JP20th (JP6) NGD but bummer with piezos

[Mace13]

Hey all,

The JP 20th anniversary JP6 showed up last week and it is indeed a beautiful guitar and plays wonderfully. Really couldn't put it down. Superb attentional to detail on the finish and form, and the it just sounds tremendous plugged in or unplugged. On about the third day I put it through the paces with the amp and noted a couple problems with the piezos. The low E piezo has a static noise when the trem is moved and the G piezo is way louder than the others.

So, no NGD photos yet as I sent it back in already. A replacement is ordered but won't be here until mid to late August! Seems these models are a bit difficult to get ahold of! I didn't want to keep this defective one around and risk scratching it or something.

The piezo issues are probably an easy fix for EBMM but it is very disappointing that they escaped their factory. Speaking of which, it was purchased at Sweetwater and they do a "full inspection" as well and they didn't catch the defects (not the first time...bought a PRS from them late last year and the PU selector switch didn't work! But, Sweetwater takes care of the customer and in both cases new replacements were sent no problem).

The lesson: give your new guitars a *complete* run though, no matter the brand or cost!

My JPXI and Majesty are happy though, they are getting played again after being ignored.

 

[jmmp]

Bummer about the piezo. When my JP6 came in back in 2011, it had piezo issues, too. I sent it off to EBMM for repair, and got it back good as new.

I recently purchased a BFR Albert Lee from a dealer, and it arrived with a cracked neck. The dealer has pulled out all the stops to keep me from returning it to them, but it’s on the way back to them now, and I will make sure to never buy any instruments from them again.

I will be sticking with Pete for EBMM purchases (my 20th Majesty should be shipping soon), but I’m glad Sweetwater is helping you out.

 

[Mace13]

I did make a little video and sent it to EBMM service to make sure they saw the details of the issue and (hopefully) implement corrective actions. Maybe sweetwater just repairs it and resells it as used, in which case EBMM never would have known about it. No way to get better if you don’t find out what’s messed up!

 

[Mace13]

Well, as luck would have it the replacement guitar has arrived at home but I am out of town until next weekend. Can’t wait to give it a run through when I get back. It has been a long wait (originally ordered May 24).

 

[Mace13]

It has finally arrived! Well, it’s been a good couple weeks. The JP 20th Anniversary has been absolutely perfect and I can’t put it down. It plays like butter and sounds really good…if only my playing were better! I really am not worthy to play a guitar of this caliber.

Some pics below.. It is cool how it looks different in different lighting situations.

 

[Rickey Cinco]

Sweet axe bro. I freaking LOVE my 20th JP6. What is the hair tie thing for on the headstock? Should I also be doing this? Inquiring minds (mine) would like to know (yes).

and a six packaj

 

[Mace13]

The Honey Butters are a thing of beauty. My second one (first returned for piezo issues) is back at Music Man because of.... piezo issue. Anyway, I can't wait to get it back and I hope, hope, hope that it will be as rock solid as my other two EBMM guitars.

Hair tie? Well, when playing certain chords, like a G power chord using open strings (AC/DC style), and then quickly muting I find that there is a slight ring after muting. Think verse of You Shook Me, slam chord and mute right away. I found this was due to the G string ringing between nut and tuning peg. So, the hair tie dampens the G string. I've only had this ringing on the JPXI and JP6 which have that parallel headstock going on. No ringing on the Majesty or any of my other guitars. Is it audible during a gig? Heck no... but I play mostly unplugged at home and didn't care for the slight ring which would occur once in a great while.

Question for you: is there a difference in output level (volume) between bridge and neck pick-up? On my second JP6 20th the neck PU is definitely a lot softer (less loud) than the bridge PU. I didn't notice this on the first JP6 I had for a short time. EBMM is also checking this situation out as they repair the piezo so I'll see what they say. Curious if anyone else has noticed this?

 

[Mace13]

One more (hopefully) post to wrap up this saga!! The JP6 20th was delivered yesterday from EBMM service. This was the replacement guitar which also had piezo issues out of the box. Sweetwater attempted (and failed, unfortunately) to repair it earlier this year. It seems now all is well (yeah!) with this beautiful guitar. No piezo noise when using the tremelo, all piezos are balanced nicely (three saddles were replaced) and the bridge and neck pick-ups are balanced (they raised the neck pick-up in a nice solid fashion, assumed they shimmed it at the mounting feet). I'll give it another two week so playing before giving the final judgement after putting it through a couple band practices and gig.

One small issue is a small scratch on the bridge cover which wasn't there when I sent it in. I took about 20 photos of it from all angles before sending in. I gotta figure out a way to touch it up dark so it doesn't show. I noticed it right away when unboxing but it's one of those things no one would notice except a persnickety guy like me (and 95% of the folks on this board LOL).

 

[Rickey Cinco]

Sorry to hear about the scratch. Let’s see a pic of it aye?

 

[Mace13]

Here is the bridge cover before it was sent in:


And after:





It almost looks like there was an attempt to remove the scratch because of the scuff marks around it. Anyway, I'll have to get it touched up with something, I think the black Charpy trick will be too dark in this case.

So far the guitar has been playing beautifully. It need some very minor tweaking on the set-up. For example the G and B string saddles were wonky.



The stability of this guitar is pretty amazing. It was below freezing when it was travelling here and also the day it was delivered. I let it warm up in the case for several hours before playing. When I finally got it out it was very, very close to being in tune. Rock solid!

 

[Rickey Cinco]

That G string is super wonky. Is it just the teeny hex cranked too far down? I can’t believe someone with Sweetwater’s pedigree would allow that out the door like that…especially on a guitar of that caliber what’s already been sent back.

I expected more from the candy guys. They fucked up my last Boogie cab…well I think FedEx did, but at least they were right on top of it. They gave me a few options…I took the $200 money back option, seeing as it was just a teeny tear in the jute grille. Still pissed me the fuck off though.

I put a little Vaseline on the nut and saddles of my 20th Anny and the tuning stability is as good as it gets. Best trem I’ve ever played with, it’s crazy good. Good luck with making that bridge look like it should. Sweet guitar, I love it!!

 

[Mace13]

That G string is super wonky. Is it just the teeny hex cranked too far down? I can’t believe someone with Sweetwater’s pedigree would allow that out the door like that…especially on a guitar of that caliber what’s already been sent back.

I expected more from the candy guys. They fucked up my last Boogie cab…well I think FedEx did, but at least they were right on top of it. They gave me a few options…I took the $200 money back option, seeing as it was just a teeny tear in the jute grille. Still pissed me the fuck off though.

I put a little Vaseline on the nut and saddles of my 20th Anny and the tuning stability is as good as it gets. Best trem I’ve ever played with, it’s crazy good. Good luck with making that bridge look like it should. Sweet guitar, I love it!!

It was actually EBMM service who did the repair. Sweetwater (who isn't that far away from me) had done the original repair on this guitar (piezo imbalance and static sounds when using trem in piezo mode). But... the guitar still had issues. So I sent it to EBMM hoping they could get it all right. They did (I wouldn't count he uneven saddles as a problem, just kinda weird) except for the addition of the unfortunate mark. Actually, in lower light the scratch on the bridge cover isn't even visible. I may just leave it as is instead of making it worse. It may just be a defect that lets the bad spirits escape (like the Navajo wove into their rugs).