Blackmachine F8 (Big pictures alert)

-Nolly- · 02-09-2009, 05:18 AM

Doug's been kind enough to lend me his personal guitar for a few weeks. I've played the F8s before, but never got over the initial "holy crap, this thing has 8 strings and crazy frets" stage, so I'm really looking forward to seeing if living with it for a while will inspire me to be creative with an 8 string, or if I'll just find it to be overkill.

Anyway, pics:

(Hard to get steady photos with a point-and-shoot since it's so grey outside)

Right, so spec's are:

Chambered 40 year-old mahogany body
Very thick burl maple top
Madagascar rosewood neck, with ebony fillets
Bubinga sapwood fretboard
Black binding
25.5"-28" fanned scale
Haeussel pickups
Sperzel tuner
Custom 9-84 strings

It's odd because the guitar has been on the site for a couple of years now, and I always thought it looked like the ugly duckling of the lot, but when you see it in person, it's a whole different story. Suddenly it looks much more "unified" as a guitar, the colours are far more organic looking and complement each other beautifully. The burl top in particular has an exceptional 3D-ness to it, and is amazing to look at up close. The sapwood fretboard's two tone look is wicked and very classy without looking showy.

The guitar is set up as I've come to expect from Doug. The action is absolutely on the deck, but somehow doesn't fret out or sound choked. The intonation is spot on, full 8-string chords ring clearly in tune all the way up on the highest frets.
The string spacing is much smaller than on a conventional instrument, which at first is a little strange, but once you get used to it, it actually makes string changes exceptionally easy for both picking and fretting hands. String skipping and sweeping is almost laughably easy. It also means that the neck width is nothing like you'd expect for an 8-string - literally about as wide as the neck of my RG7321. The neck profile is very comfortable, very soft shouldered with a flattened back that become more pronounced the higher up the neck you go. The fretboard radius practically flat.

Bizarrely, the thing that looks craziest about the guitar has had the least impact on my playing - the fanned frets. I'd liken the transition as about as awkward as going from a 25.5" scale guitar to a 24.75" one or vice versa, it feels a bit odd at first, but you soon completely forget. The way the frets are fanned makes chording at the low end extremely comfortable - the frets are angled in exactly the way your fingers fall naturally, and many chord shapes are in fact easier than on a regular six string. Descending through the strings, the graduation of scale is such that you barely notice the increased stretch. As you work up the neck, the fan starts to get more severe, but it has caused me literally no problems whatsoever. The angle of the bridge naturally falls parallel with the angle of your palm, and feels completely intuitive.

Finally, the sound of the thing.. What a ....ing monster. I'm floored by the tone of the thing. It's quite hard to know where to start here.
Play something using top the 6 strings and it sounds exactly as you'd expect a 6 string guitar to, which is quite bizarre at first. I'm sitting here playing along to Jeff Buckley and if you couldn't see what I was using, you'd assume it was a perfectly normal six string. The notes have the midrange that you expect from a standard scale instrument, and have a beautiful sweetness to their tone, while still having a very dynamic and fast attack. The clarity is crazy, it's very much like a B2 in the higher registers, in fact, perhaps with BKPs in it'd sound pretty much identical.
As you work down the strings, you can hear the midrange pulling back a tad, and a ferocious low end clarity creeping in. By the time you get to the 8th string the thing roars like nothing else I've come across, so much brutality and fullness, but the fundamental rings through perfectly. At the moment I'm really enjoying drop E tuning, and it's just silly how clear powerchords on the lowest strings still sound fantastic. Even with the neck pickup there's no wooliness, just a woodier tone that sounds extremely cool.
Clean, the low strings sound very jazzy and smooth - you really could work on accompanying chordal work with basslines, like an acoustic player might. Lots of scope for creativity here.

I've only picked it up yesterday evening, so I've barely started messing with the possiblities, and I'm still getting to grips with having so many strings under my fingers, but I'm extremely excited and refreshed by the experience. I have a feeling I will miss this a hell of a lot when I have to return it.

