Big Bottom

Hamer’s 8-String and 12-String Basses

By Bob Davis & Karl Coryat

Reprinted from the July/August 1991 issue of Bass Player - Reprinted with permission of Bass Player. For subscription information please call (850) 682-7644. Copyright 1991 Miller Freeman, Inc.

Some people think you aren’t hip unless you play a 5-string bass, and a 6-string, tuned (low to high) B, E, A, D, G, C, is steadily gaining acceptance. But an 8-string? How about a 12-string? Hamer Guitars is the only major manufacturer currently producing these radical instruments, which are 4-string basses with one or two extra light-gauge strings, tuned an octave higher, next to each normal-gauge string. Hamer’s clientele is impressive: Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, Billy Sheehan, Nick Lowe, Jason Newsted of Metallica, Bruce Thomas of the Attractions,and Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe all own a Hamer 8-string or 12-string. Another member of that elite group is Doug Pinnick, bassist and lead vocalist of King’s X, one of the hottest and most innovative hard rock bands around. Doug uses his left-handed Hamers onstage and all over the latest King’s X album, Faith Hope Love (Megaforce/Atlantic).

“The first time I heard an 8-string, I instantly wanted one,” Pinnick recalls. “I’ve always been a Cheap Trick fan, and I noticed that Tom Petersson was using 8- and 12-strings. Nobody paid much attention to it, but there was something about the 12 that I liked - all this sound with all this distortion coming out of one instrument.” In 1988, King’s X went on tour with Cheap Trick, and Doug had his first close encounter with a 12-string. “Tom was about to go onstage, and he had a 12-string in his hand. I asked him, ‘Can I please touch it?’ It was the most amazing thing I’d ever played; it had a whole new sound. I really wanted one, but I wasn’t about to ask for an endorsement deal - I didn’t think King’s X had any clout. But Hamer instrument designer Jol Dantzig called us out of the blue, said he liked the band, and asked if we wanted to try some instruments.”

The first 12-string bass was built after Tom Petersson suggested the idea to Dantzig. Their first attempt, in 1977, was a 10-string prototype, because Dantzig was worried that the tension on the neck from 12 strings would be too great. When the 10-string proved successful, a 12-string was built in 1978. Since then, Hamer has made 100 12s and 25 8s; the most recent models have a solid rock-maple body with two EMG HB pickups, each with its own volume control, and an EMG EXB circuit instead of conventional tone controls. The glued-in maple neck has a 30 1/2” scale, 21 frets, and a rosewood fingerboard. For players like Pinnick who use a pick, Hamer puts the octave strings below each of the normal-gauge strings - so the heavy string is struck first - and vice versa for bassists who use their fingers. (Editor’s note: The authors got this exactly backwards - Pinnick has opined the need to hit the high octaves first. Maybe the confusion was due to Pinnick’s bass being left-handed.) The list prices of the 12 and the 8 are $2,200 and $1,900 respectively, and it takes 12 to 16 weeks to build one.

The 12-string tone is unique for two reasons. First, for any given note, it’s impossible to get the three strings exactly in tune with each other. The result is a naturally chorused effect, which makes the sound lush and thick. Second, the heaviest of the three strings produces a rich, bottom-heavy timbre, while the two light-gauge strings produce a bright, metallic tone. This yields a big sound that’s extremely broad across the frequency spectrum. Pinnick takes advantage of this by splitting his signal with a crossover, running the lows into Ampeg SVTs and sending the high end to Fender Dual Showman heads with switchable distortion channels.

Doug recalls that his transition from the 4 to the 8-string took some time. “At first, the 8-string was hard to play. You can’t just pick it up and play a song you wrote on a 4; the sound you’re used to with one string per note is gone, and the big sound tends to clutter up the licks you’ve written. But I worked with my first 8 for a while, and then I started using it onstage when we played ‘Visions’ (Out of a Silent Planet, Megaforce/Atlantic), with a lot of distortion. It sounded like a heavy bass with two distorted Strats, which I liked. When the tour was over, I started writing songs with the 8-string in mind.” The adjustment didn’t simply mean a less busy style, though. “I actually play more on an 8- or 12-string - but it’s a new way of playing. You have to play them like a 12-string guitar, in a way; in fact, on Faith Hope Love, a lot of my bass parts actually sound like rhythm guitar, because I’m playing in stereo.”

Although Doug still uses a standard 4-string about half the time, he now owns two Hamer 12s and one 8, with another 8 on order. “I think just about anyone can benefit from using a 12-string,’ he says. “Even if you’re just playing straight eighth notes, it sounds cool. And if you add distortion, it can sound like about eight guitars.” Pinnick’s roaring 12-string can be heard on several Faith Hope Love cuts. On ‘We Were Born to be Loved,’ I used a 12-string with a flanger. It sounds like we overdubbed a whole bunch of guitars, but we didn’t. Sometimes the 12-string sounds like a Hammond B-3 organ.” Nick Lowe likens the sound of his 8-string to “a dinosaur eating cars,” while Jol Dantzig says the Hamer 12 sounds like a freight train, listen to songs like ‘It’s Love’ on the new King’s X album and judge for yourself.

Will the triple-string concept join the current trend to extended-range basses? Will 15-string or even 18-string basses begin to appear? “Maybe, but I wouldn’t be interested,” says Pinnick. “I’ve never been into 5-strings and 6-strings. The first time I heard someone play a low B, I thought, ‘What is that weird sound?’ Plus, I’m not a frustrated guitar player, so I don’t feel the need to play solos with lots of high notes. A 4-string - to me, that’s a bass. The extra strings on the 12 just make a 4-string sound a lot better.”