split region 8 string

[cirkusfreak]

I'm reaching out into the infinite wisdom of the tapping community...
I've got an 8 string Warr i really love- But i find myself missing my inverted fifths tuning-two region 12 string warr.
My question is this- has anyone tried an 8 string with two regions? And if i do change it over, what kind of work is involved? Obviously I'll need a new nut, but will the pickups sound okay with the strings out of sequence?

-Brian

[rjgoos]

cirkusfreak wrote:


>My question is this- has anyone tried an 8 string with two regions? And if i do change it over, what kind of work is involved? Obviously I'll need a new nut, but will the pickups sound okay with the strings out of sequence?<


We have been kicking this over on another thread (choosing the number of strings). I really don't use the low low bass string or the high high melody string on my 10-string Stick (classic tuning). My hands are small, and getting rid of two strings (and a neck up to 0.8 inch narrower) would be helpful.

I corresponded with a manufacturer of such instruments, and was told that such a beast could be built, but most 8-string instruments are designed for the low low bass end to be on one end, not in the middle, so maybe the sound would not be optimal. I would worry also about the overlap in tone between some of the bass and melody strings....that it might cause some cancellation or something in the pickups?


RJ

[traktor]

Originally posted by rjgoos
I would worry also about the overlap in tone between some of the bass and melody strings....that it might cause some cancellation or something in the pickups?
If you have two pickups, and I suppose a split pickup would operate the same way, then if the low string of string set A is *near* the pickup for string set B, then some of the movment of that low string of set A will be picked up by the pickup for set B. Because of course, that's how pickups are designed to operate: the pickup's magnetic field (which has no sharp edges) is disturbed by some metal vibrating, and therefore a vibration of that same frequency appears in the wires coming from that pickup.

The solution is to move the pickup for string set B further from string set A. That's why all two-region instruments have a larger gap between the two string sets that the normal spacing between strings within the string group. The larger the gap, the less crossover sound.

How much crossover sound you actually hear will depend considerably on how your EQ and effects are set up. The worst case is -- the largest bass string (most mass) is right next to the pickup for the other string set, as is common with bass in Inverted Fifths tuning. Nextly, assume that you have distortion on your melody strings. The sound of the bass string will be especially noticeable coming through your melody pickups.

On the other hand, if you use a Bass-Bottom tuning (or Inverted Fifths Uncrossed) so that the largest bass string is near one of the edges of the instrument, and if you are using clean sounds rather than distored ones, and if the distance between the two string sets could be increased, all these will *decrease* the crossover sound you hear.