I think it's mostly a NAMM demo, not a new product line as of yet. The haven't announced anything. It seems they built it just for wow factor for namm. But who knows? Maybe they will go into production and commodify the 9 string guitar. But for now, it's just a "Proto"
ConnorGilks brings up a GREAT point about recording extended range instruments. THEY ARE REALLY HARD TO RECORD AND DO IT WELL ESPECIALLY IF YOU USE AN ACTUAL GUITAR AMP. This point can't be over stated IMHO and is the primary reason I switched to plugins/modelers. To be certain, I've seen bands live with 8 string axes using actual amps and it sounded spiff, but live is not the same thing as studio recording/mixing. Even Meshuggah themselves started using modellers/axe fx (initially the Line 6 modeling amps were being used by them til they switched to axe fx) and started pluggin in to the P.A. and skipping the guitar cabinet entirely for the house audio feed.
7, 8, 9 string guitars represent a challenge to some amps/cabs designed honestly for mid range sounds. Once distortion/gain comes in to play it gets harder. Distortion on the 8th and 9th can easily sound muddy and some pickups like the LUNDGREN are actually quite tame in terms of output compared to EMGs etc. in an effor to retain clarity.
I myself had resorted to running my mult fx floor board in to a bass amp with a 15 inch driver and recording with large diaphragm condenser mics to get the tone from the guitar in to the computer. Especially if I down tuned the 7th string. I finally found Guitar Rig/Overloud TH2/Amplitude Metal and found they didn't care how low the notes got and quit recording using a real amp.
Just something to consider
Todd
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QUOTE (ConnorGilks @ Apr 18 2013, 10:15 PM)
I honestly think it's a poor business move for Ibanez... Agile makes 9 and 10 strings as well, but for them they won't really be losing money because a lot of their lineup is for specialty or novelty instruments (which is great). At this point in time, we have a hard enough time hearing an 8 string clearly in professional studio recordings - even the gentlemen in Periphery said it was very hard to track - and I think Ibanez is jumping the gun a bit! 7 and 8 string stuff wouldn't be as popular if it wasn't for the AxeFX II being the first unit to offer that much clarity in guitar tone, so I'm thinking until we can get clarity out of 8 strings as easily as we get them out of 7's these days then it's a bit early for 9 strings. But that's just me...
Either way I would definitely love to try this thing out and I'm sure some people are already saving up for one!
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But kidding aside, I think that this is too much. Some folks with smaller hands might even feel like this is a subtle discrimination 
