8 & 9 String guitars....

The longer the scale = easier to snap?
The thinner the string = easier to snap.
Put the two together, and it's really pushing it.

However, I heard there are some special brand of strings that are 'built' for tuning up to high A. Forgot the name, I think it was Octane4 or something.

This is where the fanned fret idea comes into play... so you can have the benefits of the extended range for the strings that need it and have the normal scale where you don't. If I were ever to try buy an 8-string again, thats what I'd be looking for myself.

Also, heres that page you were referring to:
http://octave4plus.com/

O4Pin%20GP.jpg


How about that one guys, too many strings? :D
 
This is where the fanned fret idea comes into play... so you can have the benefits of the extended range for the strings that need it and have the normal scale where you don't. If I were ever to try buy an 8-string again, thats what I'd be looking for myself.

Also, heres that page you were referring to:
http://octave4plus.com/

O4Pin%20GP.jpg


How about that one guys, too many strings? :D

Not really into fanned frets, just want an 8-string with 28.625 scale, normal/straight frets.
And yea, those are the strings I was thinking of.

Honestly, as far as how many strings, I think 8 is where to draw the line. because the lowest on a 9 string would be a bass string... .90 gauge sounds about right. Well, for Metal anyway. 8 and beyond looks good if your a godly classical guitarist or something.


Some of you guys need to listen to Ihsahn.

Cool, I'll check 'em out in a bit
 
Check his last album first, that's where he uses 8 string guitars the most, and in a no-djent way, which makes it interesting.
 
Just wanted to share this nice discover of mine from yesterday, although it's a 11 alt guitar (so it's basically a 6str + 5 bass notes)

 
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That was not my point, I meant that it's not adding anything new to the table. IMO anything lower than A is not heavier, just muddier.
 
That was not my point, I meant that it's not adding anything new to the table. IMO anything lower than A is not heavier, just muddier.

Not adding anything new to the table? I'm not even sure what thats supposed to mean... I mean, if you don't like the music at all, thats one thing, but it's just a tool for creating music and I think the songs are are great.

Does the guitar tone on the album sound especially muddy to you?
 
I wanted to share another discovery, this is beyond awesome, the sound is gorgeous and his playing wonderful. Makes me want a luth or alt guitar even more : [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxVzNZVflL8&feature=related[/ame]

I liked this one too : [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_7zPGdJKRE&feature=related[/ame]

I think what Uros means is that overall his music doesn't really really benefit from such a low register. I think I see where he is coming from. IMO lower notes are better on clean or crunch parts than on heavy riffs, like I don't know at 6:30 in "on the shore" from the "After" Album. This part sounds godly, although it's maybe not using the lower notes, I don't have good enough ears to tell.

I think on this album it makes the sound overall muddy, although it's maybe the overall mix ? Like the part with heavy riff in the same song just after the part I mentioned (with a saxophone solo), it's quite mud city imo, it's nothing like a clear riff although it's not what he was aiming for here. In another hand, I like the result in this very song, it makes it more a drone-y riff that fills the spectrum than anything else and brings a good mood for the saxophone to solo on top of it.
 
Not adding anything new to the table? I'm not even sure what thats supposed to mean... I mean, if you don't like the music at all, thats one thing, but it's just a tool for creating music and I think the songs are are great.

Does the guitar tone on the album sound especially muddy to you?

The songs may or may not be great, that's not what we're discussing, is it.
Tone is not that muddy (but it is kinda muddy), it's just flat (although I am not sure if it's because of the 8th string or not).
Look at it this way - imagine if the lowest played notes on the record were A or B. My opinion is that it wouldn't have hurt the music at all. 8 stringer on that record simply doesn't add anything. It's not heavier because of it, and I certainly can't hear that extended range some guys talk about.

Like I said, I could see benefit in the 8th/9th string for playing counterpoints with fingers and all that jazz, with a clean tone or similar, but not distorted metal.

LaSedna understood what I was saying ;)
 
It's not how many strings you have, it's how you use them. Even with 6 string guitars, look at easy power-chord stuff like Blink 182, and compare to stuff Paul Gilbert or John Petrucci does. The same can be said for 7, 8, 9+ string guitars. Sure, you can add on more strings, but do you know how to use them? Or can you use them in a memorable way? It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean. :D
 
It's not how many strings you have, it's how you use them. Even with 6 string guitars, look at easy power-chord stuff like Blink 182, and compare to stuff Paul Gilbert or John Petrucci does. The same can be said for 7, 8, 9+ string guitars. Sure, you can add on more strings, but do you know how to use them? Or can you use them in a memorable way? It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean. :D

Well said sir. Big +1 to this.
 
define me "Proper Bassist" first please.
i hope you aren't trying to suggest by your statement that bassists always have to go one octave lower than guitars

I'm not. But I'm still can't imagine a good sounding mix with 9string guitars. Well, the only music, played on 8 strings, I really like was Divine Heresy (sorry, not a hge Meshuggah fan). And even that stuff hasn't smashing bass guitar sound. IMHO, of course
 
i am not fan of Meshuggah either (even though i enjoy Djent music) but it is still possible to make good sound.
the fact that bass goes some times in unison with 8 string still produces different sound than guitar.
what i am saying is that bass will always remain bass and guitars will always remain guitars.

i find this argument of not pssoble to make good mix to be, nonsense. exactly the same logics could be applaied, to lets say, Harp or Piano. comparing this instruments is a joke because they still mega extended range instruments comparing to an 8 string and yet it is possible to get good sound out of them. granted it is often being used for other music styles but still i think the argument remains valid.

my main problem with this all hate towards extended range instruments is that people find bulshit arguments against them. like no one needs so many string .or you need to have good bassist first etc. , hard to make good mix... O really??!
i think the source to this arguments lay deep down in the incompetence of of finding how to utilize this range.


about Divine Heresy, the first album (donno about the second because didn't listen to it) is mainly done on 7 string guitar.
if you listen carefully you will notice that this album is mixed in very guitar egoistic manner. wich is fine, that style of music does not need anything else. the role of the bass in there is just to remain the the background and make everything sound fat and nothing more.