ERNIE BALL MUSIC MAN

MAJESTY 8-STRING $4,199, music-man.com

John Petrucci’s Majesty line of guitars are sleek dream machines dialed in for technical playing. They’re also — not surprisingly — one of the most successful signature series for Ernie Ball Music Man. Earlier this year, Petrucci had teased in a GW interview that he had a new guitar in the works, but no one expected it to be an eight-string! The Majesty 8 features a mahogany neckthrough-body with basswood wings and an all-new multi-scale ebony fretboard. As is customary, the Majesty 8 comes with Petrucci’s requisite electronics package that includes custom-angled DiMarzio Dreamcatcher and Rainmaker pickups, as well as piezo capabilities. Whether you realize it or not, the Majesty 8 is limited to 100 pieces worldwide and is so popular, it’s currently on backorder. Be prepared to toss your hat in the ring if you want some eight-string royalty.

We’ve been fans of Fender’s Acoustasonic series since the American Acoustasonic Telecaster was issued in 2019 (and snagged a Platinum award in our Holiday 2019 issue). Late this year, however, Fender introduced that model’s more accessible Mexican cousin, the Acoustasonic Player Tele, which is made in the company’s Ensenada factory. The streamlined Player comes with 3-way Voice Selector switch, a Blend knob and a Modern N4 pickup, and — like every other Acoustasonic model — it lets you flip seamlessly between electric and acoustic voicings. It even comes in some undeniably cool new finishes, including Butterscotch Blonde, Shadow Burst and Arctic White — not to mention Brushed Black.