8 string new? Nah its old hat!

[GuitarAkuma]

There has been a lot of hype here about the new 8 string.

Heralded as another "guitar innovation" by Ibanez, but 8 strings are old as the hills. There were 8 strings available in the 70's way before the 7 string was even conceived.

If you look at the history book Fender did a mustang type guitar with 8 strings for a short time, and yep it was cack.

has anyone got pics of the original Fender design??

[Ploki]

as much as i google only result is 8string lapsteel by fender, which is by no definition a normal guitar.
anyway you are a bit incorrect, since 7string guitars were available in mid 60's and were somewhat popular among jazz players, tho they were tuned E A D G B E A, that's a string extra on the top

[Drew]

And actually, the seven string is a traditional Russian instrument, though the tuning is different.

It's worth mentioning in passing that it's only really within the last 100-odd years that the guitar design has standardized around six single-string courses tuned in 4ths with one major 3rd; prior to that, both the number of courses and the number of strings per course were pretty much in flux. As such, really NO extended range design is entirely without precident.

Why Ibanez can claim this as an innovation is that they're the first company to sucessfully mass produce a production 8 string (something that is not without complications of its own) at a price that puts it within the range of, if not every player, then at least a lot more than could afford a Conklin one-off.

You really don't like this 8, do you?

[dannymills]

Hear dat.

[GuitarAkuma]

Nice info about the 7 string

Fender did a proper Jaguar 8 string but its beyond rare, I am still trying to find anywhere on the net that has a pic of it.

How can you say the 8 string is aimed at the average player in cost? Its nearly £1500 over here, thats more than twice the cost of the RG7321!!

There are lots of custom made 8 strings but they tend to have split fingerboards so kudos to Ibanez for not only making a decent neck, but adding a cool fixed bridge.

But should they invent the worlds first 8 string Edge trem??

[dannymills]

'Split fingerboards'...?

You can get ot for £931 if you order it from Germany.

I'm sure £1500 is a price that floats around for critic's points such as this, but is never actually paid.

[crevis]

The hype about the RG8 is because (to my knowledge) there has not been another mass production model 8 string made.

[Drow Swordsman]

Originally Posted by GuitarAkuma

Nice info about the 7 string :

How can you say the 8 string is aimed at the average player in cost? Its nearly £1500 over here, thats more than twice the cost of the RG7321!!

You're comparing an Indonesian 7 string to a Prestige 8 string.

Most Prestige guitars cost twice as much as lower end Indosian Ibanez models.

I'd say the average guitar player (not average beginning guitar player) owns at least one guitar that costs around $1500-2000 brand new, or did at one point if they bought it used. Europe is another story, I can't say anything on that.

[andy7jem]

£1500 is actually about 5 times the price of an RG7321!!!

[Dee]

The 8 string is a silly waste of time. I've always said it. There have been many luthiers making 8's for a long time, Richard Fay included. Ibanez didn't innovate anything, they just spent time and money developing an instrument for an almost non-existent market instead of concentrating on what should be priorities, such as making more left-handers available, offering maple boards on more guitars, a better variety of finishes, different pickup configurations, re-releasing the RG565 with an AANJ (I know, dream on)...

Instead, we get a light-up plastic Christmas Tree (JEM 20) and a guitar which renders bass players redundant.

GREAT!
WELL DONE!
HAVE A CIGAR!

[C.Thep]

It was the first Production 8 string guitar, so I would consider it innovative. I applaud Ibanez for taking risks (not that I like them all), even if it does fail horribly, I still think it is cool.

Dee, why don't you just go lock yourself in your room with a 550, and I'll tell you to come out when Ibanez makes guitars the way you want.

[Dee]

No need, Carvin already does 'em. Thanks all the same.

[andy7jem]

So Dee............you're not getting an 8 string then????

[guitarkatana]

8 string classical guitars have been around for a long. Hell, even the ten string guitar has been around for a long time.

[quiksilverdew]

Originally Posted by Drow Swordsman

I'd say the average guitar player (not average beginning guitar player) owns at least one guitar that costs around $1500-2000 brand new, or did at one point if they bought it used. Europe is another story, I can't say anything on that.

I dunno about that...I'm a half decent player and the most expensive guitar I own is my RG550...