An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings instead of the commonly used six strings. Such guitars are not as common as the six string variety, but are used by classical, jazz, and metal guitarists to expand the range of their instrument by adding two strings.
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There are several variants of this instrument, one probably originating from Russia along with the seven string guitar variant in the 19th century. The eight string guitar has recently begun to gain popularity, notably among jazz artists such as Charlie Hunter, The Special Purpose, Terje Rypdal and Richard Scott, and metal artists such as Deftones, Meshuggah, Mariachi Terror, Ad Ruinas, Stations, Suicide Silence, Ihsahn, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, After The Burial, and Gwar. More bands such as Periphery, Instinct for Rank, The Paradoxical Spiral and Animals as Leaders aimed to achieve more audio span and ambiance within metal and experimental genres by utilizing the additional strings by using a combination of octave E and top A throughout.
There are steadily increasing numbers of manufacturers offering eight string guitars, and a production eight string was released in 2007 by Ibanez, followed in 2010 by a new RGA 8 string. One of the main manufacturing companies of 8 and even 9 string guitars is Novax Guitars established by Ralph Novak and Conklin Guitars. Recently ESP, Mayones and Schecter Guitar Research have also begun to make production line eight string guitars as well.
Manufactures of 8 string guitars include: Agile, BlackMachine, Carvin, Chellee, Conklin, Dean, ESP, Guerilla, Halo, Helios, Hufschmid, Ibanez, LGM, Manne, Mayones, Novax, Oni, Ran, Schecter Guitar Research, Shamray, Sherman, Siggery, The Illustrated Luthier Jesse Hall, Teuffel, Uva, and Wes Lambe.
Roy Connors, of the 1960s folk singing group The Highwaymen ("Michael, Row the Boat Ashore", "In Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home"), patented the eight-string guitar in 1966 and holds U.S. Patent #3,269,247. While with The Highwaymen, Connors used this guitar exclusively during concerts, and on television and during public appearances. Nick Reynolds of The Kingston Trio, upon seeing one of The Highwaymen's shows at The Cellar Door nightclub in Washington, DC, had an eight-string guitar modeled and built after Connors's eight-string. Eight string variations are also found in classical nylon strung instruments. They are generally tuned with two extra basses ([BD]EADGBE) that vary in pitch depending on the piece being played. Another common variation is to add an extra bass and treble string. The extra treble is almost always tuned to A, while the added bass string usually falls on A, B, or C.
The classical guitarists Paul Galbraith and Alexander Vynograd are two of the most notable eight-string players who use the extra high and low string tuning. Galbraith generally tunes (B)EADGBEA which puts standard six-string guitar chord voicings and scale shapes within the neck and allows him to read directly off of lute tablature (a whole step higher). Vynograd chooses to tune AEADGCEA (notice the B string is tuned up a half step) which allows him to play the top six strings like a guitar a fourth higher. Vynograd writes his music on a grand staff in a different key and plays as if the guitar was tuned EBEADGBE.
The 8-string electric guitars are used by GWAR, Ihsahn, Meshuggah, After the Burial, Rusty Cooley, Wayde Cooper,Instinct for Leaders, Animals as Leaders, Whitechapel, Scale the Summit, Dino Cazares (Asesino, Fear Factory, Mariachi Terror, Divine Heresy), Deftones, Stations, The Acacia Strain, Ad Ruinas, The Freelancers, Clockwork, and other metal artists. Even the pop-rock band Triumphant Return has been seen using 8 string guitars. They are most often tuned in regular 4ths, with two extra basses (Low to High) F♯+B+E-A-D-G-B-E. Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom of Meshuggah tune their 8-string guitars F+B♭+E♭-A♭-D♭-G♭-B♭-E♭, and occasionally drop it to E♭+B♭+E♭-A♭-D♭-G♭-B♭-E♭, and even five semitones below this tuning, for the song Spasm. Rusty Cooley and Chris Letchford from Scale the Summit have been seen using one extra bass and one extra treble string (tuned B-E-A-D-G-B-E-A or B-E-A-D-G-B-E-G). Several smaller luthier companies now offer 8-string models such as BlackMachine, Hufschmid Guitars Switzerland, Oni and Mike Shermann.
