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DARK SECRETS: 2 | Vintage Vibes

“I emailed Brian Ball. I was like, ‘Hey, can you just slap six strings on there and a humbucker and send me one?’ He’s like, ‘No, I can’t’”: Cory Wong was on a quest for the perfect humbucker guitar – when an iconic bass design sparked a collaboration

The StingRay II – which was unveiled at this year's NAMM – is the six-string, humbucker-laden twist on the iconic StingRay bass design

Guitar World

“Every time I put one of these guitars on it’s just a reminder of the relationship with my friends”: Ernie Ball Music Man shakes up Steve Lukather’s L4 signature series with new pickup options, finishes and a BFR HSS dream machine

But if these high-end electrics are a bit out of your price range, Sterling By Music Man has you covered with its $649 Lukather signature model in all-new finishes

MusicRadar

“We’d play at the Palomino under some weird name – we’d just show up, so nobody would know. By halfway through the set, the place was jam-packed”: Steve Lukather on his secret supergroup with Eddie Van Halen, Albert Lee and Steve Morse

In a recent chat with Rick Beato, Luke tells the story of his all-star jam band based around a group of Ernie Ball Music Man players

Guitar World

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“A giant leap forward in tone, playability, and durability”: John Mayer has developed a new acoustic string set with Ernie Ball, and it's designed to be ideal for solo performers

The new Earthwood Bell Bronze strings are said to have been inspired by alloys traditionally used for bells and cymbals, with the result being strings with better sustain, projection, and resonance

Guitar World

NAMM 2025: rumors, predictions and breaking news from the world’s biggest guitar gear show

With the likes of Fender, Gibson and Marshall returning to Anaheim at long last, this year’s event is set to be the biggest in five years – with secrets and surprises to match

Guitar World

“The moment I played the first note, I knew we achieved Holy Grail-level results”: John Petrucci’s Majesty signature guitar has hit its 10th Anniversary – and brands are rolling out the red carpet to celebrate

DiMarzio and Ernie Ball Music Man have both helped Petrucci commemorate the milestone by unveiling a Majesty fitted with new-look humbuckers

Guitar World

“A highly responsive and expressive solidbody electric that delivers world-class tones”: Ernie Ball Music Man Axis review

Once upon a time, it was Eddie Van Halen's signature model. Now, it's simply one of the best high-performance electrics money can buy, and perhaps it's time it should be recognized as a true modern classic

Guitar World

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“I felt connected to my Strat in a way I hadn’t in a long time”: I’ve spent years searching for the perfect Stratocaster strings – and after playing John Mayer’s Silver Slinky set for three months, I think I’ve finally found them

Mayer's promise of a string set that offered an ideal in-between gauge, great tone, and uncompromising nimble bends spoke directly to my own trials and tribulations as a Strat player. Fortunately, it wasn't too good to be true

Guitar World

“I’ve always said that I don’t play the guitar, I play the strings”: Ernie Ball and John Mayer team up for signature Silver Slinky guitar strings in a unique gauge that could be the Goldilocks option between heavy and light

Whether or not you agree with the assertion that Mayer plays the strings or the guitar – or both – his signature set runs from 10.5-47 and will be a crowd-pleaser for players in-between gauges

MusicRadar

“A finish that’s a true work of art”: Tosin Abasi and Ernie Ball Music Man’s Kaizen has a new Gallium finish that features actual silver – and it uniquely oxidizes depending on how you play it

The Gallium Kaizen will react and rust in unique ways, transforming the space-age instrument into an industrial time-worn artifact over time

Guitar World

“I’ve always said that I don’t play the guitar, I play the string”: John Mayer ends years-long search for his ultimate string set with the Ernie Ball Silver Slinky – a new signature set that brings the guitar hero’s custom gauge to the masses

Over the past few years, Mayer has been using and refining his custom Silver Slinky set, which offers a unique in-between gauge and a custom core-to-wrap ratio

Guitar World

“Inspired by over a decade of electric guitar string research”: Ernie Ball Music Man’s new Sabre HT features pickups inspired by its guitar string innovations

Ernie Ball Music Man says its potentially groundbreaking Heat Treated humbuckers were made using the insights that helped innovate the Cobalt and M-Steel Slinky strings

Guitar World

2024 Summer Ultimate Gear Guide: the hottest new guitar gear of the year

A detailed rundown of the hottest guitar gear to hit the market over the past year. Here, we dive into the standout pieces.

