Designed in conjunction with Animals As Leaders virtuoso Tosin Abasi, the new Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen is quite likely like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Given its design team, it’s not surprising that Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario calls it “one of the coolest and most compelling guitars I’ve had the pleasure to come across.”
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00:00 [Guitar playing]
00:15 What's up? Paul here from Guitar World and today we're going to be checking out one of the coolest and most compelling guitars I've had the pleasure to come across.
00:22 The Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen. Let's check it out.
00:25 [Guitar playing]
00:34 The Kaizen is a guitar built in collaboration between the Ernie Ball Music Man design team and world-renowned guitarist, innovator, and designer Tosin Abasi from Animals as Leaders.
00:44 Because of Tosin Abasi's unique specifications and radical playing style, the Kaizen model has a wealth of forward-thinking design concepts that I want to point out. So let's get right to it.
00:54 [Guitar playing]
01:04 Ernie Ball Music Man has remarked that the Kaizen is decidedly contoured.
01:09 And sure, the first thing you'll notice once you pick up the Kaizen is its angular body carves with no flat surfaces lends itself to extreme comfort and balance along with unrestricted fret access.
01:21 Of note, the Kaizen is a multi-scale guitar from 24 ¾ to 25 ½ inches, E to B or 1st to 7th string.
01:31 This multi-scale design provides a supportive string tension for heavier and chunky rhythms on the bass strings along with a more elastic feel on the treble strings for smoother bending and solo playing.
01:42 [Guitar playing]
01:55 The guitar also features what Ernie Ball Music Man calls an infinity radius neck.
02:00 If you look closely, the guitar's conical radius is strategically positioned, which increases comfort while allowing for clearer visibility of the fretboard and the fret markers.
02:10 Up top, we have Steinberger gearless locking tuners that are not only aesthetically hidden behind the headstock, but are also super accurate lightweight tuners that have a smooth rotation and allow for a straight string pull.
02:23 [Guitar playing]
02:27 The guitar also features new Music Man pickups with a custom HT heat-treated humbucker in the bridge position and a slanted mini humbucker in the neck position that has been specifically designed for the Kaizen.
02:40 These are articulate high output pickups.
02:43 And since we're talking about multi-scale, the Kaizen features a multi-scale modern tremolo that's got a super smooth throw and features string dampeners to diminish any unwanted overtones and ring.
02:55 [Guitar playing]
03:10 The ultra lightweight Kaizen is offered with an alder body, flame-figured roasted maple neck, and ebony fingerboard and comes in Apollo black seen here or spectra flare finishes.
03:22 The Kaizen is available as a seven string with a six string model coming later in 2023.
03:28 [Guitar playing]
03:35 The Kaizen is without a doubt one of the most eye-catching and cutting-edge signature guitars I've seen from Ernie Ball Music Man since they introduced the revolutionary St. Vincent guitar.
03:45 The Kaizen is truly a visionary instrument with an inspiring design, extraordinary ergonomics, and absolutely killer tone and playability.
03:54 Once you pick it up, I can say it's difficult to put down.
03:57 There's frankly nothing quite like it and I believe it's meant for modern players who are willing to eschew the traditional and focus on pushing the boundaries of technique and sound.
04:07 Definitely check it out.
04:09 [Guitar playing]
04:18 [Music]
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