Major guitar purchase (EBMM Majesty 7) and lack of motivation to practice/unsure if I am doing the right thing.

[papastitch8]

You're married to it.
Keep it
PLAY it
Love it.
Live it.

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

I have an update on my situation if anyone would care to comment as I have greatly appreciated all the responses up to this point. I agree with everybody that I shouldn’t be beating myself up about not playing enough and that kind of helped get me through some stuff and I have been playing more, thanks guys/gals.
However…I’m returning this guitar. Here’s why. When I received it the whole preamp/board was bad and the jack had a short in it and the low B was all flappy and buzzing on the frets. I sent it back to SW for a couple weeks and they fixed the board by ordering one and replacing it and as I requested put skinny top heavy bottom gauge strings on it which fixed all the buzzing it had going on BUT they didn’t fix the short in the jack if you barely bump it or even if the cord moves the wrong way the signal goes out and I have to stop playing and wiggle it to make it come back, typical jack short. I have to send it back again.
While I had it though I realized a few things about this guitar…yes it’s a work of art and plays great and I absolutely love it in most ways but a few things are not meshing well with me:
1. I can’t even change the tuning of one string (to go to drop A/D you know what I mean) without it throwing the tuning of every other string out and it requires retuning the whole guitar for that (a downside to a floating bridge I’ve learned)
2. Also if I do drop my low string down a step and spend the time to completely retune the whole thing back up/down to pitch so it’s ready to play again I end up with a flappy low string again and only going down one step, downside to 25-1/2” scale length for extended range/drop tuning I guess?
3. What the heck am I going to do when the board/any of the electronics on this guitar go out once it’s not under warranty anymore??? Pay out the *** to have someone try to work on this bionic beauty lol?
4. As much as I may like DT I could do without the first fret inlay and signature on the front but this is trivial and not really a big deciding factor in this.
What I’ll miss about this guitar:
1. The versatility of this guitar
2. Fit and finish and great playability
3. Maybe most of all the piezo I absolutely love having it and it makes me sick to lose it. This very much goes back to versatility.
So…..
I’m not familiar until these past couple weeks with the Keith Merrow line of Schecters (the player yes, heard and like his stuff just wasn’t familiar with his guitars until I really started looking at the available options they have for 7 strings) but I’ve been seriously looking at them. I listened to some demos of it and the coil split options on it sound great as far as something maybe kind of close to the piezo goes (especially if I had fractal or something like that could very much help try to nail a more acoustic and/or strat kind of tone) and I like as far as versatility goes that other than that setting it also has a more vintage mode and then of course the metal setting I think I could do a lot with it.
It has a longer scale length and a fixed bridge so I should have no problem quickly dropping low string down a step if I so desire, simpler electronics (though still don’t know much about fishman fluance systems) if I ever needed to have it worked on and they seem to get great reviews (mostly…some are iffy if not downright awful on the imports but mostly pretty positive) as far as fit/finish goes (not really worried about that if I get the USA model, though)
I considered several other 7 strings including the Strandbergs, ESP, PRS, Ibanez etc…
I’m kind of torn between getting the KM7 mkiii USA custom shop model (a bit cheaper than the Majesty too) or again wondering should I instead get the import model and a fractal FM3/9…..
>sigh<

 

[soldierkahn]

In my opinion, just keep it.

All true, it's expensive and a luxury expense, but from experience I end up regretting it sooner or later. If you don't keep the Majesty and get a different axe, you'll play the other guitar and somehow still always have the Majesty in the back of your head.

this, 100%. Ive had tons of guitars that are super expensive and felt that my skill didnt warrant such a nice guitar so I sold them. the Ibanez RG7CT, PRS Wood Library Custom 24 Floyd, PRS Holcomb USA Custom 24 Limited, and the RGA6UCS.

I always told myself that i didnt deserve such nice guitars, but by the time i realized it was a huge mistake getting rid of them, it was way too late.

