Reinhardt
I have a RG2620qm with a floating bridge. I took my guitar for a setup a week ago... When i do a dive with the wammy, and I tune my guitar, then all my strings are "flat", and when I do the opposite, then all my strings are "sharp". Do u think I should put some kind of oil or wax between the strings and those small intonation points?
AlanRatcliffe
Something funny there. What you are describing is textbook strings binding (sticking) in the nut - but you have a locking nut, so the effective string length starts at the nut and ends at the saddle, and the strings should not be moving through the nut at all. Who set it up for you?
Two things to check:
1. Are the nut locks properly clamped down? If they are not, the strings will move through the nut and bind. Without the locks clamped, a locking nut is worse for binding than a conventional nut. Do not overtighten, but they should be firmly clamped down.
2. Are the locks the right way around? Most Floyd locking nuts are a bad design that let you fit the locks at 90 degrees from where they should be. They are designed with a triangular top and a "ridge" running down the centre on the top to allow them to adjust and clamp two strings of different gauges. That ridge must run parallel to the strings and at right angles to the nut itself, not the other way around. If the ridge runs at right angles to the strings, then it only clamps one of the two strings properly.
Do not use any lubricant anywhere on your strings.
BTW, while a Floyd Rose is a type of floating trem, it's better referred to as a "double-locking" trem, to avoid confusion with the modern two stud trems such as the Fender and Wilkinson trems.
Reinhardt
It was Andries from Musica... He did a awesome job, I think I did'nt tighten it properly at the locks, it makes sense...
Thanx Alan, may I call you "Master Roshi"? ???
AlanRatcliffe
A simple "Master" will do fine ?
arjunmenon
Actually, Alan is referred to as the great Yoda ?
Cheers
AlanRatcliffe
Arjun figuring out my secret is. ?
HairMetal84
Actually.......
Your Ibanez is a newer type... with the newer (cheaper IMO) edge.
Firstly, most people that setup ibanez edge bridges don't know where the parallel mark reader is on the bridge. IF THE BRIDGE IS NOT PARALLEL TO THE BODY (even if the nut is locked properly) IT WILL GO OUT OF TUNE!!! Secondly the newer edge desings are totally insuperior to the old ones (thnx to Ibanez cost cutting). I have older bridges on all my Ibanez's (NB with double locking posts) and have absolutely no tuning issues when it's setup correctly.
arjunmenon
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Arjun figuring out my secret is. ?
What secret? ? I thought it was a widely known fact
Cheers
Malkav
Though I agree with Hairmetal84 (charles) about how the cost cutting has effected the newer Ibanez's I do however feel that even the new bridges aren't that terrible and I find the main problem with them vs the old lo pros (like i have on my RG ? ) is that they don't sound as nice which is probably a result of cheaper metals being used in their production.
However your problem is most likely to be that whoever set it up didn't read the marker lines properly, the new bridges are confusing because when they are setup correctly they actually look like they're sitting at an angle so the marker line is integral to figuring out where it should be.
That or you haven't tightened the locking nuts properly (but not too tight cause you can ruin them if you over tighten).
Reinhardt
Can you maybe explain "marker lines"? ???
Vintage-Vibe
Remove your nut blocks, taking note of which way around they were secured.
undo the fine tuners (those screw heads at the back of the bridge) to the half-way point of their thread
Restring the guitar to your preffered tuning with fresh strings.
Without using the locking nut pieces at all, stretch the strings in until they settle and stay in tune.
This can take several retunings - try to tune the strings hap-hazardly - not "6th then 5th then 4th " in a row - tune eg 5th then 3nd then 6th then 1st for eg - it means the tension isn't going to go up in one direction
(ie if you start only tuning from the bass side, the strings on the treble side will all go out accordingly - hence the name "FLOATING" bridge !)
Put the guitar flat on a table top.
Look from the side, sighting across the body.
On either side of the tremolo/bridge you should see a black line not much longer than a centimetre - those are your reference points as to the angle the bridge should be floating in accordance to the top surface of the body - the spring tension/claw tension needs to be adjusted until these "reference lines" are parallel with the body surface.
If you can't see these little lines, use your trem arm to pull/drop the bridge till you can see them - this means you will have to raise the action until you can see them to get their floating angles correct.
You can adjust the master action of the bass and treble side with the 2 big vertical allen key post slots the bridge assembly is attached to.
(If you adjust those 2 height posts, you should ideally tune the guitar down first, so as not to impose stress on the posts and the wood where they bite into.Obviously, if you tune up or down you will change the angle the bridge floats at - ie if you are going to change the overall action, tune down a bit, adjust the 2 height posts the tune up to pitch again.
The whole point is we want the guitar to be tuned to pitch and have those 2 referance lines floating parallel to the body's surface top BEFORE we do the final adjustment of the action with those 2 vertical posts.
Once you've done ALL of this, it's quite possible your intonation will have been affected - which is a whole other topic !
?
Good luck !
