Not to be "that guy," but who cares about "BFR?"

[Big Poppa]

please I took the gimmicky and all that but please read the rules...politics and religion have zero place here....its actually rude to push your opinions of either here....this is an oasis from that bs....we are here to talk about guitars....

SO now Im going to be that guy but to only make your point....What facts do you use to determine that 100 guitars are limited...there are factories that make 20,000 a month of GOOD guitars....was this a formula or maui wowie? hahahahah

You are also confusing our decision to remove the inlay at the 12th fret with the removal of bfr....

we also stopped signing the certificates....too many dealers or customers lost them and it became a nightmare creating new ones for these instruments.

 

[KEOKI]

Let me try. If I were to buy a BFR majesty I would expect it to be prettier. I WOULD NOT expect it to play better. Although some VARIANCE (not better or worse) in tone might occur due to different wood if that were part of the package. Although I do not know because this is the beginning of my history with EBMM, perhaps this describes the differences in othe JP models and their BFR counterparts.

 

[mike_baugh]

I recently received a BFR JP13 (all the JP13s are BFR) and I also have a roasted birdseye maple Luke LIII, which isn't a BFR. The LIII has BFR qualities about it, in fact, if you put 'BFR' on it you could easily pass it off as a BFR, which goes to show that Musicman aren't trying to con anyone with sneaky marketing plans, especially when you consider the LIII is cheaper than many Fender customshops but has more features and in my humble opinion is a much better built instrument (because it's built by people who really care).

The JP13, however, has many refinements not seen on the LIII, the body alone has a selection of woods, fancy inlays, this particular one has piezo too and the set up was immense, all that extra attention to detail and refinements are what really make the BFR's stand out to me.
Also, they aren't as common as one might think! I know many dealers that sell them don't actually keep BFR's in stock, so when you look online there are pictures of BFR's everywhere, but you'll notice it's the same photo being used time and again as a lot of the time the instrument isn't even in stock, it's ordered once a customer places their order!

My students ask me about standard musicman's and BFR's all the time and I always say that the standard models are customshop quality and the BFR's are out of this world quality

 

[Jamie M]

BFR or not they are all great instruments.

 

[Tollywood]

Usually for my gigging axes, I don't want something overly pretty. It's going to get ding-ed. It's going to get drinks splashed on it. I'm going to sweat all over it. It's going to ride in a trunk or the back of my pickup to gigs in Arizona where it's 105F. This is not BFR territory.

But in my air conditioned studio, I have a couple of "case-queens" if you will. I record with them. I practice with them. I take them out and noodle and admire how beautiful they are. To me this is BFR territory.

This is a brilliant assessment.

 

[Barry1977]

The mere fact i have the privilege to own a guitar that was made for John Petrucci,his family and friends,is a tremendous honour
I dont sit there and think,oh that inlay is the be all and end all of life!.There are far more things to worry about in the world!
These guitars are on another level to anything i've ever played.Not to decry my JP6 Mystic dream,but you can feel the difference,you can hear massive tonal differences,having alder, a bookmatched maple top,and a mahogany tone block
So much resonance,even unplugged

It takes four months to build these guitars,and i felt that when i opened the case,that i am now owning a piece of history..

Me personally i love the engraved BFR on the neck plate..I think its classy
We are very much spoilt by MM,and all they do for us..The customer service is second to none,and the guitars are lovingly crafted to perfection..
We are lucky that a company with so much integrity and love for guitars and people exists

Everyone,if cash,and life permits,should own one of the BFR models..You are missing out if you dont

 

[FantasyMetal]

The way I look at BFR is thus: Music Man released the John Petrucci signature model 10+ years ago for the public to buy. It was the same guitar that John played on many recordings/tours/etc. John decides he wants to experiment with the foundation of the JP6 which leads to the creation of the BFR, X, XI, etc. Now if Music Man were a different company, these would only be found in John's hands. However, because Music Man is a company with a business model like none other that I can think of, they decide to make these instruments available to the public. So these instruments that were "reserved" for John and members of the family are now available to the public. Hence, Ball Family Reserve. I, for one, am delighted that Music Man approaches guitar-making in this way. Look at some of the artists out there with signature models who play them for videos and a couple songs on tour, but rely on some other instrument for the remainder of the time. When you buy a BFR JP6 you can be sure that at one point or another during John's career he was using that instrument extensively (JPXI for "A Dramatic Turn of Events", JP12 for "Live in Luna", JP13 for "Dream Theater", Majesty for "Along for the Ride Tour", etc.). Anyways, TL;DR BFR guitars are of similar quality to "standard" EBMM guitars but offer features that would otherwise be reserved for artists and family members. If you don't believe that I challenge you to look at other manufacturer's and show me anything comparable.

 

[decreebass]

I was only playing with the 'religious' thing; jeez.

Anyway, I guess I've upset quite a few people, including Big Poppa, the one person in the world I was hoping not to lol. So I'll shut up - I guess inquiries are met with fanaticism and speculation and staunch defenses rather than delineated and rational explanations.

Sorry everyone. I'll keep my posts from now on to NGDs.

