Next guitar will be a Music Man - but what?

[Greg Suarez]

i'm not sure about a tremolo

Let me tell you, the trem systems on the John Petrucci models (JP models and Majesty) are more stable than many double-locking Floyd Rose units I have used over the years, and they are far easier to maintain. After several hours of set-up effort, the Ibanez 7-string with a double-locking unit I recently got off eBay continues to be unreliable (and, yes, I know full well how to set-up and maintain a Floyd Rose-style bridge). The trem units on the JP6 and JP7 I used to own and the Majesty I currently own have non-locking saddles and locking tuners. The quality and design of these MM systems continues to boggle my mind. I can perform full dive-bombs and make the strings go slack, and the guitar returns to pitch like a champ. And I notice as much or more sustain with my Majesty as I did with the Gibson Les Paul I used to own.

 

[lock-ny]

also don't forget about the bodies, some are contoured like a strat and some are not like a tele, not having a contour gets uncomfortable for me.....I have had evh and axis guitars and I have a sub1 now but the countour of a silo spec or luke or Al makes for a comfy jam!

 

[QuietSpike]

Yeah.. I'm going to ditto what Greg S said....

My JP stays in tune better than my Jem with double locking trem... And I beat the hell out of it.

I will say this-- if you don't like thin necks, the JP is not for you. The necks are super thin--- thinner feeling (I don't know the specs off hand) than my Jem with the prestige neck. That may be a deal breaker-- it would be for me.

Good luck- I hope that made your choices easier. I'll stay tuned... Curious to see what you end up with.

 

[Siddius]

Sounds to me like the Silhouette, AL, or Morse models might suit your fancy, probably more Sil or AL for the thicker necks (they are not thick, but I think my Sil feels a little thicker than my Y2D). Don't be discouraged by the Silhouette (24 frets) vs the special (22). The neck humbucker is beautiful, I wouldn't change it for the world. I find that it has significantly more character than the Y2D neck.

fyi, The vintage style trem on my silhouette stays in tune really well

 

[MusicMan_Luke]

Siddius is right, maybe your best choice is a Silhouette.

 

[georg]

thank you very much for all your inputs. this is by far the best forum i've ever been to!

very interesting about the body contours, never thought of this one! the morse is not as contoured as the silo, right? what's about the al contour? i often heard that this guitar is in a perfect shape for comfort playing!

when i choose a tremolo, than it should definitely a vintage style trem, i hate the floyd rose system. i once borought a fr guitar just for one song i a gig where i needed the trem. just in the warm up for the gig a string broke and i couldn't re-string it, because it was too complicated for me to do it in about 5 minutes. since then i know that i do not want a floyd rose again!

the last thing will be the pickups. maybe i can see a plus here for the morse and the silhouette because of the HSH, then there is the silo special with HSS, the al "only" comes with SSS (oder MM90s). the thing is that i already have a strat and i'm very pleased with the single coil, especially neck-sc sound. so maybe a more humbucker-ish guitar would be a good combination...i'm not sure!

 

[jzeijen]

the last thing will be the pickups. maybe i can see a plus here for the morse and the silhouette because of the HSH, then there is the silo special with HSS, the al "only" comes with SSS (oder MM90s). the thing is that i already have a strat and i'm very pleased with the single coil, especially neck-sc sound. so maybe a more humbucker-ish guitar would be a good combination...i'm not sure!

The AL also comes with two humbuckers. I think that would be a perfect complement to your strat. Ergonomically the AL is very good. The Morse doesn't have any contours at all, that takes some getting used to.

 

[joe web]

a silo could be the best choise for you. vintage style tremolo with locking tuners, piezo option, contoured body, regular neck-shapre (no V or asymetrical style).
if you don´t like the tremolo, you can block it or set it to dive only as well (you will have to adjust the neck for this).

if you really into the les paul, fat neck thing, check out the Y2D Dark Lord guitars. but you can only get them used here in the EU. they were made for GC US only. it´s a Y2D with a les paul shape neck (but still 25.5" scale), reverse headstock, chrome covered PUPs and made for Joe Bonamassa.

if you have a luthier somewhere near you, he could help you to change the bridge to a Fishman Piezo Powerbridge and the Power Chip. so you can have a Piezo system on a morse as well.


the AL HH would be an option as well. very balanced guitar, good clean sounds in the middle positions, light weight, tremolo or fixed bridge - great all rosewood neck - but no piezo option (afaik)

the JP line has thin necks, so forget about it or get used to it.