8-string pickup makers include EMG, DiMarzio, Häussel, Bareknuckle, Lundgren, Siggery, Hufschmid, SP custom pickups France, Nordstrand, Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and Swineshead.
Ibanez was first to offer a production 8-string guitar, the RG2228 in March 2007. It was introduced at the Winter NAMM show of 2007 and features a 27" baritone scale bolt on neck.[1] This first mass produced solid body 8-string electric guitar is played by Stations' frontman Dave Kavanagh and Divine Heresy guitarist Dino Cazares. Ibanez added a more affordable 8-string model RGA8 in 2010. At the Winter NAMM of 2008, ESP Guitars unveiled three new 8-string guitars: two of them, part of Stephen Carpenter's signature line, are in 27" baritone scale, and an LTD version, the FM-408, in 25.5" standard scale; both versions are of neck-through-body construction. Like the Ibanez's RG2228, they utilize the same EMG 808 active pickups.
In 2007 Octave4plus introduced an effective high A440Hz string for guitar scales up to 30" without the need for a multi-scale fingerboard(or fanned frets) giving the 7, 8, and 9 string guitars another viable tuning option. These strings tune as high as B4 (493.88 Hz) at the 28" scale.
British manufacturer Blackmachine also offers some 8 string guitars. The 8 and the F8 (multi-scale) models. These were originally an experiment by their producer, and are now a regular part of the company's product line. One notable user of these instruments is Clive Jevons of the German band Bludgeoned who also plays on Swiss-made Hufschmid Guitars.
In addition, the guitar manufacturer Schecter Guitar Research produced a short run of 100 custom shop C-8 Hellraiser Guitars. These guitars feature a 26.5" scale. They were not included in the company's official line up for 2009, but were a special limited release for that year. As of now, there is no news as to whether or not this will be added to the Hellraiser series of guitars as a regular part of the Schecter line up. They also released 100 (50 white/50 black) Blackjack 8-string guitars with Seymour Duncan Blackouts pickups, which also feature a 26.5" scale. Currently the Schecter 8 string guitars being produced are the Damien Elite 8,Omen 8, Hellraiser 8, all of which have a 26 1/2" scale and EMG 808 pickups apart from the Omen which uses Schecters own 8 string humbuckers.
Since the spring of 2008, American importer-distributor Rondo Music has been accepting pre-orders for a limited-run Korean made budget 8-string electric guitar model named Agile Intrepid. This guitar features a 28.625" scale neck with 24 jumbo frets and a graphite nut. All models utilize a fixed string-through-body bridge and Grover die cast tuners unless noted otherwise. Pro models have a 5 piece neck-through-body maple/walnut neck with mahogany wing construction. Standard models have a bolt-on 3 piece maple neck with an ash body construction. Most guitars feature a maple fretboard and a single passive humbucker or single EMG 808 pickup, however a 30” scale neck option, rosewood and ebony fretboard option, fretless option, and dual humbucker option are sometimes offered. The Agile Intrepid is also available in right and left handed.
Left handed guitar manufacturer Gaskell Guitars, from Australia announced in March 2009,[2] that they will be adding an 8 string guitar to their line up of left handed guitars and basses, but this is on hold due to the popularity of other manufacturers in making 8 string guitars, including left handed models.
A new addition to the eight string guitars is the new instrument called the Octo. It is a custom built 8 string guitar based on ideas of young Albanian composer/pianist/bassist from Serbia Liburn Jupolli (of band The Freelancers). The Octo is built by the Finish/American luthier Ari Lehtela of the Lehtela Guitar Factory(North Carolina). Its range of tones is from low E of standard bass guitar to the highest D of a standard guitar. It is generally tuned to EAGDCEAD. It also has an addition of 43 frets having two microtonal separations per semitone interval until the 7th fret, continuing with one microtonal separation till the 12 fret and till the 24 fret a standard semitonal separation. It also includes 8 string separation from one Kent Armstrong custom humbucker pickup concluding to the use of every string separately with 8 individual outputs. Liburn uses every string with a separate output and nearly every string with a different set of effects.
Agile 8 String Production/Beginning - http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/15813-the-official-agile-intrepid-8-string-thread.html
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