Trying to adjust action

[kelmaur]

i have been messing around with one of my Rg550's (1990)

the action isnt and hasnt been like i like it since i bought this guitar about a year ago

i started lowering the bridge and it bottomed out before it got to where i want it

(trying to match it up with one of my other 550's which has the action i like)

i also noticed that the sttring saddles are all at different positions drastically off from my other 550 and 570.....which have been setup....

i know moving the saddles is going to affect the intonation.

do i need to start all over from scratch to get it straightened out

i havent done this enough to really retain it all

is there any documentation here that i can follow

any help would be greatly appreciated

[Homebake]

do you know about the set screws? inside the posts there should be a small screw, you need to loosen them out before you can lower the studs. maybe you already know about this.

are the saddle screws' washes stuck under the saddles? this affects action too.

[kelmaur]

yes i do know about them, but as i was looking at it..it looked like there either wasnt any in there or the tops of them were damaged..not a visible hex (top of the set screw)

i have worked on these before.....

[kelmaur]

Originally Posted by Homebake

do you know about the set screws? inside the posts there should be a small screw, you need to loosen them out before you can lower the studs. maybe you already know about this.

are the saddle screws' washes stuck under the saddles? this affects action too.

there are no washers under the saddle screws..i just see an allen head screw in a slot of the saddle to tighten the saddle down

[kelmaur]

was just looking and dont see set screws inside the height adjustment screws...not visible as on my other RG's

[Homebake]

Originally Posted by kelmaur

was just looking and dont see set screws inside the height adjustment screws...not visible as on my other RG's

um yeah you don't really see em...

you gotta stick an allen key down there and loosen them. i forget which size they are but by the looks of mine they are about 2mm size?

[kelmaur]

i just looked in my other two RG's and i can see the threads ..but in this one i cant even see any threads.......what about scooting the saddles back or whatever (meaning having to reintonate) does it matter if they are not lined up..staggered some

[Homebake]

Originally Posted by kelmaur

i just looked in my other two RG's and i can see the threads ..but in this one i cant even see any threads.......what about scooting the saddles back or whatever (meaning having to reintonate) does it matter if they are not lined up..staggered some

ok, so you can see the threads but do you realise what i'm talking about? do your other guitars have set screws? do you know about them and lowering and raising the bridge?

as for the saddles, they're not always 100% in line with each other, but they should be pretty close. i think what you are talking about is having the saddles in a straight line?

when you intonate a guitar, the saddles usually end up looking like this:

-l <-----high E
--l
---l
-l
--l
---l <-------low E

if you know what i mean. so yes, they are staggered.

[kelmaur]

Originally Posted by Homebake

ok, so you can see the threads but do you realise what i'm talking about? do your other guitars have set screws? do you know about them and lowering and raising the bridge?

as for the saddles, they're not always 100% in line with each other, but they should be pretty close. i think what you are talking about is having the saddles in a straight line?

when you intonate a guitar, the saddles usually end up looking like this:

-l <-----high E
--l
---l
-l
--l
---l <-------low E

if you know what i mean. so yes, they are staggered.

i have been a machinist for 25 years

i know about these set screws

im telling you guys there are no set screws inside the bigger bridge height adjustment screws..****i see them visually***** on my other two RG's...it is like there is a bottom on the bigger screw when you put tHE bigger allen wrench in there to raise and lower the bridge

I DO NOT SEE A SMALLER ALLEN HEAD CAP SCREW

on this 550 i can stick the long end of the small allen wrench in there an dit nly goes in a 1/4 of an inch and hits "bottom" ..on my other RG's i can stick it in there and it goes in there about 3/4 of an inch....i dont see a smaller set screw inther in this RG

[kelmaur]

is the bottom of the bridge height adjustment screw ( the larger one) blind..or will the smaller set screw (the one im having problem finding) screw out of the bottom of hte larger one..i fi take the whole bridge off

[Homebake]

well i guess in that case you or the previous owner of the guitar or SOMEONE took the set screws out. i think they come shipped inside the studs?