My advice:
Dont judge your worthiness of a piece of gear by your skill level or desire to practice. Its not scarilege to let your beauty age in a case until you get the inspiration to pick it up. Dont try to force yourself to play either, because it will just extend how long you arent going to play it.
You do not need to have the skills of Joe Satriani or Steve Vai to justify having really nice gear. If you dont like the guitar, thats one thing..... but you dont need to be "worthy" of any piece of gear. Trust me, if you can afford it and it will inspire you...... you're "worthy" of it My KxK is beyond luxury for me, even though i still cant play past an intermediate level lol.

just my 2c tho

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

I have an update on my situation if anyone would care to comment as I have greatly appreciated all the responses up to this point. I agree with everybody that I shouldn’t be beating myself up about not playing enough and that kind of helped get me through some stuff and I have been playing more, thanks guys/gals.
However…I’m returning this guitar. Here’s why. When I received it the whole preamp/board was bad and the jack had a short in it and the low B was all flappy and buzzing on the frets. I sent it back to SW for a couple weeks and they fixed the board by ordering one and replacing it and as I requested put skinny top heavy bottom gauge strings on it which fixed all the buzzing it had going on BUT they didn’t fix the short in the jack if you barely bump it or even if the cord moves the wrong way the signal goes out and I have to stop playing and wiggle it to make it come back, typical jack short. I have to send it back again.
While I had it though I realized a few things about this guitar…yes it’s a work of art and plays great and I absolutely love it in most ways but a few things are not meshing well with me:
1. I can’t even change the tuning of one string (to go to drop A/D you know what I mean) without it throwing the tuning of every other string out and it requires retuning the whole guitar for that (a downside to a floating bridge I’ve learned)
2. Also if I do drop my low string down a step and spend the time to completely retune the whole thing back up/down to pitch so it’s ready to play again I end up with a flappy low string again and only going down one step, downside to 25-1/2” scale length for extended range/drop tuning I guess?
3. What the heck am I going to do when the board/any of the electronics on this guitar go out once it’s not under warranty anymore??? Pay out the *** to have someone try to work on this bionic beauty lol?
4. As much as I may like DT I could do without the first fret inlay and signature on the front but this is trivial and not really a big deciding factor in this.
What I’ll miss about this guitar:
1. The versatility of this guitar
2. Fit and finish and great playability
3. Maybe most of all the piezo I absolutely love having it and it makes me sick to lose it. This very much goes back to versatility.
So…..
I’m not familiar until these past couple weeks with the Keith Merrow line of Schecters (the player yes, heard and like his stuff just wasn’t familiar with his guitars until I really started looking at the available options they have for 7 strings) but I’ve been seriously looking at them. I listened to some demos of it and the coil split options on it sound great as far as something maybe kind of close to the piezo goes (especially if I had fractal or something like that could very much help try to nail a more acoustic and/or strat kind of tone) and I like as far as versatility goes that other than that setting it also has a more vintage mode and then of course the metal setting I think I could do a lot with it.
It has a longer scale length and a fixed bridge so I should have no problem quickly dropping low string down a step if I so desire, simpler electronics (though still don’t know much about fishman fluance systems) if I ever needed to have it worked on and they seem to get great reviews (mostly…some are iffy if not downright awful on the imports but mostly pretty positive) as far as fit/finish goes (not really worried about that if I get the USA model, though)
I considered several other 7 strings including the Strandbergs, ESP, PRS, Ibanez etc…
I’m kind of torn between getting the KM7 mkiii USA custom shop model (a bit cheaper than the Majesty too) or again wondering should I instead get the import model and a fractal FM3/9…..
>sigh<

I’m sorry everyone. I think I’m just honestly not quite sure what to do. Guess I have some time to think about it because they don’t have either the USA Schecter or import model in stock and I have to send the Majesty back either way because they didn’t fix the short in the jack. I had already sold my other two decent guitars to pay off a chunk of the Majesty so now I’ll be left with no guitar except a real piece of crap I never play in the meantime. All very depressing.

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

You are being hard on yourself. If you want it, keep it. How many nice guitars do you think are owned by professional musicians compared to working dudes in their 40s? Most touring musicians I have seen tour on a budget guitar. The nice stuff is for a mid life crisis. Consider it an earned vacation and enjoy it when you can!

