OK, where does it stop?

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

I would really like to see someone play a real song on this.  I'm pretty sure this is all about novelty.  Really, a 15-string bass?



Here is the accompanying story.......

Is that enough strings? Just buy a harp, already!


15-string bass guitarC'mon, bass players, what's it all about? I mean for years you were content enough with four strings. Then in the 1980s some bright spark had a cunning ploy and added a low B string so as to be able to play bass parts with lows that otherwise only synth players would be able to reach (as was the fashion in the contemporary music of the time) and thus the five string bass was born.*

Then someone else thought "What if we add a high C string" and so the modern 6-string bass came into being.

And then after that it all went completely crackers. Someone else added a 7th string, and then an 8th, a 9th, etc, etc, and so it went on. It became a kind of rivalry between bass players - who could have the most strings.

Now, call me cynical if it makes you happy, but I'd say that 15 strings on a bass is just plain bonkers. And surely with that amount of strings, by definition, you'd have to move out of the bass range and into the treble, so is it really a "bass"?

[* OK, I've skipped over Fender's five and six string basses from the 1960s, but they weren't exactly big successes back then, although they are very cool instruments. I've also not mentioned instruments with the strings arranged in courses, such as those used by Cheap Trick's Tom Petersson: 12-string basses with 4 courses of 3 strings - 4 regular bass strings each grouped with a pair of octave strings.]
Posted by G L Wilson at 2:34 PM ShareThis
Labels: bass, ERB, Hideous guitars

[ddwilkins]

That just looks horrible.

[Kelz-Da-Basshead]

anybody know what the tuning on that is.

[Bullitt]

anybody know what the tuning on that is.

Well considering its' got 15 strings, at least 3 of them will be an octave(s) higher or lower.

That bass just reeks of carpel tunnel...I bet each unit sold comes with a lifetime supply of icy hot and ben gay


-J

[Kelz-Da-Basshead]

I was trying to see if the bass gets waaayyyyyyy deeper or waaayyyyyyyyyyy higher. But buying this bass will probably help you memorize the circle of fourths.

[funkStrat_97]

You could probably buy a half-way decent bass for the same amount of money that a set of strings would cost for that monstrosity!!! 

[floaded27]

You could probably buy a half-way decent bass for the same amount of money that a set of strings would cost for that monstrosity!!! 

especially like how some of the guys on here change their strings like every week.

if people played that, LGM will go from threads like
"check out my video" or "learned a new song"
to
"anybody got any extra strings layin around",
"my repair guy wants my car,my first born + cash to setup this bass", and
"keep me in prayer. went for that low E and dislocated my shoulder. go in for surgery tomorrow".

lol

[rEaLiTy|cHecK]

lol im pretty sure you don't/can't fret those things with one hand.. also i thought i had seen that these particular tennessee basses arent even actually playable? maybe im wrong lol, but i wouldnt be surprised, the string spacing doesnt even look even!

with that said, i dunno that there's a "limit", if somebody comes along and makes that bass sound good on a song, or as a solo artist, then more power to them. it's not MY cup of tea, but i think it's just as "closed-minded" to knock a 15-string as it is to knock a 5 or 6

[funkStrat_97]

with that said, i dunno that there's a "limit", if somebody comes along and makes that bass sound good on a song, or as a solo artist, then more power to them. it's not MY cup of tea, but i think it's just as "closed-minded" to knock a 15-string as it is to knock a 5 or 6

Thus saith the Lord....

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

This bass got an absolutely horrible review on Harmony Central.


http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/product/Tennessee/15+String+Bass/10/1


 

[rEaLiTy|cHecK]

Thus saith the Lord....

LOL

[Fingers!]

I was trying to see if the bass gets waaayyyyyyy deeper or waaayyyyyyyyyyy higher. But buying this bass will probably help you memorize the circle of fourths.

I don’t know about that.  Some of those strings look like they are almost the same size.  They CANNOT be a fourth away from each other...well, that’s the way it looks to me.

[jonesl78]

I actually would consider buying one as a collectors item. Like everyone else, I wonder how you tune it. here's a link to a 18 string bass.

 http://guitars101.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/18-string-bass-guitar/

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

I don’t know about that.  Some of those strings look like they are almost the same size. 

They are.  It's just three sets of 5-string packages.  I'm sure somebody somewhere is plotting to top this. 

[BassbyGrace]

Actually for those on TB, Jauqo III-X thought this up a while back I believe.  Its on his website.  Ask him he should tell you the strings on that aircraft carrier lol.

[Harmonicologist]

I've seen people play really impressive music on such instruments, some even with two necks. They all display a tap-like technique though which should be learned all over again if you're a regular bass player. Not for me.

[csharp57]

if people played that, LGM will go from threads like
"keep me in prayer. went for that low E and dislocated my shoulder. go in for surgery tomorrow".

lol

Still LOL!!!!

[B3Wannabe]

That just looks horrible.

That's a SWWEEET bass!

[Mysteryman]

That's a SWWEEET bass!

I just knew you would ne in after a while. lol

[B3Wannabe]

I just knew you would ne in after a while. lol

LOL

I just realized that dude was flashing the bird!