9-strings spotted at NAMM

[Hairmail]

Have you guys seen these?

I know Ibanez pulled out a 9-string proto last year but I never expected it to take off. I was wrong. If they're making these that means there's a demand. And the looks...........Flat black for Ibanez and abalone binding+cross inlays on the schecter, tell you exactly who these are for.

I don't even know how you wrap you hands around the neck. Is the ninth string even practical unless you want to put your bass player out of a job or you an 8th string tuned to Z flat demolished isn't enough low end for you.

Stupid questions, are regular guitar amp speakers able to handle these and won't the 9th string just flap around, buzz on the frets and hit the 8th string?

EDIT: lol, the strings on the schecter go from 0.09 to 0.9.

 

[dominus]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Agile already has a 10 string:

String gauges: .009, .012, .015, .022, .030, .040, .054, .074 .090,.105

Pfft, I'm waiting for....


.... them to go to 11.

 

[Aasinsilta]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

I used to gawk at the idea of 8 strings, then I ended up buying one off a friend after he let me test drive it for a week. I was actually set on it a few minutes after picking it up, these extended range guitars are fun. The wide range gives you freedom to write very cool parts integrating bass lines and low end into your main melodies. Forget having a classical guitar sound like two, play one of these right and you have it sounding like a bass as well. I can wrap my thumb around the neck very easily btw, but I've been told I have large hands.

Unfortunately, the idea of extended range guitars will usually get a bad rep because they are only seen in the hands of players only chugging the lowest couple of strings. Maybe the marketing of these guitars have something to do with that as well.

 

[Hairmail]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Pfft, I'm waiting for....


.... them to go to 11.

The Nigel Tufnel Signature, where everything goes to 11.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Oh **** this. I'm sticking with 6.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

I guess if you can play it on a strap, it's fair game. Have fun making pickups for them, y'all.

 

[Hairmail]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

BKP and EMG have already got a head start with those 9-string pickups.

 

[B2D]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Oh for crying out loud.... just get a piano and Jon Lord it through an amp.

 

[B2D]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Here's a 15-string and a 12-string, respectively... Saw these at NAMM 2011.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150116615808832&l=be8c4adaf3

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150116615883832&l=5eb76db0fc

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

I need to grow a few more fingers.

 

[aleclee]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

And when you get to 12 non-coursed strings, you're back where Chapman was 20 years ago.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

And when you get to 12 non-coursed strings, you're back where Chapman was 20 years ago.

Except that this time it will still be within the context of relatively conventional guitar construction and playing position. And the thickest string won't be in the middle. So, not exactly.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Apart from the earliest examples, the bridge and nut of a Chapman Stick are fully adjustable. The strings can go on in any permutation. I did, briefly, consider restringing my Stick in order of gauge on the Bass side to be more like the NS Stick. I decided against because the Chapman Stick playing technique is (and should be) more like a piano than a guitar.

 

[Mononoaware]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Every time I see this particular envelope being pushed, I think of razor blades. Mach 2, Mach 3, four blades, five, a half dozen, and onward, until one morning you find yourself shaving with the sharpened front grille of a Cadillac mounted on a broom handle, and it dawns on you that Gillette's ultimate goal is to totally drain your bank account right before you self-decapitate.

The madness needs to stop.

Stop the madness.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

I have a beard.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

POSIT - If you buy one of these guitars, what is yo' bassist going to have left to do? :scratchch

 

[Spewnz]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

My guitar player said it best. "Its an ironing board with frets"

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Absurd.....

7 is enough for me, and I rarely even play those. But more power to those explorers who want 9, 10, etc, strings! I must admit, I have been wanting to mess around with one of the 8 strings with EMGs for the fun of it, although I don't think I'd actually buy one. I do like the things some guitarists have been doing with those...

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

I think 8+ strings look fugly.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: 9-strings spotted at NAMM

Once you get to 10 you might as well get a stick seriously or play slide. Not to say extended range instruments are not practical it's that I find most people don't know how to use them very effectively and to their full potential. Also once you start getting that low you have to star thinking about how you're gonna amplify it. As for guitar I think 8 strings might be my limit but I could see setting up a 10 or 12 string in different tunings such as the first 6 in one tuning and the other 6 in another one.