NGD! JP15 trans black (no clickbait intents, but this is one GREAT guitar…)

Yeaaah in spite of my best effort to downsize (I have 6 guitars for sale, with more to come), it turns out I can NOT resist a great guitar.

Weirdly, this is because I enjoy the instrument itself almost as much as I like to play them. A well-designed, solidly-built guitar which brings something new vs. what I already have is something I will always consider. Even though I genuinely am out of places to put guitars and this one has to live on the couch…

I originally came to GC to try such a guitar, one of the new burl-top Axis SuperSport from MusicMan. The one at my local is AMAZING-looking and I HAD to play it.
It sounds and plays great; quite mid-y and not as loud as I’d like, but a solid guitar. However frets at tiny and the neck pocket had a gap on the bass side which was quite large; I could have adjusted the neck into it better, should I have bought it, but something else caught me eye.

They had a JP15 in the new trans black finish, and even perched all the way up on their guitar wall, it looked GORGEOUS.

Anyway, it’s a JP. Floating trem + tiny horns + those JP pickups = in theory my worst nightmare.
In fact, I had a JP many years ago; it was the bog-standard JP6, no piezo, just the matching headstock. It played very nice (that neck…) but I felt lacked sustain.
I also had a JPX-7 that I didn’t play much due to my Aristides 070 coming in shortly after I got it, but which was a fantastic axe.

In practice however: this thing is AMAZING. It’s incredibly-well setup (yep, a factory guitar at GC) and sounds insane. Tight, and balanced, as I like it. Loud acoustically, but controllable plugged-in.
Build quality is INSANE. Everything I saw from MusicMan recently (couple of 2016 PDNs, my older JPX-7) has been TOP-NOTCH.
The top is really nice, the neck figuring is maybe a little more subtle than a lot of those recent roasted Maple necks are turning-out to be, but I reaaally like the looks of it. It brings a lot of character to the guitar.
The matte black hardware sets it off perfectly.

I feel like a better player with it. More precise, tighter. Granted, the bar is LOW, and it doesn’t take much for me to be better! But it’s a great feeling nonetheless.

The genuine ONLY thing I felt could be better: this is heavy.
Now, I love and have mostly VERY light guitars, so do take it with a grain of salt. Additionally, this has the piezo circuit, battery etc… So weight is probably expected, and compared to other ‘normal’-weighted guitars this is likely in the ballpark. Still, some chambering would help with weight and contribute to extra resonance. Not that this sounds bad without it!
The nut is a liiiitle high but I am EXTREMELY picky about such things and it’s largely within tolerance for a factory guitar so I take no issues with it.

Likely the only thing I will do in the foreseeable future is block that floating trem.
I’m even enjoying the pickups which for a JP, for me, is nothing short of a miracle…

I am so, so glad I went for it. The dude at GC was super nice, so shout-out to Anthony from the Seattle store for putting-up with me and making me a deal m/

PICZ YO!

Pics with and without flash to show different views:

DAT NECK THO:

Harder to tell, but the back of the Mahogany body is stained in black with juuuust a little of the grain showing. It’s very subtle but GORGEOUS in effect.

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