Grrrrrr... Can NOT stop breaking strings on new JP15!

[QuietSpike]

Wolf--- apologies because we don't know you and know your experience... but...

is the bridge at the correct angle (level with the body)?

all the strings breaking? my first reaction would be to tell you to play softer as well. Let's assume that isn't the case!


I whammy the crud out of my strings, and don't have a problem with them (EBMM RPS regular Slinky 10s).

 

[wolfdogg]

Wolf--- apologies because we don't know you and know your experience... but...

is the bridge at the correct angle (level with the body)?

all the strings breaking? my first reaction would be to tell you to play softer as well. Let's assume that isn't the case!


I whammy the crud out of my strings, and don't have a problem with them (EBMM RPS regular Slinky 10s).

No apologies necessary.. definitely looking for any ideas so appreciate anything.
Yeah.. it's all the strings. The higher ones break more often but that makes sense, of course. The bridge sure looks like the correct angle to my untrained eye.
I really don't consider myself a hard player.. even though I am a rocker.
Here's a video of me playing my sweetheart to some VH. That's my normal style of play.. I went to a Steve Vai concert a few months ago and he made me feel like I was in pre-K for whammy bar dive-bombing.. hehe. I might get slightly more aggressive when playing a little Satch or something, but nothing too different.

On a good note, Graph Tech seems to think that PN-8000-00 pickups (which do have piezo) might do the trick. They said they're checking with their gear guy to be sure and will get back to me. Here's hoping!

 

[QuietSpike]

Doesn't look too crazy to me.

 

[kbaim]

Really enjoyed that playing Wolf.
Love VH's deeper cuts
I'm the One and Light Up the Sky on their next one really blew me away.
Good luck on the string issue

 

[ohdamnitsdevin]

great playing dude!

 

[wolfdogg]

Thanks, guys. Much appreciated! Feel the same way about those deep cuts, kbaim. So many.. so good!

 

[damo_512]

My jp15 kept breaking the high E string once a week after I restrung it for the first time. The string was actually slipping/unwinding off the ball ends. It wasn't as extreme as your string breaks sound like over all the strings, but after emailing CS back and forth, the thing that worked for me was doing a full setup from scratch. I followed the FAQ setup guide on the EB website. Maybe give that a go and see if it does anything.

 

[DrKev]

For vintage style saddles see this old thread of mine...

http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-b...heres-2-minute-fix-post940051.html#post940051

For Music Man piezo saddles, I would would certainly never take a file or sandpaper to the piezo transducer on top of the saddle and I be very careful about making sure that no tiny metal particles got in there either.

 

[wolfdogg]

Uh oh.. new prob. Can anyone explain what happened with my bridge? After breaking 2 strings at once today (never done that before), I looked down and the bridge looks to be a completely different angle and the strings are now laying on the frets. Any way to adjust this myself?

 

[MJM]

U have to put 6 strings on there and tune it to get the bridge to float correct. If you break strings, you are massively decreasing the tension of the strings against the springs and the springs win, bridge floats back. Is this your first floating bridge?

 

[wolfdogg]

Yes it is.. and I do get that.. I found it on the EB Setup page as well.. but it said the middle 4 should be enough to make the bridge float and I tuned those 4 and there was very little and couldn't pull up on the bar at all. I'll try all 6 though, as you suggested.. and see if that does it... here we go...

 

[Dead-Eye]

It doesn't say that (unless you're not looking at the thing I'm looking at). It says that 4 strings have enough tension to keep the bridge from falling off the posts, not to float it to the correct position. If that were the case it wouldn't be playable with all strings.

 

[wolfdogg]

I think you're right, Dead-Eye.. and it looks like the bridge is settling in now. I think it's written a bit confusing but this seems to be doing the trick. If you can understand my panic though.. I had never broke 2 strings at once.. and then to look down and see the bridge like that, I was completely confused! Again.. I've never had a floating bridge so apologies for the newb mistake with it. It all makes sense now. I'm using the opportunity to replace all the strings now as I just got my first set Ernie Ball RPS 10 so hoping they might be a little stronger.

