Prat 12-string bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've heard of 12-string basses before, but ordinarily (if such an instrument could ever be said to be ordinairy) they consist of four courses of tripled strings. This Prat 12-string bass is an ERB - Extended Range Bass - and has 12 individual courses.

Yes, such instruments can sound very nice, although I'm yet to be convinced as I've never heard a truly incredible (or even particularly memorable) piece of music made with one. Touchstyle instruments have been around for a long time (I can't imagine this Prat 12-er can be played any other way than touchstyle), but they've not really set the music world alight innovation-wise have they? They just remain an intrtiguing curio; the audience is more interested in the number of strings and unusual playing technique than the actual music produced. (Oh - prove me wrong, someone!)
This post originates at http://guitarz.blogspot.com - beware of those damned scraper blogs!
I've said it before and will very likely say it again: if you want that many strings, get a harp already!

G L Wilson

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Prometeus 10-string bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This is a Prometeus 10-string bass, currently on sale on eBay.

I've said it before and I will say it again. If you want that many strings just buy a harp!

C'mon bass players... how can you justify all those extra strings? I've heard a lot of BS about these instruments opening up new avenues of sonic exploration, but I've never heard a decent piece of music played on one. Admit it - it's just a silly fad amongst some bass players to see who can have the most strings.

Just check the demo video of this particular instrument on YouTube. Now, can you honestly tell me that the highest strings on this beast are truly useable? Come to that the sub-bass is pretty ropey too, so it's only really the strings in the centre that are truly playable.

The seller, who I assume from the way he writes is also the builder, admits that he himself is really a 4-string player. He must be assuming that there is someone out there daft enough to buy this thing.

G L Wilson

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6-string bass and 12-string guitar all on one neck!

More and more often on eBay these days I'm seeing guitars bearing the Tennessee brand. These guys don't play it safe with tried and trusted popular models. They seem to make up the most outlandish designs possible such as crazy multi-necked instruments (I've featured some of these before) and they always seem to be very cheap so as to appeal to the buyer who thinks "That guitar might well look crazy, but at that price I'll give it a whirl." It's an interesting marketing strategy.

But are these cheap 'n' cheerful (and very probably nasty) instruments actually playable? I'm not just talking quality and set-up, I also wonder if some of them are actually physically possible to play.

A case in point is this ridiculous six string bass and twelve-string guitar on one neck combo. I can't imagine why anyone would want such a thing in preference to a doubleneck. How difficult must that be to play? The difficulty would be further compounded by the two parts of the instrument having separate fingerboards and scale-lengths. I'd love to hear from someone who's played a guitar like this? Just what are the advantages, because I can't see any.

Just because it is possible to build something, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to go ahead and do it. (Even if the headstock does look kind of impressive!)

BTW, for this model, it looks like "Tennessee" copied this guy's design and added the extra strings themselves. From his comments on a previous thread on this blog, the guy who designed the original didn't seem to know how he was going to approach playing it. Then more recently I saw that he had adveristed it for sale! I wonder why?

Is that enough strings? Just buy a harp, already!

C'mon, bass players, what's it all about? I mean for years you were content enough with four strings. Then in the 1980s some bright spark had a cunning ploy and added a low B string so as to be able to play bass parts with lows that otherwise only synth players would be able to reach (as was the fashion in the contemporary music of the time) and thus the five string bass was born.*

Then someone else thought "What if we add a high C string" and so the modern 6-string bass came into being.

And then after that it all went completely crackers. Someone else added a 7th string, and then an 8th, a 9th, etc, etc, and so it went on. It became a kind of rivalry between bass players - who could have the most strings.

Now, call me cynical if it makes you happy, but I'd say that 15 strings on a bass is just plain bonkers. And surely with that amount of strings, by definition, you'd have to move out of the bass range and into the treble, so is it really a "bass"?

[* OK, I've skipped over Fender's five and six string basses from the 1960s, but they weren't exactly big successes back then, although they are very cool instruments. I've also not mentioned instruments with the strings arranged in courses, such as those used by Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson: 12-string basses with 4 courses of 3 strings - 4 regular bass strings each grouped with a pair of octave strings.]

Vox Humana's 18-string bass - where will it all end?

This is one monster bass guitar from Conklin Guitars with twin 7 string necks!