Ernie Ball Music Man: San Luis Opisbo Trip
Published on 13 June 2025
3 hours up the coast from Los Angeles lies the beautiful coastal town of San Luis Obispo. Part of the iconic Big Sur route and close to the famous Hearst Castle, SLO as the locals call it is a place of relaxed, Californian beauty.
It's also home to Ernie Ball Music Man. Formerly two separate companies, Music Man was bought out by string manufacturer Ernie Ball, led by Ernie’s son Sterling Ball in 1984. Music Man had initially been Leo Fender’s first post-Fender guitar company (he started off as a silent partner), but Leo hit the road in the late 70s to begin G&L back in Fullerton, California.
Since then, Music Man guitars and basses have been the premier choice for players such as John Petrucci, Eddie Van Halen, St Vincent and many more.
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guitarguitar and Music Man
Here at guitarguitar, we’ve been passionate stockists and supporters of the Music Man brand. In fact, I can remember on my very first day as a staff member, laying hands on an amber finished MM Axis guitar and fully understanding what all the hype was about! That was a long time ago, and Music Man’s commitment to quality and unique design has continued unfalteringly since.
From the most affordable Sterling Intro guitars to the beyond-boutique Ball Family Reserve (BFR) models, we are fully onboard with the Music Man vision.
In fact, a month or so ago, a few team members headed out to SLO in order to see the factory, choose some special guitars and colours, and generally deepen our relationship with one of our favourite guitar and bass brands.
The Music Man Factory Tour
After an evening at the frankly eye-popping Madonna Inn - a place that would cause even Hunter S Thompson to question reality - our team embarked on a single day trip to the Music Man premises. San Luis Obispo is an easy to navigate town that sits just above Avila beach.
Apparently some couple called Harry and Megan live close by, but we had better things to do. A quick walk along Earthwood Lane (what came first, the street name or the strings?) brings you to Ernie Ball Music Man’s HQ.
Escorting us through the MM premises was Billy Imperial, the company’s head of international sales. Billy took us through each department, stopping to check out the process of turning choice timber into world-class guitars.
We saw Bird Bird, the automated CNC/routing robot who roughs out and prepares neck and body blanks 24/7. Big Bird saves a lot of labour time, but expert hands-on luthery is still very much the name of the game here. Carefully programmed machines operate in tandem with artisans all under one roof.
Woods are stained by hand, sanding is done by hand, and fretwork is carried out by hand. A hundred extra little tasks - the difference between a good guitar and a great one - have human hands behind them.
The jobs that are carried out by machine still have a dedicated, experienced human being programming and supervising the machine in order to produce the very best results, time after time. This is what makes Music Man guitars feel absolutely unreal.
A popular attraction was the belt sander that creates radii on fingerboards. Another was the desk of a certain ex-employee named Leo Fender:
And we had to stop and photograph the ‘hot glue pile’, an ever-hot and ever-sticky mountain of molten glue into which employees dap guitar parts for hand-joining.
The Colour Wall
Take a look at this: what are these odd contraptions on the wall? They look like sparkly rotisserie chickens, don’t they?
Well, these are effectively Music Man colour swatches, painted onto identical ‘chicken’ shapes in order to show off natural highlights and shadows of contours. Our guys were here to select some finishes for a forthcoming order, and this room allows anybody to understand exactly how a colour ‘performs’ in real life.
The Wait
We will now have to wait around 6-10 months to see the fruits of our labours. We’ve ordered some special guitars with some amazing finishes, and we cannot wait to show them to you! That said, the best things come to those who wait, and I’ve never been one for ruining a good surprise, so you’ll have to wait with us!
It’ll be worth it, I promise. The relationship between guitarguitar and Music Man was already fantastic, and now it’s even better. We’ll be bringing you some of the most incredible Music Man guitars and basses ever: the perfect mixture of precision and expert hand-making.
There are some very cool things coming soon from SLO, so keep an eye out on the guitarguitar website for up-to-the-minute news as soon as it is available!
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