# Who wants to protest Rondo Music to make 7 and 8 string basses?



## DanD (Jun 28, 2010)

I do.


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## misingonestring (Jun 28, 2010)

Rondo Music 8 String Bass Guitars


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## Cheesebuiscut (Jun 28, 2010)

wrong kind


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## Gamba (Jun 28, 2010)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> wrong kind


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## Gamba (Jun 28, 2010)

misingonestring said:


> Rondo Music 8 String Bass Guitars


not THAT 8 dude


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## signalgrey (Jun 28, 2010)

protest?

ok DONT make an 8 string bass...tuning that low is kinda pointless anyway, the frequencies are in the middle of flub town.


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## AcousticMinja (Jun 28, 2010)

Well actually, all you need to do is ask the guy...not march in front of his warehouse demanding basses  

But to the point, a 7-8 stringed bass would be actually quite badass. 
If enough people want 'em, they may do it!


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## splinter8451 (Jun 28, 2010)

8 string bass.... that is too ridiculous  

7, okay that could maybe work. I've been thinkin bout picking up one of the cheap 5 or 6 string basses and seeing how shitty it sounds in F#


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## LordCashew (Jun 29, 2010)

I've been thinking about this for a while. Since Conklin discontinued the groove tools line, there hasn't been a good quality, affordable 7 available. And there never has been a decent production 8 that I know of.

It seems to me that percentage wise, more bassists are into extended range than are guitarists. I think if Kurt made some decent 7s and 8s people would buy them.

I know I would jump on an decent single-course 8 from Rondo.

Also, multiscale basses! He has the technology to do it on guitars. Why not give Dingwall a little competition?


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## Isan (Jun 29, 2010)

ravenwest makes one


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## heavy7-665 (Jun 29, 2010)

LordIronSpatula said:


> I've been thinking about this for a while. Since Conklin discontinued the groove tools line, there hasn't been a good quality, affordable 7 available. And there never has been a decent production 8 that I know of.
> 
> It seems to me that percentage wise, more bassists are into extended range than are guitarists. I think if Kurt made some decent 7s and 8s people would buy them.
> 
> ...



Infuckingdeed. You have my sword.


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## Waelstrum (Jun 29, 2010)

heavy7-665 said:


> Infuckingdeed. You have my sword.



And my axe.


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## Isan (Jun 29, 2010)

and my bow


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## signalgrey (Jun 29, 2010)

i forgot who makes them but its a 4-5 string bass tuned VERY low but it has an extended scale so that the frequencies become more usable, i think they even use Q-Tuners.

an 8 string bass is retarded, im sorry, its my opinion, the scale of the instrument and the tunings would just be unusable. If there is the NEED to be that deep into the bass scale you need an instrument with the proper scale. 

Unless you are playing chapman stick style playing which is a whoooollee different bag of apples, then....shit have 14 strings, tap away.

Multi scale is still an option, but 8 strings...pointless. all IMHO of course

also there is this site.

Jauqo III-X - Chicago bass player

just recalled this is the bassist with extreme range bass

HEEEEEEEEERE it is

play that. dont get an 8


EDIT: well done to the child who neg repped me for stating my opinion, with a constructive conclusion.


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## Waelstrum (Jun 29, 2010)

As the Gimli of this thread, I disagree. There are tons of uses for an eight string bass, as you mentioned, two hand tapping is one, but also the extra strings allow for more range in the one position, which helps if you are doing the jazz style walking bass plus melody stuff. And it opens up extra space for more shreddy type techniques which sound cool when doubling a guitar down an octave. Have you ever tried a four octave arpeggio with less than 8 strings?


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## DanD (Jun 29, 2010)

I want to get a tuned 8-stringged bass [still] to complement my 8 string Agile from RM. As mentioned in the above post, there are as many possibilities as you ascribe to your instrument -- only more strings would objectively "open more doors" for you, so to speak. You'd only need to use thicker strings, as you would to down-tune a standard six-string guitar to F#. 

'Protest' was used facetiously.  (<- this too)


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## giantchris (Jun 29, 2010)

I'd buy an extended range bass in a second. Be nice to have a B string that isn't way more floppy then the other strings it gets really annoying for some reason.


