HEY JP 6 & JP 15 owners, I've got an observation and a question…

I use to have a JP 6. I loved that guitar! It was so sexy and amazing to play. I really miss that one the most out of all the ones I’ve let go. For some reason I just never got another one. And then 3 kids later…..well, $$ is the issue. In any event, this thread not about me!

It’s about the JP 15. I went in to Guitar Center today to just mess around (no, I won’t talk about my personal experience on the guitar floor – this isn’t the place for that!). I ended up playing 2 guitars that looked intriguing and one of them was a JP 15 in the green color. I wasn’t expecting too much because I’ve always much preferred the body carve of the standard JP6. It just feels – right! SO, I’ve always had this non-fact based bias against the other JPs beginning with BFR line. I just wasn’t interested.

Well, today I decided, regardless of how I feel about the body carve, I’d give the JP 15 a go. Well, I’ll get to the point. I was more than thoroughly impressed! The number one thing that stood out to me was the tones I was getting. That combination of woods and pickups is outstanding! And what blew me away was the clarity I was pulling from the neck pickup, even with gobs of gain. Holy smokes! 😮

There were other things that I noticed as well about the tone. ALL the pickup positions sounded great and punched through. String separation was phenomenal – I couldn’t make the guitar muddy without drastically turning down the tone knob. Bravo! The piezo system was equally as impressive. I mostly played it with no magnetic mixed in – and it was spectacular – even through the Friedman (it DID have a very nice clean channel).

What also struck me was the build quality of the instrument itself. The neck was sublime. The other guitar I played had bad fret sprout – sales guys blamed it on their store not having enough humidity – but somehow the JP didn’t seem to be affected. The other guitars neck was bowing! Same excuse given. The JP, however – again unaffected. Oh and don’t get me started on those frets! Smooth as silk and polished like mirrors – I could have stared at them all day (but I AM a little vain). The whole feel of the neck was just comfortable. It is thinner than I usually like and the radius a litter larger than I prefer – but I was still “comfortable” – know what I mean?

And that tone – oh – it will haunt me for some time to come, that is a certainty! 😉

So question, JP owners: What might be the closest a guy could come to mimicking the JP 15, BUT in a JP 6 body? Are there any JP 6’s out there with tone blocks, roasted maple necks and the same pickups? Can I even get close? Yeah – I just LOVE the JP 6. The body carve, the neck shape and radius. Let me know! Thanks. 🙂