8 String Basses - Suggestions?

[Lorne]

[quote name='paul h' post='494815' date='May 22 2009, 12:42 AM']Has nobody said "nail two four strings together" yet?

[/quote]


Now,there's an idea

I know who owns this (only one ever made)



And I found these for my friend (Only 7 ever made)

[Bassmurf]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='492647' date='May 19 2009, 08:16 PM']If you're *really* lucky you might find an Ibanez Studio 8.

Heavy, but as good as an 8 gets, I think.



G.[/quote]

I owned one of these, used to bi-amp with a Trace stack and 50w geetar amp!

[Wolverinebass]

Thanks for the suggestions. I must confess that Warwick looks great and I'm not a particular fan of them either. I would be very loathe to spend more than £4K on a Zon as The Status Buzzard I own cost that much and IMO that's the best bass ever built. If I ever paid more than that for a bass it'd better come with a free house and be prepared to do housework as well.

As much as I like the Alembic I have I prefer the buzzard as it's just so incredibly brutal. I wouldn't mind a graphite neck, but I've never played a hybrid bass before (i.e. wooden body and graphite neck). I suppose the question is which does it sound more like wood or graphite? Does anyone have any experience? I suppose it might be worth giving Status a phone to see if they do forays into 8 strings. The last model I was aware they did was the 8 string buzzard and that's at least 4 years ago.

In terms of the Hagstrom, I would like to at least try one, but trying to find one is rather difficult to say the least. I assume that the fact the strings don't have individual saddles is a real problem based on the info you've mentioned regarding intonation problems.

It may also be rather silly to get a bass that's £450 when the dip in quality will be rather apparent I assume in comparison to my other 2. Money isn't too much of a problem, but of course I'd like something that's good.

Cheers
Andy

[BigRedX]

In that case you should have a good look at the Tune 8-stings.

A new [url="http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~tune/tune/twx-custom/twx-custom,series.htm"]TWX-8C PD[/url] will set you back about £1500 plus shipping and import taxes, but if you can wait for one to turn up second hand on the [url="http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/ubox.cgi?T=gazo&word=2&or8=32&key=&equal1=&value5=&select5=down&print=40"]Ishibashi U-Box[/url] you should be able to get it for about half that. Ishibashi are great to deal with but you need to act fast if you see one you like because these tend to go pretty quickly.

[RhysP]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='494845' date='May 22 2009, 07:02 AM']If money is no object you could try to find a Zon Sonus 8 string... very light for an 8 and also has a graphite neck![/quote]
I had no idea that Zon made an 8 string - oh boy!!

[12stringbassist]

I have a Dean Rhapsody 8er and there's nothing wrong with it.
Lovely to play, nice action, big sound great EQ control.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='492647' date='May 19 2009, 08:16 PM']If you're *really* lucky you might find an Ibanez Studio 8.

Heavy, but as good as an 8 gets, I think.



G.[/quote]


There is one of those in Canterbury, the guy wants £1200 fot it.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='496664' date='May 24 2009, 04:29 PM']There is one of those in Canterbury, the guy wants £1200 fot it.[/quote]

How much! For an Ibanez 8?

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='496710' date='May 24 2009, 05:36 PM']How much! For an Ibanez 8?[/quote]


I said to the guy "it looks nice but £1200 really?!?!?" and he said "that's what they go for" so I walked out not even bothering to see what else was there.

[geoffbyrne]

There's been a couple up on Ebay the last 2 or 3 years that went for about half that, give or take.

G.

[Bassmurf]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='496664' date='May 24 2009, 04:29 PM']There is one of those in Canterbury, the guy wants £1200 fot it.[/quote]

Blimey, if only I had known I wouldn't have settled for £200 in part xchange for a p-bass when I was in The Bass Centre some years ago

[james_d]

I think 8 string bass, which are like 12 strings guitar (2 strings for everyone) sound amazing. Johnny Christ from A7X uses one and it gives it so much punch and has a distinctive sound.

