URGENT: Ibanez Bridge repair

verbalkint

This is the most depressing thing that has ever happened to me. I have an Ibanez RGA 121 Prestige and it is the love of my life. I play thicker gauge strings 11-49 and the lower E wouldn't slip into the groove of the saddle properly, which was causing the string to slip a bit and feel loose while playing. So I gave it to a friend who said he could sort it out but ended up taking a little grinder to the saddle and completely grinding away the middle metal part that used to hold the string. We don't talk anymore.

Then just last week I sold my backup guitar and now I'm left in a state of perpetual depression. Marshall says they can order from Japan but it might take from 6 weeks to 4 months. The guy from Ibanez rules also said it will take 6 weeks to 6 months! He can't guarantee anything. Does anyone have a solution? Any saddle replacements anywhere, or a full Gibraltar Plus Bridge? The Ibanez uses the Gibraltar Plus bridge http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/Gibraltar_Plus. And the guitar looks like this http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/RGA121. If anyone can think of how I can fix this, even temporarily until a new bridge arrives, please let me know. Could someone maybe just solder in a new piece of metal in the saddle that we can shape right or something? Anyone know of spare Ibanez parts? ANYTHING. I can't get back to normal until I've fixed my precious. I should've never let this happen. Sigh.

I'm based in Cape Town.
Cheers guys.

DonovanB

Look at the Mighty Mite parts as an interim. they should be similar to the Ibanez item.

arjunmenon

Hey VK,

I feel your pain brother. Ibanez spares are like hen's teeth.
Locally, you could try TOMS (who are the authorized dealers for Ibanez in SA).
Internationally, Rich Harris of Ibanez Rules is very good when it comes to Ibanez.

An alternative is to put up ads of sites like gumtree, junkmail etc and hope that someone has such a bridge lying around.

Good luck.

AlanRatcliffe

Soldering is out as it's more than likely a cast saddle, which doesn't take soldering brazing or welding. You could have an engineer copy the saddle for you, but that will be molto expensivo. So replacement is probably the best option.

As a temporary solution I'd probably try build up the groove with a hard glue (maybe something like Liquid Metal - or whatever they call it these days), and wait for the replacement.

verbalkint

Thanks for the help guys. I've called Toms, waiting for reply. Alan , was wondering, could you recommend the best guitar tech I could take this to to maybe help me with a temporary solution? In Cape Town of course. Thanks again.

AlanRatcliffe

For this kind of thing, I'd speak to Mike Du Toit. He has lots of materials/engineering knowledge:

Mike's Custom Guitars & FretWorx
Tel/Fax: +27 (0)21 7153869
Mobile: +27 (0)73 885 1959
mikescustomATiafricaDOTcom

verbalkint

Thanks Alan! Mike sounds like he can help. HOPE.

giggsy

Have you tried eBay? May take up to 3-4 weeks though... If you are desperate and cant get hold of anything, and you dont have an eBay account, let me know and I can buy it for you and sort out everything else later

verbalkint

Ebay doesn't have anything unfortunately. But thanks for offering to help. I think with Mike's help I'll be fine. And long term I'll order a new bridge. And even more long term I will never again let anyone touch my guitar that isn't a certified technician. Lesson very harshly learned.

Cheers.

aja

verbalkint wrote:it is the love of my life. So I gave it to a friend

Well there's your problem right there!

I made the same mistake. I mean, he is a friend, so you can trust him, right? Unfortunately a buggered up acoustic (it is bad, really bad) is not so easy to fix as replacing a saddle ☹
So you are lucky in a way, there might have been more damage done...