Gabe Mangold's guitar and strings: D'Addario NYXL and drop-tuned extended range
Gabe Mangold, DevilDriver's guitarist since 2025 and producer of Strike and Kill, is a documented extended-range player. His main 8-string takes D'Addario NYXL .009-.046 plus custom low strings, tuned in double drop-D.
DevilDriver · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Gabe Mangold joined DevilDriver in October 2025, replacing 20-year guitarist Mike Spreitzer, and played lead guitar on and produced the band's 2026 album, Strike and Kill. His most detailed documented rig comes from a 2020 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown with his prior band, Enterprise Earth: a custom 8-string strung with D'Addario NYXL .009-.046 plus added .066 and .094 low strings, tuned in double drop-D.
Gabe Mangold is DevilDriver's lead guitarist, joining in October 2025 as the replacement for Mike Spreitzer, who left the band after 20 years. Mangold also produced the band's eleventh studio album, Strike and Kill, released July 10, 2026, on top of playing guitar on it, per Wikipedia's album credits and frontman Dez Fafara's own comments in press interviews.
Announcing the addition, DevilDriver vocalist Dez Fafara said: "To have both him and Alex Lee playing together with me makes up the most powerful unit I think we've ever had. Wait til you hear what's coming." Before DevilDriver, Mangold played in the deathcore band Enterprise Earth, along with Dead Icarus and The Beauty & The Horror.
Guitars and gear
The most detailed public account of Mangold's rig is a 2020 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown filmed during his Enterprise Earth years, when he lived and recorded out of a converted cargo trailer. It documents a custom Dalbello Undici Modern 8-string with a swamp ash body, Lundgren M8 humbuckers, and a multi-scale neck running 26.75 to 28.25 inches, plus a custom Strictly 7 String Cobra as a backup 7-string for the road. He relied on a Kemper Profiler for his live and studio tone. No fresh rig rundown from his DevilDriver era has surfaced yet, so treat this as his documented history rather than a confirmed spec for Strike and Kill.
Tuning and strings
Per that same source, Mangold's main 8-string takes a D'Addario NYXL .009-.046 set as its base 6 strings, with separately added .066 and .094 strings covering the low end. He tunes it in double drop-D (D-A-D-G-C-F-A-D). His backup 7-string typically runs drop B.
NYXL0946 Nickel Wound (.009-.046)
Why this one: The documented base gauge of Mangold's 8-string set, per his 2020 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, before the two added low strings that extend it to 8 strings.
This is a starter profile. Documented rig detail from his DevilDriver era will expand as sourced specs are confirmed.