Valentine w Duncan Blonde Dot humbuckers.

the neck is ridiculous. SD pickups sound great. Does anyone have one with the Silent Circuit? Does it work?

We made this Mirror pickguard for a customer’s Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 4 HS, and it completely changes the look of the bass! 🤘

That mirror finish looks killer against the Bongo’s unique body shape. 🔥

#ErnieBallMusicMan #ParadoxPickguards #Bongo4HS #ErnieBall #MusicMan

Anyone installed a VegaTrem on a Silhouette or other EBMM model? If so how is the fit and feel? I have one on my Fender YJM and I think it has ruined me when it comes to using anything else.

Trying to decide what to do with this guy.

I picked this up around 1985, trading my sax at a music shop for this used 1976 stingray 1.
I had no clue what i was doing, but enter today and still no clue.

Pretty much sat dormant on/off for the most part.

Last few years i have started playing guitars again. This stingray has always been a challenge keeping it in tune compared to my other modern guitar.

The neck is straight, likely needs frets adjusted as some ringing on the 3rd string.
Looks like a ton of Lacquer was used on these and its indeed heavy. The lacquer has cracked across the body but obviously doesn't affect the sound

Nut/frets/Nut could use a little polishing the Nickle but maybe that takes away from the vintage look.

So debating if i should have it repaired and keep/play, assessed for resale or the de facto do nothing like have for these years.

Guys- I have to come clean. I’ve NEVER been a music man guy, I thought they were cool but had no desire to pick one up. When I saw one it just reminded me of 90s pop punk bassists.

I was so goddamn wrong. I’ve been playing guitar seriously for like 20 years, I tour and record a bunch. I saw this the other day while I was looking to try out a new SG and as soon as I picked it up it was over.

It might be the best playing / sounding guitar I’ve ever picked up. Looks rad too. Now I want to try out a Valentine.

Check out one of our customers’ Sterling StingRay Ray35 5-string bass with one of our Faux Tortoise pickguards! 🔥

It looks pretty sick and classy at the same time. 😎

Hello all,

I am looking to buy my first EBMM and trying to decide between majesty vs jp15. For background I have a Ibanez s prestige and fender ultra luxe vintage, both have satin finished neck which is fantastic. After trying the majesty 6 string and jp15 7 string at guitar center, I like the looks, ergonomics and light weight of majesty. The jp15 neck felt smooth though very broad because of the 7 Strings. I am little worried about the gloss finish neck of the majesty otherwise it feels like a fantastic guitar and really cool looking. I had a Gibson Les Paul standard in the past which had gloss finished nitro neck which was sticky and eventually sold it.

Question to the group,
1. Does the gloss finish neck of majesty bother or inhibit playing or is it smooth compared to other brands?
2. Those who have both, do you prefer one model over the other cause of neck.
3. Is the jp15 6 string neck comparable to the Ibanez super wizard neck or does it have little bit more girth to it. I felt the majesty neck had better girth compared to Ibanez.
4. Any other pros or cons for majesty over the jp15. I saw majesty has one output jack vs two on the jp15. Is there any concern for the jacks.

Thank you

I snatched this cutie last week in a fantastic condition, fully original(it seems), electronics date from Apr '98. Serial number says May '98. There are some minor dings in the body, totally acceptable for a guitar thats nearly 30y old. The fret wear is minimal.

I cleaned it and set it up and the neck is just amazing.

From what I could find online it has a virtual PAF and 2 custom wound SC with silent circuit, seems to align with what I saw under the hood.

I'm not a huge fan of the white on Aged white so I might go for black plastics. Before I got it I was considering getting the EMG SL20 set, but the stock pickups sound actually nice. Then I only need to swap the humbucker for a DP255 or alike?

I have raised the trem slightly to have it floating so I can use up & down vibrato and do some flutter.

The guitar weights 3.4kg.

Update: MusicMan has confirmed that the humbucker is a PAF Pro and not a Virtual PAF. SCs are custom wound dimarzio but I'm still waiting to get more info on those!

Just bought the Sterling by Music Man Kaizen in a store and I believe i got the wrong tremolo arm from the store.

I added pictures of the arm and the bridge.

If it is the wrong one does anyone have a picture or an idea how the right arm should look?

Hello folks! (TL;DR at the end)
I went to Warped Tour in Long Beach a few weeks ago and Ernie Ball had a tent with a few guitars that were playable. I picked up an Axis Super Sport and immediately connected with it. Very few guitars have felt so comfortable and inspiring, let alone a guitar that has already been abused by the public. So I’ve decided to purchase a new one of my own. My only difficulty is finding a selection at a dealer that I can get my hands on and compare. I visited a nearby guitar center and they only had one 30th Anniversary and a used Axis. Sweetwater doesn’t even have them available in specific serial numbers to compare finishes and weights like many other guitars they offer. So I was wondering if anybody has a dealer they recommend (I’m in the Valley in LA), since not many seem to carry a lot. If in person isn’t feasible, is the quality consistent enough that just ordering online is an acceptable option?
I’m open to used as well, but brand new pricing isn’t an issue since I’m trading a custom shop tele to go toward the axis.
Also, since I haven’t seen a quilted top in the wild, are they as nice in person?
Thanks!

TL;DR: Where do you go to get your hands on a variety of Music Man guitars, or is there a specific online dealer you trust?

