Just got my first EBMM..JP13

[somata]

Totally new to the forum and totally new to EBMM guitars and thought I'd share how I got here...

So last week I walked into my local Guitar Center and lo and behold, they actually had some cool used gear, including a mint condition Ernie Ball/Music Man JP13 John Petrucci Signature. I grabbed it and played it through the EVH 50w head that was there, and fell in love. I've been playing Parkers for 15 years and they've mostly ruined me...I gotta have stainless frets and I actually love a painted neck. The JP13 felt very familiar to me...similar high quality paint on the neck, stainless frets, and piezos which, while I don't use them much, I like having. So I spent the weekend doing research on the EBMMs and decided I'd see if I could swing a deal by trading a back-up Parker that I never used (got it right before my band ended).

So yesterday I went back and played the JP13 again, still liked it and asked them to give me a trade value on my Parker Mojo. It had a few dings and a chip out of it so I figured they weren't going to give me at all what I had in mind. When I bought the Parker used, I paid $950 + shipping, I was hoping to get $800. They gave me $925 for it! And then, because I had done my research and knew another store had the same exact JP13 for $200 less, I was able to get them to knock it down from $1899 to $1699. With my trade, I got it for $829...with 12 month no interest financing. As excited as I am about the guitar, I'm almost more excited about the deal I got...lol!

The guitar has kind of a cool backstory too. Apparently a GC employee ordered it for themselves and their EBMM rep handpicked this one out for him. Employee 1 sold it to another Employee and then Employee 2 traded it in. Still has all of the case candy, certificate of authenticity, unopened guitar wipes, trem springs, etc. I still have to set it up to my liking, get the bridge floating, and disable "9 minute concept ballad mode" but even right off the rack it plays really nicely.

 

[DrKev]

Welcome to the forum family! Great first post, especially that "9 minute concept ballad mode" line! Fantastic!

 

[Exodus5]

Was this in Fairview Heights? I was looking at that one.

 

[Justus]

Oh that's great man! All of mine had cool acquisition stories, including slowly dropping clearance pricing at Guitar Center, and meeting a new friend who traded me for a JPXI a couple days later. Lately actually GC has been decently generous with trades.

 

[somata]

Was this in Fairview Heights? I was looking at that one.

This was in South Bend...but I think it was the Fairview Heights one that got them from $1899 to $1699.



At the moment the bridge is locked in place with a Tremol-No. Any advice on getting the trem set up to float? Right now I have 2 springs and the Tremol-No...I tune to D standard and use 10-46 strings.

 

[Justus]

You have to put more tension on the springs to get it to work correctly typically, even once the thumbscrews are removed from the Tremol-No. Personally if you still have the old claw and springs to switch back to that, just make sure you reattach the bridge ground. I have found I don't like the down only trem arm feel on mine with that system.

 

[somata]

So the previous owner basically had it set up as a hardtail. Bridge plate was below the surface of the body and the saddles were raised to compensate. I spent a good bit of yesterday working on getting it set up, and am really struggling with getting the action low enough to not buzz. I had to raise the bridge to be level with the body so that the trem doesn't bottom out when diving, and then that meant I had to lower the saddles so the strings weren't a mile high. Still not quite there yet. Am going to let it sit a bit, go out a buy a ruler with finer increments and then go back at it, reblock the trem, get the action set up, and then adjust to tuning with the trem claw as per the FAQ.

Any advice on measurements that I could start with for low action? Again, I tune to D standard and am using 10-46 strings. I know that the JP13 and my Fly Mojo have the same scale length so I expect that I should be able to get the feel between the two to be the same. At the moment, the JP feels much stiffer due to high action.

I know I could take it to a tech, but I'd really like to do it myself. I guess the Parker's carbon fiber skin has spoiled me...once I got it set up years ago, I haven't had to mess with it at all. lol!

 

[somata]

Ok, I think I got it! It could still be just a smidge lower, but I'm going to play it as is for a bit, let the new strings settle in and try and tweak just a bit in a few days. I ended up going with 2 springs and left the Tremol-no installed by totally backed off. I figured that way it's easy to block the trem off if needed for string changes or if I ever need more of a hardtail feel when recording.

Even though I haven't put it through crazy diving abuse, I'm really impressed with what kind of whammy stuff I'm able to get away with on a vintage style trem. Very cool.

Also, in digging out my guitar tools to work on it, I came across the receipt for the Parker that I traded toward this JP13. I thought I'd only lost $25 on the deal...turns out I paid way less for the Parker than I'd remembered, and came out $168 ahead...lol!!!

Ok, one more question...how do I get the bar to be a bit grabbier in the bridge hole? It swings out of the way, and I'd like to be able to leave it in position on occasion.

 

[Dead-Eye]

Ok, one more question...how do I get the bar to be a bit grabbier in the bridge hole? It swings out of the way, and I'd like to be able to leave it in position on occasion.

There's a small allen screw on the back of the bridge. Look from the bottom of the guitar towards the neck and push on the trem bar, then you should see it at the point where the bar is attached. That adjusts the bar.

 

[JamieCrain]

Bad news for you...Parker is coming back to life next year with new models to ruin us all.