Just as a footnote, this isn't my guitar, so I'm not trying to justify money spent here or anything. There is no hidden agenda, just trying to spread the work about a fantastic (in my opinion) instrument.

If anyone wants particular pictures of it from certain angles or whatever, just say so and I'll try to take some more.

ShadyDavey · 02-09-2009, 05:27 AM

Its a thing of beauty to be sure - the oddness of the fanned frets and pickup angles is a little suprising at first, but clearly once you get beyond those concerns its made that way for a reason.

Another guitar to go on the list, even tho I've never played an 8

loktide · 02-09-2009, 05:32 AM

thanks for the informative review

i already find it looks much nicer on your pics than on what i've seen so far.

you should do some clips if you find the time

hufschmid · 02-09-2009, 05:43 AM

Very beautiful Guitar

-Nolly- · 02-09-2009, 06:00 AM

Cheers guys!

I'll have this for a little bit, so I should definitely find time to make a clip/video or two. First I want to get more used to having 8 strings under my hands though!

TomAwesome · 02-09-2009, 06:03 AM

I've seen pics of it before, but it's still a damn nice lookin' axe.

hmmm_de_hum · 02-09-2009, 06:19 AM

Ah yeah you mentioned this, looks phenominal, cant wait for clips/vids.

hairychris · 02-09-2009, 06:33 AM

I've played that thing a few times and could never work it out...!! It always sounded incredible through the VH4, though.

I think that it was originally built as a demo piece (along with the spalt B2 from the website) for the 2007 LGS, certainly that was where I had a play with it first.

Insane thing.

-Nolly- · 02-09-2009, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hairychris

I've played that thing a few times and could never work it out...!! It always sounded incredible through the VH4, though.

I think that it was originally built as a demo piece (along with the spalt B2 from the website) for the 2007 LGS, certainly that was where I had a play with it first.

Insane thing.

Yeah that's right, it was a showpiece for the LGS, and it does sound unholy with the VH4.
I got to check out the fretboard for your B7, which looked fantastic. He wouldn't show me the body, said it was a surprise hahah. Apparently might be done by the end of the week, you must be excited!

obiwan · 02-09-2009, 06:58 AM

Hi Nolly,

This instrument looks fabulous!! I am waiting for the delivery of a B8, hopefully during february and am extremely curious about the playability and the sound of these instruments.
I hope you will have a lot of fun with this guitar, even if its only for a restricted period of time.
As you offered to do more pics, would it be possible to have a close up of the headstock? I wonder how the tuning mechanics look in relation to the headstock, as this part of the guitar was the first that catched my eye from an esthetical point of view.

Thanks

Mattmc74 · 02-09-2009, 07:02 AM

That is one bad ass guitar!

Snorelax · 02-09-2009, 07:02 AM

I have always loved that guitar in every picture that I have seen it in, but it looks even better in these.
Please do make some clips/vids

Daemoniac · 02-09-2009, 07:05 AM

Oh my god... that guitar is just beautiful

So... do you want to, like, send it to me? In Australia? I... um... promise you'll get it back?...

chimp_spanner · 02-09-2009, 07:13 AM

Good review - clearly passionate about your BM's

But from what I've seen, with good reason! Really looking forward to hearing what you can do with it.

And by looking forward to, I mean dreading.

Because suddenly mine will suck!

hairychris · 02-09-2009, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Nolly-

Yeah that's right, it was a showpiece for the LGS, and it does sound unholy with the VH4.
I got to check out the fretboard for your B7, which looked fantastic. He wouldn't show me the body, said it was a surprise hahah. Apparently might be done by the end of the week, you must be excited!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!! WIN!!!!

I smell a NGD.

Cheers Nolly, I'm excited now!

Maniacal · 02-09-2009, 07:36 AM

Good man, welcome to the F8 Brotherhood

Beautiful guitar, almost exactly the same as mine although the bridge is different. You should seriously consider buying it.

Dyingsea · 02-09-2009, 09:21 AM

Fanned frets are the only way to go when you get into the 8 string+ realm. I'm sure it's an amazing player.

