ESOTERICA ELECTRICA
Better by the Dozen
BY JOL DANTZIG
An up-close
look at the
bridge/tailpiece
system Dantzig
designed
to solve the
intonation
problems that
plagued early
multi-string
basses like the
Hagstrom H-8.
A
s the joke goes, half the time
you spend playing a 12-string is
spent tuning, and the other half
playing out of tune. That certainly wasn’t
on Cheap Trick bassist Tom Petersson’s
mind when he envisioned the world’s first
12-string bass.
Prior to that time, basses were
primarily 4-string devices. Fender had
offered a 5-string (with a high C),
and after noting the existence of the
6-string Danelectro Longhorn in the
late ’50s, Leo’s crew introduced the Bass
VI 6-string in 1961. Hagstrom broke
the mold a few years later with the first
commercially available 8-string bass in
1967. The Hagstrom H-8 was unique
in that it featured four pairs (known
as courses) of strings tuned an octave
apart—giving the instrument the sound
of a bass and a standard guitar playing
in unison. Although just over 2,000
were made between 1967 and 1969, the
H-8 had been famously used by the Jimi
Hendrix Experience on several recordings,
including “You Got Me Floatin’” and
“Spanish Castle Magic.” The unique
model became a sort of cult instrument
with progressive rock bassists, and by the
mid ’70s, Petersson had gotten his hands
on one.
Petersson had been trying the
Hagstrom H-8 in the band’s sets, but he
found its intonation less than satisfactory
and asked me if there was anything that
could be done to improve it. Because our
fledgling company, Hamer Guitars, had
already built instruments for Cheap Trick,
Petersson also asked if we would build
a new kind of bass for him that would
expand on the Hagstrom and solve the
intonation as well. He envisioned a bass
with four courses of three strings, like
an ancient tiple, for a total of 12 strings.
Because we had reservations about the
neck being able to stand up to the force
of all those strings, a compromise to test
the theory was agreed upon: a 10-string
bass. By keeping the bottom two courses
(A and E) as pairs, we felt that a beefy
174 PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2016
neck would hold steady. In order to
simplify tuning and reduce confusion, I
suggested three different-sized tuners for
each course. That way Petersson could
easily find the right string to tune.
We still faced the same intonation
problem that Petersson had experienced
on the H-8. Because the Hagstrom
only had four saddles on its bridge, the
octave strings could not be adjusted
separately from the low strings, and
therefore intonation was a compromise.
To accomplish the proper intonation
so critical to Petersson, I had to come
up with a bridge system that allowed
for separate adjustments for the octave
strings. For this, I turned to a familiar
design used on vintage Thunderbird
basses. It was a simple U-channel design,
not unlike those found on many lap
steels. The difference would be that
instead of four saddles, my version would
have eight. And because the octave strings
in each course were tuned in unison, they
could share a saddle and be intonated
together. Most importantly, they were
adjusted separately from the low strings
and the original cause of the problem
could be solved.
The first prototype was completed in
1977 and delivered to the band along
with an 8-string mandocello built for
Rick Nielsen. The fact that between
these two instruments the guys would
be strumming the equivalent of three
guitars? Fascinating proposition! When
Petersson reported back that the bass’
neck was holding up just fine, it brought
a sigh of relief and opened the door for us
to go ahead with the B-12.
Once Petersson had the 12-string bass,
there was no looking back. It became his
signature sound. And though it hasn’t
become a mainstream instrument, the
power and sound of the B-12 has been
fundamental to a lot of great music over
the years. Petersson’s vision has inspired
new generations of bassists to add the
B-12 to their own repertoire. If you want
to know what a B-12 sounds like, you
need only listen to the opening refrain
of Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” or Metallica’s
“Wherever I May Roam” to get an idea of
the sonic range they possess. We all have
Tom Petersson to thank for that.
JOL DANTZIG is a noted
designer, builder, and player who
co-founded Hamer Guitars, one of
the first boutique guitar brands,
in 1973. Today, as the director
of Dantzig Guitar Design, he
continues to help define the art of
custom guitar. To l