Showing posts with label Floyd Rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floyd Rose. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
8:33 AM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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I never really liked the flying V so I advertised it for sale and I was traded a Samick strat style guitar for it. Value wise I reckon they're pretty much the same but the Epiphone has a more popular brand name. The Samick is a basic strat style guitar with two humbucking pickups and a floating Tremolo bridge.
I didn't really find time to play with the guitar much but when I did,
I found the D-string almost jumped out every time I used the trem. The guide at the bridge was broken and couldn't be held in place.
I obtained a new bridge hoping to just slot it in, but the plate was smaller than the current trem and it certainly wasn't going to be that easy. The next thing I thought I could do was to swop out all the guides.
The new bridge also had smaller screws to adjust the intonation which meant the gap in the "fork" was too smal for the screws in the existing bridge, and the small screws were too small for the holes in the old bridge as well.
This is the broken guide and the new one I put in. There are some very cool differences. The new guide is a string through, meaning I don't have to cut the ball end off to re-string. Although it doesn't have individual height adjusters like the old guides. I'm lucky the neck is fairly flat so it doesnt matter all that much.
There it is all done. The intonation, luckily, was spot on when I put the bridge on. The hardest part is adjusting the spring for the trem vs. the string gauge. Thankfully I've done that before and it was easier. It has a fatter neck than I thought it would but it plays very smooth and I can see myself enjoying it for a short while before selling it off.
I didn't really find time to play with the guitar much but when I did,
I obtained a new bridge hoping to just slot it in, but the plate was smaller than the current trem and it certainly wasn't going to be that easy. The next thing I thought I could do was to swop out all the guides.
The new bridge also had smaller screws to adjust the intonation which meant the gap in the "fork" was too smal for the screws in the existing bridge, and the small screws were too small for the holes in the old bridge as well.
This is the broken guide and the new one I put in. There are some very cool differences. The new guide is a string through, meaning I don't have to cut the ball end off to re-string. Although it doesn't have individual height adjusters like the old guides. I'm lucky the neck is fairly flat so it doesnt matter all that much.
Filed out to make it wider.
I filed the top down as well to give the screw more bridge to bite on. With the current height of that guide it only had less than 1mm to grip and I felt it could use more, especially at the tension and use I intend putting it through.
Thankfully this won't make a difference to the action or feel of the guitar. It made more mechanical sense to do this.
There's the bridge all together now.
Here you can see where the strings are threaded. It definitely makes restringing much easier.
I'm GASsing for an Ibanez S Series... mmmmm
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
12:22 PM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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I bought an Ibanez (I don't care how you pronounce it, I say `eye`bun`ez and people correct me saying `e`bunez. It wasn't made by apple or the Zulu's) RG470 made in the mid 90's.
When I saw it there was one of the three locking nuts and the tremolo arm missing. The pickups had fallen in through the mountings and when I tested it the switch didn't work so well. Yet I took it anyway. I was feeling generous as it was a student selling it and money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.
I also love the colour blue although I might just end up getting it resprayed a more metallic colour... yum!
When I started pricing parts, the guys at Glenwood village music have been helpful, particularly Grant Lazenby who they say is their expert at Floyd Rose Trem guitars. He gave me some good tips and I found I don't need the genuine Ibanez part that the Mighty Mite ones could fit and are way cheaper. So far I have a new set of locking nuts and the pickup mountings. I am still looking for the appropriate Trem arm.
I put new strings on as well. I used 10-46's as it was set up for them anyway but I see now 9-42's would be much better. I like the light touch that would accompany this neck. This guitar has the Wizard II neck which is a 3piece maple construction and a rosewood fretboard. I favour rosewood as I find it softer on the fingers and the eyes. The neck is out a bit so I am going to need to adjust the Truss rod.
There is one piece of hardware that I do not like touching, and that is the truss rod. We are generally hard on things like nuts and bolts and do our best to make them as tight is possible. with the truss rod it is best to be very gentle and very patient. Going in quarter turns is best and remember loosening allows the neck to move upward from the string tension and tightening pulls it back.
It was fairly abused so I took it for under R2000. If I consider that Glenwood Village music were willing to give me the new RG, not sure which one i assume it was the bottom range for R2500 i think mine wasn't at a bad price with a hard case.
When I saw it there was one of the three locking nuts and the tremolo arm missing. The pickups had fallen in through the mountings and when I tested it the switch didn't work so well. Yet I took it anyway. I was feeling generous as it was a student selling it and money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.I also love the colour blue although I might just end up getting it resprayed a more metallic colour... yum!
I'm not sure how many people do this, but I always have big regrets after buying anything, especially if I can't start the repair process immediately.
On further examination I found the pickup mountings were wrong, taken from a Les Paul and the pups were screwed into the body with big self tapping screws. I took those off and discovered the two humbuckers are DiMarzio's. Not sure which ones but that's a definite upgrade from the Ibanez pups. If I can get this guitar playing and sounding even close to the Ibanez Steve Vai signature series, the JEM's I will be stoked. The neck is similar so I'm nearly there...
When I started pricing parts, the guys at Glenwood village music have been helpful, particularly Grant Lazenby who they say is their expert at Floyd Rose Trem guitars. He gave me some good tips and I found I don't need the genuine Ibanez part that the Mighty Mite ones could fit and are way cheaper. So far I have a new set of locking nuts and the pickup mountings. I am still looking for the appropriate Trem arm.Mounting the pups proved to be a bigger mission that I thought it would. The holes in the bracket were damaged so I had to fill them in and re-tap it so I could adjust the height. So far so good.
I put new strings on as well. I used 10-46's as it was set up for them anyway but I see now 9-42's would be much better. I like the light touch that would accompany this neck. This guitar has the Wizard II neck which is a 3piece maple construction and a rosewood fretboard. I favour rosewood as I find it softer on the fingers and the eyes. The neck is out a bit so I am going to need to adjust the Truss rod.
There is one piece of hardware that I do not like touching, and that is the truss rod. We are generally hard on things like nuts and bolts and do our best to make them as tight is possible. with the truss rod it is best to be very gentle and very patient. Going in quarter turns is best and remember loosening allows the neck to move upward from the string tension and tightening pulls it back.
So after I replace the selector switch, volume pot, and after the neck adjustment, Pickup mountings, lock nuts and trem bar replacement I'll have a near new guitar and I will definitely have a special attachment to it.
Remember that whatever maintenance you do on a guitar, find a manual and follow the specifications given. Unless you are a luthier you will need some sort of guidelines. Trying to wing it is not a good idea and can be expensive if you botch it up.
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About Me
- Donovan Banks
- Durban, KZN, South Africa
- I am a musician who does anything and everything else. I write about what I do and how I do it. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
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