EBMM vs the average joe!

[benoa]

I own too many guitars for the talent I have. Lol... Among all the guitars I have in my collection, my fav 2 are my 2 JP6. They are my grab and go guitar. I know I can trust them, they are reliable and sound awesome.

Last evening, my son's band needed another guitar player for a "one tune gig" and I brought one of my JP6 for the gig.

And while I was waiting for our turn to come and surrounded by a bunch of teenagers from 13 to 17 years old (it was somewhat of a talent show), some of them came to me asking about my JP6. Except one (the kid was a badass player), none knew what brand or model it was.

I even got the "Don't they do guitar strings? - I didn't know they made guitars".

That made me remember that when I used to gig with my cover band, the few folks that would come to me after a gig would, most of the time, ask about what guitar I was playing and had no idea about EBMM products.

Do you have similar stories to share? I'm curious.

 

[berkleeguitar]

I have also experienced that. Most of my guitar playing friends have no idea what a music man guitar is. It only takes letting them play my 25th Anniversary for a few minutes to fix that.

 

[Rialas]

I've experienced the same, with friends who have been playing for years. They know musicman made cool amps (and strings) but no idea about their guitars.

 

[dave1812]

Had that "Thought they only made Strings" Question many Times...
It's a bit sad IMHO, but it's also a fault of the Music Stores, at least in Europe they rarely got EBMM or only one JP and an Axis or something like that...
I asked many Sellers at Music Stores for EBMM Guitars but it's shocking how many People don't even know this incredible Company!

 

[mikeller]

I get that too - guys will come up and stare at the headstock trying to figure out what it is and approach me on break and ask.

 

[MikeVt]

Unfortunately, a lot of the time it also results in the arrogant and unwarranted negative assumptions from the uninformed G*, F*, & P* crowd.

Mike

 

[DrKev]

I've met a few people over the years who dismissed anything that wasn't Fender or Gibson, but I've also met a lot of people who loved my tone and loved the feel of the neck even more. I've converted one or two people over the years too.

 

[benoa]

Unfortunately, a lot of the time it also results in the arrogant and unwarranted negative assumptions from the uninformed G*, F*, & P* crowd.

Sadly true... I'm from the school that "if it sounds good and makes you want to grab the guitar, I don't care for the cost/country of origin or brand/model of the instrument". I've met/seen awesome players with cheap gear and bad players with ridiculously expensive equipment.

Great replies from everyone. Cool to hear that we had some very similar stories.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Unfortunately, a lot of the time it also results in the arrogant and unwarranted negative assumptions from the uninformed G*, F*, & P* crowd.

Mike

Yeah - that's when, as a goodwill embassaor for the brand, you just have to suck it up and place the instrument in their hands. Let the craftsmanship do the talking. That always works for me!

 

[kestrou]

I've met a few people over the years who dismissed anything that wasn't Fender or Gibson, but I've also met a lot of people who loved my tone and loved the feel of the neck even more. I've converted one or two people over the years too.

I've converted several myself - it's all about the neck... and the new roasted necks make it even easier to subvert their impressionable minds to our cause!

Kevin

 

[Dead-Eye]

Can't say I've ever noticed that - people tend to be at least aware of the basses, and then it's not that surprising that there are guitars as well.

 

[Etudica]

During college in the late 90's I worked at a fairly large music store in central PA, before the big box chains took over. We sold all of the name brands but never stocked anything from EB except basses. At the time I was a already a huge Vai and Petrucci fan, so you can imagine what brand I gravitated towards. It wasn't until JP's switch to EBMM that I began to seriously look into their guitar offerings (the EVH never really did anything for me). I remember going to the SFAM tour and seeing him play the JP6 for the first time and thought "wow, that looks really, really plain. I wonder what kind of people are buying that?" So yeah, I'll admit back when I was 18 I was guilty of the same thing.

 

[Razzle]

I'm kinda an island of EBMM goodness in my town full of bubbas playing strats and les Paul's... it's a two edged sword though: if u wanna buy one, u can't find one to try out, and if u wanna sell one, nobody's buyin'.

 

[paranoid70]

I've been playing out with Silhouettes for about 10 years, I don't think I have ever had any one come up to me and say anything good or bad about the MM guitars. It's usually, hey man do guys know any Sublime.....?

 

[BUC]

Where I play I'm seeing them more and more. Did a show on Saturday, I play 2 reflex's and the band after me the guy is playing a P6 petrucci.

Did a show a couple months ago where the band after me had a couple of Axis and an old VH. Among real players, the secret is out.

