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Jtv59 With Stop Bar - Thoughts?


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I saw a thread where someone had fitted a bigsby to their JTV59, and I wondered whether it would be a good idea to fit a stop bar to a JTV59. I then wondered whether anyone had already done this or if it was possible because of placement of the battery compartment. I was wondering whether a stop bar would help when changing strings, improve tension across saddles, prevent ringing behind saddles, provide a fuller tone, maybe improve the aesthetics??

 

Has anyone fitted a stop bar to their JTV59? Or does anyone know if it is possible or not? Or whether it would be beneficial to do so?

 

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

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My thoughts are that it is surely possible, in some way or another... if you can do a bigbsy surely.

my second thought is that there is no reason and it would just be ugly... but that's subjective...

for sure the wraparound looking current bring isn't the most beautiful thing either...

i just think that the risk outweigh any potential benefits by a huge margin.

if you had a spare body/neck to experiment on it may not be that bad...

i know there are surely some transplant guys that have the parts...

but even then... i doubt it would be worth the effort.

prove me wrong though... i dare you! hahah :)

love seeing the mods that forum users come up with.

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  Yeah, I'm not sure what real purpose that would serve. Is it really worth the cost & risk of drilling holes in the top of a $15oo guitar? What else would you change? You would use a regular LP style stop tailpiece & a piezo equipped tune-a-matic type bridge? What would you gain by doing that?

 

   I could really see a Bigsby because you then have a vibrato bar so you gain that capability. That is something I would definitely be interested in. I really wanted a Strat type JTV but when I tried them both out, I really didn't like the neck on the 69 model, and I had some reservations on what the tremolo & its related tuning instability would do to the alternate tuning feature of the JTV. That & I really liked the feel & playability of the 59 model - to me it was clearly superior to the 69 I played. It might have just been those 2 particular guitars, but it was no contest & I was compelled to get the Non-Tremolo 59 model instead. I do miss having a vibrato bar for some things, but don't miss the tuning headaches.

 

   Sorry to be long winded. I do see a benefit to the Bigsby - don't really see one for adding a stop tailpiece. I have wondered about replacing piezo elements in the bridge for better ones (if they exist), and I would be interested to see what mods or improvements in tone or response can be had, but not sure the stop bar gets you anywhere.

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You would use a regular LP style stop tailpiece & a piezo equipped tune-a-matic type bridge? What would you gain by doing that?

 

 

 

You would get a well designed brige with piezos that do not move around in a slot and make terrible popping sounds  - something many people with JTVs are lacking.

 

If you are one of the lucky ones who got a JTV with a bridge that doesn't make loud popping sounds when the piezos move around I envy you, the crummy bridge on my JTV renders the guitar unplayable for many parts/styles.

 

Adding a stop bar would also allow you to adjust string tension by lowering or raising the stop bar to compensate for different string gauges and tunings.

 

That said I would not want to add a stop bar and swap in a TOM with piezos, instead I would recommend changing the bridge to a wraparound Graph Tech.

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O.K. Johnnyayyy - Sorry to hear you're having "Popping sounds" coming from the bridge. That's something I haven't had a problem with or heard about before.

 

"Adding a stop bar would also allow you to adjust string tension by lowering or raising the stop bar to compensate for different string gauges and tunings."

 

That makes sense - being able to adjust the pressure on the piezos / string tension could be an advantage. I guess I wasn't thinking about that part of it. I guess that's an unwanted result of the one piece wrap around bridge design on the 59 JTV. I read an article some time ago from a Godin LGX-SA owner that claimed that reducing pressure on the piezo elements on his bridge (by building six small string pads onto the bridge right behind the piezo elements) really helped eliminate problems he was having.

 

   There are a number of issues with the piezos that have been talked about in this forum; ghost notes, noises, uneven volume levels levels, overtones at some frequencies. I have had problems with "Ghost notes" and weird overtones at particular notes, and have had to play around with string to string volume. Probably due to differences in the piezo elements. 

 

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