Locking nut pressure pads replacement

[plugger]

OK, so I've got a beater RG570 that arrived today... mostly complete except, of all things... NO PRESSURE PADS FOR THE LOCKING NUT!

Sheesh! How annoying.

So, what's the story on replacements? I had a look at Rich's price on genuine Ibanez replacements... looks like US$8 _each_ (shouldn't surprise me, I suppose.) Pad bolts $2 extra!

OK, we're up to $30 bucks before shipping for three pads and three bolts... maybe the Ibanez genuine parts are a bit byond the budget on this project guitar.

So, what are the issues with generic replacements from the el cheapo licenced FR sets? Is a string pad just a string pad? I mean, how much precision engineering needs to go into a clamp and bolt? Or are the expensive parts really of tangible better quality (beyond the warm fuzzies of knowing it's genuine Ibanez...)

[Rich]

You think parts are expensive now, wait till Ibanez finishes raising all the prices. MB500B tuner sets are $135 list now!

All pads are not created equal. The factory Gotoh pads are extruded where most of the cheap pads I've seen are cast. There is a difference, but if the pad is the right size, all it has to do is hold the strings in place.

[plugger]

Originally Posted by Rich

You think parts are expensive now, wait till Ibanez finishes raising all the prices. MB500B tuner sets are $135 list now!

All pads are not created equal. The factory Gotoh pads are extruded where most of the cheap pads I've seen are cast. There is a difference, but if the pad is the right size, all it has to do is hold the strings in place.

Thanks Rich. I'll probably have to go for the cheapies on this guitar. To give you some idea, $30 is more than 25% of the price I paid for the whole guitar! (or not quite whole guitar... )

I suppose when it come to buying things like knife edges, you really don't want to fool around with quality... poor quality there is bad value at any price. But if I can save a few bucks on non-moving parts (well, I hope they're non-moving...), I think I will see if I can get away with less than Rolls royce grade.

We'll see. I suspect I'll be definitely getting in touch about those knife edges, though... see how it actually plays once it's all back together.

[plugger]

BTW, StewMac stocks OFR pads for $3.79 each, and the bolts are $0.28.

I would think the StewMac OFR pads are of comparable quality to the Japanese, as they seems to only deal in the German Schaller-made OFR stuff (AFAICT). So this might represent a reasonable compromise to the no-name, generic evilBay stuff of unknown provenence.

[ibanezking]

be careful

if the pad is too small, when you turn the bolt clockwise to lock the pad - one string will sharpen and one flatten....... as it clamps up....... can happen to a greater or lesser degree. but sometimes enough to be a ballache in keep re-fiddling with your fine tuners........ seen it on a few customers guitars

Max