alex.d

Generally speaking I mostly play pick, nearly there with the finishing touches. I bought two sets of nut files to finish the job off, the first set of multiple files in a small holder has already hit the bin as they were absolutely useless they  barely made a mark on the plastic nut. The other set are great, up to a point, they cut a decent groove, trouble is they leave a v shaped valley and I want to have the bottom of the notch  gently curved and not so sharp.

Hi tauzero

you’re absolutely correct I hadn’t given it a thought . To be honest I haven’t given the 12string as much attention as it deserves in a goodly while whilst I’ve been rehearsing with the new band. Octave strings are indeed above but having tinkered around with the 8 string bass I’m still not sure how I’d prefer a final set up to look. Watch this space , I’ll let you know how it goes

Cheers Snorkie  this is really helpful, looks like the nut is the same length, I’ll definitely be able to work it out from here on in. Thanks again

That would’ve made for an easier change. I wonder if you might do me a favour and let me have the measurements of the nut and  slot spacing on your guitar. I’ll be ready  to cut the brass nut once the new strings arrive  and don’t want to balls it up completely.

cheers

My mistake make those gauges read 46-100, 36-80, 26-65, 17-45 the sizes I previously gave were for the D’Addario EXL170-8 set.

Having been a 12 string guitar player for many years having the thinner Octave strings set below would be more natural and comfortable for me to get to grips with I think. But that said, given the fairly significant modifications required to the head stock in changing the machine heads around I think I’m going to leave it as is at least for the moment and see how it pans out for a couple of months once all the final setup is complete. Just awaiting delivery of the new strings I’ve ordered.  I’ve opted to get two sets which will give me  50-100, 40-80, 28-65 , 18-45. I appreciate that these will be a little lighter that the original gauges but will I hope nonetheless have the desired effect. In an ideal world I’d have access to a second guitar set up the other way to directly compare the sound and playability of both setups.

Cheers Snorkie, I’m looking forward to  getting to grips with it, just a few more bits and bobs to do and we’ll be good to go.

Hi I did think of switching the stringing order to the more conventional setup (like yours) But to be honest thought I’d give it a go as is before I make any more adjustments or tweaks. I’ll be buying another couple of blank nuts to cut for each potential setup and then see how it goes from there on forwards. Thanks for  posting a picture of your bass…. Looks exceptional. 
regards

Never bought a set of 8 for a bass before. I had thought about going down the flat wound route but not sure whether these are available as an 8string bass set ?

Everything it seems is expensive. Sets of strings start at nearly £40.00 for an 8 string set. I’ll  take a look at the Warwick nut, can you let me have the website details where you found that one please.

cheers 

I ended up with an uncut nut as I couldn’t find a pre cut one anywhere despite best efforts. Here’s a photo of what I ended up getting and the details of who I got it from. Hope this helps. Mines an Atrics bass but from what little information I can gather it seems that the majority are 43mm. To be honest it’s a little shallow but with the addition of a shim  it’ll be OK. I did see some precut brass nuts for a 12 string guitar. It’s possible that you could get one of these and adapt it by sawing off the top B and  E sections, that said you’ll most likely have to widen the notches to suit your string gauges. Hope this helps.

regards

So I’ve I’ve made the decision that it’s been worth the investment and ordered some new strings and a brass nut.  At the moment it’s now playable  for the first time in years and is  holding tune which gives me confidence that the neck adjustments are stable. When  the  new strings and nut are fitted and the final setup complete I’ll let you know if it was all worth it in the end.

Thanks  to crazycloud for the info regarding the bridge, so it a Sung BB208. To be honest I’ve never heard of them but I’ll look them up. Big red X you’re absolutely right so I think I’ll remain with what i’ve got at the moment.

so here’s a progress report “ out with the old and in with the new” the truss rod nuts that I ordered arrived today, and they appear to be the right size too. So far things appear to be going well , thanks to a trick I learned from a guy on the net. I made a neck brace to relieve pressure on the neck whilst introducing the necessary amount of required back bow. I’m letting it rest overnight after some significant adjustments to see how it copes with them. If all keeps going well I’ll raise or lower the saddles tomorrow pre any final tweaks. Regarding the intonation and octave strings, so far it’s not that bad at all. I’ll keep you posted with anymore progress reports.

thanks to you all again

I dare say that tuning it is going to be interesting when the time comes around, no doubt the way to go will be to tune the thicker set first and then the octave set thereafter. Thanks everyone for taking the time and effort to help. In the meantime if anyone knows where I can get a pre cut (perhaps brass) 43mm nut for it I’d be very grateful to know.

thanks again

I’ll see how the fixes and subsequent setup  comes on before investing anymore cash into it. But good point about the bridge and saddles, Individual saddles for independent intonation adjustment to each of the strings would be the way to go. If it looks like it’s worth it I’ll definitely go down that route

Not being an experienced bassist getting that far up the neck probably won’t happen anyway, but your absolutely correct, separate saddles would have been the way to go, but would have undoubtedly added to the manufacturing costs. I’m just waiting for a few bits and bobs before I start thinking about a set up. The truss rod cover was missing when I bought it (never a good sign), I’ve since noticed that the truss rod nut has been compromised so am awaiting a new one. Given the extra tension produced with the additional strings I’m guessing that I’ll need to introduce some significant back bow to the neck to compensate. Hopefully it’ll then be reasonably playable and deserving of a new set of quality strings. I’ll let you know how it goes and whether it remains  an instrument or a wall decoration.

Here you go, close up pictures as requested. Yes the strings are loose as it’s in the process of fettling. It’ll most likely benefit from some new strings, but I don’t want to go to the expense if it doesn’t fettle properly and play reasonably well , looks like becoming a wall decoration.

An interesting question indeed. Not sure what it brings to the table until I’ve properly fettled it, that said if it brings an interesting new dimension to some numbers in the same way that 12 string guitars embellish and in some cases enhance pieces, I’ll be looking forward to hearing how this pans out

Just awaiting a  truss rod cover and net nut to fettle this before I start to think about a setup. Can I ask and please excuse me for this, but never having played or previously heard one, are they tuned as standard EADG and are the second set  tuned an octave above?

Sorry not sure what you mean when you mentioned H&S. is this a warning from the health and safety executive to stay well clear? Joking apart thanks for responding

Hi I’ll have a go at posting a picture to see if this helps thanks to you both for taking the time to reply

I’ve just acquired an 8 string bass guitar, it says Atrics on the head stock but it’s a name I’ve never heard of and can’t seem to find any references to one on the net. I’m assuming that this was a budget line by another maker. Has anyone heard of  the make  and can anyone enlighten me as to the makes origins.

many thanks