Lyrax

I saw this guy on Instagram that turned a bass into a guitar.
Take a look at these pictures:
Body: http://instagram.com/p/KEHOOUoQxe/
Headstock: http://instagram.com/p/KCKNrZoQ79/
Whole: http://instagram.com/p/Kicnx1oQ69/

The guitar was used on this song as far as I know:
Live version featuring the guitar without the singer that everyone apparently hates. Features a solo that starts at 2:10.

I think he tunes to E one octave from below standard E. You can play this song in standard because and it revolves around the 4th fret on the G string and on the live video he plays it very high up the neck.
It could be cool using the humbucker and the bass pickups at the same time.
What are the pros and cons doing this?

__________________
I'll bring the NU-metal back into yo face!
I tried to make those hook-ups come through,
you didn’t know you got lied to,
We could have hit the ceiling of the sky,
we were about to fly high,
But my wings turned into wax!

JimDawson

Wow, I have never seen that before.

Anyways, the first pro to come to mind is that you would definitely be able to downtune really low because the thing has the scale length of a bass. Also, it's a pretty rare thing to see so I imagine you'll get lots of attention from people who think it's "cool" and whatnot.

I believe that's where the pros end.

A bass is designed to be a bass, and not a 6-string guitar. Because of this, I imagine lots of problems with this:

- You'll have to spend LOTS of time and effort modifying a bass to do the same thing a guitar can do.
- Costs money to modify.
- There are a lot of opportunities to screw up as you are making these modifications.
- Frets aren't as close together as they are on a guitar, so it will most definitely be harder to play.
- Guitar pickups aren't designed to be installed on a bass. You could do it clearly, but I imagine there will be tone issues.

It's a neat idea, I'll give it that, but I think you would be better off with a 7-8 string guitar for the low-end or something like a 6-string bass for the high-end. A bass really is meant to be a bass.

EDIT: All in all, I would call this more of a novelty item really.

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Lyrax

I thought the same thing pretty much. This guy also had a custom built 4 string guitar tuned ti F# F# B E with the lowest string tuned down a whole octave. It also had a 28`5 inch scale or something.
Pretty creative but not very practical.

__________________
I'll bring the NU-metal back into yo face!
I tried to make those hook-ups come through,
you didn’t know you got lied to,
We could have hit the ceiling of the sky,
we were about to fly high,
But my wings turned into wax!

JimDawson

I think the best thing I have seen like this is a 11-string bass. The damn thing has a similar frequency range as a piano. It wasn't like a 12-string guitar either, where the strings are paired up so it functions like a 6-string. To me it seemed quite practical. Especially for fingerstyle, where you could take advantage of all that range easier.

Here's a video:

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Lyrax

Man that`s crazy... I am pretty good at taking advantage of the possibilities a 7string features but when it comes to a 8 string I`m a complete idiot.
That 11 string thing isn`t for everyone.
Here`s a video of the 4 string guitar I was talking about with the long scale and such:

I really want to have one custom built..

__________________
I'll bring the NU-metal back into yo face!
I tried to make those hook-ups come through,
you didn’t know you got lied to,
We could have hit the ceiling of the sky,
we were about to fly high,
But my wings turned into wax!

Viban

God help him when he wants to change strings, or lower/change his action.

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Speckled_Hen

The string trees on that first bass are absolutely crazy

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Was lacking a decent sig. Still is.

RebuildIt

I wonder where he gets the high strings? Is it tuned like normal? Even an octave low, the high string has to be about a 0.030. Can you get bass strings that light? Yup! http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EXL170-6/