JP12 Issues

[Kenji20022]

How fine a sandpaper did you use? I'm going to go that route with my tech tomorrow or whenever he gets a chance. And what polish also?

And that's not too bad if that's all I need to do, I'll set aside a few hours to make this 2500$ guitar playable. Because it's really not, I tried playing around with it a bit more and it's ridiculous how it'll go out of tune with a touch of the trem bar. It's still pretty lame that you got your JP7 and you needed to have work done on it to play it properly. Not everyone knows how or is even comfortable doing this kind of work for themselves, and I'd be weary trusting a tech if I had never known one. Luckily I have the best tech in town

And the springs on this one are relatively quiet, albeit I can still feel them resonating which isn't bad, but the large vibrations and noise are 90% gone on these trem springs. My literal only issue is tuning stability at this point.

On a more positive note, does anyone know what strings come on these from the factory? I'm incredibly surprised by their durability, I have slightly acidic sweat so I start seeing black spots on regular ernie ball strings very quickly. Usually within a couple of hours of playing.

Day 2, still have the same tuning issues. Stays decently in tune if I don't touch the trem and don't bend past a half step, which is stil pretty lame but I can play some chords on it for the time being.

 

[jvh]

I would take the guitar back until I got a good one. I wouldn't spend all this effort messing with it. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of guitar center and would return and buy from a different vendor. Even if a guitar looks sealed it still could have been a rack model. The question is whether it had the plastic around the guitar. Tuning stability as mentioned is either knife edges or improper float. Nut binding sounds like a factory issue. Anyways, I see this as a poor vendor problem. They should have checked the second guitar before giving to you. Anyways, just take it back and buy from someone else. I doubt you'll have any problems with a different vendor.

Oh and last but not least thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[histind]

How fine a sandpaper did you use? I'm going to go that route with my tech tomorrow or whenever he gets a chance. And what polish also?

I used 500 on the first pass, then polished with 1500. Also make sure to clean out the dust and other residue from the slot after sanding with a toothpick or something. Then apply lubricant and you're good to go (I use Super Vee Superglide, but you can make your own for next to nothing). Another important detail is that you do not want to deepen the slot, just widen and de-burr. So, you can fold over the paper so that you are only sanding the sides of the slot. Like I said, though, could take a few tries to get it right (i.e. perfect tuning stability).

I hear what you're saying about expecting a perfect setup, but as one of the mods already mentioned that is unreasonable considering what can happen to the guitar between the factory and your hands. If anyone attempts to set it up before you get your hands on it, you can expect some weird things (buzzing strings, f'ed up saddles, bad pickup pole piece adjustments, etc.). I also suspect that they aren't really putting the trem through its paces at the factory and probably just test a few dive bomb movements. There is a factory tour video on youtube that seems to confirm this. Granted, again, it is unreasonable to expect them to spend an hour or more getting the nut to be flawless on every guitar, IMO.

If you have a floating trem, this is something everyone should be able to do. You can't screw it up as long as you don't deepen the slot, and even then with 500+ grit paper you have to really bear down on the nut slot to deepen it. After doing this on a few guitars you will become as good as your tech at troubleshooting some of these minor tuning stability issues, and then you will be responding to people like your former self on a forum such as this!

 

[Kenji20022]

I would take the guitar back until I got a good one. I wouldn't spend all this effort messing with it. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of guitar center and would return and buy from a different vendor. Even if a guitar looks sealed it still could have been a rack model. The question is whether it had the plastic around the guitar. Tuning stability as mentioned is either knife edges or improper float. Nut binding sounds like a factory issue. Anyways, I see this as a poor vendor problem. They should have checked the second guitar before giving to you. Anyways, just take it back and buy from someone else. I doubt you'll have any problems with a different vendor.

Oh and last but not least thank you for sharing your experience.

Although that seems like the logical thing to do, this one simply has this tuning stability issue. Not that I don't believe in Musicman, but I don't want to have a 4th or a 5th due to a ding in the finish, or a piezo saddle dying like on my first and second ones. This one did in fact not have the plastic around the guitar, but even so it would be such a hard thing to overlook. The thing is, that I was the person to open the box first and play it myself, the guys at my Guitar Center didn't do a check on it I was the first person to touch the guitar that I know of. And no worries!

I used 500 on the first pass, then polished with 1500. Also make sure to clean out the dust and other residue from the slot after sanding with a toothpick or something. Then apply lubricant and you're good to go (I use Super Vee Superglide, but you can make your own for next to nothing). Another important detail is that you do not want to deepen the slot, just widen and de-burr. So, you can fold over the paper so that you are only sanding the sides of the slot. Like I said, though, could take a few tries to get it right (i.e. perfect tuning stability).

I hear what you're saying about expecting a perfect setup, but as one of the mods already mentioned that is unreasonable considering what can happen to the guitar between the factory and your hands. If anyone attempts to set it up before you get your hands on it, you can expect some weird things (buzzing strings, f'ed up saddles, bad pickup pole piece adjustments, etc.). I also suspect that they aren't really putting the trem through its paces at the factory and probably just test a few dive bomb movements. There is a factory tour video on youtube that seems to confirm this. Granted, again, it is unreasonable to expect them to spend an hour or more getting the nut to be flawless on every guitar, IMO.

