1996 JF30 issues

[IronChefChris]

Recently acquired a 1996 JF30 that hadnt been touched in years, great shape just needed cleaning and a top crack needed attention on it. I went ahead and cleaned, glued the crack, and put some new tusq pins on it as the old ones were cracked...i also put some elixers on the guitar, it looks and plays great, however the B string seems sort of "dead", i've heard much much worse, but it could definetely sound better and intonate better, not to mention stay in tune a bit better, i mean its good, but not great. what should i do? i put some graphite on the nut when i restrung it hoping that would fix it, but it still seems just off. would a compensated saddle help? i was debating that anyway. and does anyone know what the original nut and saddle were made of on the 96 JF30s? i'm assuming bone, but the finish seems dull. i was thinking about just getting a tusq 1 1/8, i think thats the size. any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[GardMan]

You might look at the nut slot for that string... is it too deep? too wide? doesn't have an abrupt sharp edge? From my reading, all could affect the tone/sustain (of an open string), and the latter could also affect intonation (on open strings).

If you notice the effect even when the string is fretted or capoed, I'd suspect the saddle. It's pretty cheap to swap it out for bone or tusq, whatever you prefer.

Good luck,
D