Guitar World

“It wasn’t a conscious decision to invent our own scale! The idea was to do something inspired by Jeff Buckley... but we added a mandolin”: The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts is the jazz schooled Queen-inspired indie guitar hero you’ve been waiting for

Roberts reveals how their hit debut album was created, and how her unique approach to the instrument was shaped by jazz greats and one rock legend in particular…

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

You can now design your dream StingRay bass with Ernie Ball Music Man’s Custom Design Experience – and there are 30 finishes to choose from

Spec up a four or five-string StingRay Special with your choice of finish, hardware, pickups, fingerboards… even the gauge of strings. Will more guitar and bass brands follow suit?

Guitar World

“Strat connoisseurs should find that the pickups deliver the tonal qualities of their dreams”: Ernie Ball Music Man Luke 4 SSS review

The EBMM x Steve Lukather collab celebrates a landmark anniversary with a triple-single coil model that is ridiculously effective and well put together

Guitar World

“It’s like an artifact from an ancient technological civilization”: Tosin Abasi and Music Man unveil two new eye-catching finishes for the Kaizen and tease some “exciting and progressive” updates in the near future

Demoing the new model at NAMM 2024, Abasi praised Music Man’s desire to push the envelope with the guitar’s design, adding that he’s “never seen anything like” its new distressed metallic finish

Guitar World

NAMM 2024: “The aim was to be as tonally versatile as possible”: Rabea Massaad on the origins of his long-awaited Ernie Ball Music Man Sabre design – and the crucial refinement that took the most tweaking

An newly-contoured Sabre body and a set of Bare Knuckle Silos headline the eagerly anticipated instrument, which made its official debut at NAMM 2024

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MusicRadar

NAMM 2024: “Not only is it really comfortable but it looks awesome” – Ernie Ball Music Man officially unveils Rabea Massaad’s much anticipated (and heavily customised) signature Sabre

This is not your grandaddy's Sabre. Loaded with Massaad's Bare Knuckle Silo pickups, it has a forearm carve, custom neck, enhanced upper-fret access, a modified bridge, coil-splits, and of course Vileblood and Frenzied Flame finishes

Guitar World

NAMM 2024: Ernie Ball Music Man just introduced the final instalment in the Joe Dart Artist Series… and it sold out in seconds

Ernie Ball’s collaboration with Vulfpeck’s Joe Dart continues with this fresh take on Dart’s go-to short-scale P-Bass

Guitar World

“I’m not supposed to talk about these”: Rabea Massaad lifts the curtain on his two new Music Man signature guitars – and they’re looking mighty fine indeed

The guitarist has been working with Ernie Ball since April, helping improve its future builds, with the new Sabre-inspired prototypes showing the fruits of their labor

Guitar World

Ernie Ball has unveiled Synyster Gates signature string sets – but what is that mystery guitar amp?

Two sets have been awarded to the Avenged Sevenfold guitarist, who was filmed sitting next to what could possibly be a new signature guitar amp

MusicRadar

Did Synyster Gates just reveal a signature amp alongside his new Ernie Ball strings?

Avenged seven and six-string, but what is that amp?

Guitar World

Jack White is selling off his White Blood Cells guitar, his customized Ernie Ball St. Vincent and, er... a potentially “irradiated and possibly haunted” autopsy table

The new Third Man Garage Sale is clearing out stage-played gear, alongside a host of curiosities and oddities from the TM HQ in Nashville

Guitar World

“Whenever we’d drop that bass riff, places would become unhinged”: Listen to Tim Commerford’s isolated bassline on Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine

The beginning of RATM best-known song is a sinister D plus octave of D#

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