Hey all,
First I want to thank Musicman for making the best guitars on the planet, I'm a player and a full time guitar teacher, I've had ALOT of different guitars over the past 15 years (almost 31 now) and by all means, MM makes the best guitas.
three days ago i saw an ad of a guy selling an Armada here for a pretty hefty price, he said he would be willing to accept a gibson (not saying which) as a trade.
I called him up, offered my 2013 traditional and should he refuse I would offer to add some money, He immidiaetly said yes and asked if we can meet ASAP.
I was hesistant as i know the value of the armada is much more. arriving at his house he said he didn't bond with the armada as he only likes fender, and this was his one off trying something else, he said he's been trying to sell the armada for a few months with no success, hardly getting any phone calls.
I checked the guitar out, it played AWEFUL, the bridge was changed to a standard gibson ABR-1 (WTF!?!?) and a heavy tailpiece, he did have the original tailpiece in the guitar case (luckily).
I told him MM makes custom bridges and he can't just exchange any bridge, he didn't really care, the guitar played AWEFUL, the setup was dreaful, the strings were touching the 22nd fret and the guitar almost didn't play, he said he doesn't want it anymore and he is gonna trade my gibson for a custom shop fender.
I checked to see the truss rod was working and that nothing else was touched or replaced, we shook hands and traded guitars.
Now before i could play the guitar i've had to clean the house, ready the children (got 3 of those, hehe), help my wife with the cooking and to make a very long story short I was only able to set it up 3 hours ago (it sat in the case for a day and a half untouched!).
put the original bridge and tailpiece on (noticing he also changed the thumbwheels for something else and the bridge is rocking a bit, but nothing major), changed for a fresh set of strings, set it up (Action, Truss rod, intonation, the works).
Now I must say, this is hands down THE BEST guitar i've ever played, I own an EBMM petrucci and a few other warmoth guitars and have tried and owned many many many many other brands.
Everything but EBMM is just 99%.
Before I sound like a a kid in a candy store I will say why it is the best guitar I've ever played.
The gibson i traded for it was good and i loved it, BUT
1. It needed a leveling job to get some lower action.
2. a different neck pickups (24.75 inch scale guitars are almost always too woofy in the neck position)
3. different tuners (the tuners on it were AWEFUL, the kluson brand)
Knowing EBMM I knew the Armada would probably be good, but I didn't expect it to be PERFECT, I've never EVER played such an amazing guitar, playability is AMAZING, fretwork is exceptional.
pointing out the best things in the armada:
1. AMAZING fretwork
2. AMAZING build
3. AMAZING playability
4. AMAZING balance between the pickups, especially the neck position.
5. tuners are awesome!
6. tuning stability is awesome!
I Simply love it love it love it.
I recorded a track (comfortably numb) with it, using the middle pickup for rhythm and neck and bridge for the solos, recorded with a line 6 ux1.
https://soundcloud.com/user961120844/musicman-armada-comfortably-numb
thank you Musicman for making an amazing instrument, I am once again (first time was when I bought the JP) forever a fan, all my students know I am crazy about EBMM and will hopefully buy a Majesty and a Cutlass in 2-3 years.
First I want to thank Musicman for making the best guitars on the planet, I'm a player and a full time guitar teacher, I've had ALOT of different guitars over the past 15 years (almost 31 now) and by all means, MM makes the best guitas.
three days ago i saw an ad of a guy selling an Armada here for a pretty hefty price, he said he would be willing to accept a gibson (not saying which) as a trade.
I called him up, offered my 2013 traditional and should he refuse I would offer to add some money, He immidiaetly said yes and asked if we can meet ASAP.
I was hesistant as i know the value of the armada is much more. arriving at his house he said he didn't bond with the armada as he only likes fender, and this was his one off trying something else, he said he's been trying to sell the armada for a few months with no success, hardly getting any phone calls.
I checked the guitar out, it played AWEFUL, the bridge was changed to a standard gibson ABR-1 (WTF!?!?) and a heavy tailpiece, he did have the original tailpiece in the guitar case (luckily).
I told him MM makes custom bridges and he can't just exchange any bridge, he didn't really care, the guitar played AWEFUL, the setup was dreaful, the strings were touching the 22nd fret and the guitar almost didn't play, he said he doesn't want it anymore and he is gonna trade my gibson for a custom shop fender.
I checked to see the truss rod was working and that nothing else was touched or replaced, we shook hands and traded guitars.
Now before i could play the guitar i've had to clean the house, ready the children (got 3 of those, hehe), help my wife with the cooking and to make a very long story short I was only able to set it up 3 hours ago (it sat in the case for a day and a half untouched!).
put the original bridge and tailpiece on (noticing he also changed the thumbwheels for something else and the bridge is rocking a bit, but nothing major), changed for a fresh set of strings, set it up (Action, Truss rod, intonation, the works).
Now I must say, this is hands down THE BEST guitar i've ever played, I own an EBMM petrucci and a few other warmoth guitars and have tried and owned many many many many other brands.
Everything but EBMM is just 99%.
Before I sound like a a kid in a candy store I will say why it is the best guitar I've ever played.
The gibson i traded for it was good and i loved it, BUT
1. It needed a leveling job to get some lower action.
2. a different neck pickups (24.75 inch scale guitars are almost always too woofy in the neck position)
3. different tuners (the tuners on it were AWEFUL, the kluson brand)
Knowing EBMM I knew the Armada would probably be good, but I didn't expect it to be PERFECT, I've never EVER played such an amazing guitar, playability is AMAZING, fretwork is exceptional.
pointing out the best things in the armada:
1. AMAZING fretwork
2. AMAZING build
3. AMAZING playability
4. AMAZING balance between the pickups, especially the neck position.
5. tuners are awesome!
6. tuning stability is awesome!
I Simply love it love it love it.
I recorded a track (comfortably numb) with it, using the middle pickup for rhythm and neck and bridge for the solos, recorded with a line 6 ux1.
https://soundcloud.com/user961120844/musicman-armada-comfortably-numb
thank you Musicman for making an amazing instrument, I am once again (first time was when I bought the JP) forever a fan, all my students know I am crazy about EBMM and will hopefully buy a Majesty and a Cutlass in 2-3 years.
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