Stub Mandrel Posted January 4 Posted January 4 Have you got a closeup of a good 8-string bridge? Quote
Wolverinebass Posted January 5 Posted January 5 12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: Have you got a closeup of a good 8-string bridge? The one I have on mine is the Schaller 471 bridge which has independent saddles for the different sets of strings. The downside is that it doesn't have grooves cut into the saddles and youd have to do it yourself. I don't know if it's made anymore. Most of the other versions used on commercially available basses are of the tune-o-matic variety. 1 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted January 5 Posted January 5 (edited) Just curious how it's all fitted in the space available. I can only find pictures of bridges for 8 evenly spaced strings. Edited January 5 by Stub Mandrel Quote
BigRedX Posted January 5 Posted January 5 (edited) Here are the best bridge close-ups of the two 8-string basses that I used to own: Both have individually movable saddles for the main and octave string in each course. The second image is of the Carlo Robelli bass which has the same bridge and tail-piece combination as that fitted to the Dean and Schecter 8-string basses. As @Wolverinebass has said the best 8-string bass bridges used to be those made by Schaller which AFAICS are now out of production. Edited January 5 by BigRedX 1 Quote
NancyJohnson Posted January 6 Author Posted January 6 Just got notification the guitar has shipped. Will find out soon enough if it's terrible. What a hoot. 1 Quote
prowla Posted January 6 Posted January 6 On 05/01/2026 at 09:51, BigRedX said: Here are the best bridge close-ups of the two 8-string basses that I used to own: Both have individually movable saddles for the main and octave string in each course. The second image is of the Carlo Robelli bass which has the same bridge and tail-piece combination as that fitted to the Dean and Schecter 8-string basses. As @Wolverinebass has said the best 8-string bass bridges used to be those made by Schaller which AFAICS are now out of production. I wouldn't mind one of those Washburns. Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted January 6 Posted January 6 I guess light string on top works best with a pick? Other way round for fingersyle? Or aren't they very good with fingers? Quote
BigRedX Posted January 6 Posted January 6 2 hours ago, prowla said: I wouldn't mind one of those Washburns. It wasn't the most comfortable of instruments to play and the neck on mine had suffered from a serious break at some point which what been reasonably well repaired but then hidden under a much better re-finish so I didn't discover it until I stripped the finish off with the aim to have a more interesting colour... 50 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: I guess light string on top works best with a pick? Other way round for fingersyle? Or aren't they very good with fingers? IME it doesn't really matter which way around the octave and main strings were. It only matters when playing with a pick if you only pluck in one direction - all up or all down stokes. And as I'm quite a physical player it was easy enough for me to pluck both strings even when playing finger style, although I preferred to play mine with a pick. 2 Quote
Wolverinebass Posted January 6 Posted January 6 4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: I guess light string on top works best with a pick? Other way round for fingersyle? Or aren't they very good with fingers? It doesn't matter. I play both 8 and 12 string basses fingerstyle. It's just about getting the angle of your plucking fingers right for what you want to achieve. So, if you only want to play the octave strings that can be done and the other way round. It's all just a different form of control. Stereotypically, the octave strings are above the fundamental. So, unless you want to get a new nut made, that's probably where you're going to be. I know Rickenbacker did an 8 string for Chris Squire and John Entwistle and the octave strings were below which is somewhat curious. Had you been at the recent SE Bash, you could have played my 8 or 12 and seen if you like the concept as a whole. 1 Quote
NancyJohnson Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 Tracking showing it's done a pair of airline flights this weekend. What fun! Quote
ezbass Posted January 11 Posted January 11 40 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: Tracking showing it's done a pair of airline flights this weekend. What fun! Quote
NancyJohnson Posted January 14 Author Posted January 14 Five days on, no updates 🙃 When I've bought kit from Japan, I seem to remember GB mail services giving a GB tracking number. Quote
NancyJohnson Posted 3 hours ago Author Posted 3 hours ago (edited) Well, this arrived a few minutes ago: No breakages or anything. To be brutally honest, I'm stunned as to how nice it is. Frets need a bit of a polish, strings are nasty, neck is straight, there's no flaws in the finish...even the machine heads seem to hold. Obviously things need a bit of fettling, but for £200, there's nothing here not to like. In all probability the plan is to swap out the hardware; P94s, 300k pots, strap locks and further down the line machine heads. These are a job for future Paulie. Edited 3 hours ago by NancyJohnson 3 Quote
Wolverinebass Posted 3 hours ago Posted 3 hours ago 9 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: Well, this arrived a few minutes ago: Is it the angle or is the body shape wrong? The lower cut seems too high towards the pickups. I appreciate it's a copy of course. Quote
NancyJohnson Posted 2 hours ago Author Posted 2 hours ago 44 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said: Is it the angle or is the body shape wrong? The lower cut seems too high towards the pickups. I appreciate it's a copy of course. It's based on a Gibson Futura, not an Explorer: 1 Quote
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