Multiscale madness on the horizon with 18-string custom guitar

Early last year, YouTube guitar wizard Jared Dines began a quest to find a skilled luthier who could make him a one-off 17-string guitar. After being let down by a US builder, and left seriously out of pocket, Australian guitar maker of note Perry Ormsby stepped in to save the day. The result is the 18-string monster you see here, dubbed the Djent 2018.

Dines commissioned a New Hampshire maker to build him a 17-string guitar in the first half of 2017, and parted with US$1,200 for the build in good faith. After numerous delays, grainy photos of the creation appeared online in mid-October last year, and Dines was assured that beast of a noodle machine would soon follow.

But, in a movie-worthy twist, Dines released a video on his YouTube channel a week after the story went viral claiming he'd been scammed, and that the (allegedly) custom-built instrument was nothing more than a cheap online-bought imposter. Obviously upset by this turn of events, Dines appealed for a "legit" guitar maker to come to his rescue and build him a multi-stringed behemoth. Happily, his call was heard and answered by Australia's Ormsby Guitars.

Named the Djent 2018, the Ormsby creation actually rocks 18 strings, which are tuned as follows: A, E, B, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, E, B, F#, C#, G# and D# – phew. Dines said yesterday that it's taken him 2 hours to tune the guitar that will, according to its makers, "quite possibly defeat the black-holes of the Perseus galaxy for lowest note in the universe."

Sat atop the multiscale guitar's 2-piece Tasmanian Blackwood body are three custom-made Ormsby pickups, one ruling the six bass strings and two rail humbuckers looking after the rest. That body has been topped with genuine stone for a truly heavy rock aesthetic.

As you can imagine, the 9-piece mahogany, Tasmanian Blackwood and ebony bolt-on neck has quite a task fighting against all those strings to keep taught, and is helped by three dual-action truss rods and carbon reinforcements. Mid-point along the ebony fretboard, Ormsby has created a unique Jared Dines inlay. The headstock also sports real stone, with the logo giving off its own menacing glow thanks to LEDs installed behind the clear acrylic.

Dines and Ormsby Guitars revealed the Djent 2018 multiscale guitar at last month's NAMM show in Anaheim, California, but now that the YouTube rocker has taken delivery of the instrument, expect multiscale mayhem to ensue. Ormsby says that the Djent 2018 was a one-off, custom build and won't be reproduced, but other hand-made builds can be had for ticket prices starting at US$2,999.

Sources: Ormsby Guitars, Jared Dines