Agile Interceptor 8 strings!

[highlordmugfug]

30.5" has been requested once or twice, but it's not up for consideration in this particular run.

I wouldn't be surprised if a 30.5" Intrepid comes at some point, but that one would definitely have a fixed bridge.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there's a chance in hell of getting a low F# (or lower as people would be want to do with such a scale) to intonate on the current Kahler design. Even if it could intonate properly, there likely would not be enough range of motion in the saddles to also have the first string intonate correctly as well. And even if you solve that one somehow, there's the fact that a string that long tuned that low might not have any tuning stability at all with trem usage. (Though there exist trem systems for bass, so maybe it would work? Who knows)

You mean to intonate properly at 30"-30.5" scale length right? Because if there's no chance of getting it to intonate at that low of a note, why the fuck build an 8 string with a kahler? This scares me being as my prefered tunign would be F standard. Please explain. Also, 30.5" Intrepid fixed bridge=sex.

 

[troyguitar]

It's not a question of whether a single string will intonate, but whether there is enough range in the saddles to get both the highest and the lowest strings to intonate at the same time. Especially with people possibly wanting to tune to Drop E (EBEADGBE) and BEADGBEA on the same guitar.

If the 8th string, for example, needs to be 0.5" further away from the nut than the 1st string for them to both intonate properly but the Kahler saddles only have a range of 0.4" then you won't be able to do it.

I have to say that I don't know if this will actually be a concern yet (it's something I'll be testing this weekend) nor do I know for certain if scale length will actually affect it significantly.

 

[Pewtershmit]

Is there seriously that much of a demand for a kahler 8 trem on one of these things?

If this happens, and it comes down to two models of it, scale isn't nearly as important as trem / fixed.

I bitch around with getting my lo pro 7 to intonate and sit correctly. I can't see any tech having fun setting up one of these.

 

[somn]

why a 27 scale? ive see a big demand for 25 and 30 scales.
i think you should put a poll for colors tho. i do think its cool that you included black.

with the kahlers i have played with ive needed to replace the 7th and 6th roller and string hooks to support strings that are wider and have wider ties at the ball end as some string brands did not fit. intonation has been great but with quality issues in rondo i would be on end. and the nut, an 80 is a very very tight fit i had to losen the built in string tree so it can fit but then an 80 at that scale is kinda tight at least for me. i dont see any good for a F at 25 as for a high A i couldnt tell you.

a 30 scale 8 string with a kahler painted blood burst over quilt would rock tho .

 

[darren]

You could always do what we did with the Intrepid and ship it with a flat-mount bridge and the user can do an aftermarket Kahler mod. I honestly can't see a huge demand for 7-strings with Kahlers. An 8 with a Kahler might have more appeal, because it's the only 8-string trem out there. But i don't see people falling over themselves for an Agile with a Kahler. The bridge itself will likely be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of the guitar!

 

[Galius]

what he said

You could always do what we did with the Intrepid and ship it with a flat-mount bridge and the user can do an aftermarket Kahler mod. I honestly can't see a huge demand for 7-strings with Kahlers. An 8 with a Kahler might have more appeal, because it's the only 8-string trem out there. But i don't see people falling over themselves for an Agile with a Kahler. The bridge itself will likely be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of the guitar!

 

[amassivetree]

I think I might have voted too soon (against both options). After thinking about it some more, I think I could live with a 27" scale after all. I'd like an ERG with a trem, and now that the interceptors are back in stock I'm itching to get one. If we could do something very close to the interceptor pro spec ( neck-thru, flame top. 27", red stain), I would totally jump on that.

I would push for the Kahler (maybe we need another poll), because as I mentioned in a previous thread, I'm half thinking of installing one now (and I'm very glad the intrepid was designed with this in mind), but am hesitant to cut up such a pretty guitar and be left with holes in the back. For people who are against the Kahler, is it because it is a trem, a locking trem, or specifically Kahler?

I would think that it would save a ton of time in trying to get this into production vs. trying to re-engineer or adapt an existing trem design to an eight, which seems like more work to tool up for than designing a strat-stype hardtail bridge.

