what made u buy a ebmm??

[Danserrano]

More curiosity then anything else. Since i asked, i guess i should go 1st huh lol. I've always loved the feel of ebmm necks but was never into the morse/lee/luke pickup config's. I've owned dual humbucker guitars only (prs custom22, parker fly, jem 555, jackson RR1). It didn't help that the guitar stores by me only had fenders, gibsons, & jacksons to try out. Once the jpm was introduced i was sold. I would visit my local guitar center and played it for months. It just sat there, getting abused by guys in the store that didn't know what they had in there hands. I finally order one in october from eastcoast music in danbury (ask for morgan he rocks !!! little plug ) and it just came in yesterday. Pics (although way cool) do not do this guitar justice in my humble opinion. I haven't seen or played a better guitar. I'm definately sold i'm thinking about having 2 balls soon. Your turn.


Danny

 

[koogie2k]

Hey Redburst,

I know exactly how that guitar looks. I have the same one. I also have one in Mystic Dream. They are awesome! I basically tried a JPMM out because I never seen one before. I have posted many times that the "feel" is what gets me. The Petrucci grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let go. I have two, getting ready to order a third. I am curious though, how are the piezos? I might get my next one with 'em.

 

[Danserrano]

hey koogie,

Personally i love the piezo i experimented with it today @ my church sounds great straight into the PA. I also owned a parker and i think the eb piezo kicks it's booty in my opinion. Especially when u mix a nice chorus/reverb preset from a rig with the piezo. Can't beat it.

danny

 

[puppiesonacid]

as soon as i played the petrucci model i was just blown away with the playbility, the tuning stability with out a lock nut and the trem was awesome. it was also the most comfortable feeling guitar ever!!! hugged my body and my hands, awesome beveling and curves. the options, the finishes


God bless,


Tony

 

[GWDavis28]

Like yourself I fell in love at my local Guitar Center (Though, I'd never buy anything from them). I was in there scouting Fender Strats, I'd been dying to buy one for years. When I noticed a Silhouette Special!!! I thought what's this?? I picked it up and it was like "Oh man this is the best feeling instrument I've ever touched", I was floored. I was wrestling with buying one, but funds where low and I really don't like Guitar Center, so it never happened.

Then one day while surfing Ebay at lunch I found my dream guitar. I lost the auction, but struck up a communication with the winner and bought my very first EB/MM Silhouette Special from him.

Since then I've been hooked. I just picked up an Axis Sport last week.

Maybe some day I'll get myself an Albert Lee or Luke. But that's a long ways away.

P.S.
I must add that the neck was the major selling point having small hands.

Plus, the look of the headstock and the quality, quality, quality.

 

[Jimi D]

My first EB/MM was a Luke I picked up at Guitar Center in Lancaster, PA, six or seven years ago... I was just wandering around in there burning time... I played a couple new Ibanez's and a Parker and a couple PRS's, but I was playing Jems and RGs at the time and didn't really have any interest in anything else... Anyway, I went into the smaller "high end" room and saw a couple Mark IVs I wanted to test drive so I sent the sales droog out to grab a guitar for me ("something with hot pickups") and he comes back with the Luke ("it's got EMGs!"), and I sit down and plug in and after a couple riffs I'm not really listening to the amp all that much any more - the Luke's neck was so completely different to any of my guitars but it felt so-o-o-o good... Anyway, I bought the guitar, not the amp...

About a year later I let the Luke go because I found that extended periods playing it would give me hand cramps - I was still playing Jems, and I suffer from mild arthritus - so I swapped it for another Jem, and proceded to regret doing so for years...

I owned a Silhouette Special somewhere in the next little while, but I didn't really try to bond with it - I figured the neck was probably too much like the Luke and so I just used it as trade bait for something else I was hunting at the time... In the mean time I started playing a couple Jacksons and adjusted to their (slightly) meatier necks, and began letting some of my Jems go...

Two years or so ago I swapped a Jackson Soloist for my Axis with Jim (power108 here) whom I hooked up with on the Jackson/Charvel forum, and it's just been straight downhill from there... I played that Axis and for months it was the ONLY guitar I played... I realized that the neck shape was a lot easier on my hand than the thin/wide Jem necks I'd been playing for so long - I could play longer with less fatigue! So I started selling what was left of my Ibanez guitars and buying more Axes, and here I am today...

...it's a sickness I tell ya! a disease!!

