[Story + pics] Armada discontinued, you say? I'd better stock up!

A few weeks ago, I snagged a black burst flame top Armada for a pretty killer price on Reverb. I’ve long been a fan of EBMM guitars and have owned about 4 or 5 over the years, and was always curious about the Armada for being such an odd duck in the lineup.

The Gibson scale, neck-through design, and angled headstock are all uncommon for this brand. The biggest thing thing that drew me to it was the 24.75″ scale, since I’ve always been a Gibson guy and am just more comfortable with it. I suspect that the odd specs (for EBMM) probably put off faithfuls of the brand, and the general Ernie Ball uniqueness coupled with the total disregard for boring convention probably caused it to not draw as many converts from Gibson as the company expected.

But I love it. I love it so much. The weight. The balance on strap. The playability and tone. The looks. Everything.

But now we have a discontinued guitar. My favorite guitar ever (out of owning over 60 over 25 years of playing), and there’s a FINITE SUPPLY. Cue a weird feeling of stress thinking I might not be able to replace it if I needed to.

So… I watched Reverb like a hawk. Not really expecting to pull the trigger, but watching. And I’m seeing the prices on Armadas hitting 2500, 2900… When I saw one list for over 4k, I started getting worried. That is decidedly out of my reach right now.

And then it happened. Reverb winter sale. A motivated seller. A little haggling. And now I have two Armadas.

The black one I got first, and it’s number 437. The natural quilt + red one I just received this week, number 200. Both insanely clean. Flawless and consistent. Blindfolded, I doubt I could tell the difference.

I’ll be setting up the black one for drop C# and the new one for Eb standard, and using them both live with my band.

I just need to share. My girlfriend is supportive but she couldn’t tell a Les Paul from a BC Rich warlock, lol.

Thanks for indulging me.

Pics!

Ernie Ball Music Man Armadas – Album on Imgur