Music Man / Ernie Ball
Music Man is an American guitar, and bass guitar manufacturer. It is a division of the Ernie Ball corporation. The company began in 1971 when Forrest White and Tom Walker talked with Leo Fender about starting a company they would call Tri-Sonic, Inc. White had worked with Leo in the very early days of Fender as the plant manager and stayed on after the company was sold to the CBS Corporation, but had grown unhappy with their management. Tom Walker worked as a sales rep at Fender. Because of a 10-year non-compete clause in the 1965 contract that sold the Fender companies to CBS, Leo Fender was a silent partner.
Ernie Ball had started producing a modern acoustic bass guitar in 1972 under the name Earthwood but the venture had largely collapsed by the mid-1970s, some say due to poor marketing. It seems it was an idea twenty years before its time. His partner in this company was George Fullerton. The factory, which Ball still owned at the time of the Music Man purchase, was located in San Luis Obispo, California, and that is where Music Man started producing basses in 1985.
By using player endorsed models Music Man racked up a string of successes including the Silhouette (1986), Steve Morse Signature (1987), StingRay 5 (1987), Eddie Van Halen Signature/Axis model (1990), Albert Lee Signature (1993), Steve Lukather Signature (1993), the Sterling Bass (1993), the John Petrucci 6 & 7-string guitars (1999), and the Bongo Bass (2003), whose futuristic look was designed in conjunction with the BMW DesignworksUSA team. While none of these could compete against Fender or Gibson on sales figures, Music Man outpaced the competition by making 'players' guitars with quick change pickup assemblies, teflon coated trussrods, low noise pickup designs, piezo bridge pickups, 5 and 6 bolt necks, sculpted neck joints, graphite acrylic resin coated body cavities and most importantly, consistently high quality fit and finish.
GuitarsAlbert Lee SignatureAxis Sport Axis Super Sport Edward Van Halen John Petrucci 6 Sabre I Sabre II Silhouette Steve Morse Stingray I Stingray II Sub 1 |
Bass GuitarsCutlas (I/II) BassSUB IV Bass Sabre Bass Sterling Bass Stingray Bass Stingray 20th Anniversary Bass Stingray 5-String Bass |
AmplifiersSixty-Five Amp110 RD Fifty Amp 112 B Bass Amp 112 RD Fifty Amp 112 Sixty Five Amp 112 RD One Hundred Amp 112 RP Sixty Five Amp 112 Sixty Five Amp 115 Sixty Five Amp 210 HD130 Amp 210 Sixty Five Amp 212 HD130 Amp 212 Sixty Five Amp 410 Sixty Five Amp 410 Seventy Five Amp HD-130 Amp RD Fifty Amp |