 

[bing4sons]

Warning... this is a repeat of a post I made a while back, but I like the story

The 1st time I saw anyone play an Axis, I fell in love with the tone. Then I saw someone else at the same event playing a SS with the piezo. It sounded like a Taylor 714!

So, I went and played one at a local music store and fell in love with the maple neck. It just feels and plays so natural. I then decided I would order one with the piezo. However, I saw a beautiful orange SS with quilted maple on eBay for $600 buy it now. It didn't take me long to scarf it up.

I should know by now, that when I really have my eyes set on a particular guitar, with the options I want, then I shouldn't go with something less. So, after hearing yet another person playing a SS, blending the acoustic and electric tones, I decided to go for an SS with the piezo. So, my son (college freshman) now has a great guitar and I have a new SS with the piezo.

The Axis SS is a great rock guitar, which is what I wanted. I love the piezo, because when I play without another guitar, I can start off a song with acoustic and then kick in with killer OD.

Well, that's my story...

 

[lock-ny]

Like many I started off with a MM EVH model because I loved the guy and I was curious about the guitar he was playing, let me add that I am a bluesier type of player and that I love the hard stuff as well, I am a big 70's rock buff too, SO I fell in love with the neck and then I sold the EVH for big bucks about 7 years ago and grabbed an axis which I liked better, then a luke, then a silhouette special, then an axis SS with a rosewood board which I prefer. Now I am at a point where all other instruments feel barely adequate, so I am a huge fan, I love the necks, the bodies, the headstocks are awesome as well, and they all sound so incredible I feel like there is a little elf blessing each one of these guitars as they come off the assembly line! -

 

[musikarero]

Albert Lee made me do it....

 

[tvanveen]

Definitely the neck.

 

[doctor_worm]

It was a blemished, unused Luke at Guitar Center.

What would you do?!?!?!

Seriously, I played it for about 15 minutes...like Jimi D, I have been playing jems and rg's almost exclusively and the neck on the Luke was out of this world. I bought it, and I wasn't even in the market for a guitar.

I have noticed that the neck profile seems to be aggravating my thumb, right behind the main joint(knuckle) and it is disturbing to say the least. It could be a number of things.

1. The profile isn't good for my technique. I don't want to accept this.

2. I am getting old. I don't want to accept this either.

3. I have been recording a solo disc, and at the same time my band has hired a new drummer and bassist, so I have been putting in 3-5 hours a day on guitar, and hopefully it is just fatigue. This seems the most unlikely.

anyway...if it continues for much longer I may have to put the Luke down. I don't want to do it, but I don't seem to be experiencing the same thumb issues with the Ibanez or Fenders guitar that I own.

I am also adjusting my technic a bit, but after 20 years of playing...that isn't such an easy task.

 

[mcclassic]

Main thing is the neck, on the first one i got, the price make me notice it, it has some dammage in the paint and it was to be sold out, it is a Steve Morse, so I decided to try it and start noticing how good the neck feel, how vibrant and responsive the guitar was (this is unplugged, as I first test all my electrics), so I got it and love it, one of my main, then I saw this axis that I was waiting until they put it on sale and grab it, then last December they put on sale this Sillouhete special that is a great guitar too, great tones and playability and finally on a pawn shop a Eddie Van Halen that I expect to pick in a couple of months.... so main thing, neck, second sound and 3rd price....

 

[peter71]

I was in a band a while back and playing a really nice Godin. I thought I would be a Godin guy for a while. Then the bass player in our band, who also worked at a music store, told me that his friend was trying to sell his Sil. I figured I would try it out and see if I liked it.

I went down to play it and sold my Godin the next day to pay for it. Never looked back since.

 

[puppiesonacid]

i really didnt get to finish... i got a bad phone call when i was typing .. anyways....



now that i have been reading everyone elses... i realized that i remembered really digging the petrucci neck. It was just perfect for my hands. I have "small" hands... really wierd kinda though... its like i have really big/wide palms but my fingers are short. are wide at the base and taper all the way up. "piano hands" maybe> anyways...its just the perfect guitar for me.

I just got sick of compromising with other less expensive guitars. The piezo's were another high selling point for me. they sounded like taylors, which i found pretty funny that someone else compared them to a taylor's sound. i thought the same thing. the stereo thing just put so many ideas into my head about rigs and live applications as well as recording.

the trem was great.... in between a floyd and a wilkinson in terms of feel and tuning stability. i couldnt believe it would stay in tune so well without a lock nut. i hated dealing with all that allen wrench crap, so tedious. I like to keep things simple, functional and effective. The petrucci was it.


