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Due to the wonderful nature of Facebook marketplace, I've recently acquired an 8 string (an LTD EC-258) for a great price. I've been interested in extended range playing for a long with the likes of George van Eps, Bucky Pizzarelli, etc. but I was curious as to who out there uses an 8 string for jazz. There's a whole lot of different possibilities and directions to take with this new acquisition, and I was wondering what has worked for other people. Tuning: EADEADGBE? AEADGBEA? Something else? String Gauge: The stock strings that came with it are super floppy, anyone know what the largest size these puppies can take? Any thoughts on how to tastefully arrange tunes for such a beast?
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09-24-2023 12:06 AM
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If you're a musical genius like this guy, you can make that thing sound like an entire sax section in a quartet with an alto player. I have his tuning written dow aomewhere, but you can find it in the comments section of one of his you tube videos:it was tuned E A C E G B D F# a minor 11th with tritone on top.
Originally Posted by Scringus
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Originally Posted by sgcim
didn't someone tell this guy that Supersax exists? oh, he was playing like this before they even existed....and doing it all himself!
man, some people just don't have anything better to do w/ their time.....
p.s. another one of Sam Koontz's brainstormed guitars, look at all those switches and knobs, double truss rod to stabilize that 8 lane freeway of a neck too. it figures Joe would play a Koontz, who else was gonna build something like that back then. I still miss mine, though it was a traditional archtop, one of the few guitars I regret letting get away....
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That’s pretty mad
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I have an 8 string on order as I was looking for a budget lefty 7 string but couldn't find one.
It's a metal guitar but I'll be playing Bach chorales etc on it. I prefer heavier strings too so will probably have to change those too.
I'm thinking of tuning the 7th string to C as with the Bach chorales he played a lot of D major open chord shape at the 7th fret. When tuned to C I should be able to Barre most of the chord with my first finger.
The guitar has a multi scale neck so this tuning up negates that. Not sure about the 8th string yet. Maybe I'll take it off.
Also by tuning the 7th string to C you have the major 3rd on the high E string, the major 7th on the B string and the 5th on the G string. One finger magic
Can't wait. Release date was already pushed back by 3 weeks
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I found this video of Joe Cinderella, interestingly, there are three conflicting tunings claimed in the comments! EACEGBDF#, BEADGBDF#, and all fourths top to bottom. I guess this is just one of those cases of having to figure it out yourself, as there seems to be very little recorded material or documentation of his style. I hadn't even heard of them until this thread! There seem to be great players who use all sorts of tunings, I think Robert Conti uses standard F#BEADGBE, and Charlie Hunter uses EADADGBE, and Tom Lippincott uses AEADGBEA. I suppose 8 strings are still niche enough that its really an endeavor that requires you to carve your own path. . .
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Those electric 8 strings I tried (and I owned one) were all for heavy metal... and I never liked how it sounded even with another pickup and heavy strings. Too muddy and it does not sound neither guitar nor bass really.
But on the other hand decent classical 8 strings seemed quite good to me, good balance, nice bass notes tone and projection.
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Check out JGF member "NSJ" - he has quite a collection of 8-strings (and he's a cool cat!).
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Here they are Originally Posted by marcwhy
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Is that a drum machine or just over-production?
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Cinderella was a NY studio rat, so you can be sure he was going to get involved in the production process, but these guys were good players. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
A friend of mine saw them live, and he thought they had a sax section playing at the club, because of the voicings JC was using to harmonize with the alto player. No drum machine.
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Here's the guitar JC used:
Sam Koontz Custom Made For Joe Cinderella 1980 Guitar For Sale[pp_gal]/1/
This was the last guitar Koontz made before he committed suicide. Why, I don't know.
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The 8 string is a remarkable instrument.
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Hi !
I'm following this guy Tom Lippincott - YouTube
He is a very nice musician although I don't play an 8 string guitar but a 7 string guitar.
He tunes it like this BEADGBEA.
It's a very special guitar.
I was planning to buy an 8 string guitar, I think I would have tuned it in another way because of the scale length...
Maybe GDGCFADG, on my 7 string guitar it's AEADGBE.
It's well enough for me.
It depends of what you want to play...
You have to think of what you want to do with, do you want to play with a bass player ?
I think the instrument has to stay a guitar.
I can play my 7 string guitar like a 6 string guitar so I can play with everyone.
If I had a guitar tuned like Charlie Hunter used to tune it (EADADGBE) I think I couldn't play with a band.
The extended range would become a limitation and there would be too many things to manage.
The standard tuning is EBEADGBE for most of 8 string guitar players.
I think it's a bit too much...
You can have Lenny Breau & George Van Eps tunings at the same time with AEADGBEA tuning.
That would be better but it's just my opinion.
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About guitars made for "metal", they sound very good for jazz if you know how their knobs work.
I tried one day an LTD guitar with active pickups, believe me or not, at first it was weird because the guitar is weird, strings are very close to the pickups.
Even if it was strung with a 9-42 string set it has a very nice jazz tone.
People tend to listen with their eyes so they've got an opinion before trying deeper.
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Fred Fried here on Cape Cod plays an 8-string. He studied with Van Eps once upon a time and some years ago went from 7 strings to 8. You can find many samples of his playing on Youtube. Not sure if he is a JG member ... he adds a low A and a high A to the standard tuning on strings 2 through 7 (1 through 6 for most of us).
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Any idea what scale or string gauge he uses? I've got mine currently tuned down a step from A-A tuning, GDGCFADG. I'm scared strings will break if I try to get it up to pitch lol
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Do you fish ? Originally Posted by Scringus
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If you like fishing...
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Actually, Fred was using fishing line for his top strings for a while, but I don't think he does anymore. His main guitar is an acoustic with a round sound hole, though he also has a thin-body electric. I believe both have fanned frets. I'll ask him about the scale on these instruments and what strings he's using these days, and report back. (Here on the Cape, the local NPR station does feature a weekly fishing report ...)
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All these extended range players really amaze me. Every time I look at one of those guitars I get cross eyed! Here's another eight string player I really enjoy, and he uses the F#BEADGBE tuning. I added links to two of my favorite videos where he puts his 8 string guitars to good use. I also saw him perform in Las Vegas. Geez, I'd give anything to be able to play like that! Originally Posted by Scringus
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So, on his "classical" 8-string, made by Steve Connor, Fred uses Knobloch Actives, Double Silver CX, 300ADC for the middle 6 strings, a D'Addario .022 for the high A and a D'Addario 0.56 for the low A. It is a fanned fret guitar, so the scale length for the high A is 24.5", high E 24.75", low E 25.75", low A 26." On his thin body electric 8, made by Wes Lambe, Fred uses D'Addario nickel wound jazz mediums (.13 -.56) on the middle six, with a D'Addario .007 for the high A and a D'Addario .069 for the low A.
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After some further experimentation today, I was able to get the stock strings on my guitar up to A-A tuning with no issues. I'm running 010/.013/.017/.030/.042/.054/.064/.074 on a 26.5 in scale. It seems per common knowledge, a 10 at that length for a high A would be impossible, but I suspect that due to how beefy the other strings are by comparison, the tension of that string is not pulling on the neck as much as it would be if I was using a more reasonable set. Interesting for sure, considering these strings were designed to be tuned F#-E, and are sitting about a perfect 4th higher. Of course, the action now needs to be lowered and the intonation reset, but things are looking good for the viability of affordable 8 strings for jazz usage
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