Bridge problem


Krunek
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Krunek
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08/15/2007 12:42 pm
S***, I am so mad now. Went to change the strings. I have an RG 370, Ibanez, with edge bridge. It is a copy of floyd. I like it because you don"t have to clip the balls on strings. Nyhowz, went to change the strings. Slowly, nicely, one at a time. Finished and...Uh, drat. Up came the bridge. Now it si high an pretty hard, so I can"t even use the tremolo bar. Nor could I, since now the bar is so low it is almost touching the guitar. Any advice on the matter? A quick one too, cause I am but a step away from total insanitiy. (never was any good at self control.) Help me out, guys.
# 1
ren
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ren
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08/15/2007 2:23 pm
Have any of the springs slipped off the back of the trem block?

If the bridge is up in the air, tune down until it drops and steadily pull it back up... patience man. Once you get the knack, it's OK... If you can give me a little more info, perhaps I can help meore - I'm fairly used to floyds.

I'm kinda surprised you had the problem if you changed the strings one at a time and brought them to pitch.... :confused:

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# 2
Gargy
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Gargy
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08/15/2007 3:02 pm
Two solutions that probably won't help but they'er worth checking;

1: pull off the back-plate and see if something is wrong with the tremolo springs. I had a similar problem (not quite this severe) so I added a spring, and although it stiffened up the action it solved the problem.

2: While you're behind the back plate, the tremolo springs are all connected to a piece of metal that is held in place by two long screws; if you tighten the screws further into the guitar body this can tighten down the tremolo by stretching the springs a little more. These are at least worth checking on before you go to more extreme measures.
# 3
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/15/2007 6:03 pm
Originally Posted by: renHave any of the springs slipped off the back of the trem block?

If the bridge is up in the air, tune down until it drops and steadily pull it back up... patience man. Once you get the knack, it's OK... If you can give me a little more info, perhaps I can help meore - I'm fairly used to floyds.

I'm kinda surprised you had the problem if you changed the strings one at a time and brought them to pitch.... :confused:


Uhm, I am rather new at floyds...I changed the strings once before this and it worked fine. I know about the thing that you can"t change them all at once.
Nyhowz, this is not original floyd, it"s ibanez edge. Here you don"t have to clip the ball ends. Which I think gave me the trouble. When you insert the string into the bridge, you have to unscrew this piece so that the ball will go into hole. After done, you screw it back in. Well, during this procces, the ball ends of the string went to deep into the bridge (hope you know what I mean) and the same ball stuck into something on the down side of the bridge, pulling it up. I know, cause I see the ball ends bellow the bridge, but not all of them. So, some sat into place, others went too far. This is the problem. On the low E, I unscrewed the bolt and pulled the string back and the bridge came down quite a bit. But, dunno why, I can"t do the same with the other strings. The wont come out. And now i can2t tune the guitar. I retuned it three times and gave up. The only choice I see is to clip the strings alltogether and put new ones. I would hate to do that, considering I didn"t even played on this ones.
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# 4
HDJ
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HDJ
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08/15/2007 6:15 pm
Are the new strings a heavier gauge than the ones you replaced? That's one main thing that will do that to a Floyd type bridge...

Also, the bridge will always be up a bit when new strings are installed until the new strings get stretched out....Did you stretch the strings?

I'm not familiar with the type of bridge your dealing with though, the kind where you keep the ball on the strings....
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# 5
longliverock83
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longliverock83
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08/15/2007 10:37 pm
how do u stretch strings??
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# 6
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/16/2007 5:12 am
Originally Posted by: JFRICKAre the new strings a heavier gauge than the ones you replaced? That's one main thing that will do that to a Floyd type bridge...

Also, the bridge will always be up a bit when new strings are installed until the new strings get stretched out....Did you stretch the strings?

I'm not familiar with the type of bridge your dealing with though, the kind where you keep the ball on the strings....


