Top 10 8-string guitar players: who plays 8-string and what strings they use

8-string electric guitar adds a low F# below the 7-string low B, extending the instrument's low range another perfect fourth downward. The low F# (F#1, about 46 Hz) sits a whole step above a standard 4-string bass's low E (E1, about 41 Hz) and well above a 5-string bass's low B (B0, about 31 Hz), putting the 8-string squarely in the sub-60 Hz territory that overlaps with bass guitar's harmonic content.

That range opens up compositional territory no 6- or 7-string can reach without structurally compromising de-tunes. The ten players below are the most influential users of that territory, some in the prog-metal-and-djent lane (Tosin Abasi, Jason Richardson, Keith Merrow), some in heavy-metal-adjacent territory (Stephen Carpenter, Meshuggah's guitarists), and some in the instrumental-virtuoso lane (Rusty Cooley).

The most compositionally influential 8-string player in the instrument's history. Abasi's work with Animals as Leaders redefined what 8-string could be, not a down-tuned metal tool but a polyphonic three-register instrument. His signature guitar is the Abasi Concepts Larada 8 (his own guitar company, founded after his Ibanez TAM signature era), a multiscale design fanning from 25.5 inches on the treble side to 27.5 on the bass side. Per Abasi Concepts' own product pages, Larada 8s ship with D'Addario NYXL sets with a .0095 top. Technique encyclopedia for 8-string: two-handed tapping, slap-thumb, intricate fingerstyle arrangements that treat the bottom strings as a bass line.

See the full Abasi rig page.

Meshuggah's principal guitarist since the band's founding, and one of the first mainstream metal players to commit to 8-string in the mid-2000s. His guitars have spanned Nevborn customs, Ibanez, and Strandberg; the Ibanez Meshuggah signature line (M8M, M80M) runs a 29.4-inch scale, the longest in mainstream metal. Tuning is Meshuggah's signature low-F-and-lower territory. Custom string sets on the heavier end of the 8-string gauge range. His playing technique combines polyrhythmic rhythm figures with unexpected melodic leads.

See the Thordendal rig page.

Thordendal's rhythm counterpart in Meshuggah. His tunings match Thordendal's for the band's locked-in rhythm approach (per-string gauge specifics are not publicly documented). Hagström focuses on rhythm-guitar performance; Thordendal handles most lead work. Between the two of them, Meshuggah's polyrhythmic metal is the defining extended-range rhythm sound of the 2000s.

Carpenter brought 8-string to Deftones on Diamond Eyes (2010) and has been on 8-string ever since. His ESP STEF B-8 signature runs a 27-inch baritone scale. Ernie Ball Paradigm (coated nickel-plated steel) is his documented string line, he's publicly on Paradigm, not Cobalt. Paradigm's coated construction handles Carpenter's heavy detunes (some songs tune the 8th string to D or D#) without going dead mid-tour. Fishman Fluence pickups on his signature model.

Reyes is Animals as Leaders' second guitarist and Abasi's composing partner. His documented signature 8-string is the ESP LTD JR-608, a 27-inch scale design carrying his Fishman Fluence Javier Reyes signature pickups. His playing approach is more rhythm-and-chord oriented than Abasi's solo-voice focus. His string specs are not publicly documented to a single set; publicly cited specs vary.

Hauch is one of the technical-death-metal players most fluent across 6, 7, and 8 string contexts. Premier Guitar's Alluvial Rig Rundown documents him on Ibanez guitars with D'Addario NYXL strings; his earlier documented 8-string spec (Wired Guitarist, 2017) added a .072 or .074 low string to custom Ernie Ball Cobalt gauges. Alluvial's catalog features 8-string across instrumental and vocal material. Hauch is also a session player, his 8-string shows up on records across the tech-death and djent community.

See the full Hauch rig page.

Richardson runs 8-string on some solo material and on his Chelsea Grin-era work. He is a documented Ernie Ball Cobalt artist on 7-string (10–56 / 11–58 per Ernie Ball's own podcast); his 8-string string specs are not publicly documented, and his first 8-string signature guitar, the Music Man Cutlass HT 8 (multiscale 25.5 to 27 inches), arrived in 2026. His 8-string work tends to cross over into lead-heavy territory, low-register chugs while his right hand handles technical leads on the top strings.

See the full Richardson rig page.

Merrow is a Schecter signature artist; his production signature line is the KM-6 and KM-7, and a KM-8 exists only as a prototype that never reached production. He is a documented Ernie Ball Cobalt user on 7-string (9–46 plus .062 per Wired Guitarist); his 8-string string specs are not publicly documented. His YouTube content includes extended-range tracking technique and playthroughs, a useful education source for new extended-range players who want an entry point beyond the Tosin-Abasi virtuoso lane.

Cooley is the shred-virtuoso side of the 8-string roster. His Dean RC8X signature 8-string runs a 26.5-inch scale. His solo catalog documents neoclassical-meets-extended-range technical work, 8-string arpeggios, sweep picking, and legato vocabulary on a low F# that most players use for rhythm chugs.

Englund runs his own guitar company (Solar Guitars) after ending his Washburn signature relationship. Solar 8-string models are his primary 8-string instruments, and Solar guitars ship factory-strung with D'Addario NYXL. Feared and The Haunted catalog document his 8-string work. Englund is also a significant producer-educator presence, his YouTube content is a reference source for 8-string tracking and tone.

Scale lengths run from 26.5 inches (Dean RC8X) through the 27-inch production standard up to Meshuggah's 29.4-inch Ibanez signatures, with multiscale designs (Abasi's Larada, Richardson's Cutlass HT 8) increasingly common. Low-string gauge clusters at .074 for F# standard, stepping up to .080 or .084 for Drop E. Pickups are 8-string-specific (Fishman Fluence, Bare Knuckle, Lundgren, Seymour Duncan Nazgul), 7-string pickups retrofit into 8-string bodies do not work. Tuning is dominated by F# standard and Drop E, with Meshuggah as the low-F-and-lower outlier.

Documented string-brand affiliation leans D'Addario NYXL (Abasi's and Englund's guitars ship with it; Hauch's current rundown documents it), with Ernie Ball Paradigm for Carpenter and Ernie Ball Cobalt in Richardson's and Merrow's documented 7-string specs. Several players' 8-string-specific string choices are simply not on the public record; where that's the case this page says so rather than guessing.

• Full gauge guide: 8-string guitar string gauge guide.
• 7-string sibling page: Top 10 7-string players.
• Tunings: F# standard, Drop E.
• Individual rigs: Tosin Abasi, Fredrik Thordendal, Stephen Carpenter, Wes Hauch.
• Related producer pages: Ermin Hamidovic (prog-metal mix lane), Adam "Nolly" Getgood (djent production).