Crowyote
Active member
First of all let me tell you how much I love playing my Turquoise Pearl BFR JPX6 w/ the Roasted Maple neck. When I saw it (actually one of two hanging in my local GC's) I knew I had to have it. Then I played it, and it was unbelievable.
I first had my eyes on one at one store, and I played it a few times. Once I had the money I went back, and oddly the guitar was tuned a little more than a half step sharp and the 1st string wouldn't sound on the 1st fret! The only way I thought that could have happened, was if the guitar was dropped forward on its headstock. So I nixed that one. Then I played the one at the Richardson store, and found it a dream to play, so I bought it.
No.1
I noodled around with it for a bit enjoying the piezo settings especially, and I took it to a tech to get it setup, and to figure out the exact settings on the vibrato. One thing I came across is that every day the guitar would be out of tune, mostly going a few cents sharp. I figured the issues might have been the vibrato.
When I got the guitar back it played great the first day, but the next day I tuned up and found it had gone about a quarter step sharp. It still was fairly playable, but I took it back to my tech immediately just to check. His only remark was "I can't believe the neck moved so much in one day." I asked him if it was our rampant East Texas humidity, and he said "maybe."
It still had the same problems going up and down in it's tuning, but generally not as drastic. I took it back once again to adjust string height and another to get the pickups modded, but by then he was too fed up having seen me 3 times in as many weeks and turned down the last job.
Could the tuning issue have to do with the fact that I am using 11's on a floating tremolo with only 3 springs in the back? Or is the issue that the Roasted Maple absorbs excessive moisture from the air and moves a bit? The neck has a nice smooth finish (wax based?) on it, so I imagine it's not too absorbent.
What makes me wonder about the springs/vibrato is that sometimes when I bend the strings about a whole step I hear a sound like the springs vibrating, resonating, or creaking. I'm planning to put Helix 11's on it (which are slightly heavier than normal 11's), and eventually move up to nylon-wrapped basses with treble 12's so if the problem is vibrato-spring related I'd like to know.
I love the feel of the neck more than any solid-body electric I've played, so I'm hoping it's not a neck problem. The neck feels very similar to a classical and totally different from the smaller neck on the normal Barolo JPX6, which I played at GC.
No. 2
I also have had a weird problem when I run the guitar in stereo: The piezo channel makes a hissing or muffling sound if the cable coming out of the pickup channel moves at all. I've gotten around it by looping a rt. angled jack cable through my strap to forestall any movement, and it works for now.
The tech I'm currently talking to said this might be a warranty issue. I'm planning to heavily mod the pickups, route the body cavity (for Duncan's) and and put in pickup rings. I imagine any modifications will void the warranty, so I wanna get the "muffling sound" handled correctly first. Is this a warranty/customer service issue?
No.3
If I put in the pickup rings, will the neck pickup ring be too close to the truss rod adjuster on the base of the neck?
No.4
And lastly: What tool is used to adjust the truss rod? I don't think I got one of these with the guitar and BFR case, either that or my first tech forgot to return it.
I first had my eyes on one at one store, and I played it a few times. Once I had the money I went back, and oddly the guitar was tuned a little more than a half step sharp and the 1st string wouldn't sound on the 1st fret! The only way I thought that could have happened, was if the guitar was dropped forward on its headstock. So I nixed that one. Then I played the one at the Richardson store, and found it a dream to play, so I bought it.
No.1
I noodled around with it for a bit enjoying the piezo settings especially, and I took it to a tech to get it setup, and to figure out the exact settings on the vibrato. One thing I came across is that every day the guitar would be out of tune, mostly going a few cents sharp. I figured the issues might have been the vibrato.
When I got the guitar back it played great the first day, but the next day I tuned up and found it had gone about a quarter step sharp. It still was fairly playable, but I took it back to my tech immediately just to check. His only remark was "I can't believe the neck moved so much in one day." I asked him if it was our rampant East Texas humidity, and he said "maybe."
It still had the same problems going up and down in it's tuning, but generally not as drastic. I took it back once again to adjust string height and another to get the pickups modded, but by then he was too fed up having seen me 3 times in as many weeks and turned down the last job.
Could the tuning issue have to do with the fact that I am using 11's on a floating tremolo with only 3 springs in the back? Or is the issue that the Roasted Maple absorbs excessive moisture from the air and moves a bit? The neck has a nice smooth finish (wax based?) on it, so I imagine it's not too absorbent.
What makes me wonder about the springs/vibrato is that sometimes when I bend the strings about a whole step I hear a sound like the springs vibrating, resonating, or creaking. I'm planning to put Helix 11's on it (which are slightly heavier than normal 11's), and eventually move up to nylon-wrapped basses with treble 12's so if the problem is vibrato-spring related I'd like to know.
I love the feel of the neck more than any solid-body electric I've played, so I'm hoping it's not a neck problem. The neck feels very similar to a classical and totally different from the smaller neck on the normal Barolo JPX6, which I played at GC.
No. 2
I also have had a weird problem when I run the guitar in stereo: The piezo channel makes a hissing or muffling sound if the cable coming out of the pickup channel moves at all. I've gotten around it by looping a rt. angled jack cable through my strap to forestall any movement, and it works for now.
The tech I'm currently talking to said this might be a warranty issue. I'm planning to heavily mod the pickups, route the body cavity (for Duncan's) and and put in pickup rings. I imagine any modifications will void the warranty, so I wanna get the "muffling sound" handled correctly first. Is this a warranty/customer service issue?
No.3
If I put in the pickup rings, will the neck pickup ring be too close to the truss rod adjuster on the base of the neck?
No.4
And lastly: What tool is used to adjust the truss rod? I don't think I got one of these with the guitar and BFR case, either that or my first tech forgot to return it.
