Next guitar will be a Music Man - but what?

[georg]

Hello Ball-Community,

although i bought a 7ender-HSS-Strat 2 month ago (and i'm pleased with it ), i know, that i will buy a MM guitar soon. The main reason is, that i need a second guitar for my second home. I hate to carry my guitar while driving about two hours by train every week. I bought the 7ender, because i had to make a fast decision and it was much easier for me to play some 7ender guitars than the EBMM (i'm from Vienna, Austria). And it was about 700€ cheaper (a lot of money for a student) than the MM guitars i checked out.

Now i'm thinking about buying a second guitar and i'm not sure wheter to take another "Strat-like" guitar (Silo special or Albert Lee, maybe Luke) or take something like the JP or Steve Morse instead.
Mainly i play some Pop, Punk and Classic Rock in a cover band (Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Beatles, The Clash,...), but i have a second project where we try to play some "harder" stuff like Tool, Joe Satriani. Let's call it "Instrumental Progressive Rock".

My 7ender HSS covers most of the sounds rather good, so the decision for a new guitar comes more because of the "logistics" reason.

 

[ksandvik]

I would recommend a Luke.

 

[JayDawg]

Go with a Game Changer. I've had mine for 6 months now and I'm still exploring all of the possibilities on it.

 

[Spudmurphy]

For me the Al does everything. I've seen quite a few people here on the forum who own other 'balls gravitate towards the Al and now reckon it's the best guitar for them. Try one!

 

[QuietSpike]

JPX, JP12, or Majesty....

Way more versatile than you would expect.

 

[Greg Suarez]

I'll echo Spike a bit: the JPX is one of the most versatile guitars MM makes (it comes in 6 and 7-string varieties). You can get some unique Fender-like tones out of it, or you can blow the ceiling off with heavy riffs. Not only that, but it has a piezo-equipped bridge so you can get acoustic tones out of it, too. It also plays like a breeze and is built with quality.

If you don't like the more aggressive look of the JPX, the Game Changer Reflex allows you to "program" the guitar to be almost anything you want it to be. And if you don't want to bother with the Reflex's interface, the Luke is also very diverse (as is its namesake).

I have been a "Fender Guy" for a couple of decades since I first started playing. I recently discovered MM for myself, and was blown away by their craftsmanship and sound. I have started converting over to MM. However, I don't think I could NEVER have at least one Strat in my arsenal. It seems like blasphemy. I still think the Stratocaster is the most "perfect" guitar concept ever.

 

[Stratty316]

A silo spec is a great choice. Very versatile and very comfortable to play. The Axis and the HHAL are great choices as well.


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[lock-ny]

Yeah def look into the silo special HSS, lots of tones and comfy like a strat but comfier..my 2 cents..

 

[Jorge ven]

Luke.. You won't regret it.. Trust me!!!!

 

[mtrejo]

That's easy! You need an: Albert Lee, LIII, Silo Spec, Reflex, a Morse Y2D…and don't forget the…
yes, I can see the dilemma. That's usually why we don't stop at just one. They're all so damned good.

 

[brasco68]

Axis Super Sport...definition of versatility, fast neck and great design.

 

[georg]

Thank you for all your suggestions. As i expected, there are many different suggestions for "the best" guitar and they go from al to jp. Maybe you can bring in some more arguments/examples to your suggestions so it's easier to follow your ideas.

What about the Steve Morse models? The classic one and the y2d? They seem very interesting to me, too.

 

[MusicMan_Luke]

Nothing but the Luke!

 

[kbaim]

You wont get a consensus here.
Its a trial and error thing.
If you have access to trying one, try it..or several.
after noodling on one, you'll know if its the right one.
Some of us have stuck with the model we tried first, others have gravitated towards models we've tried subsequently.
Usually the neck is the first thing that makes most take notice...then other guitar characteristics seem to follow....tone, shape, weight, mojo, etc

...also if you end up getting a MM, don't forget to UNPLUG it if you're leaving it in another location...as it drains battery...or have plenty of 9 volts around....or both.

 

[MusicMan_Luke]

I also have a Y2D, and, of course, this guitar is wonderful to play on. As Keith says, try all the guitar you want, and you'll make your decision after. It's definitively a question of personal taste.

 

[Siddius]

You have to go and try them out.
While I am sure that the JP models are great, they do not share the specs that attract me Music Man guitars. The nut is wider and the profile is thinner between the thumb and finger tips.

I was craving a Luke pretty badly, so one Guitar Center visit I played their Lukes. I found out that the neck profile wasn't for me, even though it had the small nut width.

It seems to me that the Morse, Sil, Sil Spec, and Al all have similar enough necks that you could hop from one to another without playing one ahead of time.

You have to go and try them out. The level of quality is such that if you like the model, then ordering a new one will not be a gamble (unlike fender).

 

[georg]

i'm sure it's not easy to decide without playing the guitars. but i want to pre-select as good as possible before i go out and try to find "my" music man model. because here in austria it's not really easy to find some ebmm!

 

[JasonT]

i'm sure it's not easy to decide without playing the guitars. but i want to pre-select as good as possible before i go out and try to find "my" music man model. because here in austria it's not really easy to find some ebmm!

In that case, it would be best for you to describe what matters most to you, so we can try to direct you to the model that best matches your requirements. As Kbaim said, for a lot of people, the search can start and end with the neck. MM guitars have pretty different neck shapes, so your preferences could narrow down the field. Also, if there are particular tones (or tone woods) you must have, that can also limit the options.

 

[georg]

Thank you, Jason. I'll try to do my best in describing what i'm searching for:

First of all i need a guitar that is very versatile as i'm playing in a cover band (Beatles, Clapton, Dylan, Clash, Black Sabbath, Green Day, Iron Maiden,... hardly everything). Besides the cover band i try to write some songs that i would describe as prog rock or something like that.
Until now i really preferred the "strat"-sound, because my heroes are Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, David Gilmour, Albert Lee...but besides them there are Warren Haynes, Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani and a little bit of Steve Morse.
I have to mention that i hate to use too much effects and pedals, i love to plug my guitar right into the amp, a crate vintage club 50w model. all chances in sound should come out of my guitar (and the clean or crunch channel select on my amp, of course). so the morse with 11 pickup combinations seems very interesting!?
Let's go to the neck. I do not like the very thin necks like i have seen them on ibanez guitars. I would say that i prefer thicker necks. The "modern C" of my AmStd Strat is ok, but it could be thicker. i think that the gibson neck i touched a few weeks ago felt right
I do not have a favourite tone wood because i'm not sure if i'm able to recognize the different acoustic properties of all the tone woods. until now i preferred the alder body of the strats. but gibson mahagoni would be fine, too. depends on the whole package, i guess...
i think that i would like to have a piezo system in it, because i have to play a few acoustic songs and it would be perfect to match this without carrying a second guitar!
i'm not sure about a tremolo, because i use it, when i have one (like on my strat), but i do not miss something, when i do not have one on my guitar. so maybe i should take a hardtail bridge because of the tonal advantages!?

so far...
please ask me, if you need further details

 

[ksandvik]

Hardtails are more stable tuning-wise unless you get a Floyd Rose model even if the vintage tremolos are amazingly stable. HSS seems to be the way to go. I'm not sure if any of the MusicMan guitars have a Gibson style neck but I could be wrong. They definitely don't have that Ibanez Wizard thin-flat style of neck.

Hmm, stock Morse with Floyd Rose?