Editing Eight-string guitar (section)

{{Short description|Type of guitar with 8 strings}}
[[File:Agile Intrepid Dual Charcoal.jpg|thumb|Agile Intrepid]]
[[File:Fretless-8string-guitar.JPG|thumb|Homemade fretless guitar based on Jackson Rhoads]]
[[File:Eight String Acoustic Guitar by Patrick Hawley.jpg|thumb|right|Eight-string multi-scale acoustic guitar by luthier Patrick Hawley of Ottawa, Ontario]]

An '''eight-string guitar''' is a [[guitar]] with eight strings, or one more than the [[Russian guitar]]'s seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few [[Classical guitarists|classical]], [[jazz]], and [[Heavy metal music|metal]] guitarists. The eight-string guitar allows a wider tonal range, or non-standard tunings (such as [[major-thirds tuning]]), or both.

Various non-standard guitars were made in the 19th century, including eight-string guitars played by Italians [[Giulio Regondi]] and [[Luigi Legnani]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uG7mipQ84bMC&pg=PA205 |page=205 |title=The Guitar in America: Victorian Era to Jazz Age |last=Noonan |first=Jeffrey |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2008 |isbn=1934110183 |series=American Made Music}}</ref>

Eight-string electric guitars gained popularity among metal bands, largely inspired by Swedish [[progressive metal]] band [[Meshuggah]] (formed in 1987). Contemporary use outside of metal has picked up in the last decade, and owes much to [[Animals as Leaders]] and their stylistic eclecticism.