Why do our loved prestige guitars have to suffer?

[Ayrton]

I will third the motion to ban cosmo hardware.

[For_The_Love_Of_Jems]

I do enjoy the stability a good locking stud offers.

Oh, and I am against Banning cosmo hardware!

Black is freakin' boring, gold tends to look tacky(except on a 7vwh), and chrome is too shiny! Cosmo all the way!

[jono]

I love cosmo black hardware too

[nosi0]

I have two lo-pro bridges both with cosmo black one of them some of the black has worn off and i'm left with a chorme look. Yet with the other its still in 100% mint condition. eventhough ive had the one which is still mint longer than the worn one. So i suppose quality is quite variable with the finish.

When i started this topic i really wasn't intending to start some rant about studs. I was really just wondering why they did it and if there's anything we can do about it. (besides change studs ourselves).

[Tank]

Originally Posted by nosi0

I have two lo-pro bridges both with cosmo black one of them some of the black has worn off and i'm left with a chorme look. Yet with the other its still in 100% mint condition. eventhough ive had the one which is still mint longer than the worn one. So i suppose quality is quite variable with the finish.

When i started this topic i really wasn't intending to start some rant about studs. I was really just wondering why they did it and if there's anything we can do about it. (besides change studs ourselves).

1. We do not know, only Hoshino knows and they won't tell
2. No
3. Yes, order from Rich, then you do not need to change em yourself

[eviltwin]

Originally Posted by Tank

1. We do not know, only Hoshino knows and they won't tell

We do know, and they have told us. Hoshino had too many warranty claims from people who failed to realise the stud locks were there and ripped them apart trying to adjust the post without unlocking.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f22/ib...tud#post549366

3. Yes, order from Rich, then you do not need to change em yourself

Stud locks have made a return on the 2008 Edge Zero trems,

http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2008/hardware.htm

Thanks to Tak, they are now available again.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f22/lo...tud#post634780

now if someone could put this in the FAQ so we can ban anyone who brings it up again

[Rich]

Originally Posted by eviltwin

We do know, and they have told us. Hoshino had too many warranty claims from people who failed to realise the stud locks were there and ripped them apart trying to adjust the post without unlocking.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f22/ib...tud#post549366

Please don't tell me you actually believed that? That's the company line to explain how Mr. Tanaka cut another $2 out of the build cost of a guitar. Guitars were never shipped with the studs locked, so anybody that actually locked them, knew they were locked.

Originally Posted by eviltwin

Stud locks have made a return on the 2008 Edge Zero trems,

http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2008/hardware.htm

Thanks to Tak, they are now available again.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f22/lo...tud#post634780

now if someone could put this in the FAQ so we can ban anyone who brings it up again

If you actually read it you'd know the EZ studs are pure crap, the worst studs Ibanez has ever put in a guitar. Take them out, throw them away, and put 2LE2B's in.

[Crazy_Guitar]

Locking studs absolutely rock!
I wonder if they can be used with an OFR/OFR Pro?

[nosi0]

Well when i bought my guitar the guitar tech of my local guitar shop looked at the JS and he concluded that the bridge couldn't be lowered. he didn't know anything about locking studs so it is a fair argument but if you don't know that edge/lo-pro's have locking studs you shouldn't be a guitar tech anyway.

Saving 2 dollars on every guitar they make is ofcourse going to become a quite large amount considering how many guitars they produce each year.

I think that they should only have changed the standard ibanez guitars and left the prestige's with locking studs but what can we do...

[eviltwin]

Originally Posted by Rich

Please don't tell me you actually believed that? That's the company line to explain how Mr. Tanaka cut another $2 out of the build cost of a guitar. Guitars were never shipped with the studs locked, so anybody that actually locked them, knew they were locked.

I had no reason not to believe Tak. In fact, I had come to the same conclusion long before he mentioned it, simply because I've seen first hand that some guitar techs are idiots and plenty of guitarists doing thier own set-ups are even bigger idiots. Are you telling me he was just pulling a fast one on us?

As for shipping guitars without them being locked, now that's hard to believe! The manual to come with all LoPro Edge guitars mentions them being locked.

If you actually read it you'd know the EZ studs are pure crap, the worst studs Ibanez has ever put in a guitar. Take them out, throw them away, and put 2LE2B's in.

I *did* read it, and it seems your only problem with them was the knife edge not matching the profile, a problem from which also the Edge Pro studs suffered. My problem with them is much simpler: the complete EZ-unit is Chinese junk. YMMV.

[Ayrton]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Guitar

Locking studs absolutely rock!
I wonder if they can be used with an OFR/OFR Pro?

Sure can...I used them on my Washburn build with the OFR and bridge returns to pitch everytime.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by eviltwin

I had no reason not to believe Tak. In fact, I had come to the same conclusion long before he mentioned it, simply because I've seen first hand that some guitar techs are idiots and plenty of guitarists doing thier own set-ups are even bigger idiots. Are you telling me he was just pulling a fast one on us?

As for shipping guitars without them being locked, now that's hard to believe! The manual to come with all LoPro Edge guitars mentions them being locked..

I'll repeat it, studs were never locked when guitars shipped, that was the rule. There's always an exception and maybe some distributor checker locked a set every now and then, but the rule was, non locked studs.

If you read what Tak said he also said that their research concluded that many people never knew they were even there, which is true, so taking them away would mean nothing because they never knew they had them anyway. So taking them away, saved them $2 a guitar.

Originally Posted by eviltwin

I *did* read it, and it seems your only problem with them was the knife edge not matching the profile, a problem from which also the Edge Pro studs suffered. My problem with them is much simpler: the complete EZ-unit is Chinese junk. YMMV.

Has nothing to do with profile match, the only knife that would have a profile match would be on one of those 3" miniatures. The groove profile is just pathetic. They're junk. The only good thing about them is they're still 8M thread so you can use good Lo Pro studs.

[GAZ]

I have 3 JC's and a Prestige with Edge Pros without the locking studs and they all perform faultlessly. Cosmo looks good but is very inconsistent, one of mine started wearing straight away from new (2003 JC) and the others only show very slight wear after a lot of use. Needs a thicker lacquer coat that's all.Once that wears down the thin chrome layer wears off instantly leaving the white alloy showing. Looks quite rock n roll to me !! You usually pay extra for relicing !!

[CosmicDebris]

Originally Posted by GAZ

You usually pay extra for relicing !!

Very good point

[Kenvai]

There is might be a reason why Ibanez stop putting locking studs on bridges: It gives an easier access for the allen key to lock the string, because when we loss up all the strings, the original Edge went "backward" because the spring tension reduced on the back, so when you want to unlock the string, you need to use your whammy bar to push the bridge back up again. With the Lo Pro Edge, this problem is solved, because the Lo Profile of the saddle itself.

Hope that helps.