Many cavities are required to house the
complex configuration of electronics, which
include a piezo bridge and onboard preamp.
There are three aluminium control plates at
the rear which, despite the guitar’s weighty
price tag, aren’t recessed. Yet even with all
the electronic gadgetry on board, the guitar
remains both light and perfectly balanced.
HANDS ON
After spending some time putting it
through its paces, the flat radius and slim
neck prove to be very supportive of all
hand positions, not just the thumb-behind-
the-neck with which technical players are
so often associated. Regardless of depth
measurements, the wonderfully rolled
fretboard and supporting shoulders of the
neck ensure that the underside of your
first finger and thumb are guaranteed a
comfortable surface. Once again, we’ve
yet to play a Music Man that doesn’t have
a fabulous neck.
The ebony fingerboard is perfectly
smooth and naturally finished and while a
17-inch radius implies a flatter-than-average
surface, there’s a noticeable curvature –
which takes very little getting used to, even
if you’re more accustomed to a rounder
radius. The neck isn’t as wide as you may
fear if you’re approaching from a six-string-
only background and wrapping your thumb
around the neck for bends, or even chord
shapes that utilise the thumb, is a cinch.
While the concept of ergonomics can
mean different things to different guitarists- and traditionalists would argue there are
few guitars physically comfortable that a
Strat – a great deal of thought has been
given both to the contouring of the body
and the layout of the controls.
The neck heel delivers on its promise,
and although only when sitting or wearing
the guitar up high are you able to shred
away comfortably around the 21st to 24th
fret area of the seventh and sixth (low B
and E) string, this is hardly the business end
of any guitar!
The myriad switches are easily accessible
and don’t distract from actual playing. With
a simple flick of the wrist, an active preamp
with 20dB boost can be activated via the
push-push volume control, providing a
perfect volume hike for solos, and a coil-
split facility is activated by pushing the tone
control when the pickup selector is in the
middle position.
Only when speed-picking away
effortlessly (although not to Petrucci’s
remarkable standard, of course) did we
realise that there was a reason for our
newfound agility. The forearm contour
has been angled perfectly to deliver
optimum support, thus providing freedom
for the wrist to pendulate at speeds
that your practice routine permits. It’s
quite something to notice an immediate
improvement to this technique without
actually putting in any further practice –
if only it was always this way!
Sourcing a seven-string guitar that doesn’t
have either a fixed bridge or double-locking
vibrato is a very difficult task. Vigier has
designed its own and Hipshot is one of the
very few companies offering an aftermarketFINISH Tiger Eye high-gloss
polyester (limited to 300
models worldwide)ELECTRONICS DiMarzio
Rainmaker (neck) and
Dreamcatcher (bridge)
magnetic humbuckers,
piezo bridge pickup,
3-way toggle pickup
selector with custom
centre-position
configuration; 3-way
toggle piezo/magnetic
selector, momentary
mono/stereo output
knob (piezo volume).
Custom Music Man
active preamp; push/push
volume for gain boost,
500k-ohm push/push
passive tone for custom
two-pickup configurations,
.022μF tone capacitor
KEY FEATURES
PRICE £5,949 (inc. hard case)
DESCRIPTION Solidbody double-cutaway electric guitar.
Made in USA
OPTIONS 6-string version is £5,699
CONTACT Strings And Things
stringsandthings.co.uk, music-man.com
BUILD Alder wings with
maple body cap,
mahogany and flame-maple
through-neck, ebony
fretboard with 17-inch
radius, 24 medium-jumbo
stainless-steel fretsHARDWARE Chrome-plated, WEIGHT 3.3kg/7.27lb
hardened steel Custom
John Petrucci Music Man
floating vibrato bridge with
solid steel saddles, Schaller
M6-IND locking tunersREVIEWS
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