Music Man Jason Richardson | Cutlass HT - Kokiri Forest

It's always a treat receiving a new Jason Richardson Music Man into Peach, as they just look fantastic. Total class and total performance. This stunning Kokiri Forest finish model combines beautiful tonewoods, modern electronics and exceptional ergonomics to create a guitar built for extreme performance without compromise, whilst still looking extremely beautiful.

The body itself is a lightweight alder, with a stunning hand-selected buckeye burl top (which looks amazing against the green binding - see our side shot). Finished in high-gloss poly, the Kokiri Forest highlights the depth and complexity of the burl figuring. The double-cutaway Cutlass shape is perfectly balanced and sculpted for effortless access to all 24 stainless steel medium-jumbo frets - not surprising given the complexity of some of JR's material!

A roasted, figured maple neck is hand-shaped to Jason's preferred shallow carve, offering fast, modern playability with exceptional stability. The ebony fingerboard on this one is particularly dark, which looks ace. Also, thanks to the gunstock oil and hand-rubbed wax finish, the neck feels smooth and broken-in straight out of the case. Also the neck joint feels great thanks to the 5-bolt joint, for brilliant resonance transfer and maximum comfort.

The pickups in the guitar are the Jason Richardson HT humbuckers. These ceramic-magnet pickups are designed to sound killer with high-gain, deliver massive output, extended dynamic range and articulate note definition. They produces a powerful low-end response while retaining clarity at lower volumes, and the push/push tapped mode offers a richer, fuller, and more authentic single-coil tone than conventional coil-split designs, thanks to Music Man's clever HT technology. Check out the second video that we've embedded.

The onboard Music Man active preamp adds even more versatility. A push/push volume knob activates a factory-set 12 dB boost, adjustable up to 20 dB via an internal trim pot, which is perfect as a solo-boost or when you want to push your amp or amp-sim for extra saturation.

The hardware is of the highest quality, as is to be expected on an instrument of this quality. The Music Man floating trem works beautifully, staying in tune great without the hassle of locking system - especially as the guitar also uses Schaller MD-IND locking tuners.

It's well worth pointing out the advantages of buying this guitar through us. Not only does our studio photography reveal the beautiful burl top of this exact guitar, but you can also see how dark the fingerboard is and how beautiful the flame is on the back of the neck. Also, our full-time techs will meticulously set this instrument up so that it plays perfectly straight out the box. An instrument like this is built for technical precision, so why fall down at the last hurdle? In the time since this guitar was made in America, it's changed humidities and climates and undoubtedly the neck will have moved. Our techs will make sure that the neck, intonation and trem system are all done to perfection. This alleviates any risk when buying a top-class instrument such as this. Also, don't forget that if you use a custom tuning or string gauge you are welcome to get in touch with us after purchasing the instrument and we will accommodate your choice absolutely free of charge.

Lastly, also consider our Plek service, offered as an upgrade on this particular guitar. Whilst Music Man guitars are of the highest quality, they do not use a Plek machine, so we can remove any human tolerance in the frets and make sure that the guitar plays absolutely flawlessly from fret 1right to fret 24. Considering these frets are stainless steel and the guitar is designed to last you for a lifetime, this small investment may well be worth it. Please get in touch with our sales team if you have any further questions about anything.