Help! What JP7 is this?? EBMM guys, help me!

[ernie1966]

Felix,

Wow, the mystery is finally solved. Thanks to A.J. for going the extra mile to get you/us the scoop.

The Petrucci forum used to have pics of the first Pets being displayed at the 2001 NAMM show. I figured your Pet might be in one of the pics. Ever since Paul updated the site the pics have gone bye bye from the site. I tried to find them yesterday, figuring they would be someplace on the net, but no dice.

ernie

 

[digitalpig]

Felix,

Wow, the mystery is finally solved. Thanks to A.J. for going the extra mile to get you/us the scoop.

The Petrucci forum used to have pics of the first Pets being displayed at the 2001 NAMM show. I figured your Pet might be in one of the pics. Ever since Paul updated the site the pics have gone bye bye from the site. I tried to find them yesterday, figuring they would be someplace on the net, but no dice.

ernie

Hey Ernie,

good hint. I used the wayback machine to find this:

First EBMM JP model pictures on johnpetrucci.com

And there - tadaaa - you find the NAMM 2001 pictures! -> <<click>>

There are two JP7 models, a pearl redburst one and a mystic dream one:

Notice the missing "Music Man" label on the tremolo baseplate, just like on mine. Anyway, mine is not pictured there (MD + Piezo) Seems like they did not took a picture of every single JP model that was exposed there at Winter NAMM 2001?

Btw, the headstock of the MD model shown there looks exactly like mine (especially regarding the placement of the signature):

Greetings!
Felix

 

[ernie1966]

Nice job F!

You're a better, or shall I say, more determined searcher than I.

Good observation on the trem.

I guess all the pieces of your puzzle have been found and fitted into place.

Congrats on a great piece of Pet history.

As an aside, I gotta keep my eyes of for some of these NAMM pieces. When older Pets show up on eBay or Craig's list, etc., I just look at the headstock to see if it's one of the 1st 100 hand-signed, but now I got to start looking at the trems to see if I can land one of these 2001 NAMM-Pets.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Ernie, you've got problems! Good problems!

 

[digitalpig]

Alright, here are the last parts of the puzzle.

I took the neck off and - tadaa - found some dates!

Take a look at this:



...and this:



I don't know whether the letters written by hand do have any special meaning or not, maybe A.J. can shed some light on this detail? But anyway, now it's official, my Pet was made in January 2001, a couple of months before the JP series came out.

And the last thing I could find out is this: The employees of the store who sold the guitar to the former owner can't remember where it came from. This leads my research to an end, I found out what was possible to find out.

So...

This is THE END.

Thanks to all who contributed, again! This is a very nice community, you guys rock!

Greetings from Berlin, Germany!
Felix

 

[5Stringer]

Felix, so this is obviously a NAMM show piece, as we were scrambling to get these done before the show. This almost certainly would have accompanied us to the NAMM show in 2001 where the John Petrucci guitar was introduced .... the build code notwithstanding. Originally we were going to only offer the JP with the shield inlays and matching headstock, then it was decided at the show to offer it without those options as well in order to be able to offer the guitar at a lower price point.

The letters would indicate who did the final work on both the neck and the body.

So we know it was there, along with many other JP protos ... where it went from there it is probably impossible to say.

Dan

 

[the24thfret]

Wow, what a find and story.

Felix, did you ever say how you got the guitar? Where'd you get it?

 

[digitalpig]

Felix, so this is obviously a NAMM show piece, as we were scrambling to get these done before the show. This almost certainly would have accompanied us to the NAMM show in 2001 where the John Petrucci guitar was introduced .... the build code notwithstanding. Originally we were going to only offer the JP with the shield inlays and matching headstock, then it was decided at the show to offer it without those options as well in order to be able to offer the guitar at a lower price point.

The letters would indicate who did the final work on both the neck and the body.

So we know it was there, along with many other JP protos ... where it went from there it is probably impossible to say.

Dan

Hey Dan!

Ah I see, so my build code is some kind of a "early version of the JP model build code" because initially all JP model should get the shield inlays and the matching headstock so there was no need to indicate this in the code?

Another small mystery solved! Okay, NOW it should be complete, or did I forgot something that's not clear yet...? Don't think so.

Thanks Dan!

Wow, what a find and story.

Felix, did you ever say how you got the guitar? Where'd you get it?

Thanks 24th,

I found it in the UK, no shop or something like that, just a normal guy like you and me.

Greetings!
Felix

 

[DrGonzo5150]

Awesome!
I love closure.

 

[5Stringer]

Hey Dan!

Ah I see, so my build code is some kind of a "early version of the JP model build code" because initially all JP model should get the shield inlays and the matching headstock so there was no need to indicate this in the code?

That is correct! We hadn't actually come up with the "26" build code yet as there was no need for it yet.

Dan

 

[digitalpig]

I don't know where else to post this, so I'm doing it here. I have just discovered something that fits in this context somehow...

I visited the German EBMM site today and guess what I found? Some prototype pictures on this page where they introduce the JP model!

Do you notice the slight differences described earlier in this thread (piezo box, trem) ? You definately need newer pics, guys!

Greetings from Germany!
Felix