whammy bar abuse?

[flaming fingers]

i own a JEM7vwh, and i know its not fake.. but when i use my whammy bar its easily gets out of tune, i have all the locks set up tight , but still gets out of tune, some guitarists even abuse their whammy bar and still be in tune. does anybody have the same problem as mine? my bridge is an edge pro, do i have to adjust it? it seems fine to me, its parallel to the body....

if someone can help or give advice, i would really appreciate it.. thanks...

by the way im new here and this is my first thread. I just wanna say that this is a really cool site... its good to interact with people who shares the same passion as me.


keep the music ALIVE. play what you feel...

[P. Aaron]

I can be fairly harsh with the wang bar and yup, it'll go out of tune...and never the same way twice. When wangin', you are askin' a thin flexible string of steel to keep coming back for you...sometimes it will...but it's just a string.

The pros know what they can get away with, and what sounds like serious crankin' may not be nearly as abusive as you think. But they also have real pros that know their habits, tweakin' their gear for them.

If you haven't had it done, (or maybe you think good at it) try having the guitar set up professionally. I am decent with keeping my Ibanez guitars playable. But a good set-up guy can really make them nice.

Just a couple 'o' radom thoughts...for what it's worth.

[WMerkert]

Do you have stud locks installed ?

[albee1952]

Locking studs can help. Playing new strings for 30 minutes to get them nice and settled(stretched) helps. A good setup is mandatory. Also make sure the screws holding the but to the neck are nice and snug and recheck every few months as they can loosen due to the wood expanding and contracting with the season changes. Experiment with brands of string as some may just be better than others.

[Zepp3lin]

Do a string pull several time when u install the new strings, if u don't season and pull the strings no matter how u lock it it will runs out of tune.

[millzy]

i had this same problem but found out i wasnt tightening the locking studs tight enough, but if you claim to lock them as tight as possible im a bit confused :S

[intini]

I posted a thread about this a few days ago, and I will take my guitar to have a professional set-up soon - he only can do it on the 10th of January :-(

If I were you I would have it set up to have it as good as possible. Even then now my 7Vwh is pretty stable after some abuse. I would say it is getting repeatable sharps and flats (out of tune) in a way that it is in average tune pretty much all the time. I mean not noticeably out of tune. The chords sound in tune. Of course if you put a digital tunner you may see a few cents down or up depending if you dive or pull up, but I think this should be somewhat normal? In any case I didn't have a proper set up yet and I expect some improvements. I don't have the stud locks as my 7V is new - I am considering getting them, tough, if the new set up don't improve tune stability.
Last, but VERY important, read Rich's website on how to improve tunning stability: it is great to have an idea of how big this issue can be, altough I think you should give it to a professional anyway, you can do some adjustments that can improve tunning stability immediately, like it did to me.

Good luck, and don't worry, everything is going to be alright...

[millzy]

im ok for abuse, tricks and divebombs are fine.
my problem is the trems stiffness and the lack of the arm being tight in its collar..i put some tape on the outside..much to the shock of the guys on my thread and it was working great but it stopped again..and i can do certain tricks and my trem isnt performings aswell, but im gonna get it together tomorrow and get the tape on under the brushings and get it good!

Also intini im curious about studlocks, i dont know what they are..and my guitar seems to be in the same situations as yours..so can you tell me and if i need them or not?

[millzy]

you arent refering to the locking top-nuts or the like?

[intini]

Originally Posted by millzy

you arent refering to the locking top-nuts or the like?

Hi, millzy. In the refered thread I was given a nice link to Rich's website, where he explains everything, including the locking studs, that I don't have, here it goes: http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setu..._stability.htm

I hope this helps!

[millzy]

ohh i know what they are...i cant help here..i dont even have a jem although im dying for one..was just whammy problems..
i think it looks like i cant help here if im thinking right..just needa get my trem tighter like it was earlier...it was playing like a dream earlier on today but when the tape mushed up it returned to the loose stiff feel >:[