New Music Man

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the company churned out many more tone monsters, some of which were created in collaboration with the likes of Albert Lee, Steve Lukather, John Petrucci, and Benji Madden. Music Man worked with Steve Morse on his first signature guitar in the late '80s and also built the original Eddie Van Halen signature guitar.

The company's second chapter began in 1984 when it was sold to Ernie Ball, whose innovations to the guitar string had already brought him success. Ernie's son, Sterling Ball, eventually became the owner of what is now called the Ernie Ball Music Man Company. A respected bassist himself, Sterling had been involved in the business—even testing prototypes of the StingRay bass for Leo Fender as a teen. Under Sterling's direction, the Sterling series was introduced in 1993 and named most innovative bass by Musician magazine. Collaborating with designers from BMW, the company created the distinctively shaped Bongo bass in 2003. Close>