[4000]

[quote name='Wolverinebass' post='495003' date='May 22 2009, 11:31 AM']Thanks for the suggestions. I must confess that Warwick looks great and I'm not a particular fan of them either. I would be very loathe to spend more than £4K on a Zon as The Status Buzzard I own cost that much and IMO that's the best bass ever built. If I ever paid more than that for a bass it'd better come with a free house and be prepared to do housework as well.

As much as I like the Alembic I have I prefer the buzzard as it's just so incredibly brutal. I wouldn't mind a graphite neck, but I've never played a hybrid bass before (i.e. wooden body and graphite neck). I suppose the question is which does it sound more like wood or graphite? Does anyone have any experience? I suppose it might be worth giving Status a phone to see if they do forays into 8 strings. The last model I was aware they did was the 8 string buzzard and that's at least 4 years ago.

In terms of the Hagstrom, I would like to at least try one, but trying to find one is rather difficult to say the least. I assume that the fact the strings don't have individual saddles is a real problem based on the info you've mentioned regarding intonation problems.

It may also be rather silly to get a bass that's £450 when the dip in quality will be rather apparent I assume in comparison to my other 2. Money isn't too much of a problem, but of course I'd like something that's good.

Cheers
Andy[/quote]

You're correct about the 8 string Buzzard, but I wouldn't be surprised if Rob wouldn't knock you something up if you ask; an 8 string Stealth maybe, or a Buzzard 2? If money is no object, I'd definitely consider something custom built.

Personally of all the 8 strings I've played (and I've played many of those mentioned here, although I've never played a Tune), my favourite by far was my Ric 4003s8. That thing [i]sang[/i]. Admittedly I'm a big Rick fan but that was an amazing sounding instrument. If I hadn't been after my custom built Alembic I'd never have sold it. Never had problems with the intonation either, despite not having individual saddles, but it was a pain to set the intonation in the first place and also to change strings on. I love 8s actually,but then I suppose I have a guitaristic style.

[Grissle]

Wow, this whole 8 string thing made my ears stand up. I've got an extra MIM Fender Jazz doing nothing. Using say some Steinberg tuners on the headstock for the octave strings might just work. But I reeaally prefer playing fingerstyle, and wonder if stringing it with the octave strings below type setup, would the octave strings still be adequately audible? I'm not looking for octave string on top with a pick levels, but something still nicely filling.

[BigRedX]

Good luck with that, but I think you'll find the jazz neck too narrow for an 8-string. My Carlo Robelli 8-string is the same width as the average 5-string bass. If you can find a suitable neck, I'd try guitar tuners at the body end for the octave strings, like the Kramers and BC Rich 8-strings.

[small_lump_of_green_putty]

[url="http://www.bassnw.com/Used%20Basses/zon_sonus_8_st_trans_charcoal.htm"]http://www.bassnw.com/Used%20Basses/zon_so...ns_charcoal.htm[/url]

[dub_junkie]

They're no longer made and would be tricky to find if one appealed. I have a Deity 4 string fretless and its a beautifully crafted bass.

couple of clips of a 10string

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwsJfAXOI8Q"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwsJfAXOI8Q[/url]

[url="http://truefire.com/bptv/index.html?req=1&station=bpgear&video=bassplayer/bpgear/bpgeargodlykedeity"]http://truefire.com/bptv/index.html?req=1&...eargodlykedeity[/url]


[url="http://www.godlykebass.com/Deity_8_String.php"]http://www.godlykebass.com/Deity_8_String.php[/url]

[url="http://www.grdmusic.com/servlet/the-17/Godlyke,-godlike,-bass,-bass/Detail"]http://www.grdmusic.com/servlet/the-17/God...ss,-bass/Detail[/url]

[waynepunkdude]

Heres a pic of the over priced Ibanez.