SBMM JP100D Question

[chris osborne]

Hi everyone! I recently received a Sterling JP100D guitar as a gift from my wife. Does anyone know what type of material the saddles and sustain block are made from? I've been having somewhat of a strange issue in that for some reason the pick attack on this guitar is on the dull or muddy side. It seems to be a low-mid frequency in there that's making attack on fast picked runs on the neck pickup sound more like a dull thud than the typical "click" type sound. I can play any of my other guitars and it becomes immediately apparent. I've tried several types of pickups in the guitar(PAF Pro, Liquifire, Air Norton, EMG 81 & 85, SD Alpha), different strings and gauges, different picks, more and less springs, blocking the trem with wood and metal. Nothing seems to help much and it's seriously bumming me out because it's a gift from my wife and I don't want to sell or trade it off. I've considered changing the saddles to Callaham bent steel and trying the stone tone block. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

 

[chris osborne]

And I forgot to add. I have tried several other Sterling JP models and did not have this issue with any of them.

 

[chris osborne]

Could anyone give me an idea what the saddles are made of and if upgrading them might help the attack?

 

[Daniel]

I'm not sure the material the JP100D saddles are made of as we don't have SBMM specs here in the EBMM factory. They appear to be made of the same steel as most other SBMM guitars. Are the saddles sitting straight on the bridge plate? Nothing at an angle or tilted to one side? You mentioned that this was only on the neck pickups. Have you checked your pickup heights? If your pickups are too close to the strings, you may get some issues with the pickups interfering with the string vibration.

 

[chris osborne]

Thanks for the reply! I've had them in every position from low to high. Right now they're set at a medium height with good space between strings and the poles. I mentioned the neck as that is where the problem is most noticable. I have been unable to get that positive "click" of the pick attack when playing fast runs. It's kind of a dull, softer attack. A tech who checked it out told me it was likely just the resonance of this particular guitar. I've had some success with a parametric eq by pulling out some frequencies around 600. I've played quite a few SBMM jp guitars and none had this issue. I'm just lucky I guess, lol.

 

[chris osborne]

Everything is straight and aligned also.

 

[Daniel]

Everything is straight and aligned also.

Hi Chris,
Are you playing with your volume and tone knobs turned up to 10 or are you rolling them back at all?

 

[chris osborne]

Tone is disconnected and volume all the way up. I've had good luck this morning experimenting with a graphic eq. Took 400 down a bit and it's cleared things up a lot. I think that frequency was just drowning out my pick attack.

 

[Daniel]

Tone is disconnected and volume all the way up. I've had good luck this morning experimenting with a graphic eq. Took 400 down a bit and it's cleared things up a lot. I think that frequency was just drowning out my pick attack.

Glad to hear it's working out for you. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[chris osborne]

Thanks Daniel!

 

[chris osborne]

Thought I'd let you guys know that I got the actual problem sorted, just in case anyone else has a similar issue and goes searching for answers like I have. After researching the issue for a while I came across a good bit of stuff relating to sustain and the neck pocket. Not exactly my problem but closely related enough to be worth a look. So I removed the neck and discovered a bead of poly around the edge of the top neck pocket that was about a 1/16th thick! I couldn't believe it was so thick, lol. So sanded that down flush and then reattached the neck. Problem 100% solved! The difference in tone is just incredible. Went from being my worst to best sounding guitar in about 15 minutes.

 

[Another Noob]

Nice fix! I guess sometimes just taking a look a things can go a long way!

 

[threeminutesboy]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing!

 

[banjoplayer]

hui! crazy that a bead of poly made such a difference. Glad it worked out for you as you wanted the guitar to stay!