New Here + NGD

[mazdaguy]

I posted this on thegearpage as well -

I just got an EBMM ASS

Beautiful guitar. I love, love, love the neck on this guitar - simply amazing. Fits my hand like a glove.

HOWEVER, the high E string is very close to the edge of the fretboard - I have a wide vibrato and I'm noticing that I have to restrict the vibrato to prevent the string from going off the edge.

I can't believe this guitar is so perfect for me but I'm still having an issue with it. What's the solution here - string with 10s instead of 9s for added tension? Look for another guitar?

There were two suggestions to address -

1. "Nut with a slightly tighter spacing"
2. "A custom saddle maybe? A place like Armadillo guitar parts could help with that maybe. It’s worth asking."

There was also another suggestion to try and move the neck around in the pocket but it wouldn't budge so that's not a solution here.

Does anyone have experience with either of the above 2 options (or both?)

 

[DrKev]

Welcome to the forum family!

It looks like a neck alignment issue. If the neck won't budge, this would be a warranty issue. Talk to the store you bought the guitar from and/or call Music Man customer service and they'll fix you right up.

 

[DrewH]

Very very very common issue with bolt on guitars and shipping. The neck shifted when shipping knocked it around a bit. Clear as day to me. MM wouldn't let it out of the factory like that. Their QC is near impeccable. These issues tend to be way more noticeable on Axis necks because they are very early fender-ish in width at the higher frets. Any other guitar that has more real estate from strings to edge of fretboard, you may not even notice a slight shift.

Please...don't listen to The Gear Page advice. I saw your post there. Most of those guys have little to no clue about this stuff. They also hate MM guitars there so they will take any chance to mislead you and take swipes at the brand.

 

[click track]

Absolutely Stunning !!!

I love my Axis SS in black sparkle / The sound, fit and feel of the EBMM's are of the highest quality, and seem to be some of the most ergonomically prefect guitars in my opinion . Enjoy !!!

 

[Steve Nukather]

On one of my Silhouette Specials, the neck alignment was bad from the factory. I had to drill the body holes larger to get it straight. Now it's perfect.

 

[mazdaguy]

Detailed pics at the link below - anyone else's High E string this close to the edge? I can provide measurements if needed. You can see the 1st, 5th and 12th frets in the pics.

EBMM Axis Super Sport (NGD) - Yay but nay?

I feel the e string is literally off by 1-3mm

www.thegearpage.net

Interestingly, I'm having less trouble in the 1st 7-8 frets - as you move to higher frets (9+), it's less noticeable and more manageable.

I also checked if it's possible to move the neck in the pocket and it barely shifts even with the screws almost all the way out.

This is a truly amazing guitar and I've played some of the best - however, I feel the high E string is off by literally 1-3mm. I'll try giving EBMM a call on Tuesday to see if anything can be done.

 

[DrewH]

Detailed pics at the link below - anyone else's High E string this close to the edge? I can provide measurements if needed. You can see the 1st, 5th and 12th frets in the pics.

EBMM Axis Super Sport (NGD) - Yay but nay?

I feel the e string is literally off by 1-3mm

www.thegearpage.net

Interestingly, I'm having less trouble in the 1st 7-8 frets - as you move to higher frets (9+), it's less noticeable and more manageable.

I also checked if it's possible to move the neck in the pocket and it barely shifts even with the screws almost all the way out.

This is a truly amazing guitar and I've played some of the best - however, I feel the high E string is off by literally 1-3mm. I'll try giving EBMM a call on Tuesday to see if anything can be done.

The strings are most certainly out of alignment from what they should be on an Axis. Dumb question but are you sure you are pushing the neck in the right direction? There appears to be plenty of gap in the pocket in the direction it should be corrected to. If it doesn't move, MM warranty is top notch and they will make it right.

