Even playing the Monarchy Series Majesty through a tiny amp will still melt a room. The tones are so clear; no hum at all to the guitar, and the built-in gain boost just destroys everything. John Petrucci has put all of his experiences as a guitar player and performer for the last 35 years into the making of this instrument. The technology and design involved in the Majesty shines through from the mind of a true player. I enjoyed going through and discovering all that the Majesty has to offer.

AT A GLANCE

• Africa Mahogany neck through body
• Ebony fretboard 25 1/2-inch scale, 17-inch radius, 24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets with mirrored acrylic inlay 
• Available in 4 translucent finishes; Black Knight, Majesty Purple, Royal Red, Imperial Blue
• Stereo and mono settings
• Schaller M6-IND locking tuners 
• Floating tremolo with Piezo pickup
• 2 DiMarzio Sonic Ecstasy humbuckers
• Pre amp 20 db of gain push/push volume control
• Tone knob with push/push coil splitter

FEATURES

When learning about this guitar, I felt like I was trying to get through a new IOS system. The cut out is different than most guitars, carved in deep to the body so you can reach that 24th fret. The entire guitar is one piece of African mahogany blended together with a Honduran mahogany neck. There are many options of sounds with only three push/push knobs and two toggle switches. The two humbuckers can be split on the inner coils by pushing in the tone knob, swooping out your mids for that lead riff. Having a built-in preamp boost gets that fat bottom distortion, no pedals needed. The top toggle switch controls the Piezo pickups built into the saddle of the floating tremolo bridge. 

PIEZO PICKUPS

On top of having a guitar that looks like a Volkswagen race car with just as many features, you can make it sound like an acoustic with the flip of a switch. Piezo pickups work by picking up the vibrations of the string and resonance of the wood. Normally used on acoustic nylon stringed instrument (since normal magnetic pickups can’t pick up nylon), these pickups are built into the bridge to receive the vibrations. They typically use a type of compressed crystal, yet another reason why guitars are magic. 

With the stereo output, you can route into a second amp to have the piezo pickup play out separately as if playing two guitars at once. The tone of the “acoustic” string vibration comes out very bright and metallic, while the humbuckers fill out the lower register. On the back of the guitar there is a panel that controls the mono settings, as well as a battery pack to power the piezo pickup.

TO WRAP IT UP

The new 2019 Monarchy Series Majesty is priced for the player who needs a guitar that plays and sounds as majestic as it looks.  At $3,299.00 you can count on the craftwork to shine above the rest. With a custom signature on the headstock, there really is no other guitar quite like this one.