First of all, the action of the guitar is high and from the first look, it can be attributed to the spring of the floating bridge not being balanced and neck warp. Whenever you wish to lower the action of the guitar, NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, did i say NEVER start with the truss rod. The truss rod is a rod that counter acts the tension of a steel/metal string instrument and it is not a magic wand that magically lowers the action of your instrument.
From the above example, we can tell that the bridge is tilted forward. For an Ibanez Edge bridge, the saddles or knife edge should be perpendicular to the cavity line of the body.
In this case, I will start with adjusting the spring claw screw in an attempt to balance the spring. Tighten the screws in this case as you want the spring's tension to be tighter to pull the tremolo down. If your tremolo is tilted towards the tail, loosen the screws.
There isn't a sure formula on how much you need to tighten and I usually do it with an estimation of half a screw turn. Do note that a little twist is enough to change the balancing of the tremolo.
After tightening the screws, proceed to re-tune the guitar to standard (or whatever alternate tunings) with a tuner (This is extremely important). Make sure that all notes are resting at the correct pitch accurately. Check again if the saddles or knife edge should be perpendicular to the cavity line of the body. If it isn't, check again if it's being pulled upwards or tilting backwards. Repeat tightening or loosening the screws until the saddles or knife edge should be perpendicular to the cavity line of the body.Remember to stretch the strings to make sure that it doesn't go out of tune later on when you decide to abuse the whammy.
After balancing the springs, the bridge should look like this with the knife edges or saddles perpendicular to the cavity line of the body.
Hi, but what if the 3 screws at the back seems to be already screwed in to the max already, do we carry on screwing in even though all the treads in the screws are screwed max into the guitar body?
ReplyDeleteI had this problem previously that my bridge was bulging up and I tried to do your method but the screws seems hard to screw in though as the screws thread had already reached its max limits.
Hi Godsmen,
ReplyDeleteDo you mean 3 springs? There should be only 2 screws.
Anyway, to answer your question. Yes, you can continue to screw the screws in. Just like the one I show in the pictures, the screws are already pretty deep in. It is hard to screw in because the threads for the crews are new and as you are screwing in deeper, you are creating new threads.
If your bridge is bulging up, there are only 2 problems I can think of that is causing it. One, the springs are already old and it doesn't have as much tension as it used to have. If this is the case, you can either tighten the screws or replace the springs all together.
Two, the string gauge you are using has high amount of tension. Ibanez stock springs are meant for stings .009 to .010. Any string gauge with higher tension will cause the bridge to bulge up. If this is the case, you need to replace the stock springs with higher tension springs (Or shorter). Hope this helps.
Thank you for your reply. Yup sorry I got it wrong it's 2 screws but my case wasn't cause of old springs nor wrong string tension. My guitar is very very new haha like 3 months old. My string I try .09 and .10 and end results was still the same though. The bridge is bulging out ah.
DeleteThe problem was I tried to change strings for 1st time I remove all the strings and did not put a block to stop the bridge from floating backwards.
Than when I started install the strings as I tune all strings the bridge bulge up. Tried .09 and .10 didn't solved the problem. Creating new treads takes a lot of strength as u are going against the direction of the pulling string strength haha.
Problematic ah bro haha ;)
Hi Godsmen,
ReplyDeleteIf your Tremolo is budging up, chances are the springs are already worn and it's time to change a new pair of springs. Try changing a new pair of springs. The Guitar might be left on the hanger for a long while before you bought it. Anyway, as long as the tremolo is bulging up and that is after you have tighten the screws to the point of being impossible to tighten, it's time to change the springs. Try getting shorter springs.
The problem is not attributed to the way you change your springs. As long as your spring are balanced, you can change them without the need to use a block.
ic. So can I say chances are that the springs are giving the problem ya? Okie. Will try that than. Thank you for advice.
ReplyDelete