# NGD: Legator Ninja 8 string



## aawshred (Apr 1, 2013)

Hello! Some of you guys may have seen the thread regarding Legator guitars. I played them for the first and met the awesome people working at Legator at NAMM in LA this year. I was really blown away by their 7 and 8 strings, but I was under contract with Fender at the time. My contract with Fender met it's 1 year mark last month and I'm now endorsing Legator guitars. I got this 8 string from them a few weeks ago.

I've only owned one other 8 string, an agile intrepid 828. I've played 8 strings from Mayones, Jackson, Acacia, Ibanez, Carvin, ESP, Strandberg, all that good stuff. This guitar is not only one of the best 8 strings I've ever played, but one of the best guitars. It's the only 8 that I've played that can hold a tight low F without buzz and still maintain low, smooth action. The neck is really perfect, not completely flat but very sleek and smooth. It stays in tune extremely well, and handles tuning/string gauge changes without any problems. Overall, it's a very well-built high quality guitar. I've been using this for all my recordings, including the 6 and 7 string songs. And I think it looks classy as hell!

Specs:
Mahogany Body, Maple Top
Maple/Walnut Neck
Neck thru body
Ebony Fretboard
24 frets
26.5 inch scale
Parallelogram Inlays
Matte Black finish
Custom Legator Brass bridge
1 Volume, 1 Tone (coil-tap push pull on the tone knob)

I put my Dimarzio D-activtor 8s in this guitar, but it came with custom Legator pickups. They both sound really awesome. 

Anyway, before I get to pics, I just wanted to say that working with Legator has been amazing. Some of the nicest people, always responding quick and thoroughly. Looking forward to continue working with them. 

Can't thank Legator enough!


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## Pikka Bird (Apr 1, 2013)

Doesn't look half bad... Sort of Agile-ish in many ways. That "Custom Legator Brass bridge" basically looks exactly like the "Cepheus" bridge. That's not a bad thing, though.


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## Easypoo (Apr 1, 2013)

I'm honestly not the biggest fan of the paintwork transition at the heel, other than that it looks sweet!


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## lewstherin006 (Apr 1, 2013)

Hngd ! Looks killer !


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## brutalwizard (Apr 1, 2013)

Sick!! love the scale length. Not to sure how i feel about the chrome bridge.


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## Sepultorture (Apr 1, 2013)

what the hell si going on with the string ferrule placement, looks hap hazard


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## m4rK (Apr 1, 2013)

Different for sure , i kinda like it. And i always wanted an axiom pro, my standard issue is so boring..


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## JEngelking (Apr 2, 2013)

Looks very nice, congrats!


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## nothingleft09 (Apr 2, 2013)

Sepultorture said:


> what the hell si going on with the string ferrule placement, looks hap hazard


 
Looks to pretty closely match the saddles. Like they set up a few and got an idea of where the intonation would naturally sit and planned them around that maybe? Doesn't look the greatest but form doesn't always follow function. lol

I'm not too fond of the transitions of the paint as well. But... I paint stuff for a living so it annoys me. lol Other than that doesn't look bat at all! HNGD!


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## Pikka Bird (Apr 2, 2013)

Sepultorture said:


> what the hell si going on with the string ferrule placement, looks hap hazard


The new Ibanez Gibraltar Standard 8 bridge has the string holes aligned like that for the lower strings as well, for extreme backwards intonation-ness.

edit: and the baseplate has the holes mirrored on both sides so there are two holes each at the two lowest and two highest strings, this way you can use the same bridge for lefties too. Fabulous, hm?


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## Andromalia (Apr 2, 2013)

Sepultorture said:


> what the hell si going on with the string ferrule placement, looks hap hazard



Seeing the bridge intonation placement, if they wre all in line I guess you couldn't intone the guitar properly.


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## Sepultorture (Apr 2, 2013)

i'm not talking about them being all in a row, i know how intonation works lads, if you click the pics bigger you can see that some are closer together and some further apart.

i've seen ferrules on the back of guitars with with high strings closer to the neck and the bass strings closer to the end of the body, that's natural enough. these though look kinda hap hazard looking even for the idea he was going for


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## BIG ND SWEATY (Apr 2, 2013)

that chrome bridge makes it look really cheap


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## mountainjam (Apr 2, 2013)

That heel paint


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## JLocrian (Apr 2, 2013)

That looks sick bro! I'm so jealous


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## Señor Voorhees (Apr 2, 2013)

I personally like the dead end/masked off paint. The ferrules do look spaced awkwardly though, but I'm not sure how much that even matters. The two in the middle look a lot closer together than the ones towards the outside. I've never been a fan of Chrome on black. I echo the distaste for the bridge, but that's totally personal opinion. I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wouldn't like one of these.


