JP Model Sustain Block Materials - Brass and Steel

[SlappyTappy]

I've previously owned a 2012 JP7, currently own a 2016 JPX-7, and recently acquired a Blue Dawn 2002 JP7. What's interesting is every other JP model I've owned has a big brass sustain block, but this 2002 model appears to be steel. Anyone know when it switched over, or more about this? Tech Support wasn't entirely sure what the history of the sustain block material was for the JP series, as in what materials were used and when they changed, but as I said every other one I've seen has been brass.

 

[SlappyTappy]

I went a little off the deep end and started looking for any pictures of open trem cavities in old completed Reverb listings, by year from roughly 2001-2007. I don't know that it yielded any clear or consistent results, since lighting can really change the way the blocks look, but draw your own conclusions I suppose. My eyes seem to see steel blocks showing up thru around 2005-ish, though even some of the earlier ones look like brass depending on the lighting. Hard to say definitively though, and that's assuming everyone in these listings has correctly dated their specific example by serial number.

2001


2002


2003


2004

 

[SlappyTappy]

2005


2006


2007

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Yes, the earliest years had a silver-colored block, my '01 Blue Dawn has one. It has been so long since the change took place that much like the factory I don't remember exactly when/why it happened. Most of the surviving photos I took of our inventory back in the '04/'05 era are only of the front (with a few neck photos).

I don't have my '01 handy to test at the moment, but something in the back of my brain seems to be telling me that that the brass block may have been plated a silver color before moving to raw brass - a magnet test could possibly confirm the use of steel.

 

[SlappyTappy]

Yes, the earliest years had a silver-colored block, my '01 Blue Dawn has one. It has been so long since the change took place that much like the factory I don't remember exactly when/why it happened. Most of the surviving photos I took of our inventory back in the '04/'05 era are only of the front (with a few neck photos).

I don't have my '01 handy to test at the moment, but something in the back of my brain seems to be telling me that that the brass block may have been plated a silver color before moving to raw brass - a magnet test could possibly confirm the use of steel.

Being a fan of Floyds, I considered that it could be plated brass like the stock Floyd blocks. However the machining marks on the underside suggested steel to me. Doing a magnetic test confirms it - it is magnetic, so likely steel.

Tech support was very helpful in trying to track down more info. They wrote -
Here's a note from our head engineer on the trem block materials:
"I am not sure that we used steel in the first JPs, as I wasn't really a part of that implementation.
However, we have varied the block materials throughout the years as we felt the need for sonic and fabrication purposes, always with approval from an artist if applicable."

Then after me sending them the pictures in the original post, they wrote -
You've got everyone in the office scratching their heads right now, that does certainly appear to be steel.

I still haven't found anything that says we ever used steel for certain, but that does appear to be the case. I wish I could offer more details on this specifically.
All I know is that we currently only use brass and aluminum blocks in production.

 

[Steve Nukather]

My Silhouette Specials from '97 and '01 have nickel plated steel blocks. The best IMO.

 

[ohbugger]

I am almost certain that one or a couple of my earliest JPs have what appears to be nickel-plated steel blocks.