 

[Cancer]

I voted neither simply because I think that the majority of the players are still getting the instrument to get the extended low range and 25.5 wont cut it. make both of them 27

While I could see 25.5 scale being great for shredders (high A) I really have to agree with this sentiment. Personally I think the 27" scale should be the minimum scale for any ERG 7 and up.

The addition of the Kahler is pure genius. Not only is it a very functional bridge (I heard it can made hardtail with the turn of a screw now ....woot) it also resolves the tremolo install issues with the previous Interceptors had.

If this ends up going to production, I think I would buy this.

BTW, any chance of converting the current Interceptor Pros to Kahlers, that would rule.

 

[troyguitar]

You don't think every wanktastic bedroom shredder in the world would want to have a trem-equipped 8-string? (I count myself as part of that group, no offense intended at all)

IIRC people on here seemed to be practically drooling over that one Ibanez LACS which has a trem.

Besides, the previous thread I did seemed to indicate that there were indeed people who were interested.

 

[Cancer]

You could always do what we did with the Intrepid and ship it with a flat-mount bridge and the user can do an aftermarket Kahler mod. I honestly can't see a huge demand for 7-strings with Kahlers. An 8 with a Kahler might have more appeal, because it's the only 8-string trem out there. But i don't see people falling over themselves for an Agile with a Kahler. The bridge itself will likely be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of the guitar!

Not to hijack but I have to tell this story.....

I purchased a used Interceptor Pro 27 for Technomancer about 2-3 months ago, during the setup I snapped off one trem claws screws in the cavity (the drill holes were very tight, to the point were I stripped the original screws, replaced them, and then snapped one of the second set while adjusting it). That guitar is currently at a luthier, who while initially inspecting the guitar told me that "the trem route isn't very good" and showed me the places where the posts have been routed almost through the wood, and a couple of other issues.

My response "well, its a work in progress...."

Moral of the story, of all the issues about the Interceptor that have surfaced, and then been resolved, the trem installation remains to be one of it's biggest issues. The addition of Kahler not only resolves the installation issue, but on a perception level removed the last bit of "cheap" hardware on the Interceptor.

My only hope is that they countersink the baseplate, that way they can keep the string height consistent with current Interceptors.

Right now I'm debating about either blocking my current Interceptor, or installing a Kahler, I'll probably block it and be done, but if new Interceptor with Kahlers were released I would definitely purchase 2.

 

[J-Twin]

Newbie here; so not sure how much my opinions count. But anyway, here's what I'm looking for:

• whichever wood sounds best w/ low tunings (alder?)
• ditto bolt/thru
• shortest scale that would intonate properly w/ F# (or E?) I know this is controversial, but I'd really like 25.5" (I don't mind a little flub, hell, I'm used to doing low A on a 25.5 lol) that changeable neck idea seems brilliant!
• Kahler USA Hybrid (I'd add one anyway)
• non-locking nut (or changeable)
• 24 frets
• ebony (preferably) or rosewood
• dual passives
• 5-way switch (or 3-way linear that could be switched)
• quilt maple option
• transparent red option (blood burst? "tribal red"?)
• black hardware option

About the Kahlers--I know the Halos [ducks] are a bit of a question mark, but they use them for super-low tunings, and super-wide tunings, too (like the 10-string).

Thanks for all your great info and work w/ Kurt!

 

[highlordmugfug]

It's not a question of whether a single string will intonate, but whether there is enough range in the saddles to get both the highest and the lowest strings to intonate at the same time. Especially with people possibly wanting to tune to Drop E (EBEADGBE) and BEADGBEA on the same guitar.

If the 8th string, for example, needs to be 0.5" further away from the nut than the 1st string for them to both intonate properly but the Kahler saddles only have a range of 0.4" then you won't be able to do it.

I have to say that I don't know if this will actually be a concern yet (it's something I'll be testing this weekend) nor do I know for certain if scale length will actually affect it significantly.

Oh okay, I got it know.

You could always do what we did with the Intrepid and ship it with a flat-mount bridge and the user can do an aftermarket Kahler mod. I honestly can't see a huge demand for 7-strings with Kahlers. An 8 with a Kahler might have more appeal, because it's the only 8-string trem out there. But i don't see people falling over themselves for an Agile with a Kahler. The bridge itself will likely be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of the guitar!

