Troubles with my trem - Can't get it to stick!

[Doink]

I always wondered what the inner screw was for. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go lock down some trem posts.

[swiggy]

good luck on the trem work slug. *
can you list your procedure here so i can use it as well cos i have exactly the same problem only in the opposite direction.
cheers

[slug]

Well, here's the result:

It stays in tune like a Jolly Rancher sticks to your teeth. *It worked wonderfully.

Swiggy, it's really simple to do. *Get yourself some 2-part epoxy. *I took the neck off for easier maneuverability. *I then removed the trem. *Take a pair of pliers (I use rubber-coated ones) and pull on the trem posts when they're screwed all the way down. *It shouldn't take much pressure. *When you have them out, clean them well and fill them with something easily removable as some epoxy will inevitably enter the post receivers, and I doubt you want your actual posts epoxied in place forever. * When you have your epoxy mixed, use something like a toothpick or cotton swab to coat the entire inside of the bore that holds the post receivers. *Don't fill it, just coat it thickly. *Then press your receivers in and make sure they're all the way down. *I took a couple of toothpicks and lightly tapped them in the area of the ovalling to hold the receivers where they were originally. *Make sure to fill all the gaps possible with epoxy. *Then, of course, clean up all the spots you spilled and let your baby sit for the drying time alloted, and 'viola!! *Just be careful removing any media you used to fill the receivers with so that you don't booger up your threads. *It's not very tough, and it works great!

Later, everyone, and thanks a ton for the great advice!!

mg

[jemsite]

[Vaibanez]

Quote: from jemsite on 12:25 pm on Feb. 27, 2001

Ahhhhh....the Silent Man....

J>

[megawzrd]

yeah...i wonder what that was all about.

[ashlock]

HOLY FLIRKING SCHNITT !!!


I have had my '88 Jem FP since 19-eighty-fricking-8 and I hardly ever used the tremolo because it would never return to exactly the same position! *I thought Vai would wank for a few songs, then get a freshly tuned guitar from the tech, and I could not afford this royal treatment, so I refrained from wankage. *

Fast forward 13 years and I just bought a JS1000 BTB from Japan and read the post here. *I went to check it out when I got home...first off, I stuck an allen wrench in the back of the Jem's nut and initially thought the thing was stripped because the wrench moved so easily, but that looseness was because the thing *was loose as a goose! *#!$%^&* son-of-a-B! *all these years my nut was probably jiggling (teeheehee) every time I wanged my bar (snicker). *

Then I go to check the set screw inside the trem post and it was fully raised!!!!!!!! * *I had noticed that the trem assembly sort of rubbed on the edge of the pick guard lately, causing a squeaking that I thought would eventually crack the pickguard, which I thought was somehow related to a misaligned/worn pickguard. *Duh. *For good measure, I tightened the neck screws and tuning screws too . For the 1st time in 13 years, my Jem is not half screwed together, *thanks so much for this eye opener of a post!!!!

Thinking that the same problems could not possibly exist on my brand new JS1000, I went to check ..... *and found all the same things. *I can understand Ibanez not tightening down the trem posts, but couldn't they at least include a little note telling us to do so after setting the bridge height? * *And WTF is up with these loose through-neck bolts which hold the nut? *Why don't they tighten those? *

I am almost afraid to pop the trem off to see if I have jiggly posts on the Jem now. *At least I caught the JS in time.

Ibanez: they definitely have a few screws loose ... a few million out there!

[Rich]

If anybody reads the 1 page instruction paper that comes with the guitar, it tell you to tighten the set screws :-) As for the nuts, that BSB could have been sitting for a year or more, wood shrinks as it dries, and everything bolted to it needs to be tightened, at least every 6 months.

[ashlock]

Well, here's the deal, my Jem was a floor model and all I got with it was the warranty card and the whammy bar. *No baggie of allen wrenches like the one that came with my JS, and No instruction set. *That's what happens when a 15 year old kid wanders into a music store with his mommy to cosign on a high interest loan.

Aaaand , the little booklet with my JS1000 is in Japanese since I got the guitar from Ishibashi, so I don't know what the hell it says. *It has the usual funny Japanese-instruction-style *little cartoon characters though! *does anyone have one of these little instruction manuals for the JS that they could scan and post? *



(Edited by ashlock at 10:01 pm on Mar. 15, 2001)

[skins345669]

Thank god I read this and found out about this whole locking down posts thing. I was going crazy at my ZR, to the point of wanting to sell my S, but now I've got the problem fixed. Once again, I owe all you guys.

[satrianirocks]

I'd like to add my 2 cents. I think the epoxy is a poor choice unless there is actually on oval to the bore which I find hard to believe. Not that they're expensive but you'll never get them out without a hammer now. I own a mess of Parker Flys and they often do the same thing. The wood shrinks a little and the knurled insert can move up and down. I found using a little water to make the grain raise will make it snug again.

[divebomb]

I know it might not be THAt related but I can't get my OFR to stick either! The trem screws are directly screwed to the body and they are very sturdy, nothing moves, I even got my tech to change the trem posts recently and he told me everything was fine, the knife edges were not damaged. Then I started noticing that every week, I would tune my guitar and the trem would dive in a little bit (even though the spring tension had been set by the tech, for that gauge of strings) so every week I had to tighten the claw that holds the spring until I broke a string. Then I changed the strings and I could not get the guitar to stay in tune even though I spend hours stretching the strings, then the next day I had to re-adjust the spring tension again and again and hold the whammy bar in order to keep the tuning right and then see how tight I had to go with the springs.

So it turns out that my claw is at 3milimeter from the inside of my body(I mean the remaining space to screw them in) so they are pretty much at their tightest position now, wich is weird because its the same gauge of string as I've always had, 10's.

I also notice that sometimes when I was diving, the trem came back slightly off balance and I had to pull up a little bit on the bar to put it back in tune... Weird right?

Do I need to lubricate the posts where the knife edges are rubbing? I don't klnow what to do anymore and no tech seems to have an answer to this. There must be something wrong that I can fix, you know?

ALSO: My spring configuration is a V , like this one < and I have two springs. Should I change it?

Should I put 3 Springs parallel (cause 2 is not tight enough anyways)?

I used to have 3 springs in V with the third one straight in the middle but it was even less stable...

HELP!

[shogun]

wow.. a thread on this? why don't you just check the tech section on here.. it has everything you will need.. another site for it is ibanezrules.com