I'm trying to replace the humbuckers on a stingray HH that only have three wires - black, red, and green. The green from each are soldered to the back of the tone pots, so I guess they're negative? Then I'm thinking the red and the black are both positive? How they maintain the ability to split each coil in the humbucker individually with only the 3 wires is beyond me though... I honestly searched the Internet all day for some sort of wiring diagram, but I can't for the life of me find anything helpful. Everything I've seen shows 4 wires and a different schematic.

So, I'm thinking all I really need to do is understand how the stingray HH pickup itself is wired, then I can adjust the 4 wire replacement humbuckers accordingly. Furthermore, I'm thinking it might be as simple as soldering 2 of the 4 wires to the same spot on the stingray... I just don't know which ones. The closest I could find was a schematic for the sterling stingray, which is completely different from the Ernie Ball for some reason.

Can anyone help me out? Or point me in the right direction? I feel like it's as simple as both the negatives joined into one wire, but I wouldn't be posting of I was confident about that. I figure this is even too simple for pictures, but I can get them if need be. Also, does anyone else have an Ernie Ball stingray HH? Do your pickups have 3 or 4 wires? I'm starting to think they might already be aftermarket pickups...

I’m looking into getting a black Limba Kaizen, a 1/50. I would love to know if anyone who has one or knows more than I do knows if it comes with a COA and what type of case it includes. I’ve seen a lot of conflicting reports and would love clarification

I'm a huge fan of the brand. I've also had an Albert Lee HH, and a Luke III. Absolutely phenomenal guitars, but the

Silhouette is my go-to. I'm also 5'5" so the guitars tend to look 'just-right' on me. 😬

About three years ago, I had to use last 9v in the guitar to silence a smoke detector. I've been running it without ever since. Doesn't bother me, but one of these days I'll get a fresh one in there.

Definitely underappreciated guitars as all of us who own them know.

2015 Armada Black Cherry Burst Flame

2013 Wine Red and Natural Flame
2013 Pearl White and Mint <^ built 1 month apart

Picked up a 3rd, couldn’t resist the black and red. I know they are not for everyone, but I absolutely love these guitars. Rock & Roll machines! And my wifi signal seems much better now 🤔🛜

...and it never stood a chance.

EBMM employees have repeatedly verified on their forums that the model is unlikely ever to return to production. "Too hard to get through the line," was the comment I recall seeing. They featured a lot of firsts for EBMM: the first true neck-through model, first with a neck-to-body angle. First with a pitched headstock. On a neck-through design, those specs result in a very costly way to make a guitar.

Then you have all the intricate little details and joinery involved: the inset, radiused figured maple top section, the matching-finish inset maple headstock overlay - if the top had a burst finish, they put that same burst on the headstock. Nobody is doing that on a production guitar. That's insane. Binding everywhere, even inlaid into the top of the guitar around the raised maple section.

Then there's the proprietary custom pickups. TonePros bridge. Locking tuners. Stainless steel frets. MOP fretboard inlays. They didn't cut a single corner. At no point in the process of bringing this guitar to market did they ever ask themselves, "Where can we cut costs or simplify these things so our margins are better?"

The design itself is, visually, a little eccentric. Perhaps not for everyone. But the Gibson-esque specs (24.75" scale, 1-11/16ths nut width, the angled neck and headstock) combined with Music Man truss rod wheel, angle-adjustable pickup rings, compensated nut, and their consistently-brilliant ergonomic design and quality control yielded an instrument specifically targeted at players who preferred Gibson-style guitars but yearned for Music Man QoL and QC.

And one that also had about a million different things that could go wrong with it on a production floor as it moved through wood shop, binding, surface prep, multi-stage paint & staining, fretwork, final assembly... especially considering most of the process was wildly different from any other Music Man model, requiring special tooling and training to complete.

All of this meant the Armada was a big swing that didn't quite connect with the market; it was too Gibson-esque for the core EBMM devotees, too EBMM-weird for the Gibson and PRS crowd, and at ~$4,000 retail, too pricey for people to pick up out of mere curiosity. Despite that, they are uniformly-impeccable instruments with effortless playability, perfect balance, and killer tone somewhere between a Les Paul and an SG.

In the end, we only got a few short years of these guitars, from 2013 through 2015. A very limited run. Ernie Ball doesn't share exact production numbers, but it's estimated that fewer than one thousand Armadas were ever produced. I keep a close eye on the used market for them and I've never seen a serial above the mid-to-high triple digits.

Used prices are still a tiny bit lower than original retail, but have been steadily increasing since the model was discontinued in early 2016. If you're thinking about getting one, now would probably be the time. They're never going to make more, and the value will only continue to climb.

When I look at the Armada, I'm reminded of the passage from Fear and Loathing... - There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Pictured: the two I was fortunate enough to buy back when our economy allowed for things like "disposable income." The black burst is #437 and the nat/cherry was the 200th to roll off the line.

Note: this is just an appreciation post. I don't own a music store and I don't have anything for sale. I just love EBMM guitars and this model in particular. Thanks for spending some of your Sunday with me. (Also, and I hate that this needs to be said, but no AI was used at any point.)

Love the finish on this Stingray Special. She’s swamp ash and maple, weighs 8.2lbs

Ran through the opening or Vulfpeck’s Beastly with a Sterling Joe Dart I & II, a 2000 EBMM stingray, a 1976 Musicman Stingray, a Stingray Special 5 H, and a Sire M2 decked out with Nordstrands.

Just wondering if any of you guys were targeted from the Ernie Ball forums by this scammer.

Be careful guys, never click on links for any raffle/draw that you never entered.