 

[RicoSuave]

So I just did it again while practicing for tomorrow night's gig and simply playing guitar in my living room. My new JP15 is a few months old now and I can't stop breaking strings for anything. I break 1 to 2 every week.. usually high E or B though I have also broken the low E (last week for the first time) and a G once. I absolutely love this guitar and besides this issue, it's been everything I could have ever hoped it would be... so have been trying to convince myself there's nothing wrong and so have been buying different brands, and even tried moving from 9s to 10s. I still break them at the same rate... usually right down at the bridge. Something has got to be wrong, but what?! My old Sub 1 would go 9 months without breaking a string. I've got 6 other electric guitars and I've never seen anything close to this. I've hesitated calling tech support but guess I will... been fearful they will want me to ship the guitar back to look at it and I hate the thought.

Anyway... guess I'm just looking for suggestions. Anything I should try first or just give support a call and see what they say?

I've been having similar issues with the Low E, A, & D breaking. I own a Fender, Ibanez, PRS, & Gibson and never have that problem using my usual pick which is a Tortex Jazz III 1.5mm. Many visits to my guitar tech who has been working on guitars for 25 years, and still an issue. I've replaced piezo saddles and still have the issue. I have slid a piece of electrical wire insulation over the guitar strings of about 1" long, down to the ball hoping this would prevent the string from being sliced up by the trem block or anywhere on the path prior to reaching the piezo bar on the saddle. But the string would still break. I always assumed that the string was breaking somewhere before it reached the piezo bar that it rests atop. I WAS WRONG. After all that.... I think I figured out the issue. The wire insulation which sat from the string ball to right beneath where the string sits on the piezo bar of the saddle never had any sign of being cut up from anywhere in the string path before it connects. Thus, I believe the guitar string on the JP15 is being sawed and cut by the piezo bar while I am playing. JP 15 is different than all my other guitars, as the string is not fit into a notch which prevents the guitar string from moving laterally (sliding left and right in the guitar saddles.) I am using Ernie Ball Slinky 10-46 strings, and I put new ones on before every gig and the "wound" strings still break. The strings on my other guitars are fit into a notch which prevents the strings from moving latterally. While there is a small notch in the JP15 saddle right at the front of the piezo bar, it does not permit the wound strings to sit in that notch like the 3 highest strings kinda do. This is because the "wound" strings sit above the notch and are not being held in place by the notch. The saddle notch on my other guitars is deeper and the strings sit in that groove so there is no way for the strings to move latterally. Perhaps I am moving the strings laterally more than guitarists who play with a more flexible pick, but this does not result in breakage of these low strings on any of my other guitars as I use the same playing style. I think that this is an Ernie Ball defect in the JP15 saddle design because the saddles are not holding the strings in place from sawing across the piezo bar, especially when you are pushing downward on the trem bar. Those wound strings are cutting across the piezo blade and breaking. MY FIX?.. Not sure, but I ordered some lubrikit friction remover that I am going to apply to the string where it contacts the piezo. Not sure if it will affect the string sound. I will also pay attention to any scratches on the piezo bar and smooth them down with fine sand paper or a fine file. See my photos attached. You can see how I put the wire insulation onto my A-String. You can also see that the windings on the A-string are starting to come apart at the saddle before it is brokien. Look closely at that picture. Pictures of saddles of some other of my guitars

So I just did it again while practicing for tomorrow night's gig and simply playing guitar in my living room. My new JP15 is a few months old now and I can't stop breaking strings for anything. I break 1 to 2 every week.. usually high E or B though I have also broken the low E (last week for the first time) and a G once. I absolutely love this guitar and besides this issue, it's been everything I could have ever hoped it would be... so have been trying to convince myself there's nothing wrong and so have been buying different brands, and even tried moving from 9s to 10s. I still break them at the same rate... usually right down at the bridge. Something has got to be wrong, but what?! My old Sub 1 would go 9 months without breaking a string. I've got 6 other electric guitars and I've never seen anything close to this. I've hesitated calling tech support but guess I will... been fearful they will want me to ship the guitar back to look at it and I hate the thought.

Anyway... guess I'm just looking for suggestions. Anything I should try first or just give support a call and see what they say?