My new OLP John Petrucci signature model. These are getting hard to find now as OLP is no longer making them – mainly because OLP is no longer around!
I’ve been looking around for ages for an electric that’s special. With the ridiculous price of double-ball ends I had to break my addiction to headless guitars, but I didn’t want anything with a pointy headstock because:
a) they’re sharp
b) everyone thinks you’re a shredder/metalhead (even if you are)
c) it makes the neck longer than it needs to be, so you’re constantly banging into things
So I needed a guitar with a head for a change. Strats sound nice but look boring (and they’re heavy). Les Pauls just don’t do it for me. They’re both way too common. Had a look at some Parkers but they’re either way too pricey or have those hideous pickguards. And you can use the headstock as a cheese slicer so that wouldn’t go down well with fellow band members. The Line6 Variax would satisfy my tonal needs, but they’re butt ugly. I guess I could rip the guts out of one but that’s more time and money.
With all that in mind the Musicman Axis or Silhouette fitted the bill, except I’d have to take out another mortgage. And that’s why the OLP version was the one to get.
The John Petrucci signature model has some unique features:
- scalloped arm rest
- the Musicman 4+2 tuner layout
- pickup selector where the volume knob should be
- custom trem
- locking tuners
- JP’s autograph!
So it looks the part – how does it play?
Factory set up was crap – action was way too high and intonation was out. I spent some time sorting out the action but was left with minor fret buzz on some strings around the 13th fret. Readjusting for “correct” action around the 7th fret left me with a mess – most strings were buzzing all over the place. The best compromise was how I originally did it – a bit high around 7th but it’s fine everywhere else. I feel a fret-dressing session coming on…
The sound is interesting. All my electrics have double humbuckers with a fat warm sound. The OLP also has double hums, but it’s not what you’d expect. The neck pickup sounds more like a single coil, almost as if it’s tapped but it’s not. There’s good sustain and even some “natural” reverb (strange for a solid body). Middle position is much the same – a little more bite and a little less of that shimmery reverb. But switch to bridge and it’s like a totally different guitar. It’s a very middley and nasty tone, very in-your-face, lots of crunch and noticeably louder than the other positions. It’s almost as if they’d wired some resistors in to keep the other positions quieter, but opening up the control cavity revealed nothing of the sort. I’m not complaining – it’s nice to have the sound of 2 guitars in one. I just wish the middle position was a bit more distinct. Coil tapping might be the way to go, before shelling out for some DiMarzios.
Specs:
Body: Basswood
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