If you have a floating trem, this is something everyone should be able to do. You can't screw it up as long as you don't deepen the slot, and even then with 500+ grit paper you have to really bear down on the nut slot to deepen it. After doing this on a few guitars you will become as good as your tech at troubleshooting some of these minor tuning stability issues, and then you will be responding to people like your former self on a forum such as this!

I'm going to a local shop and getting those materials, and just to clarify, by widening only sand the sides so that it doesn't get too low right? I'm going take it to my tech and have him check it out for me, if it for sure is the nut I will be sanding it myself. He has a long waitlist for his repairs so it would take a little while before he could get to it. I've actually been pretty confident about doing my own setups and repairs, but some of this stuff is still fairly new to me. We'll have to see how it progresses, thanks for the advice! I wouldn't know which grade of sandpaper to use.

 

[histind]

I'm going to a local shop and getting those materials, and just to clarify, by widening only sand the sides so that it doesn't get too low right? I'm going take it to my tech and have him check it out for me, if it for sure is the nut I will be sanding it myself. He has a long waitlist for his repairs so it would take a little while before he could get to it. I've actually been pretty confident about doing my own setups and repairs, but some of this stuff is still fairly new to me. We'll have to see how it progresses, thanks for the advice! I wouldn't know which grade of sandpaper to use.

Well, you can sand the bottom or trough of the slot, and probably should at least a little because you can have burrs or rough spots in that area too. I'm just cautioning you not to overdo it. At the same time, don't be worried you are going to screw it up because it is unlikely as long as you make small changes, test, and repeat. Err on the side of caution and you will get the best results!

Trem setup is relatively new to me as well, as I'm really a jazzer who plays archtops. Spend some time thinking about the mechanical construction of the trem, how it works, why it works, what surfaces the string contacts, where friction exists, etc. Those parameters are what you want to be aware of in order to make effective adjustments. For me, it really comes down to contact surfaces and friction. Bone (synthetic or otherwise) against a metal string produces more friction than teflon-impregnated plastic (ex. Graphtech Tusq nuts). So, you should expect binding if you haven't polished and lubricated the slots. Think about a wooden bridge on an archtop and how much friction exists there (metal on wood!). Even bending strings causes binding!

The other main point of contact that causes binding on an electric guitar are the saddles, but usually to a much less extent than the nut. If the guitar had string trees that would be another point to consider. I dive bomb my JP trem and the saddles have not developed burrs yet, so I would be surprised if that was a contributing factor on your guitar. But, you can check this out by loosening the strings and looking closely at the saddles. If the surface does not seem smooth you can de-burr and polish it to restore it back to factory specs.

 

[histind]

I wouldn't know which grade of sandpaper to use.

Just buy single sheets at your local hardware store if you don't have any. Here is the type I use for 500 grit:

3M Industrial Products Catalog: adhesives, tapes, abrasives and more: 3M

That paper is great for all kinds of stuff, and you can almost do the whole job with it because the grain smooths out as you sand. I use it as a nail file too for classical guitar playing, which was the original reason I purchased it. Apparently a lot of classical guys use it for this purpose, because as you file your nails it becomes a buffer and eventually a polisher. You can usually find it for around $1 a sheet. For the kind of sanding we are discussing, one sheet will last you a lifetime!

But, any brand will do just fine.

 

[mnwst]

I had the same issues with my JP6 BFR. I understand your frustration with trying to get an answer from someone who had the the same problems and not a bunch of guesses or excuses or the usual "just call CS" which is an obvious step. I felt the same that a $3000 guitar shouldnt have these issues. I bypassed GC where I bought it and sent mine back twice. The second time they got it right. They replace the nut. Done. Tuning was stable, crazy overtones disappeared, and it plays great. I'd be willing to bet its the nut. Some things I've done to further help- use Nut Sauce or something similar on the nut and trem pivot points. I also make sure the bridge is as even with body as possible with both the height and where it sits in its neutral position. It seems to help. I still have a dead fret that I've fixed by putting a Fender Fat Finger on the headstock. It helped a little, but I've learned to live with that. Best of luck!!

 

[T- Bone]

I'd see if you could get a shipping label from ebmm faxed to you and send them the guitar directly. I mean how much can shipping be?

 

[GoKart Mozart]

No joke...$35, tops.

I'd see if you could get a shipping label from ebmm faxed to you and send them the guitar directly. I mean how much can shipping be?

 

[Kenji20022]

No joke...$35, tops.

It's actually going to be around 50-60$ I reside in Florida so shipping to the West Coast does get bumped up a bit, especially since I wouldn't box this in a single cardboard box. Whenever I ship guitars up north or on the east coast it is around 20-35$ insured thankfully. That combined with the weight of the case would bump the price a bit up. I wouldn't have a problem if I had the extra cash, but I don't I saved up in a separate account for awhile to get this and my main checkings is for bills, and my main savings is for you know never being touched haha

But even then, like I said you can't expect to send in such an expensive piece in order to get it playable. No one should be expected to do that when they buy a brand new guitar. But I understand what everyone's saying, I'm just going to take this into my own hands and not spend more time waiting on a replacement. I'm buying the sandpaper today and I'm going to document it if I get a chance this week. Should be a clean operation!