I mean the ridges on the three pads on your locking nuts, of course. Do you have them aligned with the strings so the ridges are vertical? Or do you align them with themselves so the ridges are horizontal?
![Image]()
I prefer the horizontal look myself.
Unfortunately, Ibanez locking nuts for a long time now have been designed to go vertical. If you look on the underside of one of these nut pads you'll clearly see two flat areas that are intended to press onto and hold the string. These flat areas are perpendicular to the ridge on the top of the nut so to clamp the string correctly, the ridge has to be vertical.
![Image]()
But it wasn't always like this. The original locking nuts Ibanez used were designed for horizontal alignment. Those same flat areas are on the underside of those pads too, but the top ridge is parallel to them instead of perpendicular. In the photos below, the left pad is a 'vintage' pad designed for horizontal alignment and the right pad is the modern perpendicular version.
![Image]()
As far as I've been able to tell from the guitars I've purchased and can assume to be stock examples, the horizontal pads were used up to 1988-9. It's just a looks thing of course but I thought it was an interesting piece of Ibanez gear trivia to share.
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I prefer the horizontal look myself.
Unfortunately, Ibanez locking nuts for a long time now have been designed to go vertical. If you look on the underside of one of these nut pads you'll clearly see two flat areas that are intended to press onto and hold the string. These flat areas are perpendicular to the ridge on the top of the nut so to clamp the string correctly, the ridge has to be vertical.
But it wasn't always like this. The original locking nuts Ibanez used were designed for horizontal alignment. Those same flat areas are on the underside of those pads too, but the top ridge is parallel to them instead of perpendicular. In the photos below, the left pad is a 'vintage' pad designed for horizontal alignment and the right pad is the modern perpendicular version.
As far as I've been able to tell from the guitars I've purchased and can assume to be stock examples, the horizontal pads were used up to 1988-9. It's just a looks thing of course but I thought it was an interesting piece of Ibanez gear trivia to share.
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