Eight-string bass guitar

An eight-string bass guitar is a type of bass guitar with double course strings normally tuned in octaves, with both strings in a course usually played simultaneously. As on a 12-string guitar, this produces a natural chorus effect due to the subtle differences in string timbre. Such approach has been extended with the introduction of 10-, 12-, 15- or more-string bass guitars, which either double the strings of standard 5- or 6-string basses or even triple the strings of normal 4-, 5- or 6-string basses.

8-string bass guitars

The 8-string bass guitar was invented by electrical engineer, bass player and musician, Eric Krackow, who had played with Al Kooper's early band, The Aristo-Cats, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It bothered Eric that 50% of the quartet would be tied up with the guitar doubling the bass line while playing tunes like Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression." Eric, finding it too awkward to play the unison octaves himself on complex songs, remembered the 12-string guitar principle and made a prototype 8-string bass from a modified four string bass. In 1967, Eric and a business partner (Steve Wittels) brought it to Sid Hack of Univox Corp. on Long Island, which company was the importer for Hagström guitars. Sid liked the idea and ordered a trial run of 500 units. The success of that test run resulted in further production and sales.

Extended-range bass

An extended-range bass is an electric bass guitar with a greater frequency range than a standard-tuned four-string bass guitar.

One way that a bass could be considered 'extended-range' is to utilize a tuning peg that allows for instant re-tuning, such as the popular 'Xtenders' made by Hipshot, however it is more so those bass guitars that have a low-B string such as the five string bass guitar and/or a high C-string - the six string bass guitar - that are most normally considered extended-range bass guitars. Basses have been made with seven, eight, nine, or even fifteen strings with extremely wide necks and custom pickups. These too are considered extended-range basses.

Michael Manring's 'Hyperbass' by Zon guitars and Les Claypool's main Carl Thompson piccolo bass are both four string basses but with necks that exceed the standard 24 frets (24 being the 'standard' for most commercially available bass guitars). Les Claypool's piccolo bass has 32 frets whereas Manring's Hyper Bass is a fretless instrument (however if it were a fretted bass it too would also exceed the 24th fret).

Twelve-string bass

The twelve-string bass is an electric bass with three courses on each of four strings.

Normal tuning is eeE-aaA-ddD-ggG, with one string of each course tuned similarly to the corresponding string of the four-string bass, and the remaining two strings tuned to the octave.

Notable players

Manufacturers

Other bass guitars with twelve strings

Although the model most commonly known as "the 12-string bass" is as described above, several other bass guitars with a total of twelve strings have been built to rarer or unique specifications.

Six-course bass