John Petrucci and Ernie Ball are developing an 8-string Majesty in time for the new Dream Theater album

Ernie Ball Music Man recently announced its mouthwatering 2020 line of John Petrucci signature models. Now the Dream Theater electric guitar player has dropped the news that there’s something even juicier in the works – the first-ever Majesty eight-string guitar design.

In a recent interview with Japan’s Young Guitar magazine, Petrucci revealed, “One of the things I’ve talked about for a while now, there have been rumors, the rumors are correct, is the development of an eight-string model. Why not add one more string?

“So specifically, we are going to come out with an eight-string Majesty model, and that is something that’s being developed, it’s been a project that we’ve been working on, myself and the engineers at Ernie Ball Music Man, and it should be ready in some form, even if it’s a prototype, for me to be able to use on the next Dream Theater album.

“I’m looking forward to that. It’s going to be, as all the Ernie Ball Music Man instruments are, it’s gonna be amazing. It will be the best, it’ll be an incredible eight-string."

Petrucci went on to say that he sees the new design as an opportunity to push out on the extremes of his playing.

“For me, I don’t play eight-string guitar – I never really played one, so I’m looking it as an opportunity to experiment with a brand-new instrument, very much the way when I got my first seven-string was when Dream Theater was in the studio writing for the Awake album, and I got a seven-string, and we wrote The Mirror right off the bat.

“I’m looking for that same kind of inspiration from the eight, so I’ll treat it, the development of the guitar from my own perspective as a player, my own experience, and I’m looking forward to that.

“So look out for that, an Ernie Ball Music Man JP signature eight-string, coming sometime soon.”

We will, John, we will.

Of course, Trooch isn't the only shred lord looking to explore the eight-string's potential. Earlier this year, Steve Vai revealed he's planning an entire album of eight-string material.