ibanez RG570EX going to 10 gauge strings

Hi folks

I had some fun and games in the guitar shop the other day. I took my ibanez RG570EX in to hte guitar shop i like for a set up, the intonation was a bit out and has been since i got it (year or so ago) And the last time i had it set up elsewhere it didnt get sorted. The action was also a bit high and there was some buzzing around the 3rd fret.

I figured while it was being done i may aswell take the jump from 9 gauge to 10 gauge strings so asked the guy to do this. Hes been setting up and building guitars for the past 15 - 20 years and loves doing it, but i get a cll from him the following week asking me to come in cause he has had some problems. I go in to take a look and its all gone wrong - with the 10's on the guitar, the bridge (ibanez edge trem with 3 sprigs and floyd rose) was at about 45 degrees sticking up from the body - right up - with the two bolts for setting the action screwed all of the way down - ie nowhere left to go and the bridge just in completely the wrong position kinda like this ____/_

he is going to get an ibanez rep dwn to take a look sometime but im intrigued if anyone else has eve rhad similar problems with ibanez. I would have thought that the springs on the guitar when it was purchased would have enough tension to support 10 gauge strings straight off without having to change them. Was i wrong in this assumption? one reason i chose this model is i was told that the EX range goes through some good finishing and set up procedures at the factory in japan - so to run into this kinda problkem before its even year old is a bit off-putting.

Any suggestions advice or anyone who can tell me "its ok dont panic this normally happens with ibanez" would be great! Thanks all!

No, it doesn't usually happen with Ibanez bridges. In fact, ibanez bridges are probably the best out there you can get stock on a guitar. Its probably just damaged in some way. Floyd Roses and their many copies never really work the way they're supposed to.

Floating style bridges are simply a fact of balance. The tension caused be the strings needs to be equal to the tension of the springs. Considering that, I seriously doubt there is anything really wrong with your guitar.
Obviously, the tension of the strings on your guitar is quite a bit higher than the tension of those three springs combined, which is why the bridge is tilted up that way. Luckily there's an easy fix to this, all you have to do is put in an extra spring in the back, or maybe even just replace the three springs that are in there now with three new ones. These springs tend to vary in strength, and even lose their strength after some period of time(I know folks who replace their springs once a year), so replacing them might add the extra tension that is needed.

I went from .009's to .011's on my seven string, with that change of gauge I had to add 2 extra springs to my bridge. So, I'd say it's very likely you just need an extra spring in there.

[Edited by SPL on 10-25-2003 at 01:04 PM]

This problem is about as routine as they come, what I can't believe is this tech guy has been building and setting up guitars for 15-20 years and hasn't run into this before and apparently has no clue as to how to fix it......

Where is this guy at? I don't think I want to take any of my guitars to him for setup...

Hi folks - thnks for your replies! If this kind of thing does happen a lot otr is fairly routine then thats good news - being new to floyd rose and ibanez and having only recently (last year or so) realised the benefits of a good setup once in a while i was worried that there was something wrong with the guitar - i figured that changing the springs just to go up one gauge was kind of extreme but from what you are saying im now thinking that it relly isnt that big a del. the guy doing the work said he was going to have a try with some different springs but his view was that it shouldnt have needed them.

He also pointed out a couple of things about the guitar that i hadnt really noticed - the finishing / crimping of the frets along the edge of the neck has not been done too well and there are a few fairly sharp feeling bits when you run your hand along, but these will wear down in time i guess. Also the finish on the body is *so* thin - ive put a couple of small chips in it accidnetally :*0(
and it relly is a paper thin layer of paint. But that said its a cool guitar, looks neat plays nice and i love it - just beginning to wonder whas going on at ibanez because ive always admired their consistently high build quality. its neve rnice to discover bad things about your fav. axe -if the bridge is screwed somehow ontop of the above niggles then that would have been tragic for me so its a big weight off my mind to hear thats is proberbly something mundane and normal! So cheers folks once again!

~T~

Those low pro 2 bridges or whatever comes on the mid range rg's is cost cut to hell.I had some problems with mine.I dont know crap about floyd trems so I had my brother take a look.it took a trip to a machine shop to fix.Great bridge if it werent for the tin foil aluminum construction.

Originally posted by Tweak
... the finishing / crimping of the frets along the edge of the neck has not been done too well and there are a few fairly sharp feeling bits when you run your hand along, but these will wear down in time i guess...

Get that fixed! It only takes a good tech a few minutes to smooth that out, but it saves you a lot of pain. It takes all the fun out of doing a fast run along the neck if you loose chunks out of your hand.

HEY! I'M NE HERE, HOW Yoo PUNX' DOIN'!??!!! :)

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT; I certainly agree w/this...

PSTRING:
...This problem is about as routine as they come, what I can't believe is this tech guy has been building and setting up guitars for 15-20 years and hasn't run into this before and apparently has no clue as to how to fix it.........

TRUE. IT'S VERY COMMON. BUT LOWERING THE BRIDGE 'HIEGHT' IS NOT THE ANSWER.

Springs wear/stretch out, replacing when you change string guage is something I would recommend (if there's trouble?).

The spring "claw" must be adjusted (screw it in closer to the cavity wall). [That] can be replaced too. There's a great claw made by 'Schaller' (with a 'worm-gear') that we use sometimes. It's called "sure-grip" or sure-claw, or somethin'??
We have 'em here, E-MAIL ME if you want more info. Here; I'll post a pic' w/one...

Click Here to sOOpa'-siZe!

(oops! The link to the PIC' didn't work!)


~JSV


[Edited by JSV on 11-05-2003 at 02:10 AM]