JS100 issues. Anyone else had similar problems?

[deonblaster]

OK, so I bought my JS100 5 years ago. It was my dream guitar. It plays beautifully...

But it has been nothing but trouble.

In those 5 years it has had to have so many repairs I'm beginning to lose count. I pride myself on looking after my instruments, I do not abuse them in any way. Yest, thus far, my JS100 has required:

1. A major neck adjustment when it arrived (to be expected I suppose)
2. An entire new edge pro 2 bridge when the tremolo arm tightener grubscrew gave out and saddles were being odd.
3. One of the screws on the string tree ripped out of the headstock, requiring the hole to be filled and then the hole re drilled (TWICE!) This occured when pulling back on the whammy bar as the guitar is designed for.

4. Now I have a horrific dead 12th fret on the bottom E And I hear a horrific creaking/clicking noise every time I depress or extend the whammy bar.

So please tell me. Did I just buy the "friday afternoon" job, or are other JS100 users finding these issues. I even spoke to Ibanez UK about it, expressing the fact that I don't think it is really acceptable for a 5 year old guitar to have required over £300 of work done it (not including professional set ups every 6 months because I like to take care of my instruments).

I'd like to upgrade to a JS1000 or even jsut buy another JS100 and switch the pickups with my current one (I had a FRED and PAF pro fitted) but the JS1000 is ridiculously expensive in the UK, its actually gone up in price in the recession. And I worry that if I buy another JS100 I am just going to get the same issue.

Serial number for the guitar is C03111161 if that is important.

I suppose really the only other thing I can do is send it to Ibanez UK and have them give it an overhaul but I get the impression it will be insanely expensive.

So yeah. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar problems or if anyone has any possible remedies for me.

[Homebake]

were you using the whammy with the nut unlocked? i don't see how the string tree could be affected by the whammy unless it wasn't locked.

the majority of your problems are caused by the crappy bridge on the guitar. the edge pro 2 is probably one of the worst bridges ibanez makes, worse than an edge 3.

i recommend you either save up and buy a "real" JS or replace your EP 2 with an edge pro.

[SiGGy]

With a lot of the Cort made Ibanez's it can be hit and miss.

A Schaller Floyd will just drop in. (You'll need to swap the spring block over to the shallower one on the JS)

Other options, look out for a 540R or 440R on the bay. Essentially a JS for much less money!

SiGGy

[GuitarGuru]

The newer JS100 has been upgraded with a better bridge.

[smooth55]

Save your money and get a JS1000 from Rich down the road when you can afford it. That said, it sounds like you got a particularly unfortunate Friday afternoon model because most JS100 owners don't have that list of problems.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by deonblaster

1. A major neck adjustment when it arrived (to be expected I suppose)
2. An entire new edge pro 2 bridge when the tremolo arm tightener grubscrew gave out and saddles were being odd.
3. One of the screws on the string tree ripped out of the headstock, requiring the hole to be filled and then the hole re drilled (TWICE!) This occured when pulling back on the whammy bar as the guitar is designed for.

4. Now I have a horrific dead 12th fret on the bottom E And I hear a horrific creaking/clicking noise every time I depress or extend the whammy bar.

.

1. Necks always need adjustment. When you bought it it probably hadn't been touched in 6 months.
2. you do realize there a $1 bushing inside the holder that has to be replaced?
"odd" doesn't actually described a specific problem.
3. if the nut was locked as it's supposed to be then there's no way the string retainer could be pulled out.
4. dead how? high? popped fret?

[deonblaster]

I only use the whammy bar when the nut is locked and on both breakages the nut was locked.

I would love to replace the EP2 with an EP but I got told by my local ibanez dealer that this wasn't possible due to the different sizes of the bridge and the bridge cavities being different on the 100 and 1000.

I also despair because in the UK you can only buy the burnt blue JS1000 whereas I think the Black pearl one available in the US looks much cooler.

Who is Rich down the road? Would I be right in assuming it's a slang term for second hand?

Thank you for the replies.

[Rich]

If the nut was locked how can a pullup pull the string retainer screw? It's putting no more pressure on it during a pullup than it does during a dive.

The EP is a direct swap with the II, but without doing a complete hardware overhaul you'll see minimal benefit.

[deonblaster]

I knew it was a grubscrew and I took the bridge apart but another (plastic) part inside had gotten mashed. I dont know how it happened. I got told by my local dealer that there were no parts available like that so I had to get a new bridge. I searched myself to no avail.

I was also told that the edge pro cant be put in the JS100. The dealer told me that they would have to cut into the guitar body to make it fit.

Idk what to tell you. the string tree had a screw ripped out of it twice with the nut on full lock.

If I can replace my EP2 with an edge I would gladly do so with a full hardware change. wouldo nicely with my better pickups and would mean I basically got a JS1000 for half the money

[Rich]

The only plastic on an EPs is the orange string seats, that are absolutely useless and would never need to be replaced.

Again, the EP is a drop in replacement.

[deonblaster]

Sounds like my dealer took me for a ride then.

Thanks for the advice. So hopefully if I replaced my edge pro 2 with an edge, and replaced all the associated stuff (locking nuts etc) I wouldnt get any more ripped string tree screws as well as the improved sustain and better locking action the Edge provides. Seeing as the loud creaking/popping noise upon depressing the hwammy bar comes from the headstock end of the guitar Id say at the moment I'm heading for another breakage.

The dead fret I intend to sort out this week, should be a simple truss adjustment.

[Rich]

Creaking at the head means it needs maintanence. The nut is getting loose, the tuners are getting loose, etc.

A single dead fret is a fretwork problem, not a truss issue.

[AussiePGFan]

As Rich says, adjusting your truss rod isn't going to fix the dead fret, you will have to get someone to work on the actual frets there.

But, in the defence of the JS100 series, I reckon it sounds like you just got a lemon.... I've had mine since 1996, played it today and she still plays like a dream. I still haven't even replaced the old TRS trem that is attached to it - all I did was file the knife edges a little bit, replace the posts and she's staying in tune even with whamy abuse. Good luck with it, worst case scenario the JS1000 is a great guitar, so you can always upgrade. All the best.........

[spacehog26]

Originally Posted by GuitarGuru

The newer JS100 has been upgraded with a better bridge.

The Edge 2 was the better bridge... the Edge 3 is a POS - won't hold tuning at all. Still better than the Lo TRS II though!

[spacehog26]

It does sound like a bad guitar... I have 5 JS100s (that have all been upgraded to various degrees - mostly pickups) - a 96, 3 '03s and an '04 (I wouldn't touch the most recent model - '02-'04 seem to be the best years once the Lo TRS II had gone bye-bye but before the Edge 3). They all play great, never had any issues with them other than the tuning on the '96 due to the bridge - when I swapped out the Lo TRS II I put in an Edge 3 which was a mistake.