The Last Bass Outpost

Gear Discussion Forums => Other Bass Brands => Topic started by: Blazer on January 12, 2008, 04:13:44 PM

Title: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: Blazer on January 12, 2008, 04:13:44 PM: I wanted to tell you guys about this back then but as luck would have it it was just around the time that the problems with the Dudepit V3 were happening. So I couldn't. Anyway...

A few weeks ago I made myself the owner of the Carcass of an Ibanez GAXB medium scale bass which came without pickups and any kind of hardware and it has a chip of finish missing at the lower bout of the body. In short I had bought myself THE perfect mod platform. And it only set me back 50 Bucks.
(http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/GAXB150BK.png)
A GAXB as the model should look when in perfect shape which mine OBVIOUSLY wasn't.

To get this Ibby playable again I routed the pickup cavity so it would accept a P-Bass pickup but not just any P-Bass pickup: a Magnetics P-Bass pickup. Which I wired to EMG electronics. I then installed the Bridge of a Guild Starfire which I had lying around and put on a mis-match of tuners to make it a playable bass.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0409.jpg)

And with the bass in this state I actually used it in the studio. This clip is one of the songs I used it on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3KNL_GlOG0

But because I'm the kind of guy who wants his instruments to be dependable, I couldn't live with the none adjustable bridge so it just had to go. And while I was at it I also substituted the mish-mash of tuners for a matched set of Gotoh's which improved the bass greatly.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0417.jpg)

And just the other day I stumbled across a Schaller Bridge for an Eight string bass and being a big fan of Doug Pinnick I figure that I would convert my Ibby into an Eight string bass. So I drilled the headstock for four guitar tuners and fitted the bridge and this is the result.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0429.jpg)
And here's a soundfile on which I played it. I played a little Kings-X style rock based on "It's love" the guitar is my SG/Telecaster Hybrid which is my main guitar for recording since it's so versitile. The Drums are MIDI.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pbsm3a
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: Blazer on January 12, 2008, 04:16:18 PM: Here's some close ups of the body and headstock.

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0428.jpg)

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0426.jpg)
As you can tell there's a little "Whoops" at the tuner of the octave G-string.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/100_0425.jpg)
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: marcnorth on January 13, 2008, 08:44:55 AM: That's pretty cool. Here's a pic of my only 8 string.

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/marcnorth/V8full.jpg)

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/marcnorth/V8close.jpg)

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/marcnorth/V8head.jpg)
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: Max Soren on January 13, 2008, 10:41:45 PM: I bought an Ibanez like that to take with me on a trip once. It's interesting to see it as an 8 string.
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: Barklessdog on January 14, 2008, 03:05:19 PM: the V is amazing!
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: marcnorth on January 14, 2008, 04:42:38 PM: Thanks.
Another Hamer custom shop bass. I'm pretty sure it's the only 8 string V Hamer has ever done.
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: SKATE RAT on January 14, 2008, 07:29:31 PM: gotta love the D.I.Y. approach.
Title: Re: Well I bought myself an Ibanez GAXB and made it into an eight string bass.
Post by: godofthunder on January 18, 2008, 04:48:06 AM: That looks like a cool mod ! I really like those little Ibanez basses, 8 string should sound killer !