JS100 with Edge III Troubles

[Magian]

This bridge is killing me - I can never seem to get it set up properly and I never seem to be able to get through a string change without breaking a string on this thing. When I purchased this guitar last year and changed strings for the first time, I could not get it to stay in tune at all (I have owned many floating bridges in the past with my favorite so far being the ZR bridges on several of the S Series guitars). I finally gave up and took it to the store where I bought it. The tech there kept it for several days and when he gave it back to me, he informed me that he could not get it to stay in tune with the 9 gauge strings I was using at the time. So, he took the liberty of changing my string gauge without asking me before doing so. Still, he had done a good job with it and the 10 gauge strings not only stayed in tune but also lasted quite a long time.

So now I am trying to simply change strings and clean the guitar up again. Of course, I am continuing to use 10 gauge strings. After getting the new set of strings on and tuning them up to A 440, I noticed that the knife edge of the bridge was sunk way down into the guitar at the backside of the bridge. Unreal...

So I loosen the two screws holding the springs in the back of the guitar... I think I did them 1 and a half times each, but I don't remember for sure. Anyway, this brought the knife edge parallel with the guitar body once again and for a few seconds I thought everything was all right. Unfortunately, I quickly noticed that the high E string was tinging out when I bent it a whole step at either the 13th or 14th frets.

At present this is my only guitar and I use this to record with frequently. I am really disgusted with the bridge on this one, though I will admit that even though I have owned several floating bridges I have never been very technical with one (I still have never adjusted the intonation on a guitar).

Does anyone have any advice that might help or could you point me to some links where I might begin to research a solution or better educate myself on these things?

Thanks.

[jb4674]

First of all, you need to get your terms straight. There is no knife edge on the back of the trem.

With that being said, in order for you to get the trem leveled, not only do you have to adjust the springs in the back but you also have to loosen the locking nut so that when you make the adjustments on the springs, the string tension gets compensated everywhere when the locking nut is loosened or tightened.

When you do this, do it with the old strings that are on the guitar. That way, when everything is done and adjusted, you can replace the strings without breaking a sweat.

Also, go here and read secitons 1-4 thoroughly.

http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

Jimmy

[Magian]

What I mean is that as I am looking at the knife edge on the top side of the bridge (the side that faces me as I am holding the guitar in a playing position), the knife edge is sunk into the body toward the backside of the guitar. So, as I'm looking at it, it looks somewhat like this: \ (Although certainly not to that extent lol).

I didn't actually mean behind the bridge. Sorry for my poor description.

Oh, and thanks very much for the link. Reading now...

[Magian]

I already had the locking nut loosened, by the way. I never tighten it until I have retuned the strings seemingly 4000 times while I am stretching them out. Once all strings stay in tune fairly well during a string change I will finally tighten the nut and make any further tuning adjustments at the bridge.

As I said, I may not be particularly good at this but I have owned several of these beasts and dealt with them for many many years. Embarassingly, I don't know them as well as I should; obviously not or I wouldn't be having this trouble.

Still, at this point I don't like this particular trem system (Edge III)...

[jb4674]

Do you have the means to post some pictures of the trem? I'm thinking that the tech that switched the gauge on your guitar added some more pressure to the springs to compensate but, since you already said you loosened the springs about 1.5 turns, I'm still wondering what's going on. If you do have the means to post a pic, try taking a shot of the string retaining bar. I'm wondering if it's low enough to give counter pressure to the strings.

The Edge III isn't a bad trem. As long as you get it back to working condition, it should work the way it's supposed to.

Jimmy