Hmmmm...Yeah, i think they are...Used to be 0.9, these are 10. Didn"t think of that...Now what? I know, I didn"t see bridges like that before, but when i bought the darn thing, it was strung like that, with the ball ends and worked fine. Yeah, i stretched them...To answer the question to a colleague before, strings are streched (at least I do so) try to tune them up fairly good, then play the guitar, using a lot of extreme bends and a whammy bar. Retune, do it again. Repeat the process until they don"t drop (or raise) in pitch alot. Taht is about it. That"s how I do it. Jfrick, what now? Should I take these strings down and try with new ones?
# 7
ren
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ren
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08/16/2007 9:00 am
Ah-ha... I didn't think of that one... :o

If you've got 10's now instead of 9's you can resolve the problem in one of two ways:

1) Remove the 10's and fit 9's instead
2) Add another spring to the back of the trem block

And those are the options. Sorry, I just assumed that you'd fitted the same gauge that you took off...

And on stretching the strings in, I do the same as you Krunek - bend the strings up from every fret between 3 & 15ish and go nuts with the bar... retune and repeat...

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# 8
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/16/2007 1:23 pm
Originally Posted by: renAh-ha... I didn't think of that one... :o

If you've got 10's now instead of 9's you can resolve the problem in one of two ways:

1) Remove the 10's and fit 9's instead
2) Add another spring to the back of the trem block

And those are the options. Sorry, I just assumed that you'd fitted the same gauge that you took off...

And on stretching the strings in, I do the same as you Krunek - bend the strings up from every fret between 3 & 15ish and go nuts with the bar... retune and repeat...


Ok, since i never messed with the springs, i am restringing it...Arrrrgggh!!!
I shall keep you guys posted on the matter. Thank you all. Say, Ren, you are an Ibanez guy, right? How do i make the bar a bitt stiffer, so it stays in the position I leave it in and not just hang on the lowest point?? The luthier guy told me to take the wrench, the same type i got for bridge and screw a little in the hole beneath the bar. Tried it, doesn"t work out. And It is to small of a hole to figure out what kind of a tool I need. Any advice on that matter? Thanks!!
# 9
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/16/2007 2:47 pm
Ohohohoooookk. Restrung it. Good news; it stays in tune. Bad news; the f****** bridge is still high. Now, good people. Before I run to the music store with curses on my lips and anger in my heart. And angry i am. !#"&%&!!!!
What the heck am I doing wrong here. Do I really need to clip the ball ends? Don"t think so. They were on the first time I bought it and since I changed strings and it worked fine. Now the bar is so low, I can"t even move it from the neck to the bridge cause it won"t go over the pots. Arrgghhhh!!!!! What am I doing wrong here?? Ren? Jfrick? Anyone??
# 10
ren
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ren
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08/16/2007 3:29 pm
Whoa dude, calm down... :)

First, getting the arm to stay where you leave it. Your guitar has an Edge III bridge which I'm not familiar with. On my guitars (Edge Pro) I have to replace the bushes (white plastic rings) on the arm frequently. The guy probably told you to drill a hole in the arm to make it a little wider at the end and make it stick - not something I would have suggested but hey. Does your trem arm have white plastic rings? the arm dropping is just the way they are with use.

Also, on my guitars I have to cut the ball-ends off the strings so I'm not certain. If I assume the ballends vanish into the trem block (like on a strat etc) it is possible that one has gotten stuck. Same suggestion as before - detune your guitar and see if one of the strings makes a big difference - might help you target the problem.

I'm off on a train soon, but can still get to the internet - PM me when you reply, I'll get an email and will know to check back in with you. Stay cool man - this is all part of the fun... honest... ;)

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# 11
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/16/2007 4:20 pm
Nope, my guitar has a hole in the bridge at the end that goes all the way to the hole that i put an arm in. Like a letter T, ge it? And he saed i am supposed to screw something in this little hole an get my arm not to drop (ok, no dirty thoughts, now.) ;) As for the bridge part, just got back from guitar shop. The guy saed the string were the problem, cause they stretched springs. They should be adjusted and I have to go to the luthier. And he will tak me at least 40 $. which I don"t have. So. Should I kill myself or hung myself?
# 12
HDJ
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08/16/2007 4:39 pm
Only thing I can suggest that I haven't seen is to just tighten up the springs a bit....There will be 2 screws that attach the claw to the body of the guitar, just screw those in a bit...that will cause the springs to have a bit more tension and will pull the bridge back down...

