New JP6 owner: general questions

[Grathan]

I really like my new Music Man guitar. I have some questions if someone knowledgeable can help me out.


A whammy dive on piezo only cuts out half way down. Do other jp-6 guitars do this or just mine?

Can the pickup height be adjusted? Why do they come installed so low? Is it to balance a weak piezo signal?

The pickups sound pretty lame even compared to my cheap rg350dx. Is this a general concensus and if so, what are a favourite replacement pickup combo?

The dealer that sold the guitar said it had a lifetime warranty against defects. Is this true?

 

[bdtunn]

I just replaced my bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan sh-15 and it did round out the sound a bit. I am finding that my guitar was sounding like a strat (something I hate). Anyway I put in the new pickup and it sounds better but still has this "twang" to it. I have heard other models and they sound a lot fuller. So I'm not sure if this is how it is or if we got some bad wiring. I hope someone can comment on this as when I got the pickup replaced at the shop they looked at me like I was killing the guitar.
PS new to the board with a lefty JP6 white with the rosewood neck!

 

[ScoobySteve]

Hello, welcome to the boards!

Yes, since the piezo pick ups are located in the tremolo (they're the little "seats" in the saddles) you cannot dive the tremolo and piezo at the same time. It's just the nature of its function, nothing out of the ordinary.

However, what is out of the ordinary is your comments about the stock JP6 pups. If you do believe there is something wrong, please contact customer service:


[email protected]
866-823-2255
805-544-0821

They are the best in the business and will be the most effective, and efficient in helping you guys sort out your problems, if there are any.

The only reason why I stately thusly is that the D-Sonic Dimarzio pups in the bridge are EXTREMELY hot. So if they're sounding undercutting, lame, or weak to you, then I suppose something is wrong.

ANyways, welcome to the forums, stick around!

 

[ShaneV]

The bridge pickup is set really low IMO. I shimmed it with some rubber tubing around the mounting screws and it improved the tone 1000%

 

[bkrumme]

A whammy dive on piezo only cuts out half way down. Do other jp-6 guitars do this or just mine?

Completely normal. Check out this link: The piezo doesn't work when I dive-bomb. Why? | Music Man Guitars | F.A.Q.

Can the pickup height be adjusted? Why do they come installed so low? Is it to balance a weak piezo signal?

The pickups are meant to be direct-mounted to the body. I agree with Steve. If they don't sound right, Customer Service can help. The D-Sonic in my JP6 sounds awesome and is at its factory location...

Also, the piezo is far from weak. If it sounds weak, check your battery. If it's still weak after that, call Customer Service.

The dealer that sold the guitar said it had a lifetime warranty against defects. Is this true?

Your guitar should have come with a Warranty card if you purchased it new. I'd read that bad boy. If you didn't get one, call Customer Service.

 

[GHWelles]

The pickups sound pretty lame even compared to my cheap rg350dx. Is this a general concensus and if so, what are a favourite replacement pickup combo?

Wow, I love those pickups [but I do have the earlier JP6] model. I even bought Steve's Special to drop in the bridge of one of my other guitars based on the sound of the JP6 bridge pup.

 

[bdtunn]

I called customer service. It's weird looking through the reviews of this guitar and hearing others tone, it's a reallt fat sounding guitar. Mine however sounds like it's stuck with the toggle inbetween the back and mid position. I hope this can be solved as I love to play it unplugged and for blues passages (dosn't happen a lot). If it turns out to be a wiring problem I'd like to stick the D-sonic back in.

 

[ScoobySteve]

I called customer service. It's weird looking through the reviews of this guitar and hearing others tone, it's a reallt fat sounding guitar. Mine however sounds like it's stuck with the toggle inbetween the back and mid position. I hope this can be solved as I love to play it unplugged and for blues passages (dosn't happen a lot). If it turns out to be a wiring problem I'd like to stick the D-sonic back in.

If that happens to be the case, I'd do this to. The D-Sonic will surprise you. Seriously will.

On the mid position (split) its surprising how you can get some killer blues tones from it.

Good luck mate.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I renovated a JP and the previous owner had shimmed the Pickups to raise the height this made a lot of difference to the pick up sound.
It blows my Les Paul out of the water.

Piezo problem has been addressed here - you need good tension over the Piezo saddles - when you bomb the trem, you will lose the tension and therefore the piezo signal

 

[bdtunn]

Turns out they are going to send me a new switch set up. I hope that clears this up. Grathan you might want to look into this as well if you are having the same issue. I'm going to stick the D-sonic back in for another try. Turns out the poles on the duncan don't match up with the strings.
Customer service was great they got back to me in a matter of hrs. I spoke to Dan who was recomended as the guy to talk to.

 

[Stevie]

No pictures no guitar...btw, i just wanted to get my 100th post. Ha!

 

[DaPatrooch]

A wiring problem might have definitely been the case. I had a bad connection to the volume knob to the bridge pickup in my Sub1, and it sounded like someone had rolled the volume knob off about halfway. I fixed it easily though.

 

[Grathan]

THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

I will try shimming the pickups. I will call for a warranty card, is it lifetime warranty?


What about the pots. My volume pot travels halfway with very little sound then bursts open at the last 1/5th of the turn. This could be the nature of audio taper? Has anyone replaced their pots or the tone cap to their liking?