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

Tried to upload a picture of the guitar as requested but it’s telling me it’s too large a file. Sorry bout that

 

[budda]

You could just… get the jack fixed.

 

[RevelGTR]

The last few EBMM’s I’ve owned have all had weird flaws like that. Huge neck pocket gap, hump in the neck, terrible fret sprout etc. If you’re not in love with it and you’ve had issues just return it.

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

You could just… get the jack fixed.

It’s not just that. I had listed concerns of mine earlier in the thread. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

The last few EBMM’s I’ve owned have all had weird flaws like that. Huge neck pocket gap, hump in the neck, terrible fret sprout etc. If you’re not in love with it and you’ve had issues just return it.

Yeah, it’s complicated but you know what I mean I do love it but there’s concerns and things I’d not considered until I ran into them. The guy’s at SW I spoke with this second time about it said it’s become a common thing with those guitars, issues with the electronics I mean. Still a very, very nice guitar but I just worry about down the line. Makes me want something simpler. I’ll figure it out. Have to send it back to let them fix that anyways and I think I’ll try something else out instead.

 

[oremus91]

There's plenty of reasons to own a guitar rather than practicing 10 hours a day, if you like it, and you aren't in dire need, you should keep it. Especially so if you've been wanting it for a while, because you will probably end up spending more getting another one later (especially a music man, their price hikes have been by far and away higher than other manufacturers it seems, the new maple top majesty 7 will be >6k this fall).

 

[MAJ Meadows SF]

This is quite a dramatic story, and I’m interested to see how it ends. I would have determinedly kept it and fixed the jack, but I definitely get the feeling of worry regarding all those electronics failing. Tough call. My advice though it to be patient and work through finding what is really going to make you happy. I’m definitely the guy to owns way too many expensive customs and never practices enough to play to my full potential, but for me it’s entirely about having fun and enjoying making loud sounds. I’m not a professional but I do whatever the hell I want. As far as practice motivation after injury; I’ve been there and accepted I could not play as well or much until tine went by; I had to re-learn my picking hand technique. Just be disciplined enough to practice technique/theory stuff for 20-30 minutes several days a week, have it planned and regimented. Then just jam on whatever is fun and enjoy having a killer tool to rip on, no matter if it’s a flawless JP solo cover or the same damn Metallica riff over and over again.

I’ve jammed on the Merrow axes; definitely love the neck and feel. I own one of the import Mkii’s and although it’s a step down from the custom shop it definitely is a solid guitar. I don’t care for playing leads on the longer scale. One of the problems with 26 1/2 or longer guitars. If you have massive hands it’s probably no issue, otherwise I’d consider looking into a multiscale.

 

[Metallica35]

If it's not financially irresponsible for you to buy it, keep it and enjoy it. If you get the itch down the road and start playing more, it'll be there. If not, it's an expensive decoration, but it's still a beautiful one. Plus, you can always pass it down to someone in the next generation of your family who gets into music. I barely ever touch my Les Paul Custom, but I still have it because it was the guitar I always wanted as a kid and it's still gorgeous to look at. I just always play my ESPs lol

 

[ReleasedtoReign]

This is quite a dramatic story, and I’m interested to see how it ends. I would have determinedly kept it and fixed the jack, but I definitely get the feeling of worry regarding all those electronics failing. Tough call. My advice though it to be patient and work through finding what is really going to make you happy. I’m definitely the guy to owns way too many expensive customs and never practices enough to play to my full potential, but for me it’s entirely about having fun and enjoying making loud sounds. I’m not a professional but I do whatever the hell I want. As far as practice motivation after injury; I’ve been there and accepted I could not play as well or much until tine went by; I had to re-learn my picking hand technique. Just be disciplined enough to practice technique/theory stuff for 20-30 minutes several days a week, have it planned and regimented. Then just jam on whatever is fun and enjoy having a killer tool to rip on, no matter if it’s a flawless JP solo cover or the same damn Metallica riff over and over again.

