Kramer aluminum neck 8-string on the 'bay

[chromium]

Professing ignorance here...because I am ignorant about 8-string basses.

How are they tuned?  An octave apart on paired strings?

How are they played?  Same finger or pick stroke plays both paired strings at once?

I finally decided I'd ask.....

They're normal EADG tuning, but each bass string has a smaller gauge octave-up string paired with it.





Usually people play them with a pick, but there's no reason you can't play it fingerstyle.  I've even seen a clip of Abe Laboriel slapping one with Lee Ritnour!  (I'd kinda rather see him slapping Lee Ritnour, though    No reason, just beacuse)

[gweimer]

The Sam Ash store in Cincinnati had one of the Kramers about a year ago.  They were asking about $700 for it, but the neck was separating from the wood, and that gave the neck somewhat of an uncomfortable knife edge to it.  I also didn't think much of the sound.

[gearHed289]

I have a Kramer XKB-10 (the not quite bookmatched Flying V) and while it needs a retune after, say, the first two songs in a gig or rehearsal (pitch rises even across all strings), I never encountered the severe and apparently endless issues mentioned here. I used that bass a lot during the early and mid-eighties, it was my main bass and it was (after a retune-up into the third song of the set) totally stable and reliable.

+1

[uwe]

Finger players forgive me, but playing an eight string with your fingers just doesn't give you the clarity of a pick, your fingers inevitably muffle out one string, irrespective whether the octave is on top of (most 8 string basses) or below (Ric) the regular string. Your finger hits one string and damps the other one. You end up with a sound that is rather unfocused and does not have that eight string rrring to it which I like. In all honesty, I want an 8 string to sound like a downtuned 12 string guitar and play it accordingly. Mostly with downstrokes and alternate picking when absolutely needed, lots of chording, doublestops and empty string playing. Not very rhythmically oriented as intricate rhythms tend to sound clumsy and harsh on an 8 string. But you can do lovely U2 drone tones with it and be your own rhythm guitarist at the same time. I'm currently playing my Ric 4003S/8 a lot.

[gweimer]

When I had my 8-string, I intended on using a pick.  The first night I took it out, someone called out "Superstition" and I had to use my fingers.  The bass chewed them to bits.  I always used a pick after that, and was careful on which songs I used it.

[hieronymous]

Thanks for the input and info everyone! I would love to get this bass for $800 - not sure if he would let it go for that (I doubt it!) and not sure if I'm going to make a bid, but it's been fun to learn about these basses, especially from those of you with direct experience.

I also play my 8-strings with pick - I've messed around a tiny bit with fingers, but it doesn't really fit for me. Slapping actually works a bit - I do an up-and-down technique with my thumb in the same direction as a pick, but don't use that technique much at all anymore.

I have a few recordings I've done with various 8-strings I've owned, thought I would post them for fun:

This track features my first 8-string, a Tune - two tracks of it in the intro, then Mustang reissue in the middle, then the Tune again at the end, both times through my RE-201 Space Echo:



Then I got a Rickenbacker 4003S/8 and recorded a song I originally came up with on the Tune, slathered in even more delay:

8 Echo Dr. (experimenting with SoundCloud with this link)

I also got a Rickenbacker 4008 - their earlier 8-string - and recorded this which has both distorted and clean tracks together, though the distorted track is more obvious:



Finally, my most recent recording with the 4003S/8, this time with both distortion and octaver! Total overkill!



(Greg DeGuglielmo is drums on all tracks and co-composer on "Next to Last" and "Black Walrus." DJ TAKA is scratching the Yes on "Black Walrus.")

The Tune and the 4008 have been sold and the 4003S/8 lives back in Boston, so I'm always kind of on the lookout for an 8 for here in Oakland!  

[hieronymous]

Hmm, my wife walked in while I was looking at eBay, showed her the bass, there wasn't any explicit opposition, this could be a good sign...  

Also, looks like there isn't a reserve on the auction? I never understand these things, except I did see that other auctions I am watching say "reserve not met"...

[gearHed289]

Seller can choose whether or not there's a reserve, no reserve, or buy it now. You could theoretically own that bass for $650.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Take a look at the bass in the background.

 

[Nocturnal]

A friend of mine has a Kramer like the one in that commercial. It's not a bad bass, just kind of a neck heavy brighter Pbass sound from what I can remember.

[uwe]

The Kramers sound massive and unrelenting but a bit dead due to the density and stiff ness of the neck as well as the non-wood fretboard material. And they never cared for the greatest body woods. Still a chapter in bass history.

[hieronymous]

I was still waffling - Uwe made some interesting points, the "deadness" of the sound of the aluminum neck basses, but also the presence that could be good for an 8-string.

People have started bidding on it, but I have finally decided to pass - some unexpected bills have started coming in, so I'll wait until I can actually get my hands on one to try out first.

Thanks everyone! Hopefully this thread will serve as a resource on the aluminecks!

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

MMmmmm beautiful bass! Ebony neck. 
Just a few hours to go & will go for under 8 hun, I reckon.

[hieronymous]

Seller says ebony but weren't these ebanol?

[hieronymous]

Wow! Sold for $1525! Glad I gave up so I wasn't disappointed...