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## Pikka Bird (Apr 3, 2013)

Sepultorture said:


> i'm not talking about them being all in a row, i know how intonation works lads, if you click the pics bigger you can see that some are closer together and some further apart.
> 
> i've seen ferrules on the back of guitars with with high strings closer to the neck and the bass strings closer to the end of the body, that's natural enough. these though look kinda hap hazard looking even for the idea he was going for


Ah, now that you put it that way... I see it. Looks like the drill bit wandered, which is a good reason to drill the holes from the front _and_ back. There's a clever jig for this that lines up the holes perfectly.


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## aawshred (Apr 8, 2013)

You guys have me wanting to try all black hardware! worth a shot for sure, figure i'll order a hipshot modern 8 and some of their tuners. Loving the playability and tightness of this guitar, haven't played anything else lately.


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## Philligan (Apr 8, 2013)

The ferrules look kinda like an 8 string continuation of this.


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## codycarter (Apr 8, 2013)

How much does this go for and where do you get one? I'm having major GAS over this


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## Philligan (Apr 8, 2013)

codycarter said:


> How much does this go for and where do you get one? I'm having major GAS over this



I think you can buy them straight from their website - other than that, I don't think they're readily available through dealers yet. Pretty sure OP and Josh Travis are more or less the only people who have 8s right now, and I think it's just for endorsees at the moment.

IIRC it's in the $1400 range.


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## ItWillDo (Apr 8, 2013)

Happy for you it plays well, but honestly from an aesthetic point of view, I personally find it screaming "Cheap".


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## aawshred (Apr 8, 2013)

You might be able to buy an 8 directly from legator, not 100% sure. you should definitely ask them.

They're working on a bunch of awesome new stuff!


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## aawshred (Apr 8, 2013)

Philligan said:


> Pretty sure OP and Josh Travis are more or less the only people who have 8s right now, and I think it's just for endorsees at the moment.



Tosin has one too.


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## Floppystrings (Jun 18, 2013)

aawshred said:


> Tosin has one too.



Do you think Tosin is going to leave Ibanez for Legator?


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## Curt (Jun 18, 2013)

Floppystrings said:


> Do you think Tosin is going to leave Ibanez for Legator?


 I highly doubt it. If Tosin has one, I am assuming it was one they made to give to him to _try_ to entice him to switch over. But his Ibanez sig is new for this year, I don't see him jumping ship. Especially from a well respected long established company. Plus, Tosin just doesn't seem the type to so easily go between endorsements.


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## HurrDurr (Jun 18, 2013)

Floppystrings said:


> Do you think Tosin is going to leave Ibanez for Legator?


 






Seriously though, I don't find anything wrong with this guitar and to be honest I prefer chrome hardware to black, but that's just me. Chrome has this classic appeal to me and for the most part looks good on just about anything, really. It doesn't look cheap at all to me, and that's not to say I wouldn't upgrade a few things of my own. I'd throw in a suite of chrome Hipshot hardware (bridge, locking tuners, o-ring knobs) along with a set of chrome top DA8's. Would make for a *mean* and classy machine.


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## Danukenator (Jun 18, 2013)

The string ferrules look a little messed up. The spacing between some of them is off and they sure don't seem to follow a neat pattern like a six string. The neck masking is also a little odd.

I hope it plays well. HNGD!


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## MikeK (Jun 19, 2013)

The bridge, heel paint, and headstock shape all look bad to me. Hopefully the playability of these guitars is what is bringing on the endorsed artists, because they sure aren't pretty instruments.


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## oneblackened (Jun 19, 2013)

EDIT: Crap, wrong thread. Ignore this.


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## Allealex (Jun 20, 2013)

Is it THAT difficult to understand that NO ONE wants inlays like that in an 8 string guitar?


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## jjcor (Jun 20, 2013)

That paint on the back side would bother me. But that's my preference. 

I find it hard to believe people that are endorsed. I remember talking to Josh Travis when he was still with strictly 7 and he told me he would play a door with strings if it was given to him. Lol.


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