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tjon901 « Good guitar with possible issues »
Published on 07/13/11 at 09:27The Ball Family Reserve is Musicmans highest level of guitars. These guitars get the best woods and supposedly the best quality control. These guitars cost a lot more and are supposed to be the best of the best when it comes to guitars from them. Instead of the basswood body you get on a standard Petrucci signature guitar this guitar is made from a mostly alder body with a bookmatched maple top and a mahogany tone block in the middle. This guitar has the John Petrucci neck profile which is wide thin and flat. It has a rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The body on these guitars are slightly different than on the older Petrucci signature guitars. They have a different shaped arm contour. I always thought the contour on the older models looked funny and I guess they fixed it. This guitar has a Musicman non locking tremolo with a piezo system. The pickups are the Dimarzio set that Petrucci is currently using. Currently this set is a Dimarzio Liquifier in the neck and a Crunchlab in the bridge. The guitar has a normal 3 way toggle and another 3 way toggle that controls the piezo. The 2nd 3 way toggle controls if you want no piezo, all piezo, or a blend of piezo and electric.
UTILIZATION
The cutaways are nice and large and you can really get at all the frets. The flat radius and the big frets mean you can really slam the action down as low as you want. The playability on these guitars can be really good and on this model it was but I have heard of many problems with quality control on these guitars. I know of several incidents were people recieved guitars with mis-aligned necks. This is something Musicman says their special 5 bolt neck joint prevents. Another friend of mine had to wait an extra 2 months for their guitar because of "neck issues." I have seen people get guitars with twisted and bowed necks also many paint issues. I dont hear of these problems with normal Musicman guitars all these guitars were Ball Family Reserve editions. I do not know what is going on at their factory. The guy I know who recieved many of these bad guitars voiced his complaints on the Ernie Ball website and was banned for it.
SOUNDS
Since these guitars are made out of real wood instead of basswood like the standard Petrucci models they sound very good. Petrucci is constantly looking for better tone so this is like the 3rd set of pickups his guitar has come with over the years. The Crunchlab is an evolution of the D-sonic pickup. It has the same half rail half pole piece design. The biggest improvement this pickup has over the D-sonic is that it is a lot quieter. It is slightly hotter and sounds more clear than the D-Sonic. Its sound relies greatly on the way you orient the pickup because of its assymetric design. You will have to see which direction you prefer. The liquifier in the neck is a good compliment to the hot crunchlab in the bridge. It retains clarity while still being super smooth in neck position. The high ends are dialed back slightly for even more smoothness
OVERALL OPINION
A guitar this expensive by a well respective company shouldnt have any problems. I doubt Petrucci himself has ever gotten a guitar from Musicman that had any problems. If Musicman is going to play up their BFR line of guitars they should at least have the consistancy that their lower models have. When you get a good one these guitars are great. They have great tone and great playability. Its a shame that you cannot trust them to send you a good guitar every time.
UTILIZATION
The cutaways are nice and large and you can really get at all the frets. The flat radius and the big frets mean you can really slam the action down as low as you want. The playability on these guitars can be really good and on this model it was but I have heard of many problems with quality control on these guitars. I know of several incidents were people recieved guitars with mis-aligned necks. This is something Musicman says their special 5 bolt neck joint prevents. Another friend of mine had to wait an extra 2 months for their guitar because of "neck issues." I have seen people get guitars with twisted and bowed necks also many paint issues. I dont hear of these problems with normal Musicman guitars all these guitars were Ball Family Reserve editions. I do not know what is going on at their factory. The guy I know who recieved many of these bad guitars voiced his complaints on the Ernie Ball website and was banned for it.
SOUNDS
Since these guitars are made out of real wood instead of basswood like the standard Petrucci models they sound very good. Petrucci is constantly looking for better tone so this is like the 3rd set of pickups his guitar has come with over the years. The Crunchlab is an evolution of the D-sonic pickup. It has the same half rail half pole piece design. The biggest improvement this pickup has over the D-sonic is that it is a lot quieter. It is slightly hotter and sounds more clear than the D-Sonic. Its sound relies greatly on the way you orient the pickup because of its assymetric design. You will have to see which direction you prefer. The liquifier in the neck is a good compliment to the hot crunchlab in the bridge. It retains clarity while still being super smooth in neck position. The high ends are dialed back slightly for even more smoothness
OVERALL OPINION
A guitar this expensive by a well respective company shouldnt have any problems. I doubt Petrucci himself has ever gotten a guitar from Musicman that had any problems. If Musicman is going to play up their BFR line of guitars they should at least have the consistancy that their lower models have. When you get a good one these guitars are great. They have great tone and great playability. Its a shame that you cannot trust them to send you a good guitar every time.