AZ7 · 02-09-2009, 09:29 AM

That is radically awesome. I can only imagine the sound to be the same. Thanks for sharing.

Randy · 02-09-2009, 09:38 AM

That burl top is amazing.

Decipher · 02-09-2009, 09:47 AM

....ing hell that thing looks sweet!

somn · 02-09-2009, 12:02 PM

looks nice man love the look it has

MF_Kitten · 02-09-2009, 12:23 PM

whoah!

i do love the blackamchine look!

what strings do you have on there? and how is the tension in drop E?

Lakeflower · 02-09-2009, 12:30 PM

That is wicked.

Fred · 02-09-2009, 12:35 PM

I do not envy you having to give that back, haha.

DaveCarter · 02-09-2009, 12:36 PM

Ooooooooo pretty

Hows do the fanned frets work out for string bends? For some reason I always imagined you wouldnt be able to bend properly all the way up the neck...?

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02-09-2009, 05:18 AM	#1
-Nolly- Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 2,621 Thanked: 116 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Blackmachine F8 (Big pictures alert) Doug's been kind enough to lend me his personal guitar for a few weeks. I've played the F8s before, but never got over the initial "holy crap, this thing has 8 strings and crazy frets" stage, so I'm really looking forward to seeing if living with it for a while will inspire me to be creative with an 8 string, or if I'll just find it to be overkill. Anyway, pics: (Hard to get steady photos with a point-and-shoot since it's so grey outside) Right, so spec's are: Chambered 40 year-old mahogany body Very thick burl maple top Madagascar rosewood neck, with ebony fillets Bubinga sapwood fretboard Black binding 25.5"-28" fanned scale Haeussel pickups Sperzel tuner Custom 9-84 strings It's odd because the guitar has been on the site for a couple of years now, and I always thought it looked like the ugly duckling of the lot, but when you see it in person, it's a whole different story. Suddenly it looks much more "unified" as a guitar, the colours are far more organic looking and complement each other beautifully. The burl top in particular has an exceptional 3D-ness to it, and is amazing to look at up close. The sapwood fretboard's two tone look is wicked and very classy without looking showy. The guitar is set up as I've come to expect from Doug. The action is absolutely on the deck, but somehow doesn't fret out or sound choked. The intonation is spot on, full 8-string chords ring clearly in tune all the way up on the highest frets. The string spacing is much smaller than on a conventional instrument, which at first is a little strange, but once you get used to it, it actually makes string changes exceptionally easy for both picking and fretting hands. String skipping and sweeping is almost laughably easy. It also means that the neck width is nothing like you'd expect for an 8-string - literally about as wide as the neck of my RG7321. The neck profile is very comfortable, very soft shouldered with a flattened back that become more pronounced the higher up the neck you go. The fretboard radius practically flat. Bizarrely, the thing that looks craziest about the guitar has had the least impact on my playing - the fanned frets. I'd liken the transition as about as awkward as going from a 25.5" scale guitar to a 24.75" one or vice versa, it feels a bit odd at first, but you soon completely forget. The way the frets are fanned makes chording at the low end extremely comfortable - the frets are angled in exactly the way your fingers fall naturally, and many chord shapes are in fact easier than on a regular six string. Descending through the strings, the graduation of scale is such that you barely notice the increased stretch. As you work up the neck, the fan starts to get more severe, but it has caused me literally no problems whatsoever. The angle of the bridge naturally falls parallel with the angle of your palm, and feels completely intuitive. Finally, the sound of the thing.. What a ....ing monster. I'm floored by the tone of the thing. It's quite hard to know where to start here. Play something using top the 6 strings and it sounds exactly as you'd expect a 6 string guitar to, which is quite bizarre at first. I'm sitting here playing along to Jeff Buckley and if you couldn't see what I was using, you'd assume it was a perfectly normal six string. The notes have the midrange that you expect from a standard scale instrument, and have a beautiful sweetness to their tone, while still having a very dynamic and fast attack. The clarity is crazy, it's very much like a B2 in the higher registers, in fact, perhaps with BKPs in it'd sound pretty much identical. As you work down the strings, you can hear the midrange pulling back a tad, and a ferocious low end clarity creeping in. By the time you get to the 8th string the thing roars like nothing else I've come across, so much brutality and fullness, but the fundamental rings through perfectly. At the moment I'm really enjoying drop E tuning, and it's just silly how clear powerchords on the lowest strings still sound fantastic. Even with the neck pickup there's no wooliness, just a woodier tone that sounds extremely cool. Clean, the low strings sound very jazzy and smooth - you really could work on accompanying chordal work with basslines, like an acoustic player might. Lots of scope for creativity here. I've only picked it up yesterday evening, so I've barely started messing with the possiblities, and I'm still getting to grips with having so many strings under my fingers, but I'm extremely excited and refreshed by the experience. I have a feeling I will miss this a hell of a lot when I have to return it. Just as a footnote, this isn't my guitar, so I'm not trying to justify money spent here or anything. There is no hidden agenda, just trying to spread the work about a fantastic (in my opinion) instrument. If anyone wants particular pictures of it from certain angles or whatever, just say so and I'll try to take some more. Cmak likes this. Top Secret \| Band \| Clips \| Pics \| Tumblr