I tried an axis before and really didnt like the floyd. the neck wasn't that great to me either. The sillohette on the other hand was nice... more like the petrucci.


whatever... hahah this is too long hahah EB rocks!!! thats all that is needed to be said.


God bless,

Tony

 

[art027]

About one year ago i bought an albert Lee cd called ''in full flight''.
It's a concert recorded in Montreux 1993,
I remember putting it in the cd player, i expected to hear some twangy Telecaster-playing. Well twangy it was, but his sound was different from what i heard from Albert before (from his Clapton period) It sounded great but i couldn't figure out what he was playing,



Not much later i saw one of his instruction tapes called ''advanced country guitar'' he was playing a Musicman guitar with a pink burst finish and it said ''Axis'' on the headstock.
I recognized the sound, this was the guitar i heard on that cd. From then on i started searching the net for info on this guitar, and how to get me one. I discovered here in holland i'd have to pay like 2500 dollars!! for a new one, so that was going to be out of the question.
I found one in Belgium for a reasonable price, it was a pinkburst just like Albert's. I was in heaven, what a comfortable, smooth and cool looking guitar. After a few days i found out it had been modified. Different saddles, changed nut Also the maple neck had never been cleaned, it looked like it had a rosewood fretboard.

I decided to sell it and find me another one. i wanted a vintage sunburst version, so i started using the dealor locator. Man, i've seen a lot of inventories. A lot of guitarcenters had Al's in stock but for some reason i couldn't get in contact with them, i never found an email adress. also i noticed from reading on different forums that GC has kind of a questionable reputation
Anyway, i found the guitar i wanted in a different store, i had it shipped to Holland and i love it.
As soon as the MM90 option was available i decided i just had to have one of those as well. I love them both

Michell

 

[tvanveen]

Hi Art! Did your original pink Albert Lee say "Axis" or "Albert Lee" on the headstock?

BTW, I'm a dutch AL player too....

tv

 

[power108]

My first was my Morse which I ordered in July 1990 and received in March 1991 and then my EVH which I ordered in December 1990 and received in August 1991.

I began playing EBMM's because of Steve Morse and Eddie Van Halen. Not too deep am I?

 

[art027]

Hi tv,

Hey that's cool, Van Veen is a typical Dutch name. Did you live in holland yourself or did your family?
I'm sure there aren't many Dutch Al players, i feel kinda unique
The guitar is not popular at all here, i had a pretty hard time trying to sell that pinkburst.

btw, it did not say Axis on the headstock, just Albert Lee. It was made in 1994, which was the first production year i think.

The one Albert plays in the video is the proto type. It was actually given to him as a present by Sterling Ball a few years earlier. I think i also read somewhere that it has a maple body. Also, it looks like it has a finished neck aswell. I'm not sure about it tho, maybe someone can confirm that?

Albert Lee loved that guitar so much, he never touched his Tele again. I think that's when Musicman decided to make it his signature model. So if i'm correct the Albert Lee signature model as we know it now started out as being the Musicman Axis. I think when EVH left Musicman they needed a new name for the EVH model, they dicided to name it the Axis. This is how i understand it, but i'm not certain about it.

Michell

 

[tvanveen]

I thought Jimi or someone had said that for the first year or 2 of production the AL body was called an Axis, then changed when it became Albert's sig model.

I've never actually seen a good pic of the pinkburst.

BTW, I've never been to the Netherlands, my family has been here in the US for 5 or 6 generations...there aren't many Van Veens over here either...or AL's for that matter....

 

[PurpleSport]

It ain't the greatest set of pics, but you can see some views of AL's pinkburst here:

http://www.riffinteractive.com/emp/albertlee/gear.htm

Note that in the second pic it indeed it has "Axis" on the headstock, and the body does look a bit flame-mapley - however, the closeup of the bridge on shot three sure looks like ash to me.

BTW, on the original subject: a used Axis Sport MM90 hardtail priced at $450 intrigued me enought to pull the trigger and "Buy It Now" on eBay about four hours after the guitar was first listed. When it arrived this week and was in far better shape than the auction's pics indicated - looks almost new save for 4 minor dings - I was quite a happy camper, to say the least!

It sounds/plays so good that my next EBMM acquistion will definitely be a MM90/trem AL, for sure...I'm already trying to figure out which guitars to sell to speed that process along!