Ernie Ball Review: John Petrucci Signature 6-String

History:

Purchase: I bought this guitar at New York Music for a total of $1430 with shipping. I waws just looking at buying a Silhouette guitar and saw that they just got one of these in the store two days earlier. I had played one in the past and decided to check it out again. After playing for ten minutes I knew then and there I HAD to have it!

What I Like About This Ernie Ball John Petrucci Signature 6-String: First off, the guitar is built with amazing quality and has so many different sounds, this guitar has the piezo pickup system in it and it just sounds amazing through the clean channel. The neck has the wider 15" radius, which is great for people like me who have been playing an Ibanez with the Wizard neck for so long, this comes close to that feel sort of and feels mush better if you ask me. The neck is so smooth on the back, and the birdseye maple is beautiful. The color I bought is just glossy plain black, it looks real nice, mine has dot inlays (preferrable by me) and does not have a matching painted headstock, which is also kind of nice since the wood the neck is made from looks so nice. The sound and feel is just great though, like no other, seriously!

What I Do NOT Like About The Ernie Ball John Petrucci Signature 6-String: Well, the only thing i might change is the fact that the body is routed out underneath the trem unit. Whereas, some of these types just lay flat on the body which allows you to set it up so that you can experiment with different tunings easier. With this guitar you must set it up in a certain key and leave it there unless you want to go through that whole FLoyd Rose type adjustment with the springs and everything. One great thing though is that this guitar does not have a locking nut, is uses the Schaller locking tuners which are great and keep this guitar in perfect tune. The bridge feel is great though, the trem is so smooth and responsive, it is realy hardly anything to be concerned with but I thought I should mention something in this box.

Ernie Ball John Petrucci Signature 6-String Quality Rating: I already commented some on this, it's built solid and seems flawless as far as normal new guitars go. I don't forsee having any trouble with the unit, they have a great reputation and this is a signature guitar which has to be made well for the price.

Review Summary: This guitar is definitely worth checking out if you're into great and various clean sounds and like the ability to experiment with lots of other sounds as well. It's a comfortable guitar with a fast neck and a stunning look that will surely add wealth to anyone's collection, I promise you.

Rating of this Ernie Ball product: 5

This Ernie Ball John Petrucci Signature 6-String Electric Guitars Review Submitted By: Jay

Review Date: 2003-04-13