Yes, yer majesty! Even the budget version of the Majesty is pretty expensive, but there is nothing quite like it! Guitar link: imp.i114863.net/4eQzE3 Enjoy :)
I have a crimson Maj100. It's not nearly as pretty as that, but it's fantastic. I acquired it in a trade for an Ibanez baritone I rarely used I wasn't sure how I liked the look of it when I first saw pictures, but once I put my hands on it, I was in love. Everything feels just right. Mine doesn't have the DiMarzios, but they sound really good.
Always enjoy your playing and your enthusiasm when your sampling new gear. Some of us only experience Christmas once a year. :0) . The spindle Truss rod wheel is cool, not recessing the back plates is lazy. Thanks Darrell, Happy Holidays!
I own 2 of these from 2020 (MAJ200X). Both the Majestic Purple and the Cerulean Paradise. Gorgeous guitars and the top two out of the 24 guitars I own. Love'em!
I read that while working at G&L, Leo Fender got into using Nato wood for bodies on the Legacy or S-500, so it’s been used for guitars for a while. You are right, it’s very similar to mahogany.
I just picked one of these up at Chicago Music Exchange over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's guitar number 11 for me and I think it's my favorite one. I got the cerulean paradise color and a 7 string. It plays so nice!
I already had the Majestic Purple, but I picked up the Cerulean Paradise back in September to go with it. Before, that color was only on a $5000 MM. When I saw it on a Sterling I started throwing money at it. LOL
Good stuff! Since I've got the full-blown Music Man version (still owe another $800 on it :P ), here are the differences I noticed between it and the Sterling you demoed. 1.) The Music Man has full-on neck-through mahogany construction with a flamed maple "shield" insert around the pickups and trem rather than a glued-in set neck. 2.) MM has Schaller locking tuners rather than unbranded. 3.) MM has a compensated nut. 4.) MM tone pot is also push-push and does coil splitting when the pickup selector is in the middle position. 5.) MM has a piezo system with a 3-way switch to select either full piezo, piezo and magnetic combination, or magnetic pickups only. 6.) MM has an additional volume control pot dedicated to the piezo. 7.) MM has the option to adjust the amount of boost you get from the push-push on the volume pot via a trim selector in the rear cavity. Same thing goes for adjusting the tone and mix of the piezo. 8.) MM output jack can be set to do stereo out with a TRS cable. One "side" handles the magnetic pickups while the other is for the piezo.
I think the thing that annoys me the most about the import/budget versions of signature or artist guitars is when they compromise on the parts that make the full-fat version actually sound and play the way that it does. I'm talking about totally different pickups mostly, but also the trem in some cases or period features like a volute - even neck profile. Sterling seem to have done right by the fans in this case - few corners trimmed like the body wood, use of the spalted veneer, no-name tuners and pots etc but the heart of the guitar - the pickups is intact. Stainless frets is amazing at that price point too.
no they are not active pickups.. is the guitar having a builtin preamp with boost, but that models of dimarzio ( liquifire and crunchlab ) are passive..
Thanks for sharing your review!!! Absolutely love the Sterling Majesty (Purple MAJ200)! The Majestys along with the MM Silhouettes are my favorite electrics to play! Light, feels great next to the body, stainless steel frets, awesome neck profile, neck through body, super light floating trem, Tusq nut, spindle truss rod, sheilding... So unique you'll either love it or hate it! If you haven't played one yet... get one in your hands!
After a few months, I'm blown away by the quality and elegant flexibility. If you see the pull boost as just a boost, you're missing a big thing - you can go from nearly clean clean to scream with it engaged and each pickup combo gets a new character. It feels like having two great sets of pickups and six great tone palettes. I don't have any other guitar that covers so much spectrum so well. talk about volume knob dynamics! always articulate, super playable. It's a keeper!
Thanks for the review. Been considering one of these as an alternative to an Ibanez RG since I found out they had started doing them with SS frets. Won't buy a guitar without SS frets now.
