Lo Pro Spring Troubles

[luke1010]

I recently bought a 1993 RG550.
But quickly noticed that the trem felt really tense and stiff. So i took the back plate off to have a look and found that it has 4 springs in it. I've never seen one with 4 springs on before. So I took one of the springs out to try and loosen the trem a bit, but I couldnt get it to stay level. The only way it stays level is if it has all 4 springs in.
Can anyone suggest what I can do to loosen the trem or to at least make it possible to have 3 springs instead of 4.

P.S... I dont really know anything about floating trems at all, this is my first guitar with one.

Thanks.

[CosmicDebris]

What gauge strings are you using and what gauge came on it?

[luke1010]

I'm using 10's on it.
And I think it had 10's on when I bought it, not 100% sure though.

[CosmicDebris]

I find that any gauge higher than 9's need and extra spring otherwise you gotta turn the claw in alot. Also with a guitar that old your springs might just be worn out too. I have solved alot of tuning stability issues with replacing springs with others.

Dont' forget the chapstick on the knife edges too. That little trick does wonders. You should read the tech section on www.ibanezrules.com just click the banner up top. There is alot of good stuff there on how to setup ibbys.

[luke1010]

Thank you
I'll have a read on ibanezrules.com

[Foulacy]

just for reference. I have an edge pro with 10's and 3 springs. that leaves about 1cm between the claw and the body. pretty close to the end.

[LonePhantom]

I've set up a few guitars with 10-52s and the trem has only needed 3 springs, and didn't need to have the claw cranked all the way in to the body. It is a lot of fiddling to find the optimum position, but once you've got it, you can approximate that position on other guitars and get them level.