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Guitarists are trying to make us obsolete.

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Interesting idea. Hope it is a niche product.
This pickup is just a gimmick for guitarists who don't understand the musical and tonal versatility of an 8 string. They specifically advertise:

1) Two lowest strings are reduced an octave or two: An 8 string is a 6 with two lower strings. Only you don't have to lose the E and A to have them.
2) Low latency: An 8 string has zero latency because it's analog.
3) Software which drops the lowest note in a chord an octave: why box yourself in? An 8 string lets you choose your voicing, not the software.

Bass is bass and serves a distinct purpose in an ensemble. It isn't just a guitar that's an octave lower; it sounds different, responds differently, and requires a whole different mindset to pull off competently.
 
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Speaking as a guitarist converting to bass, I'd worry more about Charlie Hunter and Tosin Abasi than I would about these things.

In other news, I've threatened to remove my rhythm guitarist's low E string so he does something other than chug. :D
I don't want to sound pessimistic, or like I'm down on guitarists, but many of them have 4 or five strings more than what they know what to do with.:D
 
Geddy Lee played guitar before he picked up bass. Ya wanna rethink that?

Geddy is hardly the example of your average musician. He could tie a shoestring to a 2x4 and kick most of our butts.

The guitarist in my main band has toys that let him go down in my register, with both bass and keyboard tones. We work together to come up with more for both of us.
 
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Seems like a lot of work. You sacrifice the option of having a nice neck pickup in your humbucker guitar so that you can have this effect instead. Maybe good for woodshedding, if nothing else.

As for guitarists playing bass, I hope I never hear "can I just show you the bass part I wrote for this section?" ever again, but I probably will. Why do guitarists have such greasy little hands, when it comes to filth'ing up my bass? Why can't they figure out that I can transpose down and octave? Much fun trying to transcribe out some over-busy, off-kilter and tempo-free splash of notes into a proper bass part.