[Metal Ken]

I hope its 25.5"-27". \m/

[zimbloth]

I really doubt a lot of companies will be making 8-strings ala 7s in the early 2000's. Just doesn't make good business sense. If anything, 7s are blowing up fairly well these days, companies would be smarter to make more 7s.

COW should learn how to play a 7 before getting an 8 IMO.

[Decipher]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

I really doubt a lot of companies will be making 8-strings ala 7s in the early 2000's. Just doesn't make good business sense. If anything, 7s are blowing up fairly well these days, companies would be smarter to make more 7s.

COW should learn how to play a 7 before getting an 8 IMO.

Couldn't have said it better.

[bostjan]

Originally Posted by loktide

i hope the next commercially available 8-string has a suitable scale with at least 30" unlike the rg2228, which is standard baritone scale (27")

I thought 27" was an odd choice, too, since 27" is a good scale for low B and low A. I have a 30" sixer tuned to low F and it holds up pretty well at that tuning, but F# is so close to octave E, and most six string bass/guitars are around 30".

Plus, 27" is too long to tune easily to high A (440 Hz). That's where 23"-26" could be a good multiscale for an eight, but I doubt anyone would be willing to mass produce a multiscale neck at this point.

I'd say four eight strings on the market would be a good number, but until there are more big name players using them, I doubt they'd sell as well as each of four companies might hope.

[Nick]

i doubt there will ever be mainstream acceptance of the 8 string because meshuggah and other forms of metal which sound 'brutal' or heavy as fuck in general are never going to be mainstream.

i find that a low F is good for some jazz stuff and also obviously meshuggah esq riffage and some DM insanity 2 but its usless for thrash/speed/power metal and popular bands like trivium are never going to incorporate things like that in their sound.

i dont ever see their being more than about 2 or 3 available as production guitars

[nikt]

novax holds rights to fannedfret patent and if some company want to mass produce guitars with this kind of scale they have to pay Novax

[bostjan]

Patent expired. Plus, you shouldn't be able to patent a length of something. Although, the US patent office has allowed people to patent peanutbutter and jelley, so who knows?

The fact is, that Meshuggah is not the first artist to use an eight string guitar. There are dozens of artists who used them before- for classical, jazz, and for rock and roll. The seven string guitar will never make it's way completely into mainstream, because people fell in love with six strings for no reason whatsoever.

Never say "never." Oops, I just said it.

[MF_Kitten]

actually, novax HAD the rights to FANNED frets... basically, not the idea itself though, but the method he uses to calculate the fret distances and stuff, and he had the rights on the phraase "fanned frets", which he might still have... so if you did the calculations using another method, and called it "multi-scale" or "falling frets", you´d be perfectly fine :P

[bostjan]

Well, if it's a patented method of calculation and he won't say what it is, I'll have to actually see the patent.

The problem in mass production is not with the patent, it's with the means of production. Cutting slots for angled frets takes more time and effort than straight frets. The machines they use to mass slot fretboards won't do the angles.

[nikt]

Originally Posted by bostjan

Patent expired.

Did You checked or just guessing??

I've got a strange feeling that You don't see difference between trade mark, patent and reserving rights to a project

And as far as I remember Novax aloved to make other companies a fanned freted guitars in piece less then 12, if they wanted to make more then that they have to pay ... something like 50$ for every piece. Novax changed ther web site and I don't have time for looking after that info. It was all on the website, all about what is patented