I'm feeling this.

why a 27 scale? ive see a big demand for 25 and 30 scales.
i think you should put a poll for colors tho. i do think its cool that you included black.

with the kahlers i have played with ive needed to replace the 7th and 6th roller and string hooks to support strings that are wider and have wider ties at the ball end as some string brands did not fit. intonation has been great but with quality issues in rondo i would be on end. and the nut, an 80 is a very very tight fit i had to losen the built in string tree so it can fit but then an 80 at that scale is kinda tight at least for me. i dont see any good for a F at 25 as for a high A i couldnt tell you.

a 30 scale 8 string with a kahler painted blood burst over quilt would rock tho .

Yeah, we've had the break the ice 8 string (Intrepids), and now the break the ice 8 string with trem and smaller scale (Interceptors), Now when do we get the 8 string with even further extended scale(30"-30.5")? I've seen people mentioning this since the beggining, why not this? Better question: When this?

 

[somn]

You could always do what we did with the Intrepid and ship it with a flat-mount bridge and the user can do an aftermarket Kahler mod. I honestly can't see a huge demand for 7-strings with Kahlers. An 8 with a Kahler might have more appeal, because it's the only 8-string trem out there. But i don't see people falling over themselves for an Agile with a Kahler. The bridge itself will likely be 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of the guitar!

what he said

come to think of it i forgot that the current 8s are set for after market mods such as the kahler i gotta give props to darren to that

 

[djohns74]

Hey all, I talked to Troy earlier and volunteered to do some mock-ups for this project since he was asking about that earlier. I'm certainly no darren when it comes to these things but I think I can get the basic idea across with your help, plus I generally have the time to make tweaks going forward as you guys decide what features you want.

Here's my first stab at it. It should all be pretty darn close to proper scale, and of course some things, like the knobs and pickups, are obviously just placeholders. Also, darren, I apologize in advance for stealing your tuners. I have to make new ones eventually anyway to support multiple hardware colors.

Let me know what you think.

 

[MF_Kitten]

I would add that adding white or cream binding to that would be sweet as hell, and if you´re making it non-binding, then aving it totally matte/satin would look good.

i dunno about the specs of it, it´s not really my taste, but stylistically there´s a bunch of things that would look great

so yeah. entirely red would be cool if it was matte, gloss would be nicer with binding, and matte red would look nice with binding too, obviously.

the direction of the tuners looks a bit weird, they´re all angled upwards... angle them straight out or a bit downwards, maybe?

"arched" top would look nice.

other than that, most of the interceptor/septor models would look nice as 8 string models, with the tribal red, green, purple, and trans black.

 

[bulletbass man]

this is retarded. you cant have an 8 string in 25.5 the intonation will be shit beyond shit.

Plus im gonna end up buying a standard since its the version with the passive style route, please dont make me stuck with a 25.5 inch scale

I'm pretty sure these were in mind to be used with a high A. THough I don't know how well they would handle a kahler.

Either way I think both should be 27" personally.

 

[Tombinator]

Aye, I'm voting for a 27" scale for both the standard and pro versions. An ebony fretboard would also be prime for the pro model.

 

[Urbane]

if there 27" were gonna be forced to use o4plus strings for the high A or even G because i dont think a normal one will work will it?

 

[djohns74]

I knew I was forgetting something that makes the Interceptor what it is. A carved top! Wasn't completely sure how to pull that off in Photoshop, but here's a stab at it on a 27" Natural Pro. I also have a dark stain effect that I'm working on that's looking somewhat interesting. Fancy tops will be needed as well, though I always like the look of the neck thru wood showing through too.

 

[Mike_F]

I knew I was forgetting something that makes the Interceptor what it is. A carved top! Wasn't completely sure how to pull that off in Photoshop, but here's a stab at it on a 27" Natural Pro. I also have a dark stain effect that I'm working on that's looking somewhat interesting. Fancy tops will be needed as well, though I always like the look of the neck thru wood showing through too.

I'd be game for one just like that
But it would be killer if you did a mockup of that guitar, but with a flame maple top and a bloodburst finish.