EDIT: I just listened on my laptop, and I guarantee it will sound terrible on there. So better to listen with proper speakers.

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Here's a very short and boring demo:

 8_string_on_7.mp3 ( 750.1K ) Number of downloads: 171


I've been wanting an 8 string for a while, but I thought a cheaper compromise might be buying a set of strings for an 8 string guitar and putting the lowest 7 of them on my 7 string. To my big surprise there's not been much of an issue. Still just playing around with it and I need to work a bit more on settings to get a better tone and all that. But I wanted to share it anyway so far.

This post has been edited by Caelumamittendum: Apr 12 2014, 09:53 PM

that sounds pretty cool. diabolically evil riffing
what is the tuning? it sounds mega low.

It is tuned EBEADF#B, so the low E is an octave lower than the standard E.

Incase if you'll want more presence, my guess would be 8 string P.U.s would have slightly less lows so the thickest strings highs would be more forward sounding. This example sounds fine but a gentle low-cut with an eq in the very beginning in your chain might help for future experiments.

I'm still experimenting a lot though, naturally. One thing I can't experiment with is 8 string pick ups though... not on my 7 string anyway

My my... that's some meanness there I like your experiments man!

It reminds me of Hacktivist:

Cool idea I still can't get friendly with wider necks so I put 13's gauge on some of regular 6 stringed guitars

As for Your recording some heavy low end in there \m/ But not the tone of guitars but the tuning is the issue here

Yeah, there might be some tuning issues, trying to fix that, but might also be that the strings are playing up a bit as they are completely new and not stretched yet.

Sadly, it seems wads of folks give their first listen on either laptop speakers or earbuds which is just that way things are but robs the listener of actually hearing about half of the mix. It's the easiest/quickest way so who can blame them? Eventually, folks usually buy a pair of decent monitors and hook them up to their laptop or whatever they are using as their recording rig. Until then it's mostly a guessing game on audio. Thanksfully many folks here @ GMC realize the importance of audio and have at least a pair of powered studio monitors





You may want to build a hybrid set and get heavier strings for the bottom three or four. That will probably help a bit.

The set I bought is a bit weird indeed: 10 13 17 30 42 54 64 74. Some people are suggesting getting an 80 for the lowest string. Maybe I'll try that some time.

Was it a custom set - I mean did you buy separate strings? Or was it a pack? I used to buy separate strings and build myself a custom 11-54 set of Elixir strings - they only have 10-52 or 11-49 and I wasn't quite happy. But now, 10-52 serves me just right for D standard and Drop C.

Custom gauge selection could be a good choice due to scale differences between guitars made for different strings number. It's same if You put 10s on 3/4 guitar. They won't feel like a 10s...they will be too soft, hard to keep the tuning precise.

It's not a custom set, but they're probably more heavy gauge than otherwise bought single strings, except for the 74, which some people mention could be an 80 instead.

It feels alright in terms of tension, much better than an 8 string I tried in a store here. It felt like rubber bands were on the guitar. No tension at all.