Talk me out of this guitar

[nanthil]

"You don't really know someone until you've lived with them."

Disclaimer: I'm not asking for any hating or shit talking or bashing of the brand. There are things you just don't know about a guitar until you've lived with it for a while.

In the past I have bought several guitars that I regretted buying later down the road. Research online about guitars usually turns up nothing but positive feedback for big brand guitars, even when trying to target negative reviews. I believe I have found the guitar for me, a Ernie Ball Music Man Monarchy Majesty 7 string. When I test played it, it was immediately apparent that this was the highest quality guitar I have ever held in my hands. But I don't know what I should be looking for to be sure that this guitar really is the one for me.

I would like to know what "baggage" comes with owning a Music Man over time.

https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/looking-to-buy-my-next-extended-guitar-need-help.339302/
Here I was asking for advice on which guitars I should look into for my goals, and found a few places to test drive these guitars. Now I'm asking for some details about the guitar I've selected. With my history of making the wrong choice for me, I really would like someone to try to talk me out of buying this Ernie Ball, or at the very least give me some advice before buying, so that I have the full picture beforehand. Please no bashing or brand hating, just personal advice and first-hand experience with this guitar or brand.

Please also let me know:
What are some red flags to look for before buying this brand/model?
What should I test on the guitar?
What should I ask the seller?

Any advice before buying Would be greatly appreciated

I'm not asking for any hating or shit talking or bashing of the brand. There are things you just don't know about a guitar until you've lived with it for a while.

 

[NoodleFace]

I have nothing to add, but I can't imagine ANYONE talking shit about this brand.

 

[nanthil]

Any purchasing advice for a high end investment like this would be really helpful. I'm not asking for any negativity. I just want to know what I'm getting myself into before I make such a large purchase. I've never bought anything at this level of quality, let alone a piece of guitar gear, so I'm a little anxious :/

I just want to make the right decision for me

 

[Albake21]

I seriously don't think you can go wrong with a Music Man, especially a newer one. Some of the older EBMM guitar from the 90s and early 2000s were hit or miss, but now a days they are damn near flawless. I recently bought a JP16 and have absolutely fallen in love with it. I now understand the cult following that EBMM has. So much so that I'm now on the hunt for a nice JP6 to add to my collection. Like what NoodleFace said, I seriously doubt you'll find any negatives from anyone here as they really do live up to their name. You tried it yourself and you loved it. Mix that with the incredibly good reception the company gets and I'd say you are making a very safe purchase.

I also want to add that their support is fantastic. They have a history of all their guitar's serial numbers and they reply back with support very quickly.

 

[mlp187]

I'll give you my only beef (I have a 6 and 7): the pickups on the 7 are a bit darker and lower output. I thought both sets were illuminator, but I may be wrong. One is the blue sparkle BFR, and the 7 is a monarchy majesty in Imperial Blue (color is for year reference). That being said, they still sound great!

Oh - one more beef - they finish over the nut, which is a super shitty design decision in the event of fretboard shrinkage or nut replacement.

 

[c7spheres]

I have a freind with one who loves it. It's his favorite guitar to play. I don't think he's ever had issues but he does take really good care of his stuff too. Be aware it's a 25.5 scale length so in future if you want to tune down really low it might not be ideal for that. Sounds like you're looking at buying it used. Assuming the price is fair for condition then that's a good way to go. I'd ask and look for several thing. The problem is that you may not notice certain things untill down the road without a full thorough inspection.
1. Ask if anything has ever been repaired or replaced on it.
2. Look at the neck joint and behind the nut for cracks. Look over entire guitar like neck fretboard top and back of heastock etc. Look areound all screws and tunign machines. Look for stripped hardware or loose bolts etc which can point to how it was treated. Check strap buttons are not stripped or body cracked by those areas too.
3. Look at the frets for pits and for unlevel frets too. Maybe bring a straight edge or fret rocker etc.
4. Check out unplugged and listen in quite environment for buzzes. Do the spider walk and let ec note ring about a second. Hit the note fairly loud and listen for buzzing frets. bend frets to see if any choke out etc. Look and the nut slots for wear and tear and saddles too.
5. Plug amp in and listen for any issues andmake sure electroinics work and for any noisey pots bad switches etc. Flick them with ginder to see if they freak out or get intermittant issues etc.
Can't think of anything else right now.

 

[cip 123]

The baggage that comes with a majesty is that you own a majesty and it ain’t a looker. That’s my opinion, it’ll be built incredibly well but it’s definitely not a look I go for.

Petrucci designed it as the most high performance guitar for him, sort of like a super car, and super car styling can always be very polarising. But you can’t ever really deny that good super cars do exactly what they’re designed to do, go fast and make you feel great.

