Fredrik Thordendal's guitar strings: the Meshuggah 8-string rig, sourced
Documented string gauges, brands, and tunings Fredrik Thordendal uses with Meshuggah on his Ibanez 8-strings. With citations.
Meshuggah · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Fredrik Thordendal plays Ibanez signature 8-strings, the M8M/M80M (29.4-inch scale) and his FTM33 'Stoneman' (27-inch scale), both with Lundgren M8 pickups and a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx rig. He's a documented DR Strings artist (Tite-Fit TF8-10, .010–.075) per Meshuggah's own official site. Meshuggah's most common 8-string tuning is F standard, a half step below F# standard, with per-song drops to E and lower.
What's on the guitar
Fredrik Thordendal's rig has shifted across Meshuggah's catalog, but the core elements have been consistent since Ibanez became his main builder:
- Guitars: Two current Ibanez signatures, the M8M/M80M (29.4-inch scale) and the FTM33 "Stoneman" (27-inch scale), his main touring guitar for years. His personal touring Stoneman is reported to carry True Temperament frets, though the production FTM33 ships standard. Nevborn built Meshuggah's first 8-strings, but intonation problems are commonly reported as the reason he moved to Ibanez exclusively. No documented Strandberg relationship exists.
- Strings: DR Strings Tite-Fit TF8-10 (.010–.075), his documented endorsed set. The closest off-the-shelf match is Ernie Ball's 8-String Slinky Nickel Wound (.010–.074): Buy on Amazon.
- Tuning: F standard on most material, a half step below F# standard, with per-song drops to E and lower.
- Pickups: Lundgren M8, the band's signature 8-string humbucker.
- Amps: Fractal Audio Axe-Fx for amp tones and effects, confirmed via his own guitar tech in a 2013 Premier Guitar rig rundown.
Meshuggah is the band that defined what 8-string metal could be at the highest level. Their 8-string history is messier than the clean version suggests: early Nevborn-built 8-strings were unreliable enough that 2002's Nothing is commonly reported to have been tracked on detuned 7-strings, with 8-string parts re-recorded only later. Full-album 8-string rhythm tracking became reliable once Ibanez took over, and by Catch Thirtythree in 2005 the instrument was viable for mainstream metal in a way earlier isolated 8-string usage hadn't been. Tosin Abasi, the Animals as Leaders / Abasi Concepts founder, has cited Meshuggah as a primary influence on his decision to commit to 8-string.
Endorsed vs. verified use
Thordendal's gear is documented directly by Meshuggah's own site, which names Ibanez, Lundgren, and DR Strings as his endorsed brands by name, not just inferred from recordings and touring footage. DR Strings' and Ibanez's own artist pages each corroborate their own brand and his Meshuggah identity, Lundgren's own M8 product page credits Mårten Hagström by name for the band's pickup choice, and a 2013 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown with his guitar tech adds guitar-model and amp detail. That combination puts guitars, pickups, and strings solidly in endorsed territory. Exact current live amp settings and any gear swaps since 2013 are thinner sourced, treat those specifics as dated to the sources cited below rather than current fact.
Why two different scale lengths solve the same problem
Meshuggah's polyrhythmic rhythm guitar work depends on the low string's ability to produce a defined, articulate attack at speed under heavy palm muting. Thordendal's two Ibanez signatures get there two different ways. The M8M and M80M use a 29.4-inch scale, longer than the 27- and 28.625-inch production 8-string standards, which lets a moderate low-string gauge hold F-standard tuning at meaningful tension without the intonation compromises extreme gauges bring on a shorter scale.
His FTM33 "Stoneman," a custom build for touring that later went into production, keeps a standard 27-inch scale. His personal touring guitar is reported to carry True Temperament fanned frets, correcting pitch across the fretboard through fret geometry instead of added scale length, though the production FTM33 Ibanez sells ships with standard frets. Both guitars run the same DR Strings Tite-Fit TF8-10 set and the same Lundgren M8 pickup, the scale-length choice is a setup preference, not a fixed requirement.
On Meshuggah's polyrhythmic vocabulary
Thordendal and Mårten Hagström's locked-in polyrhythmic rhythm work is the defining sound of Meshuggah and the conceptual ancestor of djent. Their compositions construct riff cycles where the rhythm guitar's accent pattern moves against a fixed 4/4 drum pulse, creating a perceived disorientation that resolves periodically to downbeat. Executing this style at performance speed requires string articulation that survives polyrhythmic palm-mute density, which is the engineering rationale behind Thordendal's Ibanez 8-strings, DR Strings set, and Lundgren-pickup signal chain.
Sources
- Meshuggah's official Fredrik Thordendal gear page: lists Ibanez, Lundgren, and DR Strings as endorsed brands by name.
- DR Strings' Fredrik Thordendal artist page: Tite-Fit, model TF8-10.
- Ibanez's official Fredrik Thordendal artist page: signature models FTM33, M8M, M80M.
- Premier Guitar Rig Rundown with Meshuggah's guitar tech (2013).
- Lundgren Pickups' M8 product page, with a direct Mårten Hagström quote on choosing Lundgren.
- True Temperament's player page for Thordendal.
Checked 2026-07-18. Re-date on the next Meshuggah album cycle or major rig change.
If you want this rig
8-String Slinky Nickel Wound (.010–.074)
Why this one: The closest off-the-shelf match to Thordendal's own documented set: his DR Strings Tite-Fit TF8-10 tops out at .075 on the low string, barely heavier than this set's stock .074. For F standard (a half step below F# standard) or lower, a custom Stringjoy or Kalium order in the .078–.084 range gives more headroom.