I’ve jammed on the Merrow axes; definitely love the neck and feel. I own one of the import Mkii’s and although it’s a step down from the custom shop it definitely is a solid guitar. I don’t care for playing leads on the longer scale. One of the problems with 26 1/2 or longer guitars. If you have massive hands it’s probably no issue, otherwise I’d consider looking into a multiscale.

Good point! Okay yeah before I got the Majesty I went and played some 7 strings to see if I thought I could get used to it pretty easily and yeah no problem but I hadn’t thought about the aspect of the longer scale you mentioned (it vs multi scale for that reason) I will make some time to go stand in the music store and play some axes with both to see which suits me better (hope it doesn’t make it an even harder decision lol but yes I want to make sure I get this right it’ll be quite some time before I’ll be able to do anything like this again once it’s finalized if I’m ever even able to ever again buy a top shelf axe I may not get to so need to do this right in every way) heck I may of even had another idea too but I gotta go I gotta head to work, my friend.
You all have a wonderful day/night!

 

[Wahwah]

I'd definitely get rid and go for something else.

You could get a sweet fender custom shop guitar for that kind of money, which, IMO has the kind of timeless er, majesty, that a, er, majesty will never have.

 

[TrappedInTheDepths]

get a custom Kiesel... they're beautiful guitars and a custom model would cost about half of what you paid for the EBMM.

 

[MetalRecordingServices]

Hello, everyone. I’be been a long time peruser of this forum for many years but never joined in. I did today because I could just use some advice. A little background about me as a guitarist: I’ve been playing since I was 13 and I’m 42 now. I’m not some super shredder but I’ve got a great ear and can jump into most any musical situation never having heard the songs before and improv beautifully, most people think I’m pretty good.
I owned a JP6 years ago and absolutely loved it and have been wanting a Majesty for years. I’ve never owned a 7 string (oh wait yeah I did many years ago a Jeff Loomis signature but I pawned it for heroin a few weeks later, I’ve been clean for years now) but aside from that never owned one this might as well be considered my first.
I find myself questioning should I keep this guitar because I’m finding it hard to find motivation to even practice for one. I just had major surgery and am in pain a lot and kind of depressed so that’s part of it but part of it is I feel unworthy to be paying for such a ridiculously expensive guitar (bought it new from SW for $4k).
It’s absolutely gorgeous and the best feeling guitar I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned many. Super nice, it’s not the guitar.
I just keep thinking do I really need something this nice but at the same time if I send it back and get something not as nice am I going to regret it.
I keep thinking that for the money I could get a different guitar AND a Fractal FM3. I was looking at some American made Vai guitars, some strandbergs (I’ve never played one and man, talk about different but that could be cool) and some American made ESP’s and some others. Again I could get a $2-$3k guitar and a fractal for what I’m spending on this one guitar but my God is this guitar nice.
Anyone out there ever gone through anything like this and do you have any advice for me? I’m not looking for anyone’s opinions of the guitar itself I’m sure you’ve got other places you could praise or bash the guitar itself I see it all the time lol.

Feeling guilty after indulging yourself is common and normal. Ive wound up with a Warrior studio bass. I rarely played for years. Though I paid about 30 cents on the dollar for it. I occasionally let my self feel unworthy from thought and wants of others who dont understand the want to play, get in my head. Now as a recovering one of things it seems hard for folks to break away from is the scamming and scheming for the money to get a fix. Those little victories are very addictive themselves. IF that guilt is attached get help, but play it everyday declaring it will be the last time. Until then lets make a deal, Ill try to shrug my guilt about playing, and trying to play on something nice. If you will.
Handsome Steve

 

[fantom]

1. I can’t even change the tuning of one string (to go to drop A/D you know what I mean) without it throwing the tuning of every other string out and it requires retuning the whole guitar for that (a downside to a floating bridge I’ve learned)
2. Also if I do drop my low string down a step and spend the time to completely retune the whole thing back up/down to pitch so it’s ready to play again I end up with a flappy low string again and only going down one step, downside to 25-1/2” scale length for extended range/drop tuning I guess?
3. What the heck am I going to do when the board/any of the electronics on this guitar go out once it’s not under warranty anymore??? Pay out the *** to have someone try to work on this bionic beauty lol?
4. As much as I may like DT I could do without the first fret inlay and signature on the front but this is trivial and not really a big deciding factor in this

1. Can't really fault the guitar for this one. It sounds like you have never played a floating trem guitar before. If changing tunings often is a requirement, you either need to block the trem or get a different guitar. I'm not sure if you can block the majesty bridges.