I'm so glad you're reviewing the Sterling version of the Majesty...I'm hoping you open up the electronics cavity...I've never played one, either...very interested on your take on this guitar...paused at a little over 30 seconds to comment...thanks for the video, and hope you and yours are doing well! Editing in...if I got one, I would put in the GraphTech Hexpander with a 13 pin jack so I could use it with my BOSS SY 1000...as to utilize the SY 1000's virtual guitars, amp models, and effects. Editing in again: I am loving the room inside the cavity...plenty of room to put in the Hexpander circuit board...
I have a Sterling St. Vincent in metallic blue, which is also awesome to play, despite unconventional looks. This Majesty is gorgeous! I'm less interested in the wood grain than in the spectacular color. I like the weight - mass has nothing to do with tone. Good pickups, circuitry, 4x2 head. If I needed another guitar, this would be on the list.
@@216trixie "Relates" to sustain? Sure. It "relates" in that it has little to do with sustain, as Darrell himself demonstrated in a video a couple years ago.
Hey Darrell! Love your review videos! I think they're supper usefull! You should make one video for the Ibanez AZ compared with some other super Strat guitars! Cheers!
I own the EBMM and the Sterling and love them both. If you don’t need to piazo pickup, you don’t lose much from the Sterling. The biggest difference is the bridge, as the EBMM bridge is a little more robust and feels more substantial. The Cruchlab pickup set in the Sterling sounds better to me than the Rainmaker set in the EBMM.
Beautiful guitar for sure. I have a M/M Cutlass and a Sterling Valentine and both are excellent. I really wish you would address the neck shape and size in your videos because it is one of the most important factors imho. My M/M Cutlass has a superb neck shape with a soft "V" shape that is the most comfortable of all my guitars. The Sterling is slightly beefier, but still very comfortable, and although the Real Music Man quality is superb, the Sterling quality is excellent for it's price range. You really can't go wrong with either version.
I'm at work right now so I "podcasted" this video meaning I was only listening to what was being said instead of watching and seeing if any potential texts were edited in this video regarding a couple of the guitars features. So forgive me if I come across as snooty about this, and I could have this wrong anyway. But I think it's worth noting that Sterling Majesty models didn't always have stainless steel frets or dimarzio pickups. Also I believe the bodies were made with mahogany. Then the Maj200 models came out, which brought with the new finishes, the dimarzio pickups and stainless steel frets, ebony fretboard as I recall. The first wave Maj100s were the most affordable ones being under a grand some time back, then Maj100X which boasted a couple of cool finishes but nothing more that I can remember, then finally the Maj200. What we've got in this video. I wish that reverb listing I saw a few years back for an Ernie Ball Music Man Ice Crimson red Majesty selling for 1600 was still around. I might have one today. But now the "budget" alternative is easily over a grand. Regardless, great review of this one though. That finish looks awesome!
Mahogany in Indonesia is called mahoni. The seed is bitter af , my friend used to prank others with it. Nato on the other hand, I've never heard of it and apparently it's not related to mahoni but the density is similar.
i bought one of the first sterling majesty's. I've had 2 of the MM ones and actually preferred the sterling. mine has nickel frets and the sterling pickups but still sounds great.
Daryl it would be great if you would give an indication of neck size and profile in all your reviews, this is probably the most important consideration for most players when buying a guitar. I know this can be difficult but reference in relation to something like a fender ‘modern C’ would be really helpful. My main guitar for years was an EBMM Luke, I loved the build quality but ‘fell out of love’ with the small neck and body size.
I believe that body wood is actually something called "nyatoh." Nearly a year ago I bought a guitar that said it was made from "nato" wood, but more recent researches have suggested that nato is not suitable for guitars, and that the wood actually being used is nyatoh. If asked, I will say that I think that nyatoh sounds very like mahogany. I love the way the guitar I spoke of sounds, especially after I swapped in a pair of high output ALNICO 2 humbuckers!
I wonder why they skimped out with the pickups using the Crunch Lab and Liquifire. That's the only petrucci pickup set that was never actually used in a majesty. They started with the illuminators, then the sonic ecstacy, then the rainmaker/dreamcatcher. They literally had 3 different variations of majesty pickups they could have used and decided to pick the oldest pickup set that wasn't actually used in a Majesty.
I played one yesterday and man it's a light guitar and feels amazing, the only thing I really dislike is the gloss neck. Personally I wish they'd make it a satin neck.
