John Petrucci, renowned guitarist with the progressive band Dream Theater, has teamed up with Ernie Ball and Music Man to create the John Petrucci Signature guitar. The collaboration has produced a very unique instrument with many practical features for today's guitarists.
First Look:
The John Petrucci Signature guitar is available in six and seven string versions with various color options. The guitar reviewed was the six-string version and came in a high quality plush, hard-shell case. It sported the Mystic Dream finish, which refracts light, creating a prism effect that changes color when viewed from different angles. Very cool! The body is aesthetically designed and sculpted. Made of basswood, it is fairly light (just over 7 pounds). The back is sculpted to fit snuggly against your body.
The bolt-on neck is made of maple, has a rosewood fingerboard with a 15" radius and 24 frets. I like playing a neck with a flatter radius and this one had a very good feel. The neck was very straight but if needed, can be tweaked with the adjustable trussrod. I found the inlay work on the fretboard to be very well crafted. The tuners are locking Schaller with pearl keys. Since I play with very low action, it is usually very difficult for me to play any stock guitar. Not so with this instrument, the action was low and very easy to play with no fret buzz.
The pickups consist of two DiMarzio humbuckers specially designed for Petrucci. The guitar for review included a piezo bridge. There are two 1/4" output jacks, one for the piezo pickup and one for the humbuckers. A switch toggles between the piezo and the humbuckers. There is also a three-way pickup selector switch and three knobs, which control volume and tone. The knobs have rubber banding around them for a good grip. The eq and mix level for the piezo pickup is adjustable. The amplifier for the piezo is powered by a 9-volt battery, and is easily accessed.
The tailpiece consists of a newly designed Music Man bridge, saddles, and tremolo. The tremolo hardware is meticulously designed and works very well. You can push down or pull up. The tension can be adjusted by adding or removing the springs.
Sound:
The John Petrucci Signature guitar is extremely versatile for any playing style. A wide variety of tones can be achieved with different humbucker and piezo combinations. After putting this guitar through it's paces in the studio and live, I was impressed with its playability and diverse sound quality. I ran through a gamut of sounds ranging from heavy metal chainsaw sounds to very clean, funky sounds. I was even able to get a convincing acoustic type sound. I ran the guitar direct into the mixing board, ran it straight into various tube amps and finally, through different amp modeling processors. In all cases, guitar came through with it's own character. Even under the heaviest distortion, the individual notes were clear and defined. All in all, this is a very professional, quality built instrument. I would highly recommend the John Petrucci Signature guitar to anyone that is into serious guitar. I am not going to let this one out of my studio!
Christopher Currell has been playing guitar for over 30 years and has many weird custom-built guitars lying around his studio. He can be contacted at: studio@audiocybernetics.com
John Petrucci Signature Guitar Specifications:
Size: 12-1/2" wide, 1-3/4" thick, 37" long
Weight: 7 pounds, 4 ounces
BODY
Wood: Basswood
Finish: High gloss polyester
Colors: Various
Bridge: Custom John Petrucci Music Man Tremolo
Optional Piezo bridge available
NECK
Scale: 25 1/2"
Radius: 15"
Headstock: 5-7/8" long
Frets: 24 - High profile, wide
Width: 1-11/16" at nut, 2-1/4"at last fret
Wood: Selected maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Finish: Gunstock oil and hand rubbed special wax blend
Tuners: Schaller M6-IND locking
Truss rod Adjustable
Attachment: 5 bolts - perfect alignment with no shifting
ELECTRONICS
Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and aluminum lined control cover
Controls: 500K volume and tone - .022uf tone capacitor
Switch: 3-way toggle pickup selector, with custom center position configuration
Pickups; Two DiMarzio Humbucking - specially designed for Petrucci