I've been a large fan of Soilwork for a while now, and I've recently noticed that they tune down to B with their guitars. Now I've pondered over this fo a while, and realised that B is the note which is on the seventh string of a seven string guitar. So I'm sat here thinking, why not just get seven strings? You've sold enough albums to buy yourself some nice ass guitars, so why the hell not? surely all that detuning is bad for your guitar.

B isn't bad for your guitar. I have played my 6 stringed BC Rich (which is 14 years old) in B for the last 3 years. No truss-rod problems.

Also, you can use a 6 stringed baritone for low stuff without even thinking about a 7 stringer.

I can't stand the feel of a 7-string's neck. I have small hands, and for me, the thinner the neck the better. I have trouble with 7-string and classical guitar necks for that reason. Some people just prefer the feel of a 6-string I suppose. No mental issues involved.

good points, indeed. maybe soilwork's guitarists just have chubby fingers =D.

maybe they have teeny tiny swedish hands that cant handle the brootality of 7 strings

Hey man, Meshuggah are Swedish. They play 8 strings.

7 strings feel annoying, necks too fat. also like Josiah i also suffer from small hand-itis

I love the feel of 7-strings. It took a week to get used too, but oh my god it's awesome.
Solo'ing on a 6-string tuned down to B is also much more annyoing than solo'ing on a 7-string. You still have standard tuning to solo on, but an extra B-string added for the punch.

solos are mostly out-dated *waits for barage of thrown stones*

Haha, no stones from my side. That's just a matter of taste, but the solo's of Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Dev and even Soilwork (which are mostly copies of Dream Theater's solo's) really add to the song.
If a song has a solo, if really has to add something to the song. It shouldn't just be an extension of the guitarist's ego.

... well, only Malmsteen can get away with that

Haha, no stones from my side. That's just a matter of taste, but the solo's of Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Dev and even Soilwork (which are mostly copies of Dream Theater's solo's) really add to the song.
If a song has a solo, if really has to add something to the song. It shouldn't just be an extension of the guitarist's ego.

... well, only Malmsteen can get away with that

Malmsteen doesn't have an ego.
It's a giant walking ego that has a tiny malmsteen hanging on it

and hell, my hands are small and chubby. So i play the drums

Malmsteen doesn't have an ego.
It's a giant walking ego that has a tiny malmsteen hanging on it

and hell, my hands are small and chubby. So i play the drums

haha! hats off my friend, that was a brilliant feat of hilarity. but either way, tuning down to B, although some may prefer 6 strings, I'm thinking it may be because of the way they've been brought up to play guitar. if you've been brought up on a 6 string, you naturally play to the style of a 6 string. after playing a 7 string for so long when picking up a 6 string I keep bashing at the wrong string and stuff, so maybe they couldn't be bothered to get used to seven strings? I don't know, I thought about it a bit either way =D.

Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Dev and even Soilwork (which are mostly copies of Dream Theater's solo's)

since when did Soilwork's solos sound anything like Dream Theater's? I always thought Petrucci's solos were far beyond the skills and technicality of those from Soilwork. =/

I've been thinking of getting a six string bass. I'm not sure though. Do you think theres a certain point in my bass life where I should say "okay, I'm ready for it", or do I just get one now and get used to the 6 string madness?

Malmsteen doesn't have an ego.
It's a giant walking ego that has a tiny malmsteen hanging on it

Malmsteen doesn't have an ego.
It's a giant walking ego that has a tiny malmsteen hanging on it

and hell, my hands are small and chubby. So i play the drums

haha! hats off my friend, that was a brilliant feat of hilarity.

haha thanks, it did sound better in my head than "know why he's so fat and big? That's all a bloaty ego filling."

@deathcom: a friend of mine bought a 6 string bass when he was still learning how to play the 4 stringed one. He's a great bassist nowadays, but he ate away the basics, so his playing is kinda grimy sometimes (there's a bit of fretting in the sound and all). I think that if you're good with the basics of playing, you're good enough to start practising with a 6-string. What you really gotta ask yourself is this: do you need that many strings? Maybe the 6-string would go into the clumsiness of the 7-string guitar and actually get in your way a bit. But if that's not a problem, go for it, the more the merrier