02-09-2009, 05:43 AM	#4
hufschmid Banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: switzerland Posts: 9,088 Thanked: 284 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Very beautiful Guitar thedarkoceans likes this.

02-09-2009, 06:00 AM	#5
-Nolly- Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 2,621 Thanked: 116 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Cheers guys! I'll have this for a little bit, so I should definitely find time to make a clip/video or two. First I want to get more used to having 8 strings under my hands though! Top Secret \| Band \| Clips \| Pics \| Tumblr

02-09-2009, 06:03 AM	#6
TomAwesome I LIKE JUICE!!! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 8,297 Thanked: 43 Feedback Score: 5 reviews	I've seen pics of it before, but it's still a damn nice lookin' axe. "Tom, you're like 1 part a serious dork, and 2 parts the most awesome ....ing guy ever." -

Today
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02-09-2009, 05:27 AM	#2
ShadyDavey 7ibrarian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Peterborough, UK Posts: 6,578 Thanked: 104 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Its a thing of beauty to be sure - the oddness of the fanned frets and pickup angles is a little suprising at first, but clearly once you get beyond those concerns its made that way for a reason. Another guitar to go on the list, even tho I've never played an 8

02-09-2009, 05:32 AM	#3
loktide dotlike Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Germany Posts: 5,041 Thanked: 84 Feedback Score: 12 reviews	thanks for the informative review i already find it looks much nicer on your pics than on what i've seen so far. you should do some clips if you find the time

02-09-2009, 06:19 AM	#7
hmmm_de_hum SS.org Regular Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 488 Thanked: 11 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Ah yeah you mentioned this, looks phenominal, cant wait for clips/vids. The mirror which flatters not....

02-09-2009, 06:33 AM	#8
hairychris Hairy Old Bloke Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 2,998 Thanked: 26 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	I've played that thing a few times and could never work it out...!! It always sounded incredible through the VH4, though. I think that it was originally built as a demo piece (along with the spalt B2 from the website) for the 2007 LGS, certainly that was where I had a play with it first. Insane thing. GADZOOKS AND ODDS BODKINS!!!!! Not a hipster: Blackmachine, Jaden Rose, Paul Reed Smith, Ibanez, Jackson, Boss, Diezel, Marshall, Framus, VHT, Ampeg, Electro Harmonix, Korg, Alesis, MFB, Doepfer.

02-09-2009, 06:58 AM	#10
obiwan ss.org Regular Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Basle/Switzerland Posts: 37 Thanked: 0 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Hi Nolly, This instrument looks fabulous!! I am waiting for the delivery of a B8, hopefully during february and am extremely curious about the playability and the sound of these instruments. I hope you will have a lot of fun with this guitar, even if its only for a restricted period of time. As you offered to do more pics, would it be possible to have a close up of the headstock? I wonder how the tuning mechanics look in relation to the headstock, as this part of the guitar was the first that catched my eye from an esthetical point of view. Thanks

02-09-2009, 07:02 AM	#11
Mattmc74 SS Contributor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Bay City, Michigan Posts: 13,939 Thanked: 325 Feedback Score: 14 reviews	That is one bad ass guitar!

