High E Choking

[Mork2112]

I setup my JP60 action similar to Petrucci specs - pretty flat neck, low action. Everything is great but the High E around the 12th fret...I'm wondering if I have a high fret somewhere?

I could raise the action, but you know what? I find bending on the JP60 to be very hard - I use the same strings on my Les Paul with a 50's neck and its WAY easier to bend - nice and slinky. On this JP60 it feels like I'm trying to bend up barb wire it feels 'that tight'. Its hard to explain.

I don't want to raise the action for this exact reason.

In the video, would you consider that acceptable for really low action?

Any tips?

 

[Etudica]

What strings? 9s? If the JP60 is the same as the EBMM JPs, then it comes with 10s and 3 trem springs. If you change to 9s or smaller you can remove one of the trem springs. A lot of us set up the remaining two springs in a "V" pattern, or I guess it would look like. I don't have a pic of mine handy but if you do a search on the forum or a google search you'll find a bunch of threads on this with pics. This would be step one to get a slinkier feel.

 

[DrKev]

I setup my JP60 action similar to Petrucci specs - pretty flat neck, low action. Everything is great but the High E around the 12th fret...I'm wondering if I have a high fret somewhere?

I could raise the action, but you know what? I find bending on the JP60 to be very hard - I use the same strings on my Les Paul with a 50's neck and its WAY easier to bend - nice and slinky. On this JP60 it feels like I'm trying to bend up barb wire it feels 'that tight'. Its hard to explain.

I don't want to raise the action for this exact reason.

In the video, would you consider that acceptable for really low action?

Any tips?

First, JP's action is crazy low and he puts up with fret buzz that many other people will find unacceptable. This is always a compromise. In my humble opinion some string buzz is acceptable provided it is not intrusive when actually playing real music. That's ultimately up to your ears to decide.

Second, sometimes slightly higher action is easier to bend and play. Try it, you may be surprised.

Third, a Les Paul has a shorter scale length (nut to saddle distance) than a JP. The Les Paul will feel like it has lower tension with the same string gauge.

I'd suggest first measuring up the string height and neck relief on your Les Paul (because you know that works well for your unique playing style/technique) and try to replicate that on the JP, at least as a starting point that you can adjust later. The JP will probably still feel stiffer because the difference in scale lengths, so moving down a guage to 9 to 42 will help even out the feel between the two guitars.

 

[nervous]

As a point of reference woudl you have an actual unfretted 12th fret measurement, fret top to string bottom of that E? Like 3/64", 4/64" etc? I personally find I am happiest in that range on the high strings and it wouldn't take a lot lower in some cases to cause your symptom. You could certainly also have a slightly high fret in that area where it's impact could be compounded by the bend and radius. Also an easy check with a small straightedge or Fret Rocker type tool Whatever it is it's not a terrible problem and since that's pretty much out of the relief area of concern should be a fairly easy diagnosis and fix in one of those two areas IMHO.

 

[Mork2112]

Everyone here is great. Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I did move down to a hybrid slinky set low E 10 and high e 9. I think that is helping the bending situation. I think the choking out is minimal GIVEN the very very low action im going for, plus it being a cheaper guitar with the not the same finesse as a real EBMM.

Thanks everyone!