Help! Musicman JP 12 7 STRING SETUP

[Petruccix]

Well I need help...
I just put 9-52 Ernie ball strings fresh today...

The 7th strings buzzes and is flobby throughout and is rather high from the nut and the 6th a bit.
The action is uncomfortable... Don't know if i have to adjust the saddles...
The bridge is leveled as you can see.

 

[Benji Peterson]

Bridge doesn't quite look level to me. The base should be parallel to the body. I suggest loosening the bridge springs until you're at 'zero' and then giving the neck a little relief to account for less tension from the lighter strings. I wouldn't adjust the saddles up or down if it played well prior to the string gauge change. The truss wheel at the base of the neck would probably need about a quarter turn or less towards you from the usual plying position.

 

[Petruccix]

the 7th string was buzzing prior to the string change, and read that the saddles shouldn't come in contact with the cover...

 

[PY38]

Having setup (successfully) many 7 strings as well as a few JP(7) here are some tips...

• Like Ben said, get the bridge level. Yours is tilting back which will lower action in a bad way.
• Get the relief set. Hold down first fret, 15th fret and tap to see any or little clearence in the middle. If there is no tapping or movment give her a little more relief. The great thing about MM guitars is once you master setting relief you really dont need gauges anymore. You can sight it by this method.

• Get the action of the 7th string at 5'64 from the top of the 12th to the bottom of the string. I have seen this do wonders for fret buzz. a 52 or 56 is still loose for a low B where it wont feel that high. I always do my action as follows:

B - 5"64
E - 4'64
A - In between 3 and 4'64
D - In between 3 and 4'64
G - In between 3'64
B - In Between 2 and 3'64
E 2'64

Whether you have a 20" or 15" all of my guitars are setup this way and with the right relief I get no buzz anywhere and all bends do not choke at all. In fact I will set this saddle radius up and then sometimes adjust the neck until these measurements true up. Thats right Big Poppa you CAN adjust the action with truss rod adjustments, I have seen people say you cant and always saw you said you could and Im a believer!

Again the above are just tips and my opinion but they work for me......

 

[Petruccix]

Having setup (successfully) many 7 strings as well as a few JP(7) here are some tips...

• Like Ben said, get the bridge level. Yours is tilting back which will lower action in a bad way.
• Get the relief set. Hold down first fret, 15th fret and tap to see any or little clearence in the middle. If there is no tapping or movment give her a little more relief. The great thing about MM guitars is once you master setting relief you really dont need gauges anymore. You can sight it by this method.

• Get the action of the 7th string at 5'64 from the top of the 12th to the bottom of the string. I have seen this do wonders for fret buzz. a 52 or 56 is still loose for a low B where it wont feel that high. I always do my action as follows:

B - 5"64
E - 4'64
A - In between 3 and 4'64
D - In between 3 and 4'64
G - In between 3'64
B - In Between 2 and 3'64
E 2'64

Whether you have a 20" or 15" all of my guitars are setup this way and with the right relief I get no buzz anywhere and all bends do not choke at all. In fact I will set this saddle radius up and then sometimes adjust the neck until these measurements true up. Thats right Big Poppa you CAN adjust the action with truss rod adjustments, I have seen people say you cant and always saw you said you could and Im a believer!

Again the above are just tips and my opinion but they work for me......

Thank you for your reply! 2 questions
What should be leveled? the cover? or the lower plate of the bridge?, should the plate be over the body? or recessed?
I cannot find the conversion to milimeters with those measures you gave me :/

 

[PY38]

The base plate of the bridge should run exactly or as close to parralel to the body....also do a google for mm to inches for conversions and you should have luck....let us know when you get there

I do want to stress that my settings are not factory settings, they are just my personal settings and again with the right amount of relief it should be great....

 

[Petruccix]

The base plate of the bridge should run exactly or as close to parralel to the body....also do a google for mm to inches for conversions and you should have luck....let us know when you get there

I do want to stress that my settings are not factory settings, they are just my personal settings and again with the right amount of relief it should be great....

Is your setting particularly high? or low?
I know that the plate should be leveled with the body, but as far as bridge height goes, should the bottom of the plate be linear to the top of the bridge cavity, or should the top of the plate be linear with it?

 

[Fretter]

I had a similar problem with my JP7. Tried EVERYTHING but nothing worked until I added a fourth spring in the back. Then it was perfect.
Don't know if that will work for you but it might be worth a try if you already haven't.

 

[Petruccix]

4th? ... really? :O

 

[Fretter]

Yeah, by some odd reason that 4th spring made all the difference in world for my JP7.

 

[Petruccix]

doesn't that make the strings tighter? or what difference did it make?

 

[Fretter]

doesn't that make the strings tighter? or what difference did it make?

Ye, it did make the strings tighter and that is some of the point. If they are tighter they buzz less. At least on mine. The issue with my JP7 was that I couldn´t get it intonated right nor could I get it in tune properly. Especially the Low B string but this was an issue on the whole. It felt "loose", just didn´t feel right at all. If I got it somewhat tuned, it would go out off tune by itselft no matter what I tried. I have worked on A LOT of guitars in the past but never nothing like this. I almost gave up on it until I out the 4th spring on. It tightened up, got it intonated and it now stays "perfectly" in tune.
Even though you put on a 4th spring it will (of course) need a proper setup, but I´m sure you know that. Get the bridge flush with the body, the right height on the saddles and the right relief. Sometimes the bridge needs to be raised a bit over the edge of the body, sometimes it needs to go a tiny bit under. But it must, either way, be as flush to the body as you can. That means the angle between the bridge and the body should be equal. The 4th spring is an easy and cheap thing to try out. It might do something for or it don´t. All I know is that it made a whole world of difference to mine.

(This might not be the best english, but I guess you get the point. )

 

[PY38]

Good call on the springs.....

I have used this trick for keeping tuning a little tighter on floaters. Hit it hard and the notes wont waiver as much....However use the bar and you may take your wrist out....