In all fairness, I don't hate 8+ string guitars at all, it's more the overall trend of djent songwriting and its new tools that are a bit disappointing imo. For example, in your Namm videos Ola, as much as I enjoyed them since I've never been able to go to Namm, and as much as I have always enjoyed your videos or your own songs, I don't like the overall sound of this new type of riffing and sounds. It's the whole direction where it's going that doesn't appeal to me, and in those low registers riffs sound more alike imo. Of course, you can play whatever you want with any guitar, but it's also fair to assume most people in 6 str E standard play old school heavy metal, and most people with 8str guitars play djent. Or maybe i'm wrong there, I just haven't come across anything very original these past years. Maybe what I don't like is that it's the sign that this trend is going even further, and my natural reaction is to think "meh". Maybe I'm getting old already and am afraid of change and will like/play all my life 90s/00s metal !
I can't talk about the fun of playing one, I'm not even used to 7string guitars since I haven't bought one, this is probably true ! It's the artistic use of them that lack originality imo. It's rare that someone creates music that really benefits from it, hence why I think most of it is a trend.
On a side note, even in classical I always found the pieces played on 8, 9, 10 or even more stringed guitar to sound less interesting, it aesthetically changes a lot the result when they are re-arranged. It sounds like a little different instrument (more drone notes). As if 6 string was the perfect balance, which of course is a neverending logic since most pieces are now written in 6str and the cultural footprint is strong in this direction, but there must be something about the size of the fretboard and the number of notes we can do at the same time (you cannot really play 6 notes chords for example) that makes it a sweet spot. It's of course a totally different philosophy, since most use of extended range electric guitars is about riffing in low notes while keeping a normal tuning for the 6 usual strings, while extended range classical guitars are usually played with a lot of open strings and chords, and the arrangement are therefore very different from the original 6str version. Most of them are about adding 4 or 5 notes in harp-like strings though, and using them to play the low voice of the piece without having to break the bass line because the hand has to move to play the high voice. It also limits the drone notes to those 5 ones making them pop when they come, and leaves an empty space when they are not there (you can fret them on Alt-guitars but you then have to move your thumb on top of the fretboard to do so because of the width of the fretboard, just like on cello on high strings although on cello you can use your thumb to play in this position) so it limits their use. It's of course a different instrument and not directly related to "extended guitars" since those AltGuitars are nothing else than a 6str guitar + drone notes.
