Stephen Carpenter

Carpenter is a member of the underground instrumental project Sol Invicto, formed by producer Richie Londres alongside Technical Itch & Dan Foord. The band released its debut EP, Initium in 2011 for free. The band's second EP, Initium II was released in 2013 via the band's official SoundCloud page. The final installment of the Initium series was released late 2016. The group's music is only available to fans via their private mailing list "The Sol Invicto Comiti".

Carpenter was involved the rap metal band Kush, featuring Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera of Fear Factory and B-Real of Cypress Hill. The band's debut album, which was set to be released in 2003, was never released.

His guitar technique makes use of both ringing open strings and dissonant chord voicings, as well as stock power chords in poly-rhythms. Carpenter began his musical career with Deftones playing the traditional six-string guitar. After becoming influenced by such bands as Fear Factory and Meshuggah, he began playing a seven-string guitar in the late 1990s. After Deftones' third album White Pony, subsequent releases would be written with seven-strings, until 2010's Diamond Eyes and 2012's Koi No Yokan, which were written with an eight-string guitar. Carpenter was ranked 60th in Guitar World's The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists poll.

Carpenter currently endorses ESP Guitars, Marshall Amplifiers, Engl Amplifiers, GuitarRig and Fishman Fluence Signature pickups. He has been a major endorser of ESP since the mid-1990s with a number of signature six (now discontinued), seven, eight string and baritone models in production.

Carpenter attended McClatchy High School with future bandmates Chino Moreno and Abe Cunningham. They were childhood friends and remained friends through the skateboarding scene in Sacramento. When Moreno found out Carpenter played guitar, he set up a jam session with Cunningham and the three began playing regularly in Carpenter's garage circa 1989. After playing with several bassists, the band settled on Chi Cheng and within two years the band began playing club shows and later expanded their playing territory to San Francisco and Los Angeles where they played shows alongside bands such as Korn.

Stephen "Stef" Carpenter (/ˈstɛfən/ STEF-ən; born August 3, 1970) is an American musician, known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the rock band Deftones.

Stephen Carpenter was born on August 3, 1970 in Sacramento, California, to an American father and a Mexican mother. He has a sister named Marci. He grew up in the Sacramento area and pursued many hobbies, including skateboarding.