Doh! I didn't realize that the 9 you were talking about was the HD Challenge winner. Belated congrats on that!

If I do go with a 9-string, I'm looking at going Ab-to-e, only two M3rds below a standard 6-string low E. The idea with the 8 going C-to-e is so that I can play Drop-D with only a single-string capo.

Hey, I just read in Adam's 11-string thread that you have a 9-string tuned to Major 3rds. How wide is it at the nut? What kind of string spacing do you have there? Straight or Fanned Frets?

I've been a big fan of all M3rds tuning for a while, and there is a small following here. I had a Dean 7-string tuned E-to-e in Major 3rds while I was in Afghanistan, but the string spacing was too cramped in the lower positions, so I'm building a 7,8,9 (most likely an 8, tuned from C-to-e) with wider spacing at the nut and fanned (28-5/8" to 25-1/2") frets. I've been tempted to go with a 9, just to have three complete octaves, but I'm worried a bit about neck width because I'm already going with a more fingerstyle string spacing .

Ray