What do you think of John Mayer Signature

[TheVoodooMan]

Have a Question !!
What do you think of this guitar ?
Someone possess this guitar ?
Have you samples ??
:RoCkIn

[VaughnC]

I tried a Mayer Strat and the action wasen't too good, tone was decent but in the end, after also trying an SRV Strat, I ended up with two of the Jimmie Vaughan Strats for the same price....both of which sound and play much better to me.

[lgehrig4]

I have one and a JV and EJ strat as well. I love all three, but IMO the Mayer is the easiest to play.

Unlike VaughnC's experience, the one I tried and bought had a pretty good set up out of the box. Even if this weren't the case I wouldn't have judged the guitar based on the set up because I never expect a good one off the rack.

The tall/narrow frets allow for easy fretting and my hands slide efforleessly up and down without getting caught up. Has a slightly scalloped feel to it. Your fingers don't have to make too much contact with the wood.

There is a slight radius (9.5") as opposed to EJ 12", but the feel is not that much different. The difference to me is that the JM neck feels wider and the EJ feels deeper (soft V back). Another thing is that 10's feel like 9's on this guitat(JM).

The pups are a bit darker sounding. They are described as having scooped mids, but my ears they are just bit darker/warmer sounding.

Fit and finish seem as good as any other strat I have owned. Lastly, and not that important but worth mentioning, it comes with the coolest case I've even seen. It's a gig bag that offers more protection than a hard case. It has tons of pockets and I wouldn't be suprised if you can fit a small practice amp in there too

I would definitely recommend this guitar as I would the EJ and JV. If you prefer rosewood fretboards and C shaped necks, it's worth a try.

I don't have samples for you

Jeff

[vangit]

I had a J Strat. I thought it was the easiest Strat to play. I agree with lgehrig4 comments. The frets, neck carve, it all just feels right. And 10's do feel great on it.

[FatTeleTom]

I played one at a guitar center for about 10 minutes, and liked it a lot. Great neck feel. Sounded good through a Super Reverb, and I got some great blues tones out of a Mesa Lone Star Special.

The only problem was this particular model had a bad case of fret sprout--every fret end on both sides was sticking out enough to rough up your hands as you moved up and down the neck. I highly doubt it left the factory that way--that guitar must have had a bad humidity experience at some point.

I think they had it priced around $1,100. I didn't compare it back to back with the EJ strat, but I have played a couple of those as well. I liked the finish the Mayer neck better--faster, less sticky. But the EJ probably had a slight edge in tone. But for $500 or so less, the JM strat seemed like a very nice piece.

[lgehrig4]

Originally Posted by FatTeleTom

I played one at a guitar center for about 10 minutes, and liked it a lot. Great neck feel. Sounded good through a Super Reverb, and I got some great blues tones out of a Mesa Lone Star Special.

The only problem was this particular model had a bad case of fret sprout--every fret end on both sides was sticking out enough to rough up your hands as you moved up and down the neck. I highly doubt it left the factory that way--that guitar must have had a bad humidity experience at some point.

I think they had it priced around $1,100. I didn't compare it back to back with the EJ strat, but I have played a couple of those as well. I liked the finish the Mayer neck better--faster, less sticky. But the EJ probably had a slight edge in tone. But for $500 or so less, the JM strat seemed like a very nice piece.

"Fret Sprout"

I didn't want to derail his thread and start talking too much about other strats, but since you mentioned the EJ tone I'll have to agree. The EJ has nicer sounding pups but I really look for fit/finish/playability since you can easily change the pups.

The EJ I tried in GC was sticky, but the one I ordered from MF was and is perfect. And you can see that more attention was paid towards the rounding of the fret edges as compared to the JM. I have a preference for rosewood so the JV has that advantage.

My JM was only $200 less that the EJ! Where did you see that price??

[FatTeleTom]

This was at a GC north of Chicago (for anyone in there area, it's the one on Skokie Rd., north of Lake Cook Rd.--probably officially in Deerfield). I'm pretty sure the price was $1,100 or $1,199. Another guy who was in the store mentioned that the price was cheaper than what he remembered from a couple of months before.

I just checked MF, and they list the price as $1399. My guess is that the price on this was reduced because of the fret issue. Not sure what it would cost someone to re-file those down, but if you could do it yourself or get it done cheaply, might be a bit of a bargain, particularly if you talk them down a little more.

Like most of the "expensive" guitars, this one was hanging way up high on the top row of hangers--required a step ladder to get it down.
I wonder how well the humidity is controlled in these stores 15 feet up in the air???

