This is the first 9-string guitar that we have built, and is breaking new ground. Steph Demonty of Short on Time ordered two 9-strings at the same time, with slightly different specs for different tonal qualities. Unsure of the technical aspects of 9-string guitars, I was able to convince him to do one first so that we could learn about the characteristics and possibly improve the second one. The width of the neck warranted prototyping, and three Styrofoam examples, two different EndurNeck profiles and one IPNP (licensed from Rick Toone) profile was shipped to Japan where Steph was at the time, and he settled on one of the EndurNeck profiles. Our 6-string guitars have 2 carbon fiber laminates, the 7-strings have 4, and 8-strings have 6. All use the same dimension materials with varying thicknesses of laminates, so the logical extension was to build the 9-string with double laminates and 8 layers of CF. Double dual action truss rods were used, to make sure. I was able to convince Steph to try a Rosewood fingerboard instead of Ebony out of concern regarding the balance of the guitar. It turned out to balance perfectly, and the way that the neck is constructed, and the amount of carbon fiber that is used, the sound characteristics are close to that of Ebony anyway. It utilizes two lower strings and one higher, tuned a whole step down with a dropped 9th string (a .090″ bass string), and I think we have a lot to look forward to on Short on Time’s coming triple album.