 

[Epiplatys]

I had exactly the same issue with one of my JP15s. The EBMM support responded that “it is within our specs”. Well, I could not live with it.
Two issues that you need to take care of here:
- your nut is misaligned being too close on the high E side, and too much room on the low E. Mine was just as misaligned, the fix was to buy a new nut from EBMM, remove the old nut and install the new one properly.
- once the nut is redone, re-adjust the neck in the neck pocket and get the strings parallel to the neck edge and centralized over the fretboard dots.
With these two things done, my issue was completely fixed and I got a properly setup guitar playing beautifully.

 

[Sweat]

Nice ASS, easily rectified, trade you a nice Axis for it

 

[mazdaguy]

The strings are most certainly out of alignment from what they should be on an Axis. Dumb question but are you sure you are pushing the neck in the right direction? There appears to be plenty of gap in the pocket in the direction it should be corrected to. If it doesn't move, MM warranty is top notch and they will make it right.

What is your suggestion on which way to push/move the neck?

 

[Rbg]

I have one question (sorry if missing): did you get it new?

 

[mazdaguy]

I have one question (sorry if missing): did you get it new?

No I did not. It's a 2022 model that I purchased used.

 

[Rbg]

The reason I ask: If it is out of warranty you will have to pay a “luthier” to change the nut. I have no idea how much it’s gonna cost… it is totally doable, but unfortunately will add to the cost you already spent. I, for example, never think of resale value I treat always have treated all my guitars as the gonna stay with me for ever, but some people think differently… so something to consider .

 

[Steve Nukather]

the nut is fine. the neck is not properly aligned with the body. with EBMM guitars, the holes in the body for the neck mounting screws are too small. the screws bite into the body as well as the neck. so you have to remove the neck, drill the body holes a little bigger, and then you can reattach the neck and adjust the alignment.

 

[Rbg]

I disagree. I mean you can make it better with moving the neck for sure, but as OP says there is not that much room to play with. I agree with @Epiplatys, if you look at the distances from E and e to the edge of the neck you can see that high e is closer. Here is how it looks at one of my Lukes. Also, I’d rather change the nut than drill holes bigger… imo

 

[Rbg]

Actually, based on this photo the nut maybe be fine. I did not see there are more photos there.

 

[Adder]

These come shipped in a Hard Case. To have this misalignment happen during transit means it could happen when traveling across country to a gig. That sounds a bit weird to me, as none of my other brand bolt on neck guitars have gone out of alignment in transit like this.. ever.
Sounds more like a QC issue out of the factory. My first Luke had a cranky neck which clicked every time you picked it up and when you used the whammy bar, went out of tune, tightening the bolts had no effect so it got sent back. My 2nd Luke had dud pickups shipped from factory and had to be replaced under warranty, so their QC is far from impeccable, in my case.
My advice would be not to try and fix it yourself or drill holes, get it back to the Ball factory for warranty replacement. It’s a new guitar.

 

[morsecode]

He should contact EBMM for advice before doing anything at all. But he did say he purchased it used so it is not on warranty. Who really knows what happened to the guitar up until this point?

 

[Adder]

He should contact EBMM for advice before doing anything at all. But he did say he purchased it used so it is not on warranty. Who really knows what happened to the guitar up until this point?

Oh my, I just saw that now. For a guitar that is just barely a year old, you have to wonder if the string issue is why it was put up for resale. Hope it gets sorted.

 

[DrKev]

It's not the nut. Music Man nuts are molded to shape and size and have a locating pin that sits in a matching hole in the slot for the nut in te neck that is cut by the same CNC machine that cuts the neck blank. That means that consistency of the string alignment at the nut is built in to the construction process with CNC accuracy. (If you ever need to remove a Music Man nut, don't try knock it out sideways but wriggle it upwards).

Even if it's out of warranty, it should not cost a lot for a good luthier/tech to gently enlarge the side walls of the neck pocket where required to make enough room for neck alignment. (Do NOT try to shave the neck narrower, it's a larger pocket that's needed).