I had never touched an 8 string guitar before buying this one. Days before it arrived I played a $1K Ibanez 8 at GC and was like "oh no... WHAT have I done!?!" the guitar had the Fluence Tosin Series pickups and just sounded and felt awful to me. I was really bummed and felt stupid about my decision. A few days later my Abasi showed up in the mail. I took it out of the case, awed at its beauty for several minutes, and then started playing. WOW...This thing was millions of miles apart from the Ibanez I had tested earlier that week. it inspired creativity immediately, I wrote a new lick on it within the first few moments of playing. the tones I was able to achieve were so versatile, The bass-like qualities had me playing Jaco riffs. It was still difficult to play since this was only the second time picking up an 8 string guitar. After 2 weeks of playing, I'm starting to get really comfortable with it. I do a lot of two-hand tapping, not like 80's shredder guitar solo tapping, but more chordal and clean pretty counterpoint stuff. I find most players get these for the Metal Chug which is cool and fun to do, but I don't think these guitars get enough respect for how versatile they are. You can play jazz stuff on these things and it sounds great and feels amazing. The action is so low, and the neck is so thin. I will never sell this guitar. If you are on the fence, just get one. They are incredible instruments. The Master series is a work of art. I highly recommend them.