Overview & Final Score: 9.8

Where to begin with this new Majesty….It’s probably the most feature loaded guitar out there. This brand new John Petrucci Majesty comes out of the gate with a stunning “Purple Nebula” Finish on top of a neck-through body construction. The neck is two pieces of Honduran Mahogany, with Alder on the sides of the body, and Quilted Maple on top. 

Hardware includes locking tuners, Ernie Ball Music Man’s Modern Tremolo, two separate 3-way selector switches, and a built in piezo underneath that crescent style trem system. You can switch between three options including piezo pickup, magnetic pickups, and a blend of the two using the top switch. The bottom one is a typical HH configuration 3-way selector switch to control the DiMarzio Rainmaker (neck) and Dreamcatcher (bridge) humbuckers. But it’s not done there. Push in the volume knob for the magnetic pickups and you can instantly add 20db of boost to your tone. Pair that with a tone control and piezo volume control and you can get almost unlimited utility out of this Majesty. 

Sound: 10

This Majesty is really one of those rare “do-it-all” guitars. The DiMarzio pickups retain excellent clarity and articulation, even with my ProCo Rat and Big Muff layered on top. This was especially impressive in the neck position, which I typically avoid on guitars. DiMarzio’s Rainmaker never really got that muddy or bassy tone that I hate in my neck pickups, even with the tone knocked down a bit. Bridge humbuckers always sound sweet to my ears, but this Majesty sounded even better than normal, with a very snappy, rhythmic response when played clean that I usually only get from single coils. 

Probably my favorite feature, the built in boost far exceeded my expectations. I’ve never actually played a guitar with this feature and I was so excited by the tonal versatility this guitar provided without me touching my pedal board. The piezo was also excellent, letting you go from acoustic tones to electric sounds and then to a solo or lead setting within seconds. The boost also drove my Vox AC15 right into beautiful tube overdrive and crunch. I can’t say enough great things about this guitar’s sound, but I mean that should be expected at an almost $7k price tag. 

This guitar, in my opinion, was not designed to be made for John Petrucci or Dream Theatre fans. It was designed to be the best electric guitar on the market for a hardcore musician.

Playability: 9.5 

The neck on this new Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty is just nuts. It’s smooth, with an excellent finish on the back. I never felt like my fingers got stuck on the finish and all the frets were super easy to reach. The exaggerated horns on this guitar make it easy to even wrap your thumb around the top strings, something I love to do but often struggle with on guitars. Tuning stability was excellent, as the modern tremolo held tune great even with some aggressive whammy bar work. The locking tuners slipped out of tune a little bit more frequently than I thought, similar to what I saw on the Ernie Ball Music Man Sabre. On the other hand, the neck through body provided crazy rich sustain. Pretty impressive playability and definitely gig ready. 

Finish & Construction: 10

Look at that “Purple Nebula” finish, the Quilt Maple top is just stunning. One of the top three finishes I have ever seen in person. Also, the finish is truly spotless, no scratches or signs of lazy finish work or clear coat globs. While this guitar may look like a collectors edition worthy of being wall art, it is a player’s guitar through and through. A player’s guitar that just has crazy looks. 

Another excellent feature of the construction was how light the body of the guitar is. It’s definitely not the largest guitar body out there, but it also doesn’t feel small enough to feel this light. I assume it would be very comfortable to play this guitar on stage for hours, something Petrucci likely prioritized. All the hardware is well installed, it’s one of those really expensive guitars that you just look at and say “yeah, I see why this costs x dollars”.

Value: 9.5 

An almost $9.5K guitar getting this how of a value score? Unheard of on this website. But realistically, I think if you can afford this guitar you’ll be surprised by how much you pick it up and use it. It isn’t built to hang on a wall and it costs so much because it genuinely feels to me like it was engineered to be the best player’s guitar on the market. The amazing features, construction quality, and looks back up the hype. It’s not a guitar for everyone, and I’ll certainly be going back to my Strats and LP Juniors for punk and indie rock. But, I was surprised at how easily I could pick this guitar up and make it do whatever I wanted. You can shred and be JP with it, or you can write