Albert Lee - photos

[Pott]

I've had 4 ALs:
* A Coral Red I got in Europe (hard to find those around, got it through this very forum!) in which I replaced the bridge pickup by a Bareknuckle Rebel Yell. Did a gig with it; just an incredible guitar.

It got stolen when my apartment was broken into last year

* A Black one I got to replace my stolen red one. Beautiful carbon pickupguard; I missed my red one's tone so much I ALSO replaced the pickup with a Rebel Yell

* A Trans Blue AL SSS which resides in its case. It sounds amazing unplugged, and plays great: but the pickups sound very thin. I replaced the bridge pickup with a SD Custom single coil and it still sounds thin.

I like my Strats to sound thick and powerful. She did not do the trick and she's for sale locally. It's a shame, she is stunning and the neck is GORGEOUS

* A PDN (Starry Night) which came with drama (nut was WAY too high and neck wasn't aligned. I had to send the guitar back on my own dime which felt like poor CS, and still had to re-align the neck myself). This was compounded to the disappointment of the Starry Night finishes not looking much like what it seemed when they were announced...

However I am loving this guitar. The finish wasn't the dull grey that appeared on some guitars: I got loads of sparkles, a noticeable burst, and some blue reflections. I replaced the bridge pickup with a Bareknuckle Crawler which brought a more balanced tone plugged-in. Its neck is insane!

 

[GWDavis28]

Wow check this out!!!!

Glenn |B)

 

[xjbebop]

Yeah... saw that on the ALOC-FB group a while back.... I'd like to know the story behind all the custom mods...


*this thread just exemplifies just how good ALs look in sparkles...

 

[CaseyBall]

Hey guys I just wrote this article on the MM blog about ALs (seemed like the best place to put it): Albert Lee Guitar Buying Guide – Ernie Ball Music Man

Enjoy! Let me know if you guys think any changes are necessary.

 

[GWDavis28]

Glenn |B)

 

[GWDavis28]

Hey guys I just wrote this article on the MM blog about ALs (seemed like the best place to put it): Albert Lee Guitar Buying Guide – Ernie Ball Music Man

Enjoy! Let me know if you guys think any changes are necessary.

Casey, nice job, you let the discontinued MM90's out??

Glenn |B)

 

[Pott]

The article mentions coil tap. Is this referring to them being split, or are they split AND tapped?
They are definitely split according to the tapping (the other kind, with a screwdriver, to see which coils are live) test at the very least.

The AL HH is my favorite stock guitar on the planet but it's extremely sad to see it constantly restricted in its options availability (whole models and colors being discontinued, no piezo option etc...). Would that everyone saw it for what it is, a fantastic, lightweight, versatile axe!

 

[xjbebop]

The stock 5-way switch works as follows:

Albert Lee HH | Guitars | Ernie Ball Music Man

**whoops.... well, scroll down the page and click on "control function diagrams"

 

[CaseyBall]

Casey, nice job, you let the discontinued MM90's out??

Glenn |B)

If they're not currently being manufactured we just don't cover them in the blog posts. Especially not for one the articles that are in this "buying guide" format. If we were covering the history of Albert and Sterling/MM then I would totally put a paragraph or two in there. But, Say someone read that article and wanted to go get an MM90 and either couldn't find one, or couldn't fine a new one, it would be frustrating/confusing.

I love the ALMM90s but they just weren't big enough sellers. Doubling down on the HHAL was the proper move IMO, they made a big splash with younger players and helped us expand their appeal.

The article mentions coil tap. Is this referring to them being split, or are they split AND tapped?
They are definitely split according to the tapping (the other kind, with a screwdriver, to see which coils are live) test at the very least.

The AL HH is my favorite stock guitar on the planet but it's extremely sad to see it constantly restricted in its options availability (whole models and colors being discontinued, no piezo option etc...). Would that everyone saw it for what it is, a fantastic, lightweight, versatile axe!

First off to answer your question they would probably just be considered split. Coil tap would probably more accurately refer to something like how the Valentine or JP push-push pots work, where you're just splitting (or rather tapping) a single humbucker to get a single coil sound. However, in the context of the article I think people understand using the terms interchangeably.

With the wiring on the ALs the 2 and 4 positions split the humbuckers to get one single coil tone from both pups, in parallel, simultaneously. which imo still sounds like a beefier more balanced stratty single coil tone. This is also the same wiring configuration as an Axis Super Sport.

 

[Pott]

Yeah I know the wiring well; it's what I wire ALL my guitars like I love this combo; it's got my favorite Strat tones AND my favorite metal tones! My Waghorn, Aristides, Reiver, Kiesel, and all other MusicMan (apart, of course, from the AL SSS and the Valentine) are wired to this exact spec. The only one which isn't is my Vigier... but that's in the backlog.

Tap = tapping an existing wire to another, shorter length, to lower its output (so, for example, you could get two different output levels in a single coil)
Split = only enabling one of the coil of a humbucker through your circuit

When I saw 'tap' in the article I got confused, since after swapping many AL HH pickups I never noticed a tapped coil; just the standard 4 wires to split the coils. However, as you mentioned, it's a common semantics swap.

 

[GWDavis28]

Dweezil's Strato Blue AL, sorry for the small picture it's the only one I have.

Found a better picture.

