ProtoChicken
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2009
- Messages
- 689
First I wanted to say how much I dig this forum. I've been lurking for a while and everyone seems very cool and most of you own own some gorgeous guitars.
I am one of those people who e-mailed customer service incessantly for years about making a Petrucci left handed model, and finally just gave up. I had worked for what was at the time a very large and successful music chain in Boston in the early to mid '90's which was my first experience with Music Man guitars. I used to play the EVH's upside down and wonder if they were ever going to make lefty models.
So though I had sworn off looking at the Music Man site to avoid depression for the last 2 years, for some reason I decided to check out the site again at the beginning of this month. I didn't even know the BFR series existed (that should show you how serious I was about avoiding looking at this site or anything MM related), so while looking at the specs on the JP I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it said "Yes" to left handed in the specs. I must have refreshed the page 10 times expecting the option to disappear.
When my wife woke up in the morning all I said to her was "they make it lefty" and she replied "The Petrucci?! You have to get one." She had even called Ed Roman at one point years ago to ask him if he would make a lefty version as a birthday gift (what a donkey that guy was) and he said he would but he was such a jerk we decided not spend our money with him.
So I headed down to GC and decided to order a 7 string JP BFR with a quilted top in Bahama Blue. But I started complaining so much about also needing a 6 string version as well that last weekend my wife said we have enough money to make one more big purchase for ourselves, as we are expecting our first child in August, and she gave me the money and said "order a 6 string". So I of course went ahead and ordered the 6 string JP BFR, this one with the quilted top in Walnut burst.
The 3 to 4 month waiting period is going to kill me though. It's actually been 15 years since I've purchased a new guitar. Most of mine are ESP's built when their custom shop was still in NY, and a few Warmoth's I had put together for me over the years by Steve Morrill.
I actually had an aversion to finished necks and initially ordered the standard model, but I decided to go back to store the next day and give the BFR neck some more time (upside down of course) and I'm glad I did.
And that of course is the hardest part of this all. I know I love how it sounds, and I've become quite adept at playing righty models upside down over the years, but you just don't know exactly how it will look or feel when you get the lefty version. Seeing as I couldn't find and lefty BFR or even a standard to try I won't know exactly what the guitar plays like until the day they arrive. But based on how it played upside down and not properly contoured to my body I think I have a pretty good idea. I guess the bright side to being a lefty and having to custom order is you never end up with a guitar that's been hanging on the wall.
I wish when I started playing 22 years ago someone had told my folks that they didn't need to buy their kid a lefty model since neither hand had been trained to play yet, but they figured left handed kid, left handed guitar.
So I wanted to say thank you to Sterling, and everyone at Ernie Ball for taking us southpaws into account, and for not charging anything extra, let alone a ridiculous increase in price for a lefty model.
I am one of those people who e-mailed customer service incessantly for years about making a Petrucci left handed model, and finally just gave up. I had worked for what was at the time a very large and successful music chain in Boston in the early to mid '90's which was my first experience with Music Man guitars. I used to play the EVH's upside down and wonder if they were ever going to make lefty models.
So though I had sworn off looking at the Music Man site to avoid depression for the last 2 years, for some reason I decided to check out the site again at the beginning of this month. I didn't even know the BFR series existed (that should show you how serious I was about avoiding looking at this site or anything MM related), so while looking at the specs on the JP I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it said "Yes" to left handed in the specs. I must have refreshed the page 10 times expecting the option to disappear.
When my wife woke up in the morning all I said to her was "they make it lefty" and she replied "The Petrucci?! You have to get one." She had even called Ed Roman at one point years ago to ask him if he would make a lefty version as a birthday gift (what a donkey that guy was) and he said he would but he was such a jerk we decided not spend our money with him.
So I headed down to GC and decided to order a 7 string JP BFR with a quilted top in Bahama Blue. But I started complaining so much about also needing a 6 string version as well that last weekend my wife said we have enough money to make one more big purchase for ourselves, as we are expecting our first child in August, and she gave me the money and said "order a 6 string". So I of course went ahead and ordered the 6 string JP BFR, this one with the quilted top in Walnut burst.
The 3 to 4 month waiting period is going to kill me though. It's actually been 15 years since I've purchased a new guitar. Most of mine are ESP's built when their custom shop was still in NY, and a few Warmoth's I had put together for me over the years by Steve Morrill.
I actually had an aversion to finished necks and initially ordered the standard model, but I decided to go back to store the next day and give the BFR neck some more time (upside down of course) and I'm glad I did.
And that of course is the hardest part of this all. I know I love how it sounds, and I've become quite adept at playing righty models upside down over the years, but you just don't know exactly how it will look or feel when you get the lefty version. Seeing as I couldn't find and lefty BFR or even a standard to try I won't know exactly what the guitar plays like until the day they arrive. But based on how it played upside down and not properly contoured to my body I think I have a pretty good idea. I guess the bright side to being a lefty and having to custom order is you never end up with a guitar that's been hanging on the wall.
I wish when I started playing 22 years ago someone had told my folks that they didn't need to buy their kid a lefty model since neither hand had been trained to play yet, but they figured left handed kid, left handed guitar.
So I wanted to say thank you to Sterling, and everyone at Ernie Ball for taking us southpaws into account, and for not charging anything extra, let alone a ridiculous increase in price for a lefty model.
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