[koolkatz]

When I removed the string retainer bar from my Ibanez headstock, I noticed it had a bend in it. I have also noticed this bend in some pictures of these bars. Is this bend meant to be there? I am not sure why it would have a curve as the strings lie flat. Also, at what point in tuning should this be clamped down. Thanks.

 

[sepulchrave]

It should not be clamped down, it's only there to make sure the strings' break angle slightly exceeds the back of the nut itself. This is so that when you tighten the locknut pads the tuning doesn't shift.

It should not really be bent, take it off and straighten it out then refit it and screw it down until all the strings exit the back of the locknut slightly lower than the nut. That's it, you never need to move it again.

 

[koolkatz]

Brilliant. Thanks for the quick reply. I suspect these get bent by being clamped down too hard and they bend due to the truss rod adjustment cover holding the inner strings higher than the outer strings so the bar bends around the higher strings.

 

[Leviathus]

All mine are slightly curved seemingly to go along with the nut radius, I wouldn't be straightening anything out.

 

[stratoskier]

I just bought a couple of new Floyd Rose string retainer bars from Stew Mac. As others already noted yes, they are slightly curved. Checking them with a radius gauge, it appears that they're somewhere between 15-20" radius, which makes sense given the relatively flat radius of the guitars they usually live on.

 

[sepulchrave]

All mine are slightly curved seemingly to go along with the nut radius, I wouldn't be straightening anything out.

You misunderstand, the OP has a bar that is bent from being clamped down hard over the strings and truss rod cover, therefore it needs straightening out, the radius of the nut and the fretboard is 430mm typically on an RG and this means that the string retaining bar can have an almost imperceptible camber on it, some of my RG's have straight bars, others the slight camber, straight is better than bent because the bar can be set at a slight angle in order to press lightly on all the strings.
Function is more important than form.