Oni 8-string Guitar

Originally Posted by TMM

Well, I was lucky enough to score this Oni 8-string guitar here on Sevenstring.org from Papa Shank, contact with whom will from now on always be followed by undying gratitude.

This is the guitar of my dreams. For pics, check the classifieds.
- Ziricote neck-thru; neck and wings are same material. Body is small, but comfortable.
- 260mm-200mm fanned fret fretboard
- Gotoh tuners
- Bareknuckle pickups
- 2 small volume pots that also act as push-button pickup kills

Plays like a dream... it only took me a couple minutes to get used to it. Sweeping is actually even easier with the fanning, and pickup switching/blending can easily be done on the fly. If I ever win the megabucks, I'll buy a 2nd one with a regular-size body.

My new #1 guitar, for certain.

Originally Posted by Me :D

Specs
600-660mm scale
Ziricote thru neck/body wings
Bareknuckle Pickups
Gotoh Machineheads
2 'Push/Push' volume pots (push in for on, push out for off)
Current tuning - Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-Bb-Eb-Ab
String gauges - .070-.008

For those who don't know anything about Oni Guitars it's a new custom shop in Australia run by Daniel Memory, he's had years of experience working with instruments (mainly acoustic) and it shows in his craftmanship and knowledge. This is the first "Oni" he's completed and he's got another few on the way aswell.

The neck plays great, it's shaped quite flat to make moving around the neck more comfortable. Tuning stability is good too, as is intonation, the action isn't all that low but it's not high either (it was setup so that I could change it to suit my needs but I've just left it as it came). I've had a few goes at bending the high A up and I'd say there's around a safe 1/2-whole step of bending to be had.

Tuning wise I suppose you could tune it down to around F# if you had it properly set up, you could also tune it up (I don't know why someone would want to but I'll mention it because it's a possibility) if you managed to get your hands on the right strings for the job.

The neck pickup has more mids and slightly less treble than the bridge pickup which has more bass. Tone wise the neck pickup is soft while the bridge pickup is clear, the instrument is also very harmonic. The fanned frets are barely noticable and took me around 2 minutes to get used to, so don't let that put you off.

All in all this is an awesome instrument, the body is relatively small I suppose but I find it quite comfortable and I'm not a little guy so that must say something. Something to note is that I doubt you'll find a guitar made entirely of Ziricote that looks as nice, I was quite lucky Dan found three pieces of this size and quality to use.

Originally Posted by dpm

TMM, nice to hear you're happy with it!! If there's anything you want to know about it please contact me. What do you think of the BareKnuckles?
That's 600m - 660mm scale btw peoples Close enough, though
And yes, it is nice that it's still in the 'family'. Nicer still that the verdict is positive!