I have the Music Man version in the Enchanted Forest finish, but the finish on this Sterling looks nicer. However, I LOVE the piezo on the EBMM. Tuning stability is crazy good as well. Paid $2300 used on Craigslist for my EBMM, which not a huge amount above the $1600 for a new MAJ200 (shown in the video).
I very nearly bought the Crimson Red model, or the Ibanez RG652AHM. But I settled on an RG421AHM just because I feel my level of playing don't deserve such good guitars lol
Thanks for the review, tho you didn't say which model of Majesty it is and the link takes you to all the Sterling guitars at Sweetwater. Btw, the specs for both the MAJ200 & 270 list the fingerboard as ebony. I've been curious about them since the guitarist in Onewe, one of my favorite Korean bands, started playing a gorgeous purple one a couple years ago. Kinda wish you had played it in a mix or tried more styles in the pickup demo. From what I can tell from Kanghyun's varied ways of using his Majesty it seems much more versatile than just a shred machine or prog rock axe.
Can you tell me why a smaller pot would be an issue? Is it just a mental thing or is there a legitimate advantage to larger pots?? Thanks man! great review by the way
Hi Darrell, to your video: I Just Bought a $100 Guitar...And it's FANTASTIC!- 3 Years ago: Can't you turn that great 1 minute demo starting at 20:49 into a whole instrumental piece? I would buy it. Besides the solo part, the background music is great!
Hi, does the bridge retain tune after heavy bends and dives? I am considering getting this Sterling but concerned about the tune retention. Any advice?
Beautiful Guitar! "Nato" wood is not a specific wood, from the web.. :NATO is an acronym that stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (the wood) Nato is one of the softer hardwoods, such as Mahogany, Walnut, Koa, and Maple, that may be found in furniture. Nato wood is a collective name for wood from Mora trees (the best-known species are Mora excelsa (Mora) and Mora gonggrijpii (Morabukea). This should not be confused with Nyatoh (an Asian hardwood from the family Sapotaceae with a very similar look and characteristic to Honduras Mahogany It's called Nato to cover a range of internationally acceptable woods for industry
Last year I sold my OLP (officially licensed product, ie Chinese made Luke). Once set up and with the Luke EMGs installed, it was an amazing quality guitar. Stayed in tune, trem was responsive,... I didn't like the EMGs and the color was bluey Lukey and I disliked that. Unfortunately I could never get used to the 4/2 Head-stock - I guess that was the main reason for me to sell it. And that's the reason I never bought a musicman.
Oh, Darrell. After getting us all excited about this very good looking and sounding guitar with some nice features, and saying how it's a bargain compared to its big brother by Music Man (which is true), why did you make us have to go somewhere else to look up the price? So what did I learn? This very nice guitar, which has a few compromises to keep production costs down, is still way overpriced. A John Petrucci decal and a pretty finish does not make up for cheap nut, tuners and pots. As for surface-mounted back cavity covers, on a cheaper guitar that's not really an issue but making those flush would add eight seconds of CNC routing and a couple minutes of additional hand sanding. Without naming the obvious brands, plenty of other guitars offer better features and quality than this Sterling for the same money, or the same features and quality for considerably less. You know this.
I had a bad experience with the Sterling brand. I bought one about 2 years ago (rather expensive). The finishes were horrible on the one I received. Traces in the paint, twisted and not centered strap attachment, large traces of glue on the fingerboard and around the frets, tilted pickups due to badly placed foam, poorly sanded neck. The settings were also catastrophic. So I asked for an exchange but the new copy I received was even worse. For those wondering, they weren't fakes. I will never buy this brand again.
What is the neck like on these? I like the necks on the Cutlass ant CT30 CT50 models. Is the neck anything like those or is it super thin like Ibanez or Jackson?
I've been considering a sterling version of the majesty for awhile now but they're just expensive enough to make me really deliberate and usually I end up talking myself out of one. They sound great though, I have to wonder how the trem stays in tune. I've grown accustomed to having floyds on all of my guitars. I suppose if I bought one it would be the cerulean finish.
This particular model costs around 2000 euros here in Europe . At that point , i'd just buy a custom made guitar or an Ibanez Prestige/Custom for a better value/quality.
