8 string guitar recommendations

@CrystalSky you still got a six string or two right? And thanks for the info on Azerbaijan. Nice to hear about it from a local!!!

@NowYou'rePlayingWithPower the kid is headed to his co-workers tomorrow to test out a bunch of 8 strings. I think the co-worker is sort of a Jackson guy. Here is one we've been looking at:

https://www.zzounds.com/item--JAC29...MI4cPF8-GpiQMVKwytBh2SwhBxEAQYAiABEgIVwPD_BwE

He's also been looking at this 9 string Agile:

https://reverb.com/item/84738170-ag...uitar-pendulum-pro-92528-eb-emg-x-white-satin

And of course he is looking at the Legator Ninjas also. Truthfully these all look like pretty nice guitars to me I'm just biased towards purple, lol.

Any opinions?

He's taking your advice and is gonna think on it and try some more axes until Black Friday but your post and one or two others have pretty much swayed him towards a fan fret model.

Thank you to everyone who posted, this stuff is as foreign to me as shopping for French horns.

Any of those are going to be great options and are going to be in the same ballpark tier/qc-wise.

I have both the Jackson SLAT8 and the Agile Pendulum, though the latter in the 10 string variant. I was actually eyeing that white 9 before my husband got me the white Legator Ninja 9 string that I did a NGD on a little while ago. That Agile is awesome, and also comes in a longer scale version if he's looking for something with more overall droptune comfort. 100% would recommend, especially for the $. If he really likes that style, an alternative to keep an eye out for used would be the Legator Lucas Mann 9 as it's white burl with big inlays like the ones on the Agile, but they glow in the dark.
They're $1700 new, but I see them sub $1k used sometimes. It's going to be a bit lighter and have a longer scale, but I feel like the Agile still gives more for the $, though.

If you do go that path, Rondomusic won't charge sales tax if you order it from their website, but charges like $5 more for shipping than their reverb store. Still cheaper. Legator also doesn't charge sales tax if you order from their site in case y'all go that route. Just be aware that with the Jackson SLAT8Q he will have a hard time finding pickups for it without customizing the baseplate and swapping everything around. Nothing wrong with the pickups, but just wanted to throw that out there for when he eventually goes on a tone quest.
 
@CrystalSky you still got a six string or two right? And thanks for the info on Azerbaijan. Nice to hear about it from a local!!!

@NowYou'rePlayingWithPower the kid is headed to his co-workers tomorrow to test out a bunch of 8 strings. I think the co-worker is sort of a Jackson guy. Here is one we've been looking at:

https://www.zzounds.com/item--JAC29...MI4cPF8-GpiQMVKwytBh2SwhBxEAQYAiABEgIVwPD_BwE

He's also been looking at this 9 string Agile:

https://reverb.com/item/84738170-ag...uitar-pendulum-pro-92528-eb-emg-x-white-satin

And of course he is looking at the Legator Ninjas also. Truthfully these all look like pretty nice guitars to me I'm just biased towards purple, lol.

Any opinions?

He's taking your advice and is gonna think on it and try some more axes until Black Friday but your post and one or two others have pretty much swayed him towards a fan fret model.

Thank you to everyone who posted, this stuff is as foreign to me as shopping for French horns.
I'm a diehard Jackson guy but I would honestly look at the stuff from Rondo. As far as a nine goes, I'm out on this because I've never played one. I would think a 9 would be overkill as the 8 string to me is pushing it for a guitar if I can say that. I love my seven strings though! I jumped from a 6 to an 8 and eventually ended up really digging seven strings. Still have an 8 string and play it but my 7's I tend to favor best. I would look at this and see if it goes on sale in the next few weeks. https://www.rondomusic.com/SEPTORelt828EBEMGSILVERBURST.HTML
 
For some ERG inspiration :ROFLMAO:

20241025_185051.jpg
 
I refer to the Jackson "Jupiter's Storm" (the great red spot) because of that.
It's definitely unique, and beautifully figured. It's laurel right? Almost has a maccassar ebony-like appearance. That's a great name for the guitar! I had a Sheraton II Pro with a laurel board but it wasn't near as pretty as that. You select that out of a group or just luck of the draw with the purchase?
 
