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My very weird 8-string bass

Taylor Livingston

Taylor Livingston

Commercial User
Dec 25, 2002
3,210
2,312
Oregon, US
Disclosures
Owner, Iron Ether Electronics
#1
I have this weird bass, thought some of you might enjoy seeing it.

I had this custom-made for me in 2007. For various reasons, the experience of getting it made was kind of an unpleasant one and by the time I got the bass I was too annoyed to post completed pictures, so after a lot of build up there never was any information here on TB when it was finally done. It was made by somebody but I don't want to say the name - I think this may be one of only a couple of basses he made (was mainly making acoustic instruments) so the name is not one with which TB is familiar. I don't think he's in business anymore.

You will notice some unusual features:

-the lower half of the fretboard has quartertone frets. Regular 12TET frets above the "12th" (actually 24th) fret.
-Sustainiac infinite sustain and harmonics system
-8 strings, in pairs, which is not so unusual except that the pairs are not octaves because of the...
-Hipshot detuners on all 8 strings. While playing I can retune the pairs to minor sevenths or fifths or however I want to set it up.
-besides making room for detuners on the "octave" strings, having these tuners at the body end means I can use any guitar strings rather than having to hunt and pay a lot for special piccolo strings.

I play it in various configurations, so right now it's a 6-string - single bass notes on bottom and pairs up top for chords/arpeggios.

As far as the regular bass specs, it's a 32" scale, bubinga body and top, wenge neck through and fretboard. The frets are, I think a brass alloy, don't remember the name - it's halfway between the standard nickel color and the gold frets on Warwicks. The non-Sustainiac pickup is a SD Basslines, but I might swap it out. The Sustainiac functions as a pickup with a somewhat unique sound when not sustaining.

Yes, the headstock is a CT ripoff. I don't feel good about this nowadays, but back then it didn't occur to me that it was uncool to do that.

If you notice some wonky things when looking close, that's because it is wonky up close. But this bass was pretty cheap by the standards of even regular custom instruments, let alone crazy experimental ones. I am currently removing and rebuilding the electronics, so excuse the empty cavity and any nasty wiring stuff you may see in there - I was not the one who installed or wired the electronics originally.

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#8
You must be a Michael Manring fan, at least in the de-tuner dept. I've seen him a number of times and what he does with a 'weird' bass is nothing short of amazing and ultimately musical. Kudo's for venturing out on a limb. And if the hs shape bothers you so much, it could easily be altered.
 
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#10
Manring was definitely an inspiration for some of these ideas, although my music and playing don't sound much like his at all, and I certainly don't have anything close to his virtuosity! At the time I commissioned this instrument, I was heavily influenced by non-Western music, as well as classical composers working with strange tonalities like Schoenberg and Harry Partch. I later found that quartertones are actually not much better than regular old 12 TET for approximating the harmonic series, but they work well for "broken" and "restless" harmonies, for example, a chord where the third is halfway between major and minor.

In all honesty, even after 8 years I don't think I've unlocked this thing's full potential. It's a difficult instrument to play and there are no teachers who could really guide me since nobody else has something quite like this. That's kind of cool, though - maybe by the time my hair's all grey/gone, I'll be a master of an instrument that only I've ever played. Perhaps I'll contact Michael and see about the possibility of some lessons with him.
 
#13
Of course, careful finger positioning will give your quarter-tones on a fretless. It is amazing how quickly the ear becomes attuned to the differences between quarter notes. I create my own little scales within three frets.

(Yes, I am easily amused!)
 
#14
I like it, I'd buy one if the price was right! (Though perhaps the detuners are a wee bit beyond my pay grade.) ;)
 
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#16
I've wanted to make a track using this bass to show you guys, but have just been too busy. Also, I'd like to get the Sustainiac working again as that's a big part of the fun.

