9-string guitar players: who plays 9-string and what they use

A 9-string electric guitar takes the extended-range idea one step past the 8-string. Where an 8-string adds a low F# under the 7-string's low B, a 9-string adds a low C# under that F#. In extended-range standard tuning that is C#, F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E, low to high, and the scale usually stretches to 28 inches or more (the Ibanez RG9 is 28 inches) to keep the low C# from turning to mush.

Here is the honest part: almost nobody needs that low string. The 9-string sits far enough down that it overlaps a 5-string bass, and even committed extended-range players tend to treat the 9th string as an occasional color rather than a foundation. That is why this page is a short, documented list, not a manufactured top ten. The players below are the ones with a real, sourced 9-string in their story. Where the strings are not on the public record, we say so, because a fabricated gauge helps no one.

Stephen Carpenter is the most mainstream name on this list, and his move to 9-string is well documented. Per Guitar World, ESP crafted his first nine-string in the custom shop back in September 2018, and it debuted on the Deftones single "Ohms" in 2020. Carpenter thanked ESP for the guitar on Instagram and highlighted its custom Fishman pickups.

Carpenter was already a committed 8-string player, so the 9-string was him reaching one step lower rather than a beginner grabbing the biggest thing on the wall. One honest detail from the same report: on "Ohms" he actually uses an octaver for much of the low-end rumble rather than leaning entirely on the lowest strings. His per-string gauge for the 9-string is not published, so we do not state one. See his full rig page for his broader setup.

Tosin Abasi is best known as an 8-string composer, but the 9-string appears in his toolkit. In Premier Guitar's Animals as Leaders feature, his gear list includes an Ibanez RG90 Prestige 9-string, and Abasi says the song "Private Visions of the World" from The Madness of Many was played on a 9-string. The nine-string guitar reference notes he used it in standard tuning for that track.

His documented string brand is D'Addario NYXL, with the same feature citing custom 8-string sets around .0095 to .074. That is an 8-string spec, not a 9-string one, so we cite the brand and flag that his specific 9-string gauge is not on the public record. Abasi is a useful reminder that a 9-string can be a single-song tool for a player whose main voice is elsewhere. See his full rig page.

Rings of Saturn's alien, hyper-technical death metal is one of the few styles that genuinely leans into 9-string range, and Lucas Mann has a signature to match. The Legator LM-9 Lucas Mann Ninja is a 9-string multiscale running 28.5 to 30 inches with EMG 909X pickups at both neck and bridge. The nine-string reference also lists Mann as a Legator 9-string player.

The multiscale design is the important engineering choice here. Fanning the frets so the bass side is longer than the treble side gives the low C# proper tension and intonation while keeping the high strings comfortable, which is close to mandatory once you are stringing nine at a time. The signature's factory string gauge is not published, so we cite the guitar and pickups and leave the strings open.

If anyone on this list treats the 9-string as a primary instrument, it is Joshua Travis. In Guitar World he says he has played nines for close to a decade, first with Glass Cloud on 30 inch scale instruments, and now leads with a signature Kiesel Aries 9-string in Emmure. The nine-string reference notes the Glass Cloud track "I Dug A Grave" as a Legator 9-string performance.

Travis is refreshingly blunt about the format. He notes that "the standard for nine-strings is C#," but says his own tuning is nothing like it: his highest string is an Eb, dropping through A, G, two Cs (the lower one about 16 cents sharp for a natural chorus), then D, A, D, A. He treats the low strings the way an arranger treats an orchestral section, not as chord territory. He also makes the anti-bass argument directly: his 9-string still starts at standard E on top, so it is a guitar with more options, not a bass.

Rob Scallon is probably why a lot of people know the 9-string exists at all. Per Laughing Squid, he plays a stock Schecter Hellraiser C-9 (an off-the-shelf model, not a signature) and got the most out of it on his track "Royale," playing the nine-string in the manner of a slap bass. The nine-string reference lists him on the Schecter C-9 for both "Envy" and "Royale."

Scallon matters here because he is not a signature-endorsed virtuoso funneling you toward a boutique build. He is a working YouTube musician getting real music out of a production 9-string, which makes him the most realistic reference point if you are curious about the format. His exact string gauge is not documented, so we do not invent one.

The single most honest 9-string story belongs to Mick Gordon, composer of the 2016 DOOM reboot. Per the nine-string guitar reference (citing his GDC talk), Gordon used a Schecter nine-string for the DOOM soundtrack, then later admitted that using a nine-string was "kinda stupid" in its excess. He sold the guitar to Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah, adding that "even he can't find a use for it."

That is worth sitting with. A composer who built one of the heaviest game soundtracks of the era, on a 9-string, still concluded the format was more than the music needed. The same reference also notes that After the Burial tracked an Ibanez 9-string on their album Wolves Within, and that the format has older roots too: Matt Pike of Sleep and High on Fire plays First Act nine-strings, and Delta blues great Big Joe Williams was billed as "King of the Nine-String guitar" with a doubled-course instrument he adapted himself. The 9-string is not new; it is just rare, and honest players tend to admit how specialized it is.

Here is the honest string answer for 9-string: there is no widely stocked complete set, so you build your own. The most practical path is to start from a full 8-string set and add one heavy low single for the 9th string, or buy singles across the board. The Ernie Ball 8-String Slinky (.010 to .074) is the closest complete stock set: its top eight strings map straight onto a C# standard 9-string, and you add a low C# single (roughly .090 and up, depending on scale) below it. Players coming down from 7-string who want a coated cobalt option often start from the 7-String Slinky Cobalt (.010 to .062) and add two low singles, though that leaves more custom work.

Ernie Ball

8-String Slinky Nickel Wound (.010–.074)

.010 – .074

Price tier: $$$

Why this one: No brand ships a stock 9-string set, so most players build their own. This 8-string Slinky covers 8 of the 9 strings for C# standard; add a low C# single (roughly .090 and up) for the 9th. The .074 low F# holds tension on a 28 inch scale.

F# StandardDrop EMetal

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• Sibling rosters: Top 8-string players, Top 7-string players.
• Gauge reference: 8-string guitar string gauge guide for the tension math that scales up to 9-string.
• Tunings: F# standard, Drop E (the 8-string tunings the 9-string extends below).
• Individual rigs: Stephen Carpenter, Tosin Abasi, Fredrik Thordendal.