NGD: 02 Petrucci Silver Sparkle

I’ll preface this by saying it’s good (really good) to be back in the EBMM family. I sold both of my EBMMs back in 2011 I believe. Since then I’ve bought and sold way more guitars than I care to remember, mostly as a hobby but I also built my business on it as well. I recently had some major changes in my life and I’ve been re-evaluating many things that are important to me, putting music writing/composing as a higher priority. I have fond memories of my EBMMs and couldn’t pass up the deal on this beauty.

So, here we have an ’02 Petrucci in Silver Sparkle. My first JP and I still can’t believe I bought it. I had always avoided the JP models – I didn’t like the placement of the pickup switch, I thought the neck was too thin, and I normally don’t like floating trems for daily use. I also wasn’t a fan of the CrunchLab/Liquifire pickups for anything other than high gain metal. I bought this one with the intention of flipping it to fund an ASS, but once I got it and did a full setup on it, something strange happened….. I really liked it 😮 I think what really changed my mind is the pickups. These original custom Dimarzios are really versatile and sound great from clean to high gain and most things in between. I like them much better than the CL/LF and Illuminator pickups. The sparkly finish also helps and the fact that it’s in mint condition for a 15 year old guitar. I’m still working through the neck shape and switch placement and trying to adjust my playing technique but so far I’m really digging this guitar. I bought a JP7 at the same time but that one is for sale so no need for an NGD. Same outstanding quality but I think my drop tune days are over.