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## signalgrey (Jun 29, 2010)

Waelstrum said:


> As the Gimli of this thread, I disagree. There are tons of uses for an eight string bass, as you mentioned, two hand tapping is one, but also the extra strings allow for more range in the one position, which helps if you are doing the jazz style walking bass plus melody stuff. And it opens up extra space for more shreddy type techniques which sound cool when doubling a guitar down an octave. Have you ever tried a four octave arpeggio with less than 8 strings?



im not saying there arent uses for it. Of course there are tons of creative people using 8+ strings. spot on. your not Gimli, you have a very valid point. 

perhaps im making a generalization about the people on this forum, but alot of ERG guys simply want the bass equivalent of their guitars, which tends to be completely unecessary in alot of cases. This probably is due to the fact that most of them arent bassists or havent been exposed to the information about the properties of bass frequencies, which are fickle and can sometimes be a whole separate set of problems.

im not mocking anyone im simply making and observation. im a big fan of this forum and experimentation is a good thing.

you are completely correct in your response, all i mean is i think that what some of these people are asking for is a bass that will be the counterpart to their 7-8 string guitars that are already quite close to bass territory.

if thats not the case, shred away on bass (although i personally dont like that sound). I just figured i bring a different option to the table to achieve super low tunings without the rediculousness of making it 8 strings wide.


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## heavy7-665 (Jun 29, 2010)

7 is as far as ill go at this point in my life.


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## SD83 (Jun 29, 2010)

Waelstrum said:


> And my axe.


Exactly what I wanted to say. Until I realized that I wouldn't buy it anyways. Still, I'd say it would be cool if decent & affordable 8 string bass were available. There might not be a point in having one in an "average" metal/___core/whatever band, but there are definitly uses for them, other than tuning low (which isn't bad at all, but I guess you will run into trouble trying to reproduce the sound of extremely low notes somewhere below low G... I already have a bit of trouble with that one  )


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## TemjinStrife (Jun 29, 2010)

What would you tune the 8 to? Low C#? High F?

Both require specialized strings, and the low C# requires some serious amplification and technique.

Hell, even the low F# many seem to want on a 7-string bass requires heavy-duty, expensive strings and specialized speaker cabinets if you want any reasonable volume down that low.


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## Necris (Jun 29, 2010)

The 8 String i had was tuned F#BEADGCF so that may work well.


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## Origin (Jun 29, 2010)

Having an affordable bass something akin to the almighty Conklin 7 (BEADGCF) would be a very tempting prospect to me.  I fucking hate F# and lower on a bass...it's already a BASS for christ's sake..so that's not an issue with me.  but I would love a budget 7 bass, sure.


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## Customisbetter (Jun 29, 2010)

Rondo has made an 8 string bass i believe.


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## BrutalExorcist (Jun 29, 2010)

8 strings work for Erik Tiwaz


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## DanD (Jun 29, 2010)

signalgrey said:


> im not mocking anyone



Besides me...


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## TomAwesome (Jun 29, 2010)

I'd consider a 7- or 8-string bass from Rondo. I'm a little surprised there aren't any already, but I guess he's been busy with things like 9-strings and fanned 7s.


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## signalgrey (Jun 30, 2010)

DanD said:


> Besides me...



no mocking intended. All in jest or to create discussion.


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## Steve08 (Jul 2, 2010)

TBH, I'd rather they improve upon already existing designs as opposed to adding more strings. I mean, no mid EQ? Really?


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## Dragonfly (Jul 3, 2010)

Necris said:


> The 8 String i had was tuned F#BEADGCF so that may work well.



That's the most common,
7 strings are mostly BEADGCF, so it isn't all that low, you've got some extra high end here!
(my point being, guitars tend to go in the low, while basses tend to go higher when going extended range.)

If they're gonna make 7 & 8, then I want a 9 string tuned:
F#BEADGCFA# .. or maybe a low C# 

Just like that guy in UneXpecT, 
To comment on signalgrey, extended range basses are not just for solo stuff, in the hands of the right player they can be awesome in bands aswell. It doens't mean you have to use your complete range in every song, but it gives you a LOT of possibilities especcialy in the more progressive and expirimental music!

You'll notice the guy with the huge ammount of wood arround his neck soon enough. 

Then again if these get made in production, then a lot of people will buy them and probably give a bad name to this instrument, because they have no use for it and then sell theirs on Ebay, that way I can buy them for cheap!


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## flo (Jul 3, 2010)

^I like


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## AliceAxe (Jul 3, 2010)

9 string:


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## Varcolac (Jul 3, 2010)

LordIronSpatula said:


> Also, multiscale basses! He has the technology to do it on guitars. Why not give Dingwall a little competition?



I would be all over a multiscale Rondo five-string like a fat girl on cake. You have my sword, my bow, my axe, and my vuvuzela.


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## t3sser4ct (Jul 3, 2010)

In the interest of showing up the videos in the previous posts...

*11 STRINGS.*


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## LordCashew (Jul 4, 2010)

Varcolac said:


> I would be all over a multiscale Rondo five-string like a fat girl on cake. You have my sword, my bow, my axe, and my vuvuzela.



Excellent. We shall lay siege to Kurt. Surely he cannot suffer our vuvuzelas long.


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## DanD (Jul 4, 2010)

signalgrey said:


> no mocking intended. All in jest or to create discussion.



