The 8 String "Leviathan"

feylya

Used right, they could sound brilliant.

Used incorrectly though and it'll just sound pants.

Karl Hungus

In my hands, it'll probably sound like wet pants being twanged, fey.

feylya

Oh my...

*faints*

Karl Hungus

I've been thinking about the locking trem a bit tonight. Might be worth looking into, methinks.

Jeremy, if you catch this, any info on the trem would be cool.

dpmasunder

Can I have a link to that extended range forum? Nice looking guitar that eight!

Karl Hungus

www.extendedrangeguitar.com

There you go.

dpmasunder

Many thanks!

Karl Hungus

Might be interesting to note that Rusty Cooley just got himself a 9 string with a low #F from Conklin.

www.rustycooley.com/equipment.html

Should be definetly interesting to hear what he'll be able to do with that much low end! Looks like it's absolutely sweet, doesn't it though? It looks much better than his 8 string altogether. Jesus though, could you imagine how much Conklin would charge for it!? :eek:

I might send him an email, see what his thinks on the practicality of the low #F

jamtheguitarman

I was just thinking that it would probley be a huge job to learn all your scales and chords including those extra two strings. You would have to learn all the different positionings and stuff. It would probley be worth it but, alot of work though.

Giblet

jamtheguitarman wrote:

I was just thinking that it would probley be a huge job to learn all your scales and chords including those extra two strings. You would have to learn all the different positionings and stuff. It would probley be worth it but, alot of work though.

It would be tuned in fifths so It would just be a matter of finding the root note and continuing as usual.

Karl Hungus

Karl Hungus wrote:

.... a 9 string .....

ha
check this out





12 strings but not a "12 stringed guitar" if you know what i mean!

Karl Hungus

Now that's insanity! You'd need to be some stretch-armstrong kinda freak!! :eek:

What tuning are the strings in??

dunno, after i saw 9-string i went mad and put 10-string guitar into google images and that was on the page with a 10 string one.

Karl Hungus

Well I got a reply from Rusty Cooley!

He says he doesn't need anything special to cope with the extra low end, and that I wouldn't need anything more than an EQ adjustment to handle the low F#. He uses Marshall 4x12s. Definetly something to keep in mind for future refference.

It wasn't me!

The eight-string looking increasingly more plausible then?

Karl Hungus

Indeed it is! Although I think for the time being, I've my heart set on the Stealth. Perhaps after I've got that, and nice shiny new amp, and I'm famous, I'll shell out for the Leviathan. In the meantime, the extra string should be plenty to play with.

It wasn't me!

Did make for some kerrazy discussion anyway though.

Karl Hungus

And I'm sure it still will, just because I've decided to get a diffrent guitar doesn't mean I'll abandon the notion of getting an 8 String, and damned if the Leviathans don't look like the absolute shiznit! A man can never have too many guitars, and when I do eventually order one, I'm sure there'll be plenty more discussion going on, and questions about various detail that I might want come the time.

It wasn't me!

Too right about the guitar. I don't spend money on much else! Bah Humbug! I need a job though. The discussion was great. It was really enlightening. Nice to broaden horizons about what's possible with a guitar. So the Stealth's the target of the day then? Very nice. Anything really interesting going to go into it? I assume all the metal standards: Floyd Rose, inverted headstock, 24 XJ frets?

Karl Hungus

Aye, pretty much said standards. 'Tis going to be plain black, with a plain ebony fretboard, 2 dimarzio pickups, neck through maple with maple body, so it's going to sound fairly bright! I'll have to see about coil tapping too, but I think the details are fairly set in stone at this point.

It wasn't me!

Nice. The only things I'd change would be EMG's instead of the DiMarzio's and Mahogany with quilted maple for the body. Never liked maple much as a tonewood. Too bright for me. Give me a block of good old mahogany any day! Then again, some folks like their tone bright. It'll be a gorgeous guitar anyway. You'll have to post pics. I'm not even sure about the EMG's. The tonewodd might be wasted on them. Might even go for a set of SD's, though the output wouldn't be as high as the DiMarzio's. Maybe the DiMarzio's are the best option, all things considered. Can't argue with misters Satriani and Vai about them anyway!

Karl Hungus

Oh hell no not EMGs! I've got them on my Virgin, an 81 & 85 and I want to change 'em sharpish, they sound like muck. I'm probably just going to whip out the soldering iron, and stick the old BC Rich stock pickups back in there, because as it is I get a much better tone altogether from my Mockingbird.

I'll have to see about the Mahogany body, but the stealth itself is like a neck with spikes.
So I'm not sure how much tonality a different body wood could produce.

It wasn't me!

Yeah, maybe the happy medium, alder would be the best bet. No point going for something as rich as mahogany when the body's barely there really. I like the EMG's. An 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. That's pretty much my favourite combination for metal. What did you not like about their sound?

Karl Hungus

That they have none?

Well seriously, it just kinda sounds like note really blur and smudge into each other without any kind of clarity at all. I was very, very impressed by their sound at first, but the more and more I played, the unhappier I was with them. Right now, I just find they inhibit my playing a lot. As the Doc would say, they sound like wet gick.

As for the body wood, don't think I'd really go with Alder at all. I know a lot of people are fond of it, but it's just not as rich as Mahogany by half. I'll definetly enquire about this next time I get a reply from Guitar Asylum.

It wasn't me!

I always really liked them for their clarity. I'm more of a rhythm man though so maybe it's different for lead or whatever. I suggested alder as it's brighter than mahogany but not as rich since you wouldn't take advantage of its richness with a Stealth body.

Karl Hungus

Well, in all fairness my 'neck with spikes' comment was a little colourfull, if you get my meaning, and there is a body there to take advantage of the tone. Actually I don't even know why I was considering maple for both neck and body... It's just seemingly the standard setup that's on the Guitar Asylum page. Mahogany it is.

It wasn't me!

Good boy! Got to love the mahogany. The body will of course affect the tone. There's not much wood there with a flying V but it still has to be good wood. Of course it won't affect it as much as a guitar with a whole lot more wood involved, like an Explorer, but it'll still have an impact. Ebony fretboard? Yummy!

Karl Hungus

Oh hell yes, there's nothing like an ebony fretboard! And it's quite possible that I'd get more interesting tone from the stealth because of its shape, so yeah, Mahogany is definetly important!

It wasn't me!

Hmmm... never took the body shape into account. Didn't think it'd have much effect on the tone. I do love the idea of a plain ebony board. Very sleek. The mahogany will sound much deeper and richer than the maple, so you'll be able to get those low metal tones we all love so well out of it quite easily.

Karl Hungus

Aye... Well I've fired off a few enquiries with my exact specs to a couple of places now, so I hope to hear something soonish.

How does a DiMarzio Evolution and Blaze neck pickup sound to you?