It's definitely unique, and beautifully figured. It's laurel right? Almost has a maccassar ebony-like appearance. That's a great name for the guitar! I had a Sheraton II Pro with a laurel board but it wasn't near as pretty as that. You select that out of a group or just luck of the draw with the purchase?

I got it direct from Jackson for Valentines Day when it first came out about 7 or 8 years ago. The serial is like 1700006, so one of the very first of that year, afaict. Possibly the first production of this model since that was the year they came out. That would be cool. I have like 4 or 5 of the Legators that are the first production for their models and are the exact ones you would see in the catalog. Not sure if it's Laurel. I know the newest ones are, but it is very dense and has a lot of fine figuring almost like a finer wenge up close whatever it is. The pictures make it look brighter than it is, imo. Definitely a keeper.
 
I got it direct from Jackson for Valentines Day when it first came out about 7 or 8 years ago. The serial is like 1700006, so one of the very first of that year, afaict. Possibly the first production of this model since that was the year they came out. That would be cool. I have like 4 or 5 of the Legators that are the first production for their models and are the exact ones you would see in the catalog. Not sure if it's Laurel. I know the newest ones are, but it is very dense and has a lot of fine figuring almost like a finer wenge up close whatever it is. The pictures make it look brighter than it is, imo. Definitely a keeper.
Yeah it's interesting looking and kind of a mystery. I've never seen laurel look anything like that, it usually looks like an average piece of newer not particularly dark rosewood. All the Macassar I've seen and have here at the house has pretty consistent parallel black striping or can be mostly blonde with thinner black striping. I've never seen an eye like that in it before. Maybe it is wenge but I've never seen an eye like that in wenge either. Definitely a unique guitar and probably would command a slight premium on account of that board. Cool.
 
Yeah it's interesting looking and kind of a mystery. I've never seen laurel look anything like that, it usually looks like an average piece of newer not particularly dark rosewood. All the Macassar I've seen and have here at the house has pretty consistent parallel black striping or can be mostly blonde with thinner black striping. I've never seen an eye like that in it before. Maybe it is wenge but I've never seen an eye like that in wenge either. Definitely a unique guitar and probably would command a slight premium on account of that board. Cool.

It is one of my earlier recommendations, the only issue I could see if your son is new to guitar is that there are no fret inlay markers.
Which depending on the person could pose an issue. It also uses 9 string pickups, so less choices vs 8 string.
But there is one local to me on offerup that the guy want less than $400 for... 🤷‍♀️
 
It is one of my earlier recommendations, the only issue I could see if your son is new to guitar is that there are no fret inlay markers.
Which depending on the person could pose an issue. It also uses 9 string pickups, so less choices vs 8 string.
But there is one local to me on offerup that the guy want less than $400 for... 🤷‍♀️
The kid has perfect pitch so I think he'll be ok if it doesn't have fret markers. How he can sit there and call out the notes and name complex chords beats me. He'll tell me "well, it's easy to recognize that note because this classical piece I listen to is in that key". LOL, wut?

We found a Schecter Omen up in Denton in like new condition for $500 but that's like a ten hour round trip. I'd just rather pay the extra 300 bucks than make that ride, lol. I don't like Dallas-Fort Worth very much. Or Houston. Or San Antonio. Or Midland/Odessa. Or Lubbock. Or Amarillo. I'm noticing a trend here. If it's north of downtown Austin or south of New Braunfels, or east of I-35 I don't wanna go there. Something about flat lands i don't like.. Anyways, Austin craigslist is still pretty heavily trafficked so I told him to keep an eye on it cause something might pop up there in the coming weeks.
 
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