Tuning problems - you guys got any advice for me?

[Charles]

Hey guys,

In a month or two, I will be moving to boarding school. Unfortunately, because of space issues, I can only take one guitar, so I've decided on my JP BFR.

When I play covers, I usually take everything down a whole step because I have a low voice, but some songs I play in standard. Now, when I'm playing live, I usually have two guitars to accommodate this, but at boarding school I will be gigging with only one. My JP goes crazy if I try to change tunings and everything goes out of tune.

I WOULD convert my JP to a hardtail, but I'm too big of a trem user to even start considering that.

What practical advice would you guys give me in turning my JP into a guitar that'll be able to change tunings on the fly without any problems?

Thanks,
Charles

 

[guertzi]

Hey guys,

In a month or two, I will be moving to boarding school. Unfortunately, because of space issues, I can only take one guitar, so I've decided on my JP BFR.

That implies you have other guitars than the JP.
Question: do you have any hard tails among them?

What practical advice would you guys give me in turning my JP into a guitar that'll be able to change tunings on the fly without any problems?

There's a price for everything, nothing's for free EVER!
In your case that means, if you want the benefits of a floating vibrato, you will ALWAYS have trouble when changing to a different tuning.
Maybe it would help to install something like a Hipshot tremsetter or the likes, but this will also change the feel of your vibrato.

The only alternatives I can think of at the moment would be to either give your first decision a second thought and go for another guitar of your collection (preferably a hard tail) OR:
convert your JP BFR into an "almost-hard-tail" by putting a wood block between the vibrato block and the body, just like Fender does in the Clapton Signature model. The BIG advantage: you can take your beloved JP with you to boarding school.
Of course you would have to refrain from your usual dive bombs and stuff but as I stated before: there's a price for everything...

Hope that helps!

 

[Charles]

My only hardtail guitar is an Ibanez Hollowbody, but it's not nearly as versatile as my BFR, and that's definitely what I want to use.

 

[Jimmyb]

Wouldn't the trem-o-no (or something like that) sort this out?

 

[Charles]

What's that?

 

[leftyguitarblue]

What's that?

Tremol-No™

I have it on my Luke and it's perfect for what you want. Check the website out, it explains exactly what it does.

 

[guertzi]

The Tremol-No should do the trick, that is exactly one of the tools I was referring to.

Converts your JP into a hard tail (so to speak).

 

[Spudmurphy]

Do as I do - when I go away on business I sometimes take a real cheap guitar with me - and I mean cheap - $50. Get yourself one and have fun setting it up.

I kinda had a shock too when you said you were taking your BFR to boarding school!!

Get 2 cheap ones and leave that baby at home !!!

 

[candid_x]

Lefty, which one works in the Luke and how difficult was installation? Any down sides to it?

 

[Jack FFR1846]

I would never recommend a Gibson normally.....but you need to try out their Robot Guitar.

jack

 

[Charles]

The JP is my best option by far, it's versatile enough to play pretty much anything, which is what I need in a scenario where I'll be playing tons of different music and only have room for one guitar. The piezo is absolute money when I need to play acoustic stuff.

Call me a moron..but is the middle position some kind of single coil thing? It sounds very single coily.

 

[BigMESA]

I had a Tremol-No on a floyd once and loved it. Kept it in Dive bomb mode all the time and it never failed me live.

 

[whitestrat]

What practical advice would you guys give me in turning my JP into a guitar that'll be able to change tunings on the fly without any problems?

Boarding school... Ah... that brings back memories. That was 15 years back for me. Hahahaha...

Anyways, a tremsetter should help.

But if I were you, I'd take the Luke... That HSS combo would be more versatile than the JP6... and the vintage trem can be locked with little hassle.