The Ghost 59

[artdib2]

PLINK sound from low E whilst palm muting using Lester and single coil models happens for me too.  It's not horrible, but I noticed it before reading about it here.  I'm going to try sliding a short piece of heat shrink tubing over a new low E string so that it surrounds the string at the saddle. 

 

I don't have the Ghost bridge by Graph-Tech, but I do have the Graph Tech ResoMax Bridge on an LP.  My ResoMax has the black saddles, (not chrome or nickel).  I noticed right away that the guitar sounds different and better IMO.  There is less emphasis for the frequencies from about 1K - 5K.  I use a Bill Lawrence L600 pickup in my bridge position.  Great pickup, similar to the L500 that was used by Dimbag and others.  Very quiet pickup, but it was a little too bight.  The ResoMax bridge mellowed out the sound a bit.

 

My theory is that metallic strings sitting on a metallic piezo bridge saddle/pickup is a recipe for this plinking sound.  I'm on the road for a few days without my JTV-59, so I can't try it until I get home.

 

I wonder if someone else here might try the heat shrink tubing on the Low E and report back. 

 

If this works, it would be a much cheaper/quicker solution than swapping out the entire bridge.

[artdib2]

I had to buy some small diameter heat shrink online, so it took me a while to try this out.  I got some heat shrink that barely encapsulated the low E string and slid it down the length of the string so that the heat shrink would lie directly on the piezo saddle pickup.  It yielded a small improvement with no loss of volume, but not a big enough difference to get rid of the plink sound to my satisfaction.  This is really annoying me now as I can't palm mute and get a nice tone from the low E.  I find it really strange that palm muting is fine on all the other strings.  I might go down to a .038 for the low E just to test.  Not ideal, but if Billy Gibbons can use 8's or even 7's and still sounds great, then it's worth a try.  I'm also finding all the models to lack warmth and depth, but I still use them so I can get to the alternate tunings.  I'll tweak some more and report back.  I wish like hell this worked.  Has anyone else found a solution short of swapping out to the Ghost bridge?

[cruisinon2]

Has anyone else found a solution short of swapping out to the Ghost bridge?

Unfortunately, the only real solution seems to be "swap the guitar for one that works". As the owner of a JTV without that horrible low E clang, I can tell you they don't all suffer from this problem. Most of the "fixes" offered around here are wishful thinking at best. You will hear lots of opining on string height, fret buzz, intonation, pull from the mag pickups, etc. as being the source(s) of the problem. As far as I'm concerned, it's mostly nonsense. The guitars that have the truly awful plink simply don't get remedied by addressing those minor set-up issues. Imho, it's an electronics problem that afflicts some guitars and not others, and doesn't seem to have a solution.

 

If you're still within your return period, swap it out...otherwise you're just gonna spend a whole lot of time trying to fix something that may very well be unfixable. When you get one that works, it's a gold mine...but the lemons aren't worth 2 wet farts.

[clay-man]

I had to buy some small diameter heat shrink online, so it took me a while to try this out.  I got some heat shrink that barely encapsulated the low E string and slid it down the length of the string so that the heat shrink would lie directly on the piezo saddle pickup.  It yielded a small improvement with no loss of volume, but not a big enough difference to get rid of the plink sound to my satisfaction.  This is really annoying me now as I can't palm mute and get a nice tone from the low E.  I find it really strange that palm muting is fine on all the other strings.  I might go down to a .038 for the low E just to test.  Not ideal, but if Billy Gibbons can use 8's or even 7's and still sounds great, then it's worth a try.  I'm also finding all the models to lack warmth and depth, but I still use them so I can get to the alternate tunings.  I'll tweak some more and report back.  I wish like hell this worked.  Has anyone else found a solution short of swapping out to the Ghost bridge?

 

If the shrink isn't thick enough to really mute the strings, it might be enough.

I'm not really sure. I think it's a combination of that and other factors.

[artdib2]

Thanks for the replies Cruisinon2 and Clay-man.  I'm still within the return time.  I'm hesitant to go the route of replacement.  My top on the JTV-59 is bananas and I'd doubt I'd get another as much to my liking. 

 

Not to beat a dead horse here, but I'm curious about Cruisinon2's equipment and music style.  Reason being, that I don't have the low E plink when I palm mute at moderate gain settings.  The problem rears its ugly head when I'm in the metal zone of overdriven tones only.  I have a Splawn Quickrod amp, which is essentially a hot-rodded Marshall JCM800 with a lot more gain on tap and slightly scooped sound.  (4 EL34's and 4 12AX7's)  I usually set everything around noon for EQ and master, but gain dial is often dimed.  (at least when plink is present)  If I dial the treble and presence way down, then plink is minimized, but EQ is now not to my preference.  I have a few other tube amps, but they don't get into high gain territory.  I currently have zero modeling amps.  The digital gear I do own, does time based effects only.  (no digital preamp stuff)  I'm going to reach out to a friend that now owns my old POD (2.0 or 3,0 ??) and see if he'll loan it to me for some testing, but that red kidney bean is about 20 years old by now and may not be best thing to test with.

