Hey friends, another likely useless thread about comparing EB vs. SB. Locally there is a JP16 For sale for $2800 CAD. That is the lowest he would go. Originally was asking $3300 CAD. However, on musicianfriend there is an open box JP150D in eminence purple for $1300 CAD. Super torn here - I know the EB will be great, but lots of chatter about the Floyd vs. The original EB bridge. I am not an incredible player like JP, but I have some chops. I wonder if the real deal will be a bit lost on me. I really like the look of the eminence purple SBMM and it would save me roughly $1500…. Thoughts?
- Thread starter Mork2112
- Start date
racerx
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- Mar 10, 2021
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Its tough to make firm recommendations for other players since there are a lot of variables and personal desires. To me the step in quality between SbMM/EBMM is night and day. If you want this to be a "lifer" or "pro" guitar, then I'd personally recommend going for the JP16. If you just want to try the style out and are afraid you might not like it/flip it, then go for the JP150D.
+1 to what racerx said.
I have SBMM and EBMM Axis models, and the difference between the two is drastic. They both feel great, but it's a lot of little things that amount to fit and finish differences. The EBMM just feels more solid and polished, the finish is pretty much flawless vs. a more hasty polishing job, the tuners are higher quality (Schaller vs. no-names), the bridge is substantially better quality, the trem arm pushes in and can be set to your desired tension rather than a screw-in mechanism that inevitably has slop and requires pipe tape to mitigate, etc. Not to mention that one of my SBMM Axis required me to do a fret polish job with fret erasers out of the box, because the frets felt like sandpaper - they had clearly been leveled with a beam, but nobody bothered to go back and polish out the sanding marks. Also, made in USA vs. made in Indonesia, if that sort of thing matters to you. I don't consider myself a proficient guitar player in any sense, but I've played enough instruments so that I can tell cheap vs. expensive.
Do bear in mind that SBMM models also vary in quality across the range. The Axis retails for ~$400-$500 USD, at the lower end, while the JPs obviously go for more. However, I did once try an SBMM JP on display at Guitar Center maybe 3 years ago - don't remember the model for sure but it may have been a JP150 - and it had the same gritty sandpaper feeling to the frets. At the time I thought it was just a dirty fret board and worn strings b/c it was a display, but now I think it was unpolished frets.
So to sum, the SBMM might be fine, but if you're at all picky about how your instrument feels and plays, expect to do some work to the SBMM when you get it beyond a simple setup. You can tell where they cut corners to reach a price point. Think of it this way: the $1500 you're saving is because you'll have to put in the additional effort to get it close to an EBMM level - if those little issues bother you. But you'd be looking at replacing tuners, replacing the bridge, dress frets (and possibly level), possibly finish clean-up, and if you don't like the cheaper pickups, swapping with DiMarzios. The cost of all those upgraded parts and additional labor is where the price difference comes from. If you're not comfortable doing any of those steps - again, if those things matter to you - then you're better off just getting the EBMM where the work is already done.
I have SBMM and EBMM Axis models, and the difference between the two is drastic. They both feel great, but it's a lot of little things that amount to fit and finish differences. The EBMM just feels more solid and polished, the finish is pretty much flawless vs. a more hasty polishing job, the tuners are higher quality (Schaller vs. no-names), the bridge is substantially better quality, the trem arm pushes in and can be set to your desired tension rather than a screw-in mechanism that inevitably has slop and requires pipe tape to mitigate, etc. Not to mention that one of my SBMM Axis required me to do a fret polish job with fret erasers out of the box, because the frets felt like sandpaper - they had clearly been leveled with a beam, but nobody bothered to go back and polish out the sanding marks. Also, made in USA vs. made in Indonesia, if that sort of thing matters to you. I don't consider myself a proficient guitar player in any sense, but I've played enough instruments so that I can tell cheap vs. expensive.
Do bear in mind that SBMM models also vary in quality across the range. The Axis retails for ~$400-$500 USD, at the lower end, while the JPs obviously go for more. However, I did once try an SBMM JP on display at Guitar Center maybe 3 years ago - don't remember the model for sure but it may have been a JP150 - and it had the same gritty sandpaper feeling to the frets. At the time I thought it was just a dirty fret board and worn strings b/c it was a display, but now I think it was unpolished frets.
So to sum, the SBMM might be fine, but if you're at all picky about how your instrument feels and plays, expect to do some work to the SBMM when you get it beyond a simple setup. You can tell where they cut corners to reach a price point. Think of it this way: the $1500 you're saving is because you'll have to put in the additional effort to get it close to an EBMM level - if those little issues bother you. But you'd be looking at replacing tuners, replacing the bridge, dress frets (and possibly level), possibly finish clean-up, and if you don't like the cheaper pickups, swapping with DiMarzios. The cost of all those upgraded parts and additional labor is where the price difference comes from. If you're not comfortable doing any of those steps - again, if those things matter to you - then you're better off just getting the EBMM where the work is already done.
