:36 PM']Even though I'm not really a Pearl Jam fan, the 12's most famous line is from their song "Jeremy". Doug Pinnick from Kings X also plays a 12 string.[/quote] A certain Paul Anthony (ex-Last Three Standing and Nancy Johnson) plays one too. He thinks they're yummy. Try experimenting with a low pass filter - route the low frequencies direct into an amp and then the high frequencies [the octaves] through effects (I use a bit of distortion - a Marshall Guv'Nor)...it will destroy the rest of the band. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 And large chunks of western Scotland too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted December 23, 2008 Author Share Posted December 23, 2008 [quote name='Rich' post='360916' date='Dec 22 2008, 12:59 PM']Oh, cool Do you play it with a pick, or fingerstyle? Is it even [i]possible[/i] to play it fingerstyle? I'd love an 8 or a 10. How about doing a full Review for the, errm, Reviews section? [/quote] I play it with a pick, although it is possible to play it with the fingers. I'll definately do a full review at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Is it possible to fret notes with your fingertips? Are they wide enough? Or is this a daft question? Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted December 26, 2008 Author Share Posted December 26, 2008 Not a daft question at all. There aren't any problems fretting notes as each set of 3 strings are so close together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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