 

I wonder if Cruisinon2 already uses high gain tube amps and has checked for Low E plink with a highly overdriven tube amp.  (no pedals... we're talking tube saturation/overdrive and not diode clipping types or digital.  Not trying to be a tube snob here, just trying to compare apples to apples.) 

 

I see Cruisinon2 has 5 registered Line6 products, so I suppose it's possible that you may have gone head-long into modeling and this might account for the better experience you're having.  I also see you have over 2000 posts so I'm hoping you'll see this soon.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the proprietary nature of the way Line6 designs their gear might account for why a Variax could work/sound/perform in a superior fashion when used with their proprietary amps, FX pedal-boards and connectors.  Right now I have one foot in the digital world of 0's and 1's and the other firmly planted in the rich heritage of heavy iron transformers and tube goodness which is 100 year old technology.  (Objects in rearview mirror may be less compatible than they appear.)

 

I'd hate to return this guitar just to find out that the problem will remain due to the type of gear I use. 

 

Thanks again gents!

[Chauncey43]

On 2/3/2015 at 11:44 AM, slockrem said:

Can you pass along the 8 pin connector you bought? Part number or where you got it? I am going to install the Graph Tech so I can have the gold hardware on my JTV-59......and after reading your posts, it looks like it can be done successfully....Thank You! Rock on! 

 

 

On 2/3/2015 at 11:44 AM, slockrem said:

 

 

 

I will certainly keep you posted.

 

On your points:

 

• Yes, Korean
• Graph Tech NW1 PN-8593-CO WH
• The biggest one (scariest) was that I had to enlarge the insert holes on the body as the Graph Tech inserts have an outer diameter that is larger.  Basically I set it up on the drill press with a bit that fit the existing hole and just plunged it in (drill off) to make sure I was square. it was really close just lying on its back....just shimmed the body a touch on the low E side.   Now to overcome the slight width difference of the bridge, I mounted the bridge pins in a drill and with a file a removed  some of the inner section of both pins (the section that the bridge actually wraps around).  I also sanded the chrome off the inner "U" shape on the bridge (the part that wraps around the pin)...just folded some 400 grit in a U shape and ran in through.  You can't see this once it's mounted....it doesn't look modified.  Finally on the underside of the bridge (the section below the U shape) was filed...again just removing the chrome.  The last step there was done to give me enough wiggle room to have the action on the low E side higher (I have mine set 4/64 high E and 5/64 low E).  I know what your saying...he did all that to a new bridge??  Yes, I could have plugged the existing holes and re-drilled, but I wanted this reversible if need be.  I would rather play with a bridge than take a chance of ruining a good guitar.  Again, none of the chrome removal shows.  And as it is not steel, you aren't going to have any rust creeping up over time.  I will include some pics of the filed/sanded areas so that you can get a better idea of what I did.  As far as the wiring, again I think it will just be easier to take some pics for you, but I found an 8 pin connector that fit on the board and was able to just make a nice splice between the Ghost connectors and the board.
• The bridge I got through Music123.com, about $180 with shipping and maybe another $20 miscellaneous....wire, connectors etc. 
• The bridge effects all the tones...higher output, and warmer.  I prefer it
• No ghost notes whatsoever.  I can't say that I had them prior to this either though

 

 

 

I would agree 100%  I found I had to cut back on the acoustic volumes more than anything.  A warmer tone for sure.  I'll include some of the wiring pics too...as you stated there is a signal and ground wire for each peizo.  I found a way to keep the stock Graph tech connector intact as well as not disturb any Jtv wiring.  It could be switched back relatively easily.  I would just have to get new threaded inserts to match the new slightly larger holes in the body and metric threads to match the Baggs. 

 

[will_19]

On 2/3/2015 at 2:07 AM, slockrem said:

1st post here.  Just wanted to take a min to thank everyone here for a bunch of great ideas and insight over the past few months that I have been following.  I usually sit back and just absorb the info unless I have something to bring to the table.  Today is that day. I have had my 59 for about 9 months and absolutely love it.  The ONLY issue I have had has been the low E "plink" ....drove me nuts.  I did some research on here and through Graph Tech support and decided to take the plunge.  I can't get enough of this guitar now.   If there is interest, I'd be more than happy to share my experience with the swap as there were a few mods that I had to do....the Ghost is a bit wider (about .020") and obviously the wiring.  Thanks again for all the help on more than a few occasions. 

 

 

Hello Slockrem, love your mod! One question, do you still have the old jtv-59 bridge somewhere?