 

[cionian]

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!

I was in a similar situation in Australia..I was lucky in that I knew I wanted a Morse model (based purely on MOJO..) and ended up with a Y2D (even though I didn't know of its existence and I was after the original..). I'm very happy with it, suits me like a glove. One thing you can do is go by metrics..the neck is king so you may want to have a look at the specs, like radius, neck shape and fret sizes..and try some other guitars with those metrics..if you know generally what neck works for you, you can focus on that. After that consider the pickups in them but those you can change to your heart's content as many people here have done. Personally, I think the Morse is pretty spot on for both rhythm and solo work as well and the pups suit me just fine. Also, don't forget the looks, without being shallow about it, you need to like the thing that hangs around your neck otherwise you won't feel like playing with it..kind of like a girlfriend! Good luck.

 

[QuietSpike]

yep, Axis SS or Silhouette Special…

one of those will be your next baby…

youtube Jamie Humphries if you haven't already. He rocks both of those quite a bit and gets fantastic (and versatile) tones with them.

 

[georg]

Maybe i should mention that i prefer Maple Necks, in general. It's not a must have, but it's a matter of optical style. But the all rosewood of the al hh looks very fine, too!

 

[Eilif]

I'd not describe the Silhouette neck as *thick*. Sure, it's not thin like a JP, but it's not thick like an Axis Super Sport either.

If you want a chunkier neck, I'd go with the Axis SS (for something different, if you don't want single coils) or an Albert Lee. Both are available with a maple fretboard.

 

[Stratty316]

I think the Silo Spec is going to be the most versatile for the styles you choose. I have one on loan at the moment and can get everything from Gilmour to VH with it and I would assume heavier if I want it to. I'm actually digging the neck more than the Axis and the Albert Lee right now. It's a nice C shape... Not to thick and not too narrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[georg]

I think i'm going out to try a silo/silo spec, an albert lee in a direct shoot out.
but i would like to play a luke 3 and a jp13 as well. maybe all of them on one day to have the best comparison

 

[Siddius]

I reiterate, don't let the neck humbucker discourage you on the silhouette. It sounds great. I thought I'd want a neck single coil for stratty sounds, but the neck humbucker kicks the **** out of my strat's neck single coil.

 

[QuietSpike]

Georg-

If you're going to consider a Jp13, then I would just go straight to the Majesty--- same p-ups, same radius, but way better electronics and ergonomics.

I still say, based on your previous comments, a Silo Special is your next baby...

 

[georg]

Thanks, siddius! I will definitely try both of them (silo and silo special) so i can see/hear the difference

Thanks, spike! To be honest, i like the majesty more even when it's just about the looks just thought the jp13 will be much cheaper because the new majesty is out. Isn't that true?

 

[Klon Solo]

I'm an Albert Lee pusher - on everyone. Including you.

The one mod I did to my SSS was swap the bridge pick-up to a dimarzio injector, so it can do hard metal - like Slayer. Yes,...Slayer. If you don't go that heavy, then leave it alone.

It's nicer than any custom shop strat I've ever tried.

 

[Barny]

You need to also try a Reflex, great Rockier sounds in series mode and then more strat like tones in parrallel, great acoustic tone as well due to the chambered body and tonewood cocktail and a really nice neck which is not too fat and not too thin. If you can, try one.

 

[QuietSpike]

Thanks, siddius! I will definitely try both of them (silo and silo special) so i can see/hear the difference

Thanks, spike! To be honest, i like the majesty more even when it's just about the looks just thought the jp13 will be much cheaper because the new majesty is out. Isn't that true?

Not true- they are about the same price.

JP13
Music Man John Petrucci JP13 6 - Platinum Silver | Sweetwater.com

Majesty
Music Man John Petrucci Majesty - 6 String, Glacial Frost | Sweetwater.com