Taking off all the strings on a floating trem...

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

What's wrong with letting it drop? Easiest way to clean the fretboard would be to detune the strings till it's dropped all the way, flip it over, unscrew the 2 screws that hold the metal bar over the springs, pop out the springs, pull out the tremolo, and there you go. If your guitar doesn't have padding for the tremolo to land on, just shove some cotton or foam in there and then do the above.

What's wrong with that is having to reset the intonation vs. not!

Just use some cloth J terminator...wash rag....sock...shirt, whatever...and don't let it drop to far and you'll be fine. King N's advice will only bring you a needless headache



Also the peice of wood to block works well too. But it's just more effort to remove the backplate.

Not necessary!!!

Pull the trem up and stuff in the cloth...clean the board and oil, etc, change your strings and pull out the cloth!

[Ant1981]

Letting it drop is hardly going to hurt the intonation. It wont make a difference. It wont make an adjustment. The only thing that will effect it in this case is if the float level has changed with the strings back in tune.

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by Ant1981

Letting it drop is hardly going to hurt the intonation. It wont make a difference. It wont make an adjustment. The only thing that will effect it in this case is if the float level has changed with the strings back in tune.

K - let er drop!

[Ant1981]

Well come on, back it up what you say. I already backed up what I said. So tell us your version on why it's not good to let it drop.

[Rich]

Unless it's a beater or you don't care, never let a trem drop witrhout string tension. It is quite common for a trem walk up the studs and pop off. I cracked the clearcoat in a DNA trem rout that way, and it was blocked to neutral.

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by Rich

Unless it's a beater or you don't care, never let a trem drop witrhout string tension. It is quite common for a trem walk up the studs and pop off. I cracked the clearcoat in a DNA trem rout that way, and it was blocked to neutral.

Thank you my good man

The only two times I let a floating trem drop was:

1) It was the first time I ever tried to change strings on a floater because I had only owned a STRAT to that point. First ...thoughts...what a P.I.A!!! Second thought....I'm totally lost. Third thought, were's my Strat.

2.) I was stupid enough the second time to do the same thing Both times the intonation was WAY off. It was like a re-set up of your guitar minus truss adjustment.

The guitar was actually late 80's "Optic Yellow" Kramer. I never went back to a strat Or any fixed bridge for that matter.

There's my explanation Anti

[TheJazzTerminator]

Originally Posted by Rich

Unless it's a beater or you don't care, never let a trem drop witrhout string tension. It is quite common for a trem walk up the studs and pop off. I cracked the clearcoat in a DNA trem rout that way, and it was blocked to neutral.

Thanks for the confirmation on that.

Also, I was the guy who e-mailed you, asking whether you could let me know if you came across an RG3120 last month and was kind of an a sshole in my e-mail ... I found one! lol

Thanks for the post in this thread, though...

[Rich]

To make a lasting impression just be a multiple asterisk!

[Ant1981]

HOW does it affect the intonation? HOW does it make the intonation adjust?

[King Nothing]

yeah, i dont see how it would effect intonation at all. They are the same strings. When I do this, I normally undo the pads and get it back in tune at the headstock.
Are jems routed alot deeper? My rg's and my uv don't drop even close enough to ever pop out so I never even thought about that. Glad your here to show us anything can happen on some guitars. So Rich, your saying to detune it til the trem almost touches bottom so theres still tension, and then pop out the springs?

[rgr]

It won't affect intonation, I pop the springs and pull the whole trem out to change pickups. If you leave the strings locked at the nut, when you put the trem back and pop the springs back in, yank on the arm a couple times pretty good, and you pretty much back in tune. But, this has nothing to do with the original question. The original poster wants ot take all his strings off to change them and clean the fretboard, can't see how you would change the strings with the trem off the guitar?!?!?

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by Ant1981

HOW does it affect the intonation? HOW does it make the intonation adjust?

Only going by what I experienced. It was a cheap $ 400 Kramer w/ an old Floyd Rose. When I let the trem drop, everything went out of whack. Then I had it reset and when I let it drop again (like a dork) it happened all over again. I've never let a trem drop since then and never had another problem. I'm a player, not a tec, so I dunno.....you tell me

[rgr]

Originally Posted by JJEMMER777

Only going by what I experienced. It was a cheap $ 400 Kramer w/ an old Floyd Rose. When I let the trem drop, everything went out of whack. Then I had it reset and when I let it drop again (like a dork) it happened all over again. I've never let a trem drop since then and never had another problem. I'm a player, not a tec, so I dunno.....you tell me

I think King was talking about popping (taking off) the springs and removing the whole trem, not letting it drop into the cavity.

[Ant1981]

Yea I'll tell you, it was a crap guitar then, not being funny, but that doesnt happen with an Ibanez. Unless the saddles move, then the intonation should be the same.

[King Nothing]

Originally Posted by rgr

I think King was talking about popping (taking off) the springs and removing the whole trem, not letting it drop into the cavity.

Check out the guitar set-up and mod section on the front of this site. I used that, this board, and all the articles on IbanezRules to learn how to mess with a guitar