2. What tuning? I play with a 56 on the low string tuned to A on several 25" and 27" guitars. I don't think the scale length is the problem, especially if you have a thicker string.

3. They mass produce. Even with perfect QA, jacks and switches go bad. The playability and feel should have far more significance. Getting it fixed is secondary even if it leaves a sour taste. Honestly, I'm surprised you have to ship the guitar back. There really are no EBMM certified techs near you to fix it under warranty?!

4. This is my biggest complaint about every signature guitar... The artist crap they add to it, even if subtle. Just give me a guitar specced by the artist. A lot of nice guitars I would buy are immediately crossed off the list because I don't care about the artist who specced it having their name or logo on the guitar. The Caparison Greenie Horus is a good example. Love the look and specs of the guitar, don't know anything about Courtney Cox, definitely not enough to buy it.

 

[Jamiecrain]

I bought a Parker 7 string a few years back. Amazing guitar (it's my bio pic). But I never quite felt it justified its position in our house as a $3.5-4k guitar. I'd play it occasionally and gently put it back in the case until a few weeks later. Eventually, I sold it and bought a new guitar that I really wanted to play (ironically a JP6).
Do I miss it? Occasionally. I definitely think of it fondly, but I also recognise that I am not a collector (and can't afford to be) and so I really should have guitars that I can enjoy playing on any day. I certainly don't regret my decision to sell it.

So my tip is, sell it, buy something that you'll be happy to play every day.

 

[Jackillin]

Hello, everyone. I’be been a long time peruser of this forum for many years but never joined in. I did today because I could just use some advice. A little background about me as a guitarist: I’ve been playing since I was 13 and I’m 42 now. I’m not some super shredder but I’ve got a great ear and can jump into most any musical situation never having heard the songs before and improv beautifully, most people think I’m pretty good.
I owned a JP6 years ago and absolutely loved it and have been wanting a Majesty for years. I’ve never owned a 7 string (oh wait yeah I did many years ago a Jeff Loomis signature but I pawned it for heroin a few weeks later, I’ve been clean for years now) but aside from that never owned one this might as well be considered my first.
I find myself questioning should I keep this guitar because I’m finding it hard to find motivation to even practice for one. I just had major surgery and am in pain a lot and kind of depressed so that’s part of it but part of it is I feel unworthy to be paying for such a ridiculously expensive guitar (bought it new from SW for $4k).
It’s absolutely gorgeous and the best feeling guitar I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned many. Super nice, it’s not the guitar.
I just keep thinking do I really need something this nice but at the same time if I send it back and get something not as nice am I going to regret it.
I keep thinking that for the money I could get a different guitar AND a Fractal FM3. I was looking at some American made Vai guitars, some strandbergs (I’ve never played one and man, talk about different but that could be cool) and some American made ESP’s and some others. Again I could get a $2-$3k guitar and a fractal for what I’m spending on this one guitar but my God is this guitar nice.
Anyone out there ever gone through anything like this and do you have any advice for me? I’m not looking for anyone’s opinions of the guitar itself I’m sure you’ve got other places you could praise or bash the guitar itself I see it all the time lol.

I'd say if ur in pain esp in ur upper body then go for a Strandberg. Super light & comfortable to play, the neck & fretboard are very comfortable despite it being a quite bit different than traditional guitars, maybe go try one out if u can.

Nothing worse than having a huge, heavy guitar Even if it's beautiful that u can't play for long or don't pick up because ur in pain or ur going to be sore after a short time.