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John Petrucci is among Music Man's most distinguished endorsers.

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Music Man has a hugely impressive list of endorsees, none of whom has more signature models than John Petrucci of Dream Theater, a band whose international success and renown needs no underlining here. Petrucci's outstanding abilities require an exacting series of guitars and in 2010 we saw the introduction of the JPX to mark his 10-year association with the Californian company.

Now see the Music Man JPXI in action:

The development of JP's guitars is an ongoing process, and new for 2011 is the JPXI, complete with a number of refinements. Perhaps the most important and noticeable is the almost flat 508mm (20-inch) fingerboard radius.

"I wanted to go for a flatter fretboard, so we started with 20 inches and I just fell in love with it. The idea was to get a smoother feel."

Compare that to the 241mm (9.5-inch) radius of an American Standard Stratocaster, the 305mm (12- inch) of a Gibson, or the 305- 406mm (12-16-inch) conical radius of a Jackson DK1 Dinky, and you get the idea. In fact, the only other production electric we're aware of with such a flat radius is Allan Holdsworth's Carvin HF2.

"I wanted to go for a flatter fretboard, to do something drastic," explains Petrucci. "So we started with 20 inches to see what would happen and I fell in love with it. The idea was to get a smoother feel, and I'm all about making the guitar as easy to play as possible."

In addition, the stainless steel frets have been changed to a gauge that fits neatly between the wide, jumbo wire used with the JPX and the thinner, higher profile utilised on the BFR models.

"Another thing that we changed was the neck carve," continues Petrucci. "I was trying to get it so the neck was really not getting in your way, and it's actually slightly thinner than on any of my other guitars. The rear contour also changed, so it's more symmetrical. It's a taste thing and it's certainly not traditional, but it's really cool."