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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Guitars and accessories → 8 String On A Spike
I thought this was very interesting and wanted to share it with y'all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si6Ietu … w&t=0s
Enjoy
Bill
That's a very unique take on a guitar, Bill ... thanks for sharing. I was very interested in his tuning, which has a higher A at the top, and the lower B at the bottom. His conversation about the A-string "being in the way" sometimes was enjoyable. His musical Irish accent made him a bit tricky to understand at times, but his whole setup is very intriguing.
Many may be familiar with Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes (1927 - 1997) who created a 10-string guitar which became his signature. The top 6 strings were tuned in standard tuning, while the bottom four were (working downward) C - Bb - Ab - Gb. He never played these, but they were there purely for sympathetic vibration. It added a lot of depth to his sound, not altogether unlike a "Chorus" effect pedal does with an electric guitar.
Thanks for this, Bill ... thoroughly enjoyed it!
That was pretty interesting about the sound box and the way he plays it - made me think of how cello and double bass players use the projection of the sound from their instruments ...
Cheers
Richard
It is an interesting instrument bc it is so different - but I couldn't watch the video much bc he talked waaaaaaay toooooo much !
Too technical for me!
It is an interesting instrument bc it is so different - but I couldn't watch the video much bc he talked waaaaaaay toooooo much !
Too technical for me!
Basically, use a floor box with a pin to amplify bass, middle six strings are regular guitar tuning, low string is a 'B', extra high string is an 'A' (which keeps it in 4th tuning, as a regular guitar). Think that was it ... if you're in the USA, I've found Rhondo music regularly have specials on fan fret 8 strings ...
Here's a lefty on special: http://www.rondomusic.com/product8391.html
Cheers
Richard
"The frets are splayed"........... They looked straight on the video, but he explained that with saying it's a kind of "optical illusion". I didn't get why the frets needed to be splayed. Wouldn't that affect the tuning of the guitar? I.e. if you pressed down the string at the normal position and then slid your finger toward the other side, wouldn't you get a difference in tone? Anyone?
Thanks
Bill
The main reason for "fan fret" layout, and you will see it more on something like a baritone or long scale guitar, is to adjust the length of each string and compensate for intonation differences inherent in spacing of the fret wires relative to the frequency. The low strings are longer and the high ones shorter which reduces the total tension on the entire string set. Because they are not all the same length, you have to have some way to put each fret on the guitar so that it can yield a "true" note on each of the different strings. Hence angled frets.
So your answer about tuning and tone is..... yes. But hopefully for the better 
"The frets are splayed"........... They looked straight on the video, but he explained that with saying it's a kind of "optical illusion". I didn't get why the frets needed to be splayed. Wouldn't that affect the tuning of the guitar? I.e. if you pressed down the string at the normal position and then slid your finger toward the other side, wouldn't you get a difference in tone? Anyone?
"Splayed" was the word he used, it's also called "fan-frets" or "multiscale" - I've got a couple of them, and you tune them as normal - the tone sounds deeper at the bass end, and higher at the high end - they are also more comfortable to play as your wrist is actually more aligned with the angle of the frets ...
There is a fairly good article at Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-scale_fingerboard
Here is my custom built Mirruzi fan fret electric:
And a custom built acoustic:
Cheers
Richard
That's a great article, Neo ... always enjoy learning about these things!
My understanding is that the fan-fret / multi-scale design does enable slightly more accurate intonation. I would think the real benefit would have to be when there are lower strings, i.e., a B and even a G. The longer string would require more tension so that these strings wouldn't get too floppy, much the same as a typical 4-string bass guitar is a 34" scale, while a regular 6-string guitar is typically a 24 - 25" scale.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Guitars and accessories → 8 String On A Spike
