Are you perfectly happy with your 7 String?

[Anquished]

How many of you 7 stringers never went beyond that? And have you been tempted to go up to 8? I've been eying a Kiesel Zeus 8 but I want to try different tunings on the 7 before I pull the trigger, starting with Drop A. I've always been a standard Low B player and always in 440, but recently I've gotten into more chunkier playing and a much heavier brand of metal than I'm used to. Has anyone tried 432 or lower tuning while still going a full step lower with the B string?

So I think of my 8 as two uses in one.

My main project is 7 string A standard, but I wanted to try some stuff back up in B AND also lower than A.

So I bought an 8. Gives me the best of both worlds, I can play it as if it's a standard 7 string guitar and then mix in some low F# dirt if I fancy it.

There's a lot of factors IMO which will make or break whether you get on with an 8 or not. Are you a rhythm focused player? Do you jump around the fretboard alot? Play many leads/solos? Etc. I found Schecter 8's very difficult to play with their 28" scales and neck shape, some chords down low were just super uncomfortable, whereas its just within reach on my 27" Ibanez.

I'm assuming the Zeus is a multiscale?

 

[Anquished]

Whoops, double post.

 

[Stiman]

This turned out to be a really cool thread. I love reading all the different responses. It's making me think about getting an 8 string.

 

[Wc707]

"Honey, I can't play these songs because I need a guitar with an extra string on it"
Easy sell.

"Can't you just imagine the string is there?"

 

[ixlramp]

Has anyone tried 432 or lower tuning while still going a full step lower with the B string?

A4 440Hz -> 432Hz is only a drop of 32 cents, does not even round up to a semitone, so a fairly insignificant drop in pitch.
I support using different fine shifts of 12TET though, an easy way to make music as a whole use all frequencies instead of only the usual 12.

 

[Achilleion]

This turned out to be a really cool thread. I love reading all the different responses. It's making me think about getting an 8 string.

I want one, but I'm not sure what. Probably a Schecter until I can afford the Kiesel I want.

 

[tedtan]

All sixes and sevens here. If I need to go below drop A or A standard on a seven, I grab a bass.

 

[CanserDYI]

All sixes and sevens here. If I need to go below drop A or A standard on a seven, I grab a bass.

But a bass doesnt sound like an 8 string guitar. At all.

 

[tedtan]

But a bass doesnt sound like an 8 string guitar. At all.

That’s the point.

 

[WiseSplinter]

Took me a while to get into 8 strings. I think when I started using double drop tuning was when it clicked finally (EAEADGbe)
Now I'm very comfortable with it.

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

I've been playing 7's for about 21 years and can tell you it's just the default guitar for me. A 6er is just a 7 string with a string missing, ha! I got myself an 8 string last year and I love it, but I find it to be tremendously impractical when it comes to writing with a bass guitar in mind. I have my 8 tuned to standard tuning, dropping the bass an octave down to F#0 just doesn't work IMO. So that leaves unison playing, perhaps tuning the bass to drop B. Again, very impractical, because that would in many cases also need the bass to transpose finger positioning in case you actually do want to double a riff an octave down. See what I mean? For this reason I try to keep my writing mostly on my 7.

 

[Achilleion]

I play bass and guitar and will probably just use a 4 string bass in songs that have 8 string in it.

 

[lurè]

I like both my 7 and 8 and even more the fact that I tend to play slightly different things on both; it keeps the playing fresh and with a sense of purpose.

My only issue is that I want a 6 string.

 

[Rei]

I love my 7's(I have four), and bought an 8 a few months ago and its pretty cool. I'm still navigating beyond drop E on it tho.

 

[CanserDYI]

I like both my 7 and 8 and even more the fact that I tend to play slightly different things on both; it keeps the playing fresh and with a sense of purpose.

My only issue is that I want a 6 string.

6 strings feel like toys to me now, they're so tiny!

 

[noise in my mind]

I have an 8 Fanned Fret 27.5"-26" and three Baritone 27" 7 strings. I have had many 25.5" 7's but just couldn't get along with them.

 

[NoodleFace]

I've toyed with the idea of an 8 string for the extra range but really unsure on it. I got into 7 strings maybe 20 years ago and never looked back, and maybe 8 strings would do that too. For me though,.I don't listen to any music on 8 strings (outside of archspire), so it's tough to justify.

 

[BeyondAntares]

I never thought twice about it. To me, it's just another guitar.

Not all 7 strings gelled with me but most did.

I really enjoyed playing the Ibanez Universe (2000 model), Ibanez S7420 (my workhorse for years), Solar E1.7 and Solar E2.7.

However, I played an Ibanez Jcustom 8527z which was by far the worst playing guitar I ever had, I couldn't vibe with it, neck felt like a bedpost, the mahagony body would put my leg to sleep. I hated playing it so I sold it.

I tried a Mayones Duvell Qatsi 7 deluge, 25.5" scale neck, played a lot like an ibanez. Loved the wenge neck and thin body but I just couldn't enjoy playing it, nor did it inspire me to pick it up or write.

I moved onto 8 strings recently and love playing them. I have a kiesel VM8 and a boden 8 and they both play incredibly well. My writing and playing style are very different on the 8 and I play it quite a lot.

Looking back, I really enjoyed playing 7 and 8 strings and have no regrets. I recommend biting the bullet and giving them a try. if it's not for you, you can always sell or trade it.

 

[technomancer]

I went from 6s to 7s then played 8s for a bit to try them out. Not my thing and never really got a tone I was satisfied with on an 8. At this point I am back to mainly six strings but still occasionally play 7s.

 

[SCJR]

If I had a set of meat hooks for hands I'd probably have owned an 8 string by now. But my hands are on the smaller/average side and a 7 is as far as I'll go.

That being said I don't think I'm missing anything by not using an 8 string as there is nothing musically that I could think of that I would like to accomplish with one. I've learned a couple of Animals as Leaders songs where I just transposed a bit and made it work on the 7.