Hey I was just trying out a Hagstrom 8-string bass at the shop. It sounds pretty nice and looks bad ass but I’m wondering how useful it is - it seems like a more specialised instrument than most fours strings.
Has anybody had any experience with 8-strings? I’m trying to justify this as a (maybe early) Christmas present to myself. …
I’ve only seen one in person, looked kind of weird to pluck and weirder to pick. Not really my style either.
Probably sound great though.
Oh yeah it’s got this kind of “lighters in the air” arena feel about it. I reckon it’ll be amazing through a flange 
That sounded so wrong to my twisted mind 
I saw a video with Frank Bello playing one and it sounded pretty cool. I don’t think I’d want one though, it seems like it would require a whole new learning curve.
Ooo you are awful 
This is what I’m thinking, and would the payoff be worth it?
I heard one at a local event a few years ago and thought it sounded really cool. When I talked to the bass player about it he said he really liked playing it but could only do short sets with it because it was really heavy. He handed it to me and I had to agree. I read somewhere once that the bass player for Jimi Hendrix used one.
Derek Smalls would be proud
Yeah this was really noticeable when I tried it - maybe over 5 kilos. Maybe the neck is reinforced? Still quite manageable when sitting down though…
It does sound pretty Hendrixy - it’s possible to play these basses with upstrokes for the high register and downstrokes for the lower, as well as both together…
Eight? Twelve? I love you all but holy cow, you must be effing crazy?!?
I care barely remember E-A-G-D with four strings!!!
Wait…
E-A-D-G, shit! See what I mean??? ROFL
Even with 8 strings, it still is just E-A-D-G.
It is basically that, compared to a normal 4 string bass, for every string there is an added string an octave up, right next to it. Usually those are played so that if you pluck the E, you pluck both those E-strings, the normal one and the one 1 octave up.
I have a 12 string Hohner acoustic and the one thing I did not like about it was having to re-tune a lot.
I always thought it had something to do with the extra tension all those strings were putting on the guitar neck, compared to a 6 string.
I wonder what the string tension on the neck is like for an 8 string Bass 
Yes but the tone is more resonant and it’s possible to play in an upper register…
Oh this bass was built like a brick wall. The strings also run through the body under the bridge - I guess for more support…
True about the tuning…
I’d rather use a keyboard. I don’t think think that 8 string has any practical use because their downsides overwhelm the upsides.
Some downsides that come to mind:
=the extra complication of the added strings… Adding 2 strings doesn’t make it twice as difficult for the player as adding 1 string, it’s more like 4 or 5 times more difficult because of the number of relationships between the notes (look up factorials in maths).
=the extra weight
=the width of the neck, not to mention it’s past the point of no return in neckdive land.
=issues with the F# string! I have enough problems with the low B string.
=the extra cost getting all elements of the bass to work well together. Not everyone has the bass setup skill to make the best use of the low F#.
=it will most likely sound awful
=are their any cabs that can reproduce the sound accurately?
=price of strings.
So overall it’s one big fat juicy NOPE.
How is that thing tuned??
And don’t say very carefully 
I can’t use one 
I think we might be as cross-purposes about the tuning - the 8-string is two sets of eadg, one set being an octave above the other?
The weight is definitely a minus although surprisingly I didn’t notice much neckdive - I guess a lot of the weight is in the body (maybe a lump of concrete in the middle ). Also I think it’s not full scale.
eeE-aaA-ddD-ggG
using…050/.050/.095, .040/.040/.070, .030/.030/.060, .018/.018/.040
So a bit of built in ‘chorus’ an octave higher.
Seems like a load of fun though relatively impractical
I still would say tune it very carefully.
