8 String bass anyone??

Okay so I gather there are quite a few bass fans here, DB :), but how about one that sort of combines both
aka Hagstrom H8 /f-800
Yeah I know sorry Ive jumped straight back on the Hagstrom bandwagon but these were pretty cool with a unique sound and featured in the Jimi Hendrix band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience circa 1967
The strings were tuned in octaves similar to a 12 string guitar, but obviously a bass version instead


http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/...itches0100.mp3

The link above is a sound clip of the bridge pick up

Interesting, I had never seen one before. Interesting sound too.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
Would love to see one of these as a kit, but not sure if the factory could get their heads around this one..

12 string too?
http://www.hamerguitars.com/pics/models/b12l_lg.jpg
That would be rad.

I've never heard one of these either, sound pretty cool, almost like a bass with an octaver pedal with a bit more twang with the thinner string.
So the 12 string version looks like 4 bass strings and 8 treble (thinner) strings

I can almost guarantee you've heard a 12 string bass before Woks, check these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS91knuzoOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qgpewMCVjs

cheers Pabs I'm familiar with both those songs, never knew they had a 12 string bass played

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

12 string too?
http://www.hamerguitars.com/pics/models/b12l_lg.jpg
That would be rad.

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Its Rad alright, but how in hell do you play it!
Must say Im not blown away with the look of the Hagstrom, but it sure sounds cool

The "Katy Texas" bands like King's X and Galactic Cowboys poached the 12 string bass off Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick (who also had 18 string models, 6 courses of three strings each). Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam poached it from Dug Pinnick from King's X.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMQd4quu6Rs

Ibanez brought one out in their Musician range in early 1980's and I had a play on one out of curiosity but kept the wallet in my pocket and eventually bought a fretless yammy instead.
Attachment 11935Attachment 11936Attachment 11937Attachment 11938
It sounded OK but was not quite for me at the time. Needed a pick to get the best out of it which was fine as I was mostly using one at that early stage of my Bass playing. Only checked it out because of the guy in Cheap Trick using a multi stringed Bass.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

I can almost guarantee you've heard a 12 string bass before Woks, check these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS91knuzoOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qgpewMCVjs

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The penny finally dropped ....thanks Pabs:eek:

Shergold did an 8 string bass back in the 70s and I'd be guessing they weren't the first to give it a try

Don't see any finger pluckers jumping in to say they want to own one. Definitely best suited to pick players.

Except me. I have one and have played it fingers and pick. It will be on the intro to "Square One Blues" from our next release.
Is fun to play, but like fretting an extremely large gauge string.

Yeah, the fretting would be a bit harder and cannot begin to imagine how bad it would be on the 12 stringer with triples rather than pairs for each note.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dingobass

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
Would love to see one of these as a kit, but not sure if the factory could get their heads around this one..

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​Had a thought ,looking at this again its pretty similar to the SGB-34 not sure about headstock length and obviously control routing would be different. Doubt whether they could duplicate the bridge. however I found that Guild now make a similar 4 string Bass bridge that probably wouldn't be too hard to convert given that it has rosewood saddles...

Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake & Palmer used to play a beautiful Alembic 8 string bass ... who can forget "fanfare for the common man" ... https://youtu.be/fK92hdp6u18 ...
well, maybe you need to be old like me ... I think the first time I saw this was when that I realised that Bass was the instrument for me!

I found this pic ... mmmm ... Alembic ...

Attachment 12708

Alembic have made some very interesting looking basses ... maybe some inspiration for other kits here ...

http://alembic.com/info/fcvault.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

12 string too?
http://www.hamerguitars.com/pics/models/b12l_lg.jpg
That would be rad.

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My former employer Zenith Music had (and probably still have) two 12string Hamers. They are VERY heavy! Like about 8kgs heavy.

Wow, that is heavy. Twice the weight of my Ric 4003 and I thought that weighed plenty at 4.1kg

No way, 8kg is nuts. You gotta think about a kilo of that is just strings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

No way, 8kg is nuts. You gotta think about a kilo of that is just strings.

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How much would the additional tuners weigh? It would be a very headstock heavy beast to play standing up.

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

How much would the additional tuners weigh? It would be a very headstock heavy beast to play standing up.

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I think the body weight is to counter the neck balance issue. Plus I'm sure there's double truss rods.

That's probably why Tom Peterson had cello "spikes" on some of his so he could stand them up.

https://youtu.be/0lPerBh4HYA

Hamer Chaparral 12string- being played brilliantly!

I like Hamers, I have three of them (no bases though). So well made, and the US ones are far better made than Gibsons.

The guy on that you tube link did a great New York Groove cover too.

It would be interesting to compare the sound of the same tune played on an otherwise similar 4-string to the 12-string version, to see what the 8 extra strings add to the sound.

I've tried to learn the slapping lick- not easy!- and there is a difference without the extra octave. The fascinating thing is that on that piece he isn't hitting the upper octaves all the time which adds an extra dynamic layer to the tone he gets. And it's not the same using an octave effect.

I reckon you could adapt an IB6 to be an 8 string....

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Originally Posted by Hobastard

I reckon you could adapt an IB6 to be an 8 string....

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I think the neck would end up being too wide on an IB6. You'd need a bit of extra width, so maybe a 5-string neck, but not a 6-string. You can't change the overall string spacing much without the bass becoming awkward to play.