The year 2017 has been one for the books. As we approach the end of December, we wanted to take a look back and share with you some of our most proud and memorable moments for Ernie Ball Music Man. Thanks for sharing with us and we look forward to even more creating and collaborating in 2018.
#1 – St. Vincent Cover Feature on Guitar World + 2017 Collection Launch
That magical moment when St. Vincent, along with her Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar collection joined the ranks of the very limited number of women featured on the cover of Guitar World magazine.
Check out the behind the scenes video of the Guitar World Cover Shoot:
We also can’t forget about all of the great fan sightings on Instagram of players enjoying their St. Vincent guitars.
#2 – St. Vincent ‘MASSEDUCTION’ Launch
September = St. Vincent. Annie Clark released a strictly limited edition ‘MASSEDUCTION’ version of her Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar to coincide with the release of her new album. Only 12 of the guitars were sold globally which generated some amazing press to say the least. Our friends at GAK in the UK even put together a video tutorial on how to make the St. Vincent ‘MASSEDUCTION’ guitar sound like Blade Runner.
The release of St. Vincent’s “Los Ageless” music video also featured the coveted ‘MASSEDUCTION’ guitar:
To top it off, St. Vincent and her exclusive ‘MASSEDUCTION’ guitar made an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
#3 – Ernie Ball Music Man Instruments Launch at NAMM 2017
This year started out with a bang with the launch of our new collection of instruments at NAMM in January. The roundup included the release of instruments like the Cutlass Guitar, the John Petrucci Monarchy Majesty, and the 30th Anniversary StingRay 5 Bass which was introduced by Sterling Ball himself.
#4 – The Launch of the John Petrucci Monarchy Majesty
May 2017 marked the launch of John Petrucci’s signature Monarchy Majesty. John Petrucci has been an Ernie Ball Music Man signature artist for more than sixteen years, since the introduction of the initial JP6 signature model in 2001. Here, John discusses his signature guitar with our friends at Guitar Guitar and provides details on the specific intricacies that make the Monarchy Majesty so unique.
The Monarchy Majesty collection also had a number of amazing reviews and demos like this one from when Lee Anderton, aka the Captain, met John:
#5 – Jared Dines plays with the Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty in Daddy Rock’s “Shout”
Ernie Ball Music Man artist and YouTube guitar extraordinaire, Jared Dines, and his band “Daddy Rock”, released a new video for their track, “Shout” featuring a fiery performance on both Dines’ John Petrucci Majesty and Anthony Cappocchi’s StingRay bass. Watch the video below and be sure to stay until the end.
#6 – Adam Levine & Jesse Larson Slay with Axis Guitars on NBC’s The Voice Finale
On the season 12 finale of The Voice, finalist Jesse Larson was joined by his coach and Ernie Ball Music Man family member, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 to slay the existential Prince anthem “Let’s Go Crazy”. Both Adam and Jesse played on dual Ernie Ball Music Man Axis models during the finale performance. Check it out and learn more about the Axis on our website.
#7 – The Valentine Makes Waves
Speaking of Maroon 5… the Ernie Ball Music Man signature James Valentine guitar really caught the attention of our fans this year. We saw a number of amazing social media and blog posts featuring players enjoying their Valentine’s. Check out the entire roundup so you can see the variety of styles of this versatile instrument. First on the list was Ernie Ball Music Man artist and YouTube influencer, Ryan “Fluff” Bruce with his demo of the guitar.
#8 – Bruno Mars Rocks his Albert Lee during “24K Magic Live at the Apollo”
A big artist moment of the year was when Ernie Ball Music Man artist Bruno Mars performed in his first primetime television special, “Bruno Mars: 24K Magic Live At The Apollo” on November 29th on CBS. During the performance of “Calling All My Lovelies” on tour and during his special, Bruno plays a custom “24k” colored Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee electric guitar. Check out the breakdown of his performance here.
#9 – The StingRay 5 Bass Turns 30
2017 marked 30 years since Ernie Ball Music Man introduced the StingRay5 to the world in 1987. We took everything we learned from the development of the original StingRay bass and brought the advanced active electronics system to a 5-string platform that incorporated Ernie Ball Music Man’s philosophy of ergonomic, forward thinking, musician-friendly instruments.
Take a look at when, Ernie Ball CEO Sterling Ball sat down with legendary bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel) to talk about playing bass and creating tools for musicians like the StingRay 5 Bass.
#10 – Cooper Carter’s Star Wars Imperial March Electric Guitar Orchestra
Ernie Ball Music Man artist Cooper Carter released an electric guitar orchestra tribute to legendary Star Wars saga composer, John Williams – just in time for the Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere. The video featured 8 of our Music Man guitars and in our opinion was one of the coolest and most creative YouTube videos of the year.
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