Any purchasing advice for a high end investment like this would be really helpful. I'm not asking for any negativity. I just want to know what I'm getting myself into before I make such a large purchase. I've never bought anything at this level of quality, let alone a piece of guitar gear, so I'm a little anxious :/

I just want to make the right decision for me

As for advice on going in on a big purchase. Go to a store and play every high end guitar you see. It helps if it’s a good store, for me I went to a nice store here in the UK and when I saw a Schecter Custom Shop guitar I was gonna buy I told the guy, I might buy it but I’ll have to make sure it’s what I really want for the money. They were happy to let me try out Strandbergs, Musicman, Mayones.

If you’re in a store don’t let anyone bully you or make you feel like you’re wasting time. It’s your money. You have the power.

 

[bzhang9]

some musicman trems do not stay in tune well, test it out

if any part of the circuitry craps out, it's gonna cost a whole lot of $$$

the push push pot broke on one of my majesties and made it stuck in boost and unusable, total pain to fix

 

[c7spheres]

Oh, I forgot the name of the thread is "Talk me out of this guitar", so disregard my previous post. * * ** ************ STOP! DO NOT BUY IT! ******** THESE GUITARS SUCK! ****** BAD FOR WALLET! ******* STOP NOW! DON'T LOOK AT IT! DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF CRAP! *** YOU SUFFER FROM G.A.S. ! ****** DON"T BE A VICTIM! **** NO MORE GUITARS FOR YOU! ***** GET A USED PRESTIGE INSTEAD !!! ***

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

"Talk me out of buying this EBMM".....lol dude, you came to the wrong place

 

[cardinal]

I played a Majesty 7 that was nice overall but had a horrible dead spot on the G string somewhere around the 10th fret (I forget which exactly). The fundamental of that note died immediately but would sustain if I firmly planted the headstock against the amplifier cabinet (damping the neck to prevent the resonance that causes the dead spot). So if I were buying one and such a thing mattered to me, I would make sure to play it first and check for that.

 

[nanthil]

These are all great comments for me. I'll keep an eye out for dead spots and a dodgy tremolo. I didn't think about those. Anything else would be super useful

 

[Conspiracy795]

I have two. I made a post yesterday talking about how I use them exclusively. I've owned probably 15 7 strings over the last 16 years or so. The Majestys are never leaving. Everything else I've gotten rid of (including all my JP models). Only other guitar I now have is an RG7421 which is my "fun/modding" guitar. Studio and live is 100% Majestys. I have the Illuminators in both rather than the other pickups (Sonic Ecstasy/Dreamcatchers/Rainmakers) but as far as quality goes, they've been perfect. Majesties are super versatile guitars but I mainly play metal/prog so it fits better. The tone options from the guitar alone are amazing, I'm sure you've done your research. My first one I got in 2014. Secondly, one thing I will say is that the bridges seem to fade. I can take pictures but I think that's from a lot of use. Some people haven't experienced this but both of mine are fading out. Both the chrome and gold hardware.

 

[nanthil]

Yeah, the tone options are nuts. That's probably the easiest thing to find online. There are lots of guitar demos that give first impressions and all hardware settings on the instrument, but long term impressions, unless horrible, are much more difficult to come by for any guitar.

When you say the bridges are fading, do you mean the color is fading, or the hardware is degrading and needs replacement, or something else?

 

[Conspiracy795]

Yeah, the tone options are nuts. That's probably the easiest thing to find online. There are lots of guitar demos that give first impressions and all hardware settings on the instrument, but long term impressions, unless horrible, are much more difficult to come by for any guitar.

When you say the bridges are fading, do you mean the color is fading, or the hardware is degrading and needs replacement, or something else?

Colour is fading. Nothing that impacts the actual integrity/quality. It's purely cosmetic. I don't mind it personally but I can see it being an issue for others. I think it's the finish. When I have a chance I'll post pictures of what I mean.

 

[NoodleFace]

Same.as Ibanez and their Cosmo terms pitting. Turns some people off

 

[Drew]

Ernie Ball has pretty consistently high build quality, there's very little about the brand here I'd worry about. If you're asking because you just aren't very familiar with them and you were wondering if they have a good reputaiton, then, no, you have nothing to worry about, they're an extremely reputable builder. High end USA manufacturer, with a roster of artists (and signature models) who are very concerned with pushing technical boundaries. John Petrucci, Steve Morse, Steve Lukather, Albert Lee... They make really well made guitars and are designed with technical lead playing in mind.

I'd worry about any of the normal idiosyncratic issues when buying one of their guitars - just make sure there isn't something that slipped through quality control that would cause you problems. EBMM doesn't have a reputation for consistently overlooking XXX or YYY issues, though, so nothing in specific to point you to.

The only other concern I'd raise is the Majesty is ugly as sin. I'd get the regular Petrucci just so I didn't have to look at that. I also suspect it wouldn't balance well in a floor stand, if that's a concern.

 

[jephjacques]

buy it

 

[jephjacques]

I also suspect it wouldn't balance well in a floor stand, if that's a concern.

lol this is nonsense, it balances fine on a floor stand

 

[c7spheres]

We're supposed to be talking the OP out of it people. Stop encouraging him!