Hagström H8II 8-stringed Bass Wild Cherry Transparent

50years ago, in 1967 Hagstrom’s US distributor brought the idea of an 8-string bass. At that time, the only other company producing an 8-string bass was Rickenbacker, but these were custom-order instruments; thus, Hagstrom became the first manufacturer to serial produce an 8-string bass, bringing this unique instrument to a much wider audience.

Before too long bassist Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience discovered it, and its unique sound can be heard on the The Jimi Hendrix Experience album “Axis: Bold as Love” (check out the track “Spanish Castle Magic” where the H8 really shines). In fact, Jimi Hendrix himself was a fan of the instrument and used it in various sessions over a period of several years; he owned the sixth H8 ever produced. Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister also showed up from time-to-time playing an H8.

We went to great lengths to ensure that our H8II is a faithful re-creation of this historic instrument in Hagstrom’s leg¬acy. A double cutaway mahogany body is bolted to a Canadian Maple neck supported with Hagstrom’s H-Expander® truss-rod. The H8II features a short 30.75” (781mm) scale length with a dot-inlaid Resinator® fingerboard. Pickups are Hagstrom’s DynaRail Humbuckers with an additional coil-split feature activated by a push/pull switch built into the volume control.

Body: Double Cutaway - Based on Original 1967 Design. All Mahogany Construction

Neck: Bolt-On - Hard Canadian Maple - “C” Profile, H-Expander™ Truss Rod, Multi-ply Binding

Fingerboard/Nut: Resinator™ Fingerboard / 30.75” (781 mm) Scale Length, Pearloid Dot Inlays, 21 Medium Jumbo Frets / 15” Radius, GraphTech Black Tusq Nut / 40mm Nut Width

Electronics: 2 x Hagstrom Dyna-Rail Humbucker, 1 x Volume Control with Push/Pull Coil Split, Kill Switch

Hardware Parts: Hagstrom Adjustable String-Through Body Bridge, 4 x Hagstrom 22:1 Chrome Die Cast Tuners, 4 x Hagstrom 18:1 Chrome Die Cast Tuners

Optional: Case B-60 or Bag B-40