[Boomdoggy]

I think I played the same one VaughnC did.It looked very nice and seemed to sound ok,but i could have slipped a slice of pizza between the strings and the neck.

[karmadave]

I've owned a JV Strat, but not an EJ. Personally, I prefer Rosewood fretboards to Maple. Just a personal preference. I purchased a JM Strat last August, from Musicone Workshop, and it is the best playing Strat I've ever owned. The neck is very comfortable (slightly smaller than a SRV) and the high frets make bending pretty easy. The only downside to the pickups is that they lack mids. Through a Tweed-style amp, this is not an issue since Tweeds are midrange heavy. But, through a Blackface-style amp I think the pickups sound very thin. Maybe a pedal would fix that, but I generally don't use dirt pedals. Overall, I think the JM is a very well-made guitar. My other Strat is a Mexican-made Robert Cray and they are both keepers.

That's my $.02.

-KD

[lgehrig4]

Originally Posted by Boomdoggy

I think I played the same one VaughnC did.It looked very nice and seemed to sound ok,but i could have slipped a slice of pizza between the strings and the neck.

Instead of sitting around f***ing off, GC employees should be setting up and cleaning instruments for their customers. I would gaurantee they sell more just from the impulsive gass they would create from well playing instruments.

My JV fit this description of the JM you played, but I didn't care because I knew it was temporary. The strings were high and the tremolo came up about 1/3" of the body. After new strings, truss rod adjustment, extra claw spring and lowering the saddles a bit it played great!

[lgehrig4]

Originally Posted by karmadave

I've owned a JV Strat, but not an EJ. Personally, I prefer Rosewood fretboards to Maple. Just a personal preference. I purchased a JM Strat last August, from Musicone Workshop, and it is the best playing Strat I've ever owned. The neck is very comfortable (slightly smaller than a SRV) and the high frets make bending pretty easy. The only downside to the pickups is that they lack mids. Through a Tweed-style amp, this is not an issue since Tweeds are midrange heavy. But, through a Blackface-style amp I think the pickups sound very thin. Maybe a pedal would fix that, but I generally don't use dirt pedals. Overall, I think the JM is a very well-made guitar. My other Strat is a Mexican-made Robert Cray and they are both keepers.

That's my $.02.

-KD

I agree 100% with your JM description. I actually like the way the pups sound, but if I didn't that wouldn't have held me back because they can easily be changed. If I buy a guitar from a music store I don't even plug it in because I'm only concerned with the feel. The sound can be improved easily. This one just felt great!

[FatTeleTom]

Originally Posted by karmadave

The only downside to the pickups is that they lack mids. Through a Tweed-style amp, this is not an issue since Tweeds are midrange heavy. But, through a Blackface-style amp I think the pickups sound very thin.

This may be why I especially liked the JM through the Lone Star Special.
It sounded really good with a little gain going on the clean channel, and even more gain going on the dirty channel. I'm guessing I had more mids going on the Mesa amp than what I was getting out of the Super Reverb--the JM only sounded "good" through the Super, vs. REAL good through the Mesa.

BTW, the setup on the GC JM strat was fine, other than the cheese-grater effect of the sharp fret ends.

The action *was* relatively high, but I thought it worked really well on that guitar. You could really spank it, but at the same time it didn't seem to slow me down at all. In fact, it's got me thinking about raising the action up on my Tele a bit.

So, the (relatively) high action may be partly intentional per Fender and/or John Mayer?

[Boomdoggy]

Originally Posted by lgehrig4

Instead of sitting around f***ing off, GC employees should be setting up and cleaning instruments for their customers. I would gaurantee they sell more just from the impulsive gass they would create from well playing instruments.

My JV fit this description of the JM you played, but I didn't care because I knew it was temporary. The strings were high and the tremolo came up about 1/3" of the body. After new strings, truss rod adjustment, extra claw spring and lowering the saddles a bit it played great!

Amen.I was in a fairly good buying mood too.I am extremely picky about playability,so I need to play it with at least a decent setup.

[TheVoodooMan]

Thank you all ! Your answer are difficult for me cause I don't all understand !
But I must persever and if a member of gear page can to correspond with me by msn, it's cool ! My interest center are John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, Richie Kotzen ....

[jokerjkny]

Originally Posted by VaughnC

I tried a Mayer Strat and the action wasen't too good, tone was decent but in the end, after also trying an SRV Strat, I ended up with two of the Jimmie Vaughan Strats for the same price....both of which sound and play much better to me.

voodoo man,

just listen to Vaughn. he knows his strats...