Lucas LeCompte
Well-known member
My pics arent the greatest but we all know what she looks like. I got her 3 months ago but she has been broken the whole time. Alright time for a story kids!
So I traded my Ibanez 921F, which was in mint condition, for this JP6. I was told before I got it that the pickup switch had given the person I got it from issues, but it started working again so the person didnt worry about it. It had a few body dings but besides that the person said it was good. I was told it was a "players JP6." So I sent my Ibby and money and got the JP6. This is when the fun begins. :lol:
So when I took it out the box, the handle on the case was broken. I knew about this before hand, but forgot about it. Not that big of a deal. When I took the guitar out of the case, it was filthy. Fretboard had a layer of crap on it, the bridge and bridge pole pieces were rusted and extremely dirty. The strap holders that it came with were the cliplocks, but I dont own any of those. So I took the strings off and started cleaning her up. As soon as I took the strings off, I noticed fretware on the 1st 5 frets. I wasn't happy with this because I wasnt told before hand about this fretware. :scream: Since this guitar has been passed around a bunch, no one new what pickups were in it. I unscrewed them and figured out that it has the tweaked air norton in the neck and D-activator in the bridge.
After I cleaned her up, fixed the clearcoat dings with nail polish, and put new strings on her, I pluged her in. The second I did that, the jack started crackling. GREAT! I read up about the jack and later on used WD40 to make the contact better. As I started playing it, I tested out the switches and found out that the pickup selector on the neck pickup wasnt working. Ok expected that. Tried using the piezo and guess what? IT DOESNT WORK! :scream: A surprise huh? When you flip the piezo switch nothing on it works at all. Stereo jack doesn't work at all either.
I also contacted Music Man to see when the guitar was made, but MM told me the serial number isnt in the database :wallbash:
After a round of discussions, I was able to get some of my money back that I paid for the JP6, but that money is actually going into making the guitar playable. When I told the person about the fretware, the person said "I must have missed the fretware. You never asked about fretware. You have to think a guitar that has been played a lot will have fretware. All these things dont affect playability of the guitar." I summarized this part a bunch, but it took me a while to get this settled.
So I then ordered a backplate and a trem bar (these didnt come with the guitar at all) and new pole pieces for the trem and a new pickup switch. I just recently was able to get the pickup switch soldered in and now that is working fine. My tech looked at the piezo and he cant figure out what is wrong with it. Seems like the only way to fix it is to send it to Music Man.
The guitar does sound pretty good despite all the issues. It is in way better shape now than when I got it. I got so fed up with this guitar I went and bought a RW neck JP6 that came in AMAZING condition.
TL;DR
Got a JP6 that was full of issues. Wasnt told about fretware, Had crappy strap holders, broken piezo, crappy input jack, or rust on the bridge and pole pieces and had to change pickup switch. Had to spend time and money getting guitar presentable.
So I traded my Ibanez 921F, which was in mint condition, for this JP6. I was told before I got it that the pickup switch had given the person I got it from issues, but it started working again so the person didnt worry about it. It had a few body dings but besides that the person said it was good. I was told it was a "players JP6." So I sent my Ibby and money and got the JP6. This is when the fun begins. :lol:
So when I took it out the box, the handle on the case was broken. I knew about this before hand, but forgot about it. Not that big of a deal. When I took the guitar out of the case, it was filthy. Fretboard had a layer of crap on it, the bridge and bridge pole pieces were rusted and extremely dirty. The strap holders that it came with were the cliplocks, but I dont own any of those. So I took the strings off and started cleaning her up. As soon as I took the strings off, I noticed fretware on the 1st 5 frets. I wasn't happy with this because I wasnt told before hand about this fretware. :scream: Since this guitar has been passed around a bunch, no one new what pickups were in it. I unscrewed them and figured out that it has the tweaked air norton in the neck and D-activator in the bridge.
After I cleaned her up, fixed the clearcoat dings with nail polish, and put new strings on her, I pluged her in. The second I did that, the jack started crackling. GREAT! I read up about the jack and later on used WD40 to make the contact better. As I started playing it, I tested out the switches and found out that the pickup selector on the neck pickup wasnt working. Ok expected that. Tried using the piezo and guess what? IT DOESNT WORK! :scream: A surprise huh? When you flip the piezo switch nothing on it works at all. Stereo jack doesn't work at all either.
I also contacted Music Man to see when the guitar was made, but MM told me the serial number isnt in the database :wallbash:
After a round of discussions, I was able to get some of my money back that I paid for the JP6, but that money is actually going into making the guitar playable. When I told the person about the fretware, the person said "I must have missed the fretware. You never asked about fretware. You have to think a guitar that has been played a lot will have fretware. All these things dont affect playability of the guitar." I summarized this part a bunch, but it took me a while to get this settled.
So I then ordered a backplate and a trem bar (these didnt come with the guitar at all) and new pole pieces for the trem and a new pickup switch. I just recently was able to get the pickup switch soldered in and now that is working fine. My tech looked at the piezo and he cant figure out what is wrong with it. Seems like the only way to fix it is to send it to Music Man.
The guitar does sound pretty good despite all the issues. It is in way better shape now than when I got it. I got so fed up with this guitar I went and bought a RW neck JP6 that came in AMAZING condition.
TL;DR
Got a JP6 that was full of issues. Wasnt told about fretware, Had crappy strap holders, broken piezo, crappy input jack, or rust on the bridge and pole pieces and had to change pickup switch. Had to spend time and money getting guitar presentable.
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