Not Feeling The New Sterling Majesty

wesleyamltd

wesleyamltd

Inspired
I really dig the ergonomics of this guitar and love the stainless steel frets but the crunch lab pick ups are something to be desired.

They seem really compressed to me, the definition of the notes are slightly smeared. I’m a little conflicted with this guitar because it is a joy to play but the pick ups take away from the experience.

Does anyone have a similar experience?

Have you tried different pick ups?
 
Can't speak to the Majesty, but I have a love/hate with the Crunch Labs in my JP6 guitars. They seem ok for the rosewood boards, but I am not a fan with the maple boards.

I put a Duncan in one with a maple board and it's better, but not great. I put an Illuminator in one with a rosewood board and will probably give the Crunch Lab another go.
 
Rar
wesleyamltd said:
I really dig the ergonomics of this guitar and love the stainless steel frets but the crunch lab pick ups are something to be desired.

They seem really compressed to me, the definition of the notes are slightly smeared. I’m a little conflicted with this guitar because it is a joy to play but the pick ups take away from the experience.

Does anyone have a similar experience?

Have you tried different pick ups?
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Rarely have i encounter a budget guitar with good pickups. Personal I always take into account that I will have to change them at one point. To me its most important that the guitar feels right and its well built.
 
wesleyamltd said:
I really dig the ergonomics of this guitar
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How different it is from the top of the line model? Is the neck basically the same or quite different from his "best" model?
I'm looking at the cheapest Majesty which goes for about $1K and think why not - if the ergonomic is great, it can be a perfect "baseline" instrument
I'd put Fishmans in it and maybe removed the bottom part of the body for Abasi-style ergonomically carved body
I can't simply try and compare, so need input from those who know this or maybe tried all of them - @Cooper Carter maybe? :)
 
I will add that if your Sterling has the PCB quick connect pickups you could try swapping. Dimarzio has many pickups avail with the pcb quick connect. I did that with my older JP15 years ago and liked the results. I did the Steve Lukather Transition neck and a Dominion bridge with the quick connects and liked it better
 
Chewie5150 said:
I will add that if your Sterling has the PCB quick connect pickups you could try swapping. Dimarzio has many pickups avail with the pcb quick connect. I did that with my older JP15 years ago and liked the results. I did the Steve Lukather Transition neck and a Dominion bridge with the quick connects and liked it better
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That would be wonderful, I’ll have to check that out. Good idea!
 
Chromatizm said:
How different it is from the top of the line model? Is the neck basically the same or quite different from his "best" model?
I'm looking at the cheapest Majesty which goes for about $1K and think why not - if the ergonomic is great, it can be a perfect "baseline" instrument
I'd put Fishmans in it and maybe removed the bottom part of the body for Abasi-style ergonomically carved body
I can't simply try and compare, so need input from those who know this or maybe tried all of them - @Cooper Carter maybe? :)
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The Sterling's not a bad guitar at all, but it's a noticeable difference when you jump up to the EBMM Majesties. I've got 8 of them in different colors for various tunings, 5 of which are the limited run maple tops/BFRs. I've tried various other guitars over the past 10 years, but keep selling the other guitars and coming back to the EBMMs. At this point, I'm just sticking with them, haha.
 
Chromatizm said:
Can you maybe elaborate a bit on this in regard to ergonomics and neck in particular?
I don't care about the sound, won't use original pickups anyway
Neck is basically all I'm interested in
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Been a hot minute since I touched a Sterling, so my memory may be fuzzy, but when I last touched them the neck felt physically smoother on the EBMM to me, as in easier to glide over. The bridge is also a big difference between the two, plus you get piezos on the EBMM, if that matters to you. The EBMM just... plain old stays in tune. I almost never have to tune my guitars.
 
Chromatizm said:
Understood, thank you
What about neck shape? Is it the same or "worse"? How different it feels in regard to high fret access?
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I honestly don't remember well enough and don't want to bullshit you. The overall shape of the guitar is the same, so high fret access should be pretty much identical. I'd try to get your hands on both of them if you can and see if you find the EBMM worth it over the Sterling.
 
Chewie5150 said:
I have always loved the JP guitars but I have never bonded with the pickups. I mean they're perfect for playing DT stuff.
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This reminds me of how Pete Thorn has described his signature guitar in interviews. He has said something to the effect that he is going the opposite direction of John Petrucci. John's gear is designed to perfectly fit his exact musical style whereas Pete has designed his guitars as a jack of all trades master of none so that they work for almost any musical style. These choices make sense because Petrucci mostly plays his own music whereas Pete Thorn plays the side man role for a wide range of artists and needs gear that is flexible.
 
wesleyamltd said:
Have you tried different pick ups?
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I'm not familiar with the line, but I wonder if you've dialed in the pickup height? I often find guitars with the pickups from the factory much closer than where I like them to make them more open and less likely to cause problems with gain when playing in the high frets.
 
wesleyamltd said:
I really dig the ergonomics of this guitar and love the stainless steel frets but the crunch lab pick ups are something to be desired.

They seem really compressed to me, the definition of the notes are slightly smeared. I’m a little conflicted with this guitar because it is a joy to play but the pick ups take away from the experience.

Does anyone have a similar experience?

Have you tried different pick ups?
Click to expand...

Sterlings have stainless steel frets?
 
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