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Possible stripped pivot screw on lo pro trem

5K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Wyvern Claw 
#1 ·
So, today I have just received a Jem 7v that I bought online. It's an older one with the ebony board and a lo pro trem, and other than needing a bit of a clean up and some new strings that I have yet to buy, I noticed something else. The 5th fret of the high E string is a dead note. I figured this was simply because the action is insanely low and there is a bit of fret buzz on some other notes on all other strings. So my first thought was to raise the bridge a little. Now, here's where the problem is, I can raise the bridge on the bass side just fine, but when I went to adjust the treble side, where it really needs it because of that dead note, the allen wrench I was using just kept turning and not really catching. I know it was the correct size; because I can adjust the bass side, as I mentioned, but the treble side just does not move. Moreover, when I removed the wrench, I noticed that some of the black paint was stripped off of it in the groves and it felt like it was covered in sharp metal bits in that area. I am not sure whether the metal was flaking off the wrench or if it was from the screw in the bridge and just stuck to it, but it was disconcerting.

I always hate running into set backs like this when getting a new guitar, but other than the need for new strings, there were no other problems with it and I got it for a really good price; so I am mostly happy with it. However, I'm not sure what to do about this bridge issue...
 
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#7 ·
Well, sorry, I shouldn't say ALL figured out, but I was able to raise the action to where the dead note became more of a buzz. It's still only on the high E on the 5th fret, but part of it may be because when I received the guitar, that string was broken and I had to salvage it since I don't have access to new strings (the VERY small music shop around here is ran by just one guy, and his hours are ridiculous - I'd be surprised if he's still in business by this time next year, especially considering I've shown up 2 hours before closing time and he had already left). I'm not sure if re-using a broken string could potentially cause any issues like that though, they are all very old, dead strings anyway.

I'll get to the point now, I still wasn't really able to turn the locking studs, but the larger ones moved just fine once I got a set of proper allen wrenches this morning. I'll have to look more into the locking ones, but for now, the guitar is alright. Still could use some new strings, a good clean up and a set up, but it's playable now with that dead note mostly gone.
 
#8 ·
Well, now I have finally gotten some new strings and have cleaned up and re-strung the Jem, but now I'm having a different issue. I'm not sure if this is normal or not (I'm guessing it's not), but after putting new strings on, I pretty much had to put the spring tension screws so far in to have the trem sit properly that they are practically as far into the body as they will go. Now, you might ask what gauge of strings I switched to; they are the same as the old ones, maybe one gauge higher. They are only 10-46's. Your next suggestion might be that I need new trem springs, perhaps these ones are worn out. Well I actually took the trem springs out of another guitar with an OFR that works perfectly and I get the same problem, meanwhile I put the old springs into the OFR to see if the same thing would happen, and those springs actually make the OFR sit too far back, as opposed to way too far forward like the lo pro was sitting. I heard from the seller who sold me the guitar that those bridges are supposed to sit much further forward than a regular Floyd Rose, but I haven't heard that to be true from any other set up tutorials I have come across so far. As far as I know, lo pro's are supposed to sit level with the body like any other trem of it's kind. Please correct me if I am wrong though. I'm not sure how big of a deal it is, since I DID get it to be level, but I just find it odd how I had to tighten the screws so far in to have it sit that way, compared to my other guitar.

And the last problem I am having is that even though I have the bridge as far down as it will seem to go, the action is a little too high. I am not sure how to fix this either, since the neck is not overly bowed. In fact, I had to adjust the truss rod since the neck was perfectly straight with no bow whatsoever. In fact, it may have even had a slight underbow.
If any of you have any suggestions or if you can see that I am blatantly doing something very wrong here, please let me know, as I seem to be somewhat handicapped and unable to set this guitar up properly...
 
#9 ·
Your on the right track, my friend. First, You need to put the original springs back on. They have a higher tension (torsion?) rating than the OFR springs do. You need at least 3 of them in there, rarely a 4th is needed, but only with 11-guage strings and higher.....3 should be fine.

When setting up an edge/Lo-pro, the side of the knife edge that is visible from the side of the trem can be used as a guide for setting trem angle. the knife edge should be parallel to the body. This will cause the back of the baseplate to be somewhat higher than the front.

You also need to put a shim in the neck pocket. This will cure your problem with action.
Rich has a good tutorial with pictures on this in his tech section. Spend a few hours going over the whole section, There's a TON of useful info for you.

http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm
 
#10 ·
Hey, thanks for another reply. I put the original springs back in, but they don't appear to be making much difference. It seems I will still wind up having to put the screws pretty far into the body in order to have it balance correctly. However; without a visual, I am somewhat confused by your guide to balance the spring vs string tension properly. I'm not sure if you have a lo-pro equipped guitar, but if you do, would you mind sending me a picture of how the side of the whole trem should look relative to the body? (Or is there pictures for the lo-pro in the link you posted? I haven't had time to see it yet, I'm still replacing the springs again).

Also, in regards to having to put a shim in the neck pocket, is this a common issue at all? It just seems odd to me that I should have to do something like that to this guitar, I figured the action on a guitar like this wouldn't need any modification to set up the action properly; as there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it that would make it needing something like this done.
 
#11 ·
Sorry, I should have looked into this before posting the last reply there, but I think I have the angle set properly now. I did in fact come across a section for it in the link you gave me, the angled baseplate you referred to is what threw me off. I'm used to OFR's, where the whole thing is pretty well flat in relation to the body. Still, the screws seem to be a little bit far in compared to my guitar with the Floyd, but maybe that's normal for the edge trems as well, I still have yet to get that far. But it's not as bad as they were before, considering I was trying to get the baseplate horizontal in relation to the body. Thanks for the help again, though I am still wondering for sure about those spring tension screws and the action.
 
#12 ·
Obviously each guitar will be a little different, but most of my guitars only have about 3/4" of the claw screws showing. Glad you got that part figured out. As long as the knife edge is parallel to the body, your in good balance regardless of how far the claw screws are sunk into the body.

Yes, it's not only common for a bolt on guitar to need a neck shim........it's almost the rule.

All of my guitars (bolt-on) have some degree of shim in them.

Ryc
 
#13 ·
Yes, I saw some more pictures of a lo-pro cavity, and most of them have the screws even further in than they are in mine. So that's good to know, but I just get worried when things have to be at one extreme or another just to work properly; such as the case with have the screws almost as far in as they will go.

And thanks for the advice with the neck shim, going into more detail about that; what exactly would I use to do this? The process sounds pretty basic, but just thought I'd see if you can give me a quick answer instead of possibly searching for 50 different ways to do it online and be unsure of exactly how to do it. (Even though it IS probably basic, so is conditioning a fretboard and I wound up confused as all hell because of everyone debating what to use, not to use, and exactly how to do it. I came across a video saying it should be cleaned with lemon oil first and THEN conditioned, but I was under the impression that's what the oil does... But he claimed it actually dries out the board. Well I finally decided to just use the lemon oil on the board of the Jem, and it worked great).
 
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