Shovel said:
I dig that a lot, I've never seen a bass with quarter tones before. Does anyone have information or links on uses of quarter tones in pop music? I'm kinda intrigued.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's much use of quartertones in Western pop music. When I was first getting the instrument made 8 years ago, I tried searching and only found that the doublebass intro for "These Boots were Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra is a series of descending quartertones. Jessica Simpson apparently kept it in her version as well.

My own musical tastes are more experimental so at the time I think was planning to emulate stuff like Persian music, or just plain atonal nonsense.

DiabolusInMusic said:
How does the playability/action hold up when you start de-tuning multiple strings and at both ends? I have always assumed the hyperbass only worked due to the graphite neck. I would expect wood to shift far too much under all the pressure changes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's not great in this respect, but it's a reasonably well-reinforced, laminated wenge neck. If I were to flip half the detuners down, the other four strings would go slightly out of tune because of the changing tension on the neck. Since I used to routinely tune my A string a quartertone sharp and other strange stuff like that even on a regular bass, this is not a big deal for my uses of this instrument. The bass also only cost about 1/7th of what a Hyperbass would, so I wasn't going to be too picky about it.

As far as playability, the action isn't a huge problem whatever I do, but in some configurations I do get some fret buzz. I had actually asked the builder about adding a jawari-style buzzing bridge at one point, so again the buzzing can be seen as part of the uniqueness of the instrument (if I'm being charitable ;) )
 
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#17
Taylor Livingston said:
I've wanted to make a track using this bass to show you guys, but have just been too busy. Also, I'd like to get the Sustainiac working again as that's a big part of the fun.



I don't think there's much use of quartertones in Western pop music. When I was first getting the instrument made 8 years ago, I tried searching and only found that the doublebass intro for "These Boots were Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra is a series of descending quartertones. Jessica Simpson apparently kept it in her version as well.

My own musical tastes are more experimental so at the time I think was planning to emulate stuff like Persian music, or just plain atonal nonsense.



Yeah, it's not great in this respect, but it's a reasonably well-reinforced, laminated wenge neck. If I were to flip half the detuners down, the other four strings would go slightly out of tune because of the changing tension on the neck. Since I used to routinely tune my A string a quartertone sharp and other strange stuff like that even on a regular bass, this is not a big deal for my uses of this instrument. The bass also only cost about 1/7th of what a Hyperbass would, so I wasn't going to be too picky about it.

As far as playability, the action isn't a huge problem whatever I do, but in some configurations I do get some fret buzz. I had actually asked the builder about adding a jawari-style buzzing bridge at one point, so again the buzzing can be seen as part of the uniqueness of the instrument (if I'm being charitable ;) )
Click to expand...

Flat bridge? Now you are talking! I love the buzz!
My Jerry Jones Sitar guitar is so much fun!

Pat Metheny has a few acoustic guitars with flat bridges.

Thanks for the reply, Taylor!
 
#18
@Taylor Livingston thanks so much for the information. This is something I have assumed for years but really have never had a chance to test. How do you like the sustainiac? I intend to get one eventually (when I build a Peter Steele tribute bass.)

I am also in the camp that is waiting for sound clips.
 
#19
The Sustainiac is a lot of fun. What's really special about it compared to an Ebow is that it has a knob that sort of blends between different harmonics, and the knob can be pulled out to access a second set of harmonics. So where the Ebow just has the normal/harmonic switch, the Sustainiac's knob can be used to really morph through a series of harmonics continuously while sustaining a note.

I found it to work really well for middle and upper notes, but had a hard time getting the fundamental notes of the low strings to sustain consistently/quickly. It doesn't really work for sustaining multiple notes together, since the pickup/drive electronics/sustainer driver are a single channel. If you guys have seen the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], those work polyphonically because the pickups and drivers have separate poles for each string, and the electronics have 6 separate channels. I've had some vague plans to experiment with building pickup/driver coils with 4 separate channels so that I could actually sustain full chords and the like.
 

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