I've been setting up and playing Ibanez edge equipped guitars for about 20 years now. I have always been a fan of the way that they stay in tune, even with heavy trem abuse. For the first time, I am stumped with a tuning problem with one of my edge equipped guitars.
Here's the run down.
1. Ibanez
540SLTD in gray, original edge trem, lock nut, etc. great guitar. I got it used and went to work on it. It's my second 540SLTD in this color. got rid of the other one and missed it.
2. put on a tremol-no, which is pretty cool. got it on straight, lubed the shaft (insert joke of choice) on the tremol-no as per the instructions
3. followed by edge
tremolo setup that I have been doing forever (pretty much just like Ibanez rules describes it, thanks, Rich). string stretching, tremolo angle, intonation set, string retainer bar low enough, posts with a bit of chap stick on them, etc.
4. plays like a champ as long as the tremol-no is locked in place, but when it's in full floating mode I start diving and pulling on the bar I get two of my strings to come out of tune (b and g strings) while the others stay in tune. The b and g are Waay off, you can really hear it, even without checking old Peterson tuner.
5. It like the string is getting pulled back through the nut pad towards the tuning keys (which is still under tension when you dive bomb), but I'm afraid to tighten the nut clamps any tighter for fear that i'll strip out the nut, and they are already waaaaay tighter than on my RG3120 or jem (and those guitars stay in tune almost no matter what I do the the trem).
6. it could be that the saddles are moving, but when I unlock the nut and tune back up, the intonation is still dead on, so not likely.
7. set up with D'adarrio 10s fresh out of the package. (done this twice. thought i might have gotten bad stings)
8. don't think it's the tremol-no because if it was I would expect ALL of the strings to be a little sharp/flat if that was the issue.
9. ready for suggestions. i've lost countless hours fiddling with it, and it still comes out of tune. ouch! anyone out there had a similar problem? what causes this, and how to fix it? thanks.