It's a long process as you have to re-tune, adjust the screws, re-tune, etc...
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# 13
ren
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ren
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08/16/2007 5:30 pm
Take the plate off the back and have a look for yourself. JFRICK's idea to tighten the claw screws could work. I've never managed to stretch springs so they don't return, but I guess it might be possible. Take the back off - you'll see how the springs fit. If you are going to play around with it, slacken the strings first or you could really hurt it! (or take your eye out!)

You'll see how the mechanism works. Bottom line - if the three springs really have stretched and so won't hold the bridge down right, buy 3 floyd trem springs from ebay or a local store and fit them yourself. It's not a skilled job really, one end is pushed into the trem block and the other is hooked over the trem claw - you'll see what I mean.

No point in killing yourself though man.... that won't help.... ;)

This bit of the guitar is purely mechanical, so as long as you can make sense of what you can already see, swapping bits and adjusting screws is easy - just take your time and it'll be cool... the only time I ever had one of my bridges stick up in the air was when one of the springs had slipped off the claw so only 2 of the three were working - even that was fine once I put the spring back on.

Can you post a picture of your bridge / trem arm or anything that might help us? I have never seen an Edge III bridge... and I justr can't visualise the trem arm etc from what you are telling me... :o

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# 14
Krunek
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Krunek
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08/17/2007 5:13 am
Ok, called the luthier guy. He saed, if I swapped strings back to 0.9, the bridge should lower itself. If it doesnt, try genly pushin it dowm wit tremolo arm (which I tried and it costed me a high e string.) And, if it still won"t come down, well, I should bring the darn thing over and he will take a look at a guitar. And me at his daughter, huh! ;) Well, it came down fairly...I shall, for the time being, leave it that way. Took a look at a backplate too...Jfrick is right. You could adjust the tension by screwing the screws in the body. But, for the time bein, I am leaving it that way. As for the tremolo arm, Ren, dunno, but i think I can"t post pictures since I am not at full access. Bt there is this site called ibanezrulles. Try checking it out there, maybe you will find it. I tried myself, but couldn"t, but maybe i messed something up. In case you don"t, here is the best description of my tremolo arm I can offer. First of all, it is slick. It doesn have the thing, uh what is it saed? You know, the carved lines on the side to screw it in? Nope. Smooth and you just pop it in.
After you pop it, there is this little hole in the bridge that comes from the end of the bridge to the hole in which the arm lies. Not vertically, but opposite (forgot the word. Sorry. Not an english man, obviously. :o ) Anyhow, this hole has the lines carved in so you can screw in a screw. Doing so, this screw will push into the tremolo arm, holding it tighter in place. Pretty simple.
Imagine a pipe of some sort. With a hole on the side. If you put a pipe of a smaller diameter in it, and you wont that pipe to hold still, just put the screw in the hole, so it will hold the smaller pipe. Get what I mean? Uh, took me a fine time to write this one. The bad thing is, i lost that screw. And it is so small, that i don"t know if they have it in any shop. Go figure.
# 15
ren
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ren
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08/17/2007 10:44 am
OK, so it's got a little grub screw in it to hold it in - that's pretty common on some types of arm... one of my guitars has a similar. You can buy replacement screws from ebay (or the whole arm). If you buy a new one, put a little bit of superglue in the thread before you screw it in - it'll be strong enough to stop it slipping, but not so strong you can't move it if you need to.

Glad you got the bridge back down.... next time you do it, loosen the strings first.. ;)

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# 16

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