T'is all good. 




t3sser4ct said:


> In the interest of showing up the videos in the previous posts...




[/MEDIA] 

[/MEDIA]


Apparently after 12 strings, it turns to shit and you become Fred.


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## Dragonfly (Jul 4, 2010)

This one's nice too:



That's why Rondo needs to make basses with MORRRREEEE string,, and by more I actually mean MOAARRR!!!!!1!!


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## Dragonfly (Jul 4, 2010)

And this guy needs to have ONE bass with more string too instead of multiple 5 stringers:






(haha )


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## anthonyferguson (Jul 4, 2010)

You don't HAVE to tune down!


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## Dragonfly (Jul 4, 2010)

tonywozere said:


> You don't HAVE to tune down!



Yup, but sounding lower than your drummers kick drum is AWESOME! 

Kidding though, you're totally right, most basses tend to take the low B first, then some high strings and when you get you're 8st string, you'll probably get a low F# to compete with the guitarists, then some more high's or lows just to piss your guitarist and drummer off for stealing their range 

But high bass notes can sound really awesome.. really smooth, that's why going high into the 'guitar' spectrum wouldn't be bad, because you're complete different sounding. Like I mentioned before... UneXpecT!


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## bassbenj (Jul 8, 2010)

Customisbetter said:


> Rondo has made an 8 string bass i believe.



OK guys. Get your head on straight!

When talking about 7, 8, 10 etc. string basses you have to specify what kind of bass you are talking about. They come it "doubled" where an 8 string has TWO strings each for E, A, D, G. They are the usual bass string and a thin octave string. VERY unusual killer effect (but gets old fast). A 12 string doubled bass has a fat string and TWO thin octave strings for E,A,D,G. A 10 string (doubled) is the same as an 8 but based on a normal 5 string bass. 

The undoubled bass like my Conklin 7 has a set of string increasing in pitch by a fourth going to each smaller string. My Conklin is tuned BEADGCF. I've seen a Galveston 7 tuned F#BEADGC. An 8 string (undoubled) would be a combination of the two tuned F#BEADGCF. 

Rondo does sell Brice doubled 8 stringers. (my doubled 8 string is a Carlo Robelli... Sam Ash brand) They do not sell undoubled 7 or 8 stringers. The Rondo 8 is about $300 which was the normal price of my Carlo which is a bit steep for both of them. (I got mine on sale for $150)

My personal view is I'm not much impressed with the F# low string. But the C and F strings are what you want if you are getting into Chords or double stops or solos on a bass guitar. It's why I bought the Conklin which cost a fortune even used! 

Which brings up the original point. One of the main cool things about Rondo (and the instruments they import) is the quality of instrument you get for very little bread. I've got a couple of SX basses that just kill and were nearly free (by name brand standards) when brand new! So what this means is that if you suddenly get a hankerin' to break out from your trusty 4 string to a short scale, or a fretless or a 5 string, You can go to Rondo and for a hundred bucks or so get a half way decent instrument you can "live with" for 6 months or so until you decide if the new thing is for you. 

If it's not, you can unload the bass for nearly what you paid and go on in bass life now much wiser and experienced. So the question then arises, if this works out so well with the basses they DO sell, how about encouraging them to offer other things we'd all like to "try" without having to sell a kidney or something. 

Well, Rondo, of course is only a distributor. They can "encourage" the manufacturers to build odd things, but only they can decide what to do. And the vast popularity of 4 stringers over all the rest (just check out any of the "what do you play" polls) makes manufacturers reluctant to start building things with a limited market. 

Still, I TOTALLY agree that Rondo instruments in the weird things I might like to "try" would be great and I urge Kurt at Rondo to lean on his makers to consider this idea! Hey, if Rondo had a (doubled) 10 string even at his current 8 string prices I'd snap that dude up!


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## LordCashew (Jul 9, 2010)

bassbenj said:


> Well, Rondo, of course is only a distributor. They can "encourage" the manufacturers to build odd things, but only they can decide what to do.



I'm not sure to what extent this is true. Granted, the Korean factory which makes Rondo's instruments isn't owned by Kurt, and they probably make things for other brands. However, the brands and models sold on the Rondo site are Rondo's exclusively AFAIK. And the Koreans seem to be willing to make anything he wants so far, from prototyping 8 and 9 string guitars to making limited amounts of one-off custom instruments. I doubt they'd have a problem making a 7 or uncoursed 8 string bass if Kurt paid them to.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 9, 2010)

Agile is Rondo's brand, they design (by proxy) and spec all the guitars then order them from their contracted Korean factory (most likely Saein telling from the other "brands" Rondo carries). 

They choose what the factory makes, not the other way around, just like Schecter or Ibanez. Neither of which make their own guitars outside of Endorsee owned instruments.


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