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I've considered buying some type of EBMM guitar for a while now, and, having recently sold a guitar with the intention of using the money to buy something new, I was trying to decide what I wanted to buy. I considered many different things, I looked at the Sweetwater Exclusive Koa topped Gibson SG Supreme, but I couldn't really justify buying one because the middle pickup seems unnecessary (and like it would be in the way) and I already own an SG Modern. I also looked at a lot of guitars from Suhr, as I know they have a reputation for building very high quality instruments. However I did not care for the neck spec on every single guitar they make (1.650" nut width - I didn't want to buy a guitar that is going to throw off my playing on every other guitar I own, which all have roughly a 1.67" - or wider - nut). Finally, after looking at probably 50 or more guitars from a variety of manufacturers - at a minimum - I found the EBMM Sabre HT, and I thought the Grape Slushie color looked amazing - at least in pics. I also really liked what I saw when I looked at the specs - so I finally decided I was going to take the leap of faith on the Grape Slushie Sabre HT!First and foremost, it has a nut width that is consistent with virtually every other guitar I own, it has an unbelievably gorgeous roasted flame Maple figured neck, it has absolutely amazing feeling stainless steel frets that make the strings feel like they are gliding on Teflon or something, and the overall craftsmanship, fit and finish, and set up straight out of the box is unparalleled. I've bought quite a few guitars over the years and that includes high priced Gibsons (which I still love, but I always have to do a setup on them whenever I buy one new - not that that is a huge deal), custom shop guitars, etc. The Sabre HT is the only guitar I've ever had show up at my door with the neck relief set at less than 5 thousandths of an inch (I personally prefer the neck to be as flat as a guitar will let me set it, and that's basically how the Saber HT was set up when I received it. The action over the 12th fret was set at 1.25mm on both the bass and treble sides, intonation was also dead on straight out of the box). The flame Maple top is also absolutely gorgeous, and I absolutely love the look of the EBMM's use of the natural unpainted edge of the Maple top as "binding" around the top of the body. Now, how does the guitar feel and play? Well let me just say it feels and plays fantastic! The neck is a smidge thinner than I'm accustomed to but that's not problematic or a huge deal in my book. If you're using proper technique it shouldn't really affect your ability to play the guitar. As I already mentioned the frets are a wonder in and of themselves. I have other guitars with stainless steel frets but they don't feel nearly as smooth as the ones on the Sabre HT. Apparently, the ones on my other guitar with SS frets need a bit more polishing or something. But I digress, the neck feel and overall playability of the guitar is amazing. This is also a fantastic sounding guitar, I really love that they use a five-way pickup switch on this guitar, which allows for coil splits on positions two and four, with positions one, three and five being your basic three-way switch settings on the average HH guitar. Position two gives an unbelievably convincing Telecaster-style twang and position 4 gives a unbelievably convincing Stratocaster-style "neck and middle" sound. And both the neck and Bridge humbuckers sound fantastic on their own as well! Also, the push-push knob on the volume that can provide up to 20 DB of clean boost is a fantastic feature. It's great for when you need just a little more oomph going into your amp to get it to start to break upWhen it comes right down to it I can't really find anything to complain about at all on this guitar. Like PRS, they use a headstock design that keeps the strings oriented directly into the nut, as opposed to the standard 3x3 configuration commonly found on guitars like Gibsons or Martins, which obviously require a pretty severe angle to be cut in the nut for the G & D strings. The fret work on the guitar is flawless, and, again similar to a PRS, the 10" radius neck (no compound radius here) feels great all the way up and down the neck and still allows for easy string bending with no choke out or other issues.. Upper fret access is also quite good, I've played guitars that have better upper fret access but I've also played a lot of guitars with considerably worse access, so there's nothing to complain about there in my opinion. Bottom line, if you're looking for an extremely versatile solid body guitar that is also beautiful, obviously made with extreme attention to detail, in my opinion something made by Music Man is it. While not as cheap as mosr Fenders or some Gibsons, EBMM is considerably cheaper than a PRS Core model - while having, in my opinion, a similar level of quality to PRS. If you're considering buying any Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, my only advice to you would be to check the specs carefully for the different models and, specifically, look at the nut width to make sure that you'll be getting a guitar with string spacing that suits what you are either wanting or are already accustomed to. If you are the kind of person who generally likes Gibson style necks, you definitely want to look for that specification because some models do have a significantly slimmer nut than the Sabre HT (the Luke 4 model, for example, has a 1.625" nut). Bottom line though, I could not be happier with the Saber HT! It absolutes hits all the bullet points for what I was looking for in a new guitar in my collection. It doesn't sound like anything else I own (I currently own eight electric guitars and while six of them are HH config guitars, two of which are semi-hollow, almost all of those guitars have vintage style "PAF replica" humbuckers, which is obviously not the case with the Sabre HT - the Sabre is definitely a more modern sounding guitar with considerably higher output pickups than any "PAF" style pickup). The push-push volume pot that allows for up to 20 DB of clean boost is a surprisingly useful feature, and the roasted flame Maple figured neck and Flame top absolutely make for an unbelievably gorgeous guitar. If you are in the market for a quality guitar and you don't want to pay $5k+ for a PRS Core model, you should definitely check out Ernie Ball Music Man. You might want to consider Ernie Ball Music Man even if you were planning on buying a PRS Core guitar (to my knowledge , there are no production model PRS Core guitars with a figured Maple neck AND stainless steel frets). I know that my expectations were thoroughly blown out of the water by the EBMM Sabre HT! I would absolutely recommend the EBMM Sabre HT to anyone looking for a high quality solid body electric guitar with a lot of truly modern appointments! If there is anything at all I would have liked to have gotten on the Saber HT that it does not have, it would be a 24 fret neck - but, in all honesty, how often do you really need those extra two frets?

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