Hi all, Ive been lurking around for a while but this is my first post, and ive got rather a bit of a problem with my guitar...

The trem is causing me some problems, it drops the pitch fine but when i do pull ups it feels blocked, it does fine to a certain point, and then gets very stiff. Ive pulled the bridge out and thers nothing there blocking it, and after a lot of messing about it looks like the springs themselves are too tight, as if they can retract to a point, but then dont anymore.

I noticed the springs on my RG570EX are a lot more streched when the guitar is in the neutral position, while the EBMM ones are a lot more retracted.

This is my second EMBB guitar (first one was the same model without the piezo, a mistake by the company that ordered the guitar!) and that didnt have this problem. Ive tried adding extra springs but i seem to get the same problem, ive also tried changing the positioning of the springs (to a "V" shape) and still no luck. Any ideas?

Just how many springs are you using?

Also is the bridge at it's neutral position? the bottom of the bridge plate should be level with the guitar's top...if it's leaning back, then it's not setup properly...

At the moment im using 3 springs, all straight. I tried 4 earlier to see if it would make any difference, but no difference at all, after adjusting it to neutral again, it still felt blocked.

The bridge is straight compared the body. I really cant work out why this is happening....

try completely changing out these springs for others. Again pictures of how far in your trem claw is would help as well. This will probably require rich's help to sort out.

Heres a pic of the back... the claw is pretty far back.. but the springs dont seem very streched, they go back to almost their contracted state when i pull up on the trem. Ive tried a V shape with the right and left springs but it made no difference.




Thanks guys I appritiate the help.

Just an idea (may not be to your taste).......

The claw screws will go in a fair way yet (I'd try 2 full turns each, maybe even more?)
Keep the springs 3 in-line, loosen up the nut clamps and set the trem up with a slight angle leaning towards the neck (don't go too far or you'll get all manner of strings buzz at different points on your fretboard). A good angle that works for me (sorry don't have a protractor) is when looking from the top side of your guitar, that the back end of the trem is raised aprox 6mm from the face.
You'll find that the trem should work freely in both directions but do remember that the upward lift of the trem is only going to go as far as the depth of your cavity route...ie with a lion route on a Jem it lifts up a long way.

Everybody has thier own personal taste to setting up a floating trem and I can't guarantee that this will suite you although you will see some improvement in movement.

Hope this helps mate?

Ben

The springs look strangely closed in that picture. Try breaking in the springs by giving them some heavy use. I think rich has some kind of fix for breaking in springs as well, but other than that your spring setup looks fine, try giving it a good break in and change springs to see if that helps

you can put a 9 volt battery in the cavity under the back of the bridge this way, when you return it to neutral it will land on the batter which will keep the bridge depressed and stretch the strings...

I use the trem quite a lot and would have thought the strings would have worn in by now (Ive had the guitar about 3 months).

Ill try getting some new ones on monday and see what happeneds then, ill see what the tech in the shop i bought it from says too, strange though, ive never seen this happen before!

They sure look very closed these springs, it almost makes you wonder if two springs would allow it to float correctly. In that case, you will need to screw in the remaining two trem spring to get them back to the required tension. If this EB is new I would not do this myself (even if it isn't that hard), but take it back to the dealer.

A different set of more open springs may also be the solution. I don't think any amount of stretching is going to get them open enough. Reading through the set-up noted on Rich's site is a good idea, even if that doens't cover EBMM floating trems, but Ibz LoPros etc. I remember something on there about two different types of spring lenghts being supplied by Ibanez, perhaps EBMM does the same.

BTW using four strings is going to achieve the exact opposite, the four strings will be loaded even lighter per spring (with the same string tension) so they will remain even more closed.