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TRADED: One-of-a-kind Conklin 8-string Bass (now £999)
£1100


therealting
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I'm still in two minds about this as it was my dream instrument several years ago that I spent considerable amounts of time and money on. The aim was to have an instrument that would have the range of a guitar and with tapping / touchstyle potential, but with a manageable string spacing for my smaller hands.

The base is a Conklin Groove Tools 7-string that I had imported from the States. Swamp ash back and thick figured maple top, purpleheart fingerboard and incredibly stable yet thin 7-piece wenge / purpleheart laminate neck. Bartolini pickups and active preamp.

Hipshot made me a custom 8-string bridge with 14mm string spacing, and I added an eighth tuning machine and had a new nut cut. Custom Newtone stainless steel strings brought the thing to life.

Just to push it over the top, I had SIMS Custom add LEDs, including a butterfly inlay at the headstock (easily covered if not to your taste) and edge dots that act as front or side dots. These can be switched on or off via a toggle switch on the front.

Will take some better photos, but these give you an idea.

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mljj1j.jpg&key=37778bf9ecf75fa96f1d6560500c9e8d2e6f4198987ada49c84e47bc956d9ca3

The 14mm spacing sounds very narrow for a bass, but it means that the B string is still reached relatively easily for an 8-string. Slapping is possible, albeit requiring some adjustment. I currently have it tuned to BEADGCEA, but it could easily be tuned in 4ths (BEADGCFBb). I know some people have tuned them with a low F# instead.

Interested in trades for:

- Sadowsky 5-strings, particularly NYC ones (can add a little cash as appropriate)
- high-end relics e.g. Fender Custom Shop, MJT, Bravewood
- ... try me? (but I'm sure you'll understand that not everything may be to my taste)

Edited by therealting
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Bump! Still interested in Bravewood, Sadowsky etc but also interested in medium scale instruments, particularly Precisions, singlecuts or five/six strings  

Will consider an outright sale too. 

Edited by therealting
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Not tried attaching an MP3 file here before so this is a bit of an experiment, but here is a rough little demo of me playing Billie Jean on this monster. All parts played on this bass, including the beat, bass parts, chords and melody!

Best heard with headphones - forgive the very quick mix.

Billie Jean - Conklin Custom 8 String Bass.mp3

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Bump. Interesting trades considered, particularly a Noble preamp or a medium scale Precision... I have a few things listed so could combine for the right trade.

Edited by therealting
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A contender for the oldest for sale thread on BassChat! 

There's very few of us 8 string players out there! Me and maybe 2 others on BC tops. 😅

Looks like a factory bass, a GT7 is ideal to mod into an 8 as the headstock and machine head placement are literally perfectly placed to add that extra machine head. 

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There are far too many strings for me, as I am a bassist. I go to the other direction, have converted six strings to 5... But how much did that bridge cost you? A special order is probably a special price, too? If you are not able to reveal the actual price paid, even a ballpark figure would be helpful, thank you.

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