 

[FantasyMetal]

I guess inquiries are met with fanaticism and speculation and staunch defenses rather than delineated and rational explanations.

I must be reading a different thread. I thought everyone has been pretty respectful so far. I mean you are on the EBMM board so you have to expect that we are going to respond as fans of the brand would, but I suppose that its hard to infer intent from text.

 

[ozzyrules]

I always giggle a little when I hear BFR because I used to work at a 'Fry'n Pan" family restaurant in South Dakota and we called our giant caramel nut rolls and cinnamon rolls "BFRs" (big f***** rolls) lol.

Perhaps you have a fetish for your original BFR in your restaurant days which has never been satisfied, thereby causing you an inability to distinguish between the two. But seriously, can we just let it go. Some people prefer the badge, some don't. Pretty simple........

 

[decreebass]

Perhaps you have a fetish for your original BFR in your restaurant days which has never been satisfied, thereby causing you an inability to distinguish between the two. But seriously, can we just let it go. Some people prefer the badge, some don't. Pretty simple........

Haha yea - these tiny little Cinnabon things you can find nowadays just don't do it for me

But yea, I do like the badge, but I was mainly curious how without even trying I wound up with two BFRs (I think) - I mean, I'm nobody! lol

 

[ozzyrules]

Haha yea - these tiny little Cinnabon things you can find nowadays just don't do it for me

But yea, I do like the badge, but I was mainly curious how without even trying I wound up with two BFRs (I think) - I mean, I'm nobody! lol

Call it a gift..........

 

[beej]

I was only playing with the 'religious' thing; jeez.

Anyway, I guess I've upset quite a few people, including Big Poppa, the one person in the world I was hoping not to lol. So I'll shut up - I guess inquiries are met with fanaticism and speculation and staunch defenses rather than delineated and rational explanations.

Sorry everyone. I'll keep my posts from now on to NGDs.

Jeez, cut the dramatics. You're free to ask questions, but you'll get better responses when you dial back the insults and sarcasm.

 

[mesavox]

The things people choose to get all worked up about… sheesh. Life's too short people. If you like em, buy em. If you don't, don't. They're just not part of the established norm… that's it. I'm a classic over analyzer, but if I got that worked up about what a company calls their product, I'd never get anything productive done in life. lol

 

[BUC]

Oh the irony. What have we learned here?

If you start a post with "Not to be "that guy"", guess what...you're already "that guy".

 

[Big Poppa]

OK you didnt piss me off....you still havent but you are a little self absorbed on this...

SO let me explain it one more time....this forum started out with no rules...NONE....then members ripped off other members on transactions.....so there were rules there....then people would dive in this pool and start spewing their religion....so lets keep it on guitars and keep the religion out....then politics...then each time we would get a female member the innuendos and tacky behavior would start....thats why women dont stick around...all of these rules are because of ass hats....Start a new forum abd take a minute to read the groundrules....dont get angy when I edit something that is pretty clear and obvious

You came on with accusations about gimmickry and cheap marketing tactics I explained it to you twice it wasnt enough...maybe if you considered the responses and maybe said "Hmmmm I just learned something from a gut who has devoted his entire life to this....

You didnt read the rules and then come back with, "I guess inquiries are met with fanaticism and speculation and staunch defenses rather than delineated and rational explanations." That is just so typical of a guy who didnt get everyone agreeing with him. GO back and read my responses I tried to explain it to you and no matter what I said it wasnt what you wanted to hear.

 

[JayDawg]

You will notice that the bfr is not on the jp6...now compare the features materials and price point of your guitars....certainly elevated.

Hey BP, I'm also not trying to stir the pot but I thought the JP6 did have a BFR version? Isn't this it? John Petrucci BFR Love the JP models too by the way.

 

[mesavox]

Hey BP, I'm also not trying to stir the pot but I thought the JP6 did have a BFR version? Isn't this it? John Petrucci BFR Love the JP models too by the way.

It does have a BFR version, but the JP6 is not a BFR unless you get the BFR version. JP6 is a JP6. Jp6 BFR is a JP6 BFR. The JP6 BFR has a lot of upscale features, but regular JP6 is still built with all the same attention to build quality.

I'm actually as confused as anyone now because I can't, for the life of me, understand why this is such a difficult concept. LOL

Its fun to try and come up with different ways to say the same thing though. lol

 

[QuietSpike]

Seriously... We done with this yet?

 

[Edgarallan]

I'm not sure many people really care about the technicalities of what it stands for ?
The fact is that we can own the same quality instruments that BP, sons and extended musical FAMILY probably choose/"reserve" to play and have hanging on their walls.
That's the way I see it these days anyway

Thats the best explanation. Let me compare. I watched a Joe Satriani (big influence on me) interview where he says, "I should be using production models". That really bummed me. That means that even the new $2K JS2400 is NOT what he uses. On the other hand EBMM have the BFR's which ARE what the family would own (i.e. like the finest wine reserved for the family that owns the vineyards) and also what the artist uses. I'm just excited to have a picture of Master Steve Lukather wielding his LIII Bodhi Blue, same one I wield.