Any bad experiences with switching to .009's?

 

[bkrumme]

My volume pot travels halfway with very little sound then bursts open at the last 1/5th of the turn.

You really need to contact CS about these issues you're having. They WILL get them sorted out for you. The volume pot issue is likely caused by the same thing as the weak output is. These are symptoms of something else which is going on inside your guitar. It could be something really simple that you're ignoring by trying to change things instead of fixing what's causing the issues.

Let me give you an example: There is a pot in your guitar which was marked at the manufacturer with an improper value. So instead of having a 250kOhm pot, you have a 25kOhm pot in your guitar with passive humbuckers. This is going to weaken the output of the guitar. Instead of swapping out this pot for a new 250k, you raise the height of the pups, try a different tone cap, and put in a different pup. None of these things solves the fundamental problem which is that there is an improper value pot in the guitar. So the guitar seems "plagued" by issues which could have been solved with a little insight and a call to Customer Service...

I'm not saying this is your issue, there are a number of things it could be. Just remember it's not always a fault in the manufacture or setup of the instrument.

 

[Grathan]

You really need to contact CS about these issues you're having. They WILL get them sorted out for you. The volume pot issue is likely caused by the same thing as the weak output is. These are symptoms of something else which is going on inside your guitar. It could be something really simple that you're ignoring by trying to change things instead of fixing what's causing the issues.

Let me give you an example: There is a pot in your guitar which was marked at the manufacturer with an improper value. So instead of having a 250kOhm pot, you have a 25kOhm pot in your guitar with passive humbuckers. This is going to weaken the output of the guitar. Instead of swapping out this pot for a new 250k, you raise the height of the pups, try a different tone cap, and put in a different pup. None of these things solves the fundamental problem which is that there is an improper value pot in the guitar. So the guitar seems "plagued" by issues which could have been solved with a little insight and a call to Customer Service...

I'm not saying this is your issue, there are a number of things it could be. Just remember it's not always a fault in the manufacture or setup of the instrument.

My experiences with cusomter service have probably taken years off of my life. Nothing against Music Man, but unless your problem is commom (which I am trying to figure out) you may get bad advice from a single individual who is just paid to answer phones who will probably just refer me back to the place that sold the guitar. OR I could ask a whole group of people who actually own the same guitar and actually play guitar and some of which might have even changed the pots out to 500ks and noticed a big improvement in the tone of the pickups.

Are you saying your volume pot gradually increaes in volume throughout it's entire path then?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Call Ernie Ball CS toll free! 866-823-2255 they are fantastic and a real person answers the phone.

And yes, the volume pot should be a gradual taper, although the last bit is a bit more sensitive.

 

[bkrumme]

My experiences with cusomter service have probably taken years off of my life.

I understand why you may be skeptical about CS since most of the time we get some call center in India or China and they're not really useful. But Ernie Ball CS isn't your typical Customer Service department. They can and will actually help. They have guys there who really know what's going on.

Are you saying your volume pot gradually increaes in volume throughout it's entire path then?

Like Pete said above, it is gradual throughout the taper of the pot, but at the end it is a little faster. This is a Logarithmic taper (audio) potentiometer after all. The taper is kinda like a concave curve from one end to the other. Check out this link: Potentiometers (Beginners' Guide to Pots)

Depending on your amp, effects, etc. the taper could be dulled or accentuated. For instance, on the high gain channel on my Bogner Uberschall it sounds like you described above, but on the clean channel with overdrive I can get some really cool swells that sound more "natural." The overall "level" of your signal will affect this as well.

 

[Dante]

THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

I will try shimming the pickups. I will call for a warranty card, is it lifetime warranty?


What about the pots. My volume pot travels halfway with very little sound then bursts open at the last 1/5th of the turn. This could be the nature of audio taper? Has anyone replaced their pots or the tone cap to their liking?


Any bad experiences with switching to .009's?

dude, get the axe fixed before shimming anything. The D-Sonic is set so low is because it has tons of output, treble and attack(hey, it's a ceramic!) and if you raise it, you'll get even more of all three. it's going to get harder to play cleanly if you put it too high, the added attack will add noise to the start of each note and will drop off quickly thereafter, making metal crunch that much harder. i play with emgs on my other main axe and if you find the pups lame:

you got chronic GAS!
or your axe needs a medic!
or your hands might need a bit more time adjusting to the finnicky playing of the jp6. don't forget who designed the guitar in the first place.



but it's probably that first one...

 

[MikeVt]

My experiences with cusomter service have probably taken years off of my life. Nothing against Music Man, but unless your problem is commom (which I am trying to figure out) you may get bad advice from a single individual who is just paid to answer phones who will probably just refer me back to the place that sold the guitar. OR I could ask a whole group of people who actually own the same guitar and actually play guitar and some of which might have even changed the pots out to 500ks and noticed a big improvement in the tone of the pickups.

Are you saying your volume pot gradually increaes in volume throughout it's entire path then?

I would normally agree with you - but EB truly is different here. Most of the CS folks are even members of the board and post frequently. Bottom line, they are part of that 'whole group of people' you were referring to. You won't find that with outsourced CS...

Mike