Glenn |B)

 

[xjbebop]

Mr.Ball, would it be at all possible for you to share with us a rough, round-a-bout, guesstimate number of how many new AL models sell each year? And then even to add the number of SSS models vs. HH models?
I’ve been curious about this for some time. Even though there is a small group of us here that are passionate about the AL model, I suspect that we are a small percentage of the EBMM guitar buying population. I’ve always assumed the number of new AL’s sold every year is pretty small.
Unless I’m wrong about that (and I hope I am…), from a business standpoint, it must be challenging to still offer the AL model at all.

**edit- I just read the ‘buyers guide’ you wrote on the blog. VERY well done sir!
It gives me hope that the AL model will continue for some time to come…

 

[CaseyBall]

Mr.Ball, would it be at all possible for you to share with us a rough, round-a-bout, guesstimate number of how many new AL models sell each year? And then even to add the number of SSS models vs. HH models?
I’ve been curious about this for some time. Even though there is a small group of us here that are passionate about the AL model, I suspect that we are a small percentage of the EBMM guitar buying population. I’ve always assumed the number of new AL’s sold every year is pretty small.
Unless I’m wrong about that (and I hope I am…), from a business standpoint, it must be challenging to still offer the AL model at all.

**edit- I just read the ‘buyers guide’ you wrote on the blog. VERY well done sir!
It gives me hope that the AL model will continue for some time to come…

I'm gonna ask around about that tomorrow, I'm sure even if I can't give you specifics in numbers I might be able to say where it stacks up in the hierarchy of how each model sells.

I'm not going out on a limb when I say that JP/Ms and StingRays lead the pack respective to guitar/bass sales. But where everything else falls I'm actually not certain. If its something that I get the ok to share I'll let you know.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Thanks Casey for the Blog. It sates the appetite of ALOC members, I'm sure.

In the years I've been a member on this forum it seems like yer Dad had a policy of not giving out specific numbers on guitars - maybe that stance will have changed a little.

I know the your Dad and I are owners of the Black Limited Edition 2006 AL - at the time of it's production it catered for the requirement to have a mahogany fret board- unheard of back in the day - unless you were an endoresee? I know at the time Tyler Dow Bryant had one but was attracted to the offers made by other guitar manufacturers.

I would have loved to have known the numbers of 2006 LEALS produced with an MM90 and trem option ... but as I say this information was never released :-(.

Thanks very very much for your input into this thread - The ALOC has re awakened from their "slumbers" lol

 

[TripHazard]

I'm gonna ask around about that tomorrow, I'm sure even if I can't give you specifics in numbers I might be able to say where it stacks up in the hierarchy of how each model sells.

I'm not going out on a limb when I say that JP/Ms and StingRays lead the pack respective to guitar/bass sales. But where everything else falls I'm actually not certain. If its something that I get the ok to share I'll let you know.

Hey man, might be a small error in your AL post. It says SSS can be had with rosewood board. I bring it up because its not there on the configurator when you go on the SSS on the site

 

[banjoplayer]

Hey guys I just wrote this article on the MM blog about ALs (seemed like the best place to put it): Albert Lee Guitar Buying Guide – Ernie Ball Music Man

Enjoy! Let me know if you guys think any changes are necessary.

nice one Casey,

as Trapper stated before, I was a bit confused about "comes with either a rosewood or maple fingerboard" and also about "The pickups in the SSS model are custom wound in-house by Ernie Ball Music Man" - I always thought they are custom made Seymour Duncans, and on your product page it also says: "SSS - 3 Seymour Duncan custom wound single coil"

but anyway - give the AL model every push you can. They are great guitars, love mine. I am looking for a good strat now and then but never seen one close as good as my AL

 

[xjbebop]

It's so wonderful to see this thread taking off like this!

To continue with thee photos, here's a few of my other blue AL...

I received this gorgeous Sky Blue SSS in a trade for my LIII with a fellow knucklehead. I just didn't bond with Luke neck, but it was a fabulous guitar in it's own right.

The 'blues brothers' together...

 

[CaseyBall]

nice one Casey,

as Trapper stated before, I was a bit confused about "comes with either a rosewood or maple fingerboard" and also about "The pickups in the SSS model are custom wound in-house by Ernie Ball Music Man" - I always thought they are custom made Seymour Duncans, and on your product page it also says: "SSS - 3 Seymour Duncan custom wound single coil"

but anyway - give the AL model every push you can. They are great guitars, love mine. I am looking for a good strat now and then but never seen one close as good as my AL

That's a good catch, both of you. Thanks for pointing that out. I recall changing that in my original draft since I double checked and they are indeed SDs. I must have misremembered. I can edit that.

As far as the rosewood board on SSS models goes I know I've seen some that way, but its certainly possible that they weren't regular production, at least not currently.

If its not on the MM.com product page then its not available.

 

[Norrin Radd]

It's so wonderful to see this thread taking off like this!

To continue with thee photos, here's a few of my other blue AL...

I received this gorgeous Sky Blue SSS in a trade for my LIII with a fellow knucklehead. I just didn't bond with Luke neck, but it was a fabulous guitar in it's own right.

The 'blues brothers' together...

Oh man! My envy is running deep! Those are gorgeous!

 

[Gundar]

I've been eye(Ball)ing the Al HH for quite some time now. This doesn't help with the G.A.S. either. Great thread by the way.