02-09-2009, 07:02 AM	#12
Snorelax ss.org Regular Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Illinois Posts: 256 Thanked: 6 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I have always loved that guitar in every picture that I have seen it in, but it looks even better in these. Please do make some clips/vids

02-09-2009, 07:05 AM	#13
Daemoniac Rivethead Magnate. Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia Posts: 7,092 Thanked: 202 Feedback Score: 3 reviews	Oh my god... that guitar is just beautiful So... do you want to, like, send it to me? In Australia? I... um... promise you'll get it back?... Daemoniac @ Last.fm Daemoniac @ Soundclick

02-09-2009, 07:13 AM	#14
chimp_spanner I am a meat popsicle Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Colchester, UK Posts: 619 Thanked: 38 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Good review - clearly passionate about your BM's But from what I've seen, with good reason! Really looking forward to hearing what you can do with it. And by looking forward to, I mean dreading. Because suddenly mine will suck! Chimp Spanner on teh webz: Homepage MySpace Soundclick My parents!

02-09-2009, 09:38 AM	#19
Randy DAN OUDA DAN • Super Moderator • Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Electric City, NY Posts: 15,976 Thanked: 165 Feedback Score: 12 reviews	That burl top is amazing. "Can we pull back the veil of static and reach in to the source of all being? Behind this curtain of patterns, this random pattern generator. So clever. Right here in every home, watching us from a one-sided mirror." Argbadh - RHLC©

02-09-2009, 07:36 AM	#16
Maniacal SS.org Regular Join Date: May 2007 Location: Newbury Posts: 1,672 Thanked: 23 Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Good man, welcome to the F8 Brotherhood Beautiful guitar, almost exactly the same as mine although the bridge is different. You should seriously consider buying it. Shred Training A2 Posters out now! High quality, cheap and ideal for daily practice. http://www.shredtraining.com http://www.youtube.com/shredtraining

02-09-2009, 09:21 AM	#17
Dyingsea SS.org Regular Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 574 Thanked: 8 Feedback Score: 2 reviews	Fanned frets are the only way to go when you get into the 8 string+ realm. I'm sure it's an amazing player.

02-09-2009, 09:29 AM	#18
AZ7 Hello World Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Earth Posts: 118 Thanked: 0 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	That is radically awesome. I can only imagine the sound to be the same. Thanks for sharing.

02-09-2009, 09:47 AM	#20
Decipher SS.org Regular Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Calgary, Hellberta, Canada Posts: 1,314 Thanked: 10 Feedback Score: 4 reviews	....ing hell that thing looks sweet!

02-09-2009, 12:02 PM	#21
somn E.R.I 4 life Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Tex / Mex Posts: 260 Thanked: 3 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	looks nice man love the look it has

02-09-2009, 12:23 PM	#22
MF_Kitten Fully Ramblomatic Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Stavanger, Norway Posts: 8,986 Thanked: 298 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	whoah! i do love the blackamchine look! what strings do you have on there? and how is the tension in drop E? -------------------------------------- What will metal be doing in ten years? What ever Meshuggah will be doing in two. -Anthony

02-09-2009, 12:30 PM	#23
Lakeflower ss.org Regular Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 361 Thanked: 6 Feedback Score: 2 reviews	That is wicked.

02-09-2009, 12:35 PM	#24
Fred SS.org Regular Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: London or Bristol, UK. Posts: 2,078 Thanked: 62 $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ $Fred is rather kvlt and tr00. \m/$ Feedback Score: 6 reviews	I do not envy you having to give that back, haha.

02-09-2009, 12:36 PM	#25
DaveCarter Melowiddler Join Date: May 2007 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 1,989 Thanked: 41 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Ooooooooo pretty Hows do the fanned frets work out for string bends? For some reason I always imagined you wouldnt be able to bend properly all the way up the neck...? UK Guitar Teacher and Session Guitarist

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