After the Burial’s Justin Lowe Uses a 9-String Guitar Now

The big news coming out of the NAMM Show this past January — “big news” insofar as the shock/awe/WTF factor — was that every major guitar company with a stake in the metal game had brand new 9-string models on display. Because eight strings clearly weren’t enough.

As far as I’m aware, After the Burial’s Justin Lowe is the first highish-profile metal musician to actively embrace the nona-string lifestyle. Gear Gods just posted a clip of Lowe demoing and talking about an Ibanez RG90BKP, a guitar he’s reportedly been playing live for some time now. At the end of the clip Lowe talks about the benefits of the extended range this guitar offers, but then fails to use any of its higher strings… maybe this wasn’t the best song choice to demo? I’d love to see someone effectively use all nine strings, but at the very least I guess this instrument allows guitarists to get that much lower without having to worry about intonation issues.