Jaden Rose Guitars at NAMM 2012

Just stumbled across this video on YouTube of the fine folks from England’s Jaden Rose Guitars capering at the NAMM Show (including some great shreddage by Tosin Abasi of Animals As Leaders). These guys make incredible guitars that are especially shred and djent-friendly. Six-strings, seven-strings, eight-strings, fixed bridge, Floyd Rose, extended scale, multi-scale, exotic woods, DiMarzio pickups, ridiculously comfortable necks… want!
NAMM 2012: Ibanez M8M Meshuggah 8-string

You’ve asked for it for years, and I even spoke with Meshuggah about it over a year ago, and Ibanez has finally done it: a Meshuggah signature 8-string, the M8M. And boy have they done it right. These guitars are built by Sugi, the fast-becoming-legendary shop behind the ultra-premium Fireman, the Joe Satriani ‘Black Dog’ edition and the 20th Anniversary Universe which came out a few years ago. List price on this puppy? $7,999.99 USD, but who knows? If this goes well, perhaps we could see a lower-priced version produced at a different factory with more affordable specs. Check out the pics at the end of the post. Phwoar.
The M8M features an alder body with five-piece maple-bubinga neck with through-neck construction, and a 29.4″ scale length. Ibanez’s Mike Taft tells me these guitars are absolutely top of the line, and they could have opted to make them bolt-ons instead but if you’re going to do it, you might as well go all the way, hence the through-neck construction. They also feature a Lundgren M8 humbucker, a very expensive, non-production pickup. Again, this is one of the reasons the price is so high, but if you want to play what Meshuggah play, this is the pickup! The Schaller Security Locks are a nice touch too.
NAMM 2012: Jackson Custom Shop 7 and 8 strings
Thought the Charvel 7-strings were cool? Well you were right. But check out these gorgeous Jackson Custom Shop 7-strings by Pablo Santana:

Huh? Close-ups? Sure.


Ah, but we all know that just as seven strings are better than six, eight are better than seven. So I give you this prototype, with EMG pickups and a killer natural finish.



Cue Twilight Zone music.






Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for