 

[beej]

Can't say I've ever noticed that - people tend to be at least aware of the basses, and then it's not that surprising that there are guitars as well.

Yeah, that's pretty much my experience too. Plus there are a lot of them around these parts.

 

[spychocyco]

There are several EBMM bass players around here, but not many EBMM guitar players. The nearest two dealers are a couple of hours away, and they're both Guitar Centers that rarely have the six strings in stock. So I'm pretty much on an island. I have a fairly regular disagreement with a friend (just so happens that his name is Joe) whose argument is they're not worth the price for the materials they use. One day, I'm going to manage to get one of mine in his hands to prove him wrong.

 

[jones4tone]

There are several EBMM bass players around here, but not many EBMM guitar players. The nearest two dealers are a couple of hours away, and they're both Guitar Centers that rarely have the six strings in stock. So I'm pretty much on an island. I have a fairly regular disagreement with a friend (just so happens that his name is Joe) whose argument is they're not worth the price for the materials they use. One day, I'm going to manage to get one of mine in his hands to prove him wrong.

I say this in the literal, not perjorative, sense: Joe is just ignorant. When I had only seen EBMMs in catalogs and what not, they just looked different (a little weird, even) compared to the guitars I was used to seeing. I wasn't the least bit interested until I heard a demo video. Slight interest then turned to obsession when I held/fondled/played the JP-15 BFR that was my first EBMM.

There's hope for Joe.

 

[spychocyco]

Yep. For a long time after I got my first Axis, I'd go to guitar stores and could find nothing that really interested me. They just didn't compare. Almost 10 years later, I've played and owned a lot of guitars from a lot of different manufacturers, and every time, I've come back to that Axis and wondered why I bothered to look for another one. That's why I decided on the ASS this time, as a complement to the one I already love. Now, if EBMM would just make something pointy to fill that pointy void in my collection.

I say this in the literal, not perjorative, sense: Joe is just ignorant. When I had only seen EBMMs in catalogs and what not, they just looked different (a little weird, even) compared to the guitars I was used to seeing. I wasn't the least bit interested until I heard a demo video. Slight interest then turned to obsession when I held/fondled/played the JP-15 BFR that was my first EBMM.

There's hope for Joe.

 

[thejone]

I made similar experiences. However, I think guitarists can be divided into certain cohorts. Some of those cohorts like ongoing development in guitars and others don't. More than ten years ago I was a huge Ibanez fan and had to support a Pink Floyd cover band. Those were really nice guys around 40-55yo making music on a non-professional basis. When we meet first time I was using an Ibanez 7-String j.custom and they said: "Okay, it doesn't always has to be Fender or Gibson." That just sounded as if there is nothing else out there.
Over the years I more and more switched to Music Man because I was listening more Dream Theater. I first bought a used JP6 because; I just wanted to try one of those Petrucci-Guitars and I rarely saw one in a store and if so it was poorly adjusted and set up, respectively with sticky strings. I found that guitar wired looking at first. Also the older pictures back in the days when guitars were to offen pictured only from frontal did not help. Also the colour mystic dream does not come out right in pictures. However, I got my first JP6 and thought for quite a while that it was weired looking, I somehow felt that the headstock is somehow way to small in comparison to the body. But the guitar played very well, at least as good as my j.customs and my JEM. After a few month or maybe a year or so the Ibanez guitars somehow appeared very traditional looking to me and less exciting. I felt more an more comfortable with the JP6 because of the ergonomics also it became more modern looking to me. Then I bought a BFR, JPXI, JP12 and two majesties because I fell in love with the painted neck which is never sticky. Now the majesty in my eyes is a new mile stone in guitar engineering and the smaller proportions of the body are fitting the headstock really well. But in this case also the guitar was just not as good looking on photographs. For me in general functionality beats design. The majesty is designed for its functionality and that's making it great. My wife actually said that the majesty artisan nero is the most beautiful guitar I have. That said back to the topic.
I recently played a gig with the majesties for an audience with mean age around 20. And many people came to me after the gig with questions about the guitars(mainly the majesty 7 in iced crimson). No one of those kids ever saw that guitar before, not even in the internet. But the all said that it sounded awesome. The found it looks a little bit wired but still super cool. Thus interesting and exciting!
I think that music man guitars are well known by musicians with more interesst in virtuos guitar playing but not by the Blink and Nirvana fans (yes kids still hear that stuff......) and also not for most old school hard rock guys(although Luke and Steve are extending the range). In the end it is all about the men and women you see playing those instruments somewhere sounding good and looking cool. So let's rock!

Regards, J