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AJ 500 RENS


Guest golfingfun

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Guest golfingfun

I have a couple of questions for anyone who can help.

I just bought a (new) AJ500RENS from GC, with an Esonic preamp system.

They (GC), said they had no information on the system and I should be able to get it thru Epiphone.

I went on line to attemp to find it with absolutely no luck.

They(GC), also said it did not come with a case. I was uinder the impression ALL Masterbuilt's came with a case of some sort.

Any info would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks, Don

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Guest golfingfun

Thanks, I was finally able to get to it and downloaded. It must have been my computer.

Appreciate the quick response.

The guitar sounds great. I will go out and buy a case tomorrow.

Thanks again.

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They(GC)' date=' also said it did not come with a case. I was uinder the impression ALL Masterbuilt's came with a case of some sort.

[/quote']

 

It is my understanding that the Masterbilt line no longer includes cases in the price. The online dealer through which I am pursuing an AJ500RC claims he has sourced a case for the guit (which, being a 12-fretter AJ design will have an elongated body and requires a specialized case) and they made me a combo offer I couldn't refuse, although I don't really like the design of the case--they report it is like a hardshell gig bag, I already have one of those and it did not protect the guitar inside from damage during shipping, but it seems that it is the only one that is sized for the guit. One nice feature is that it does include a hygrometer.

 

Dugly

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They haven't included the case for a couple of years. It also seems the price is slowly creeping up. I used to think the Larrivee 03 series was the best bang for the buck, at $500. they are almost twice that now.

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Guest golfingfun

Thanks for all the info -it really helps.

I do have something else someone out there might be able to shed some light on for me.

The same guitar - I was playing and noticed a buzz -not a fret buzz, but an airy buzz when the strings were either fingered or strummed, unfretted. I thought initially, it might be the saddle, so I strummed the strings and held the saddle down with my finger. No change, so then I put my mirror inside the guitar thinking it might be a loose brace, but could not see anything. Then I strummed the strings and held down the bridge, and the airy buzz (for lack of a better description), went away. I then ran my hand over the top behind the bridge are and felt a bow - not a lot, but visually barely noticable. No gaps by the bridge.

Is this normal on these, or did I get a lemmon that I have to return?

Thanks again.

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Then I strummed the strings and held down the bridge' date=' and the airy buzz (for lack of a better description), went away. I then ran my hand over the top behind the bridge are and felt a bow - not a lot, but visually barely noticable. No gaps by the bridge.

Is this normal on these, or did I get a lemmon that I have to return?

Thanks again.[/quote']

 

I'd suggest you loosen the strings, pull the bridge pins, and see if all the strings have pulled adequately. If you have the ball end of the string hanging down below the bridge plate under the soundboard, it can often vibrate and create such a sound as you have described. I've had the problem with a couple of guitars and it's the reason I usually replace the factory plastic bridge pins with bone pins--the plastic seems to "stick" or develop a cut or ridge that might cause the string to hang up much more easily than bone.

 

I've since developed a personal practice when changing strings--I put ever so slight a bend in the string at the ball end, slip the string into the hole and push the ball end down into the body cavity, insert the bridge pin loosely, then pull upward on the string to seat the ball against the internal bridge plate. Then I seat the bridge pin. I do this for all 6 strings before I ever string them through the pegs at the tuners; this allows me to stick my hand inside the body of the guitar to feel where the ball ends are located. It's not unusual to have to redo one or two.

 

I don't know that the bone pins made the difference or the new procedure, but I haven't had this sort of buzz since I changed my string installation practice. Give it a try with your plastic pins, it should work just fine. A good set of bone pins can be expensive--I guess I just like to fiddle with things and mod them, that's why I put bone or ivory nuts/saddles/bridge pins on every one of my guits (well, except for my AJ10 campfire guitar--the cost of the pins alone would exceed the price I paid for the guitar!).

 

Dugly

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest golfingfun

Well, just an update...

I did a neck adjustmentand straightened the neck, although, whoever did the final setup should be spoken to.

The truss rod is as far as it can go without overtighteneing, and the frets seem to be uneven from the 9th fret to the 15th fret, and a slight hump is now noticable. This really shocks the heck out of me as until the adjustment, it was fairly unnoticable. I saw most of this after laying a metal staight edge the length of the neck.

The esonic 2 system seems to be troublesome.

It cuts in and out and works generally whenever it wants to. There'a s short or loose wire in the system. The second input on the lower bout of the guitar gets loose without even being used. After a measurement, I find that part of the buzzing can be attributed to the nut having been filed too much on the D and B strings.

I have come to the conclusion that this puppy is going back in a couple of days.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as this guitar looks incredible and sounds extremely good even with these issues. As I mentioned before, I bought this brand new, and these issues shouldn't be here. I am disappointed with the thought that they'll all be like this, and I'm not willing to add another several hundred $ onto what I've spent already.

Any comments or ideas are more than welcome.

Thanks

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