Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

[PizzaBoiUSMC]

I've been in the market for an 8 string to noodle around with for a bit, but since I have to dedicate most of my finances to [slightly] more important things, I've been looking for the best bargain. I'm not in a band, so I don't worry too much about quality. But as I browse Reverb, I come across some really cheap 8 strings by [they say] Maestro. Normally, I'd say "Sweet, under $200 for an 8 string!" But then I noticed the placement of the pickups, and began questioning how they'd sound. I know that Stephen Carpenter from Deftones has his neck pickup in the middle position, but to have both the neck and bridge pickups that close to the middle raised my interest in how they'd sound...
Pictures I found on Reverb, not mine.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

For an inexpensive instrument, I'd worry more about the fretwork and if it plays in tune up and down the neck than pickups. With 24 frets, any guitar is going to have a compromised neck pickup tone, so I'd say you'd be fine, pickup-wise.

 

[PizzaBoiUSMC]

Re: Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

Yeah, any time I get a new guitar, the first thing I do is take it to my local luthier to get a full set up and any minor (ie not requiring ripping the whole thing apart) fixes done, so if it sounded good to me, I'd have no problem with that. Unfortunately, it'd be a leap of faith [or lack thereof, lol] since it's not available for me to play, but if it's still up next week, I might take the plunge and be the guinea pig for [Tai Lopez] knowledge.

 

[Guitaraxz]

Re: Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

IMHO the bridge pickup is too far away from the bridge, I have encountered guitars like this and getting them pinch harmonics becomes a PIA. The tone is nice, it has more body, but you lose the harmonics. It works fine on basses but not on guitars.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

IMHO the bridge pickup is too far away from the bridge, I have encountered guitars like this and getting them pinch harmonics becomes a PIA. The tone is nice, it has more body, but you lose the harmonics. It works fine on basses but not on guitars.

And you lose tightness that far from the bridge.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Question on pickup placement on 8 string guitars.

Yeah, I am so focused on the neck pickup that I forgot to look at that bridge pickup. It does look a little far from the bridge to get a 'normal' bridge pickup tone. My guess is that you get what you pay for here. There is no getting around that good 8 strings are going to be expensive.