ATTN: Ibanez Floating Bridge Experts

[colt17]

Hi,

I have this guitar with a floating bridge, which I think its an Edge, no camera unfortunately. Its an MIJ Ibanez RG450.

I don't know whether fixing it will be well worth it, here are some problems i've discovered after spending a lot of time trying to DIY.

1) The fine tuners. I don't really know the terms well so I try to describe the problem as well as I can. Basically when I screw the fine tuners down, it pushes this bar down so that it raises the pitch (I think, thats what its suppose to do anyway). The problem is when I try to raise it, the same bar gets stuck there and I suspect this is due to the rust that doesn't smoothen the movement. So can this issue be fixed?

2) Intonation. I've been doing a lot of research on the internet, and seems like there's this special tool that helps you adjust your intonation which I don't have unfortunately. Are there any alternatives to this?

I've been told I shouldn't give up on this trem but I'm not sure if problem 1 can be fixed. Would a simple rust removal do?

Also considering changing it to a fixed bridge if possible.

 

[Everdying]

1. the fine tuners like it says are for fine tuning...not for jumping like 1 whole note.
2. intonation all u need is a 2.5mm allen key to move the saddle back or forth.

 

[ShredCow]

"IBANEZ RULES!!" - Ibanez Guitars - New and Used

under the tech section.

 

[faekildare]

Hi Colt7
If i am not wrong, if it is a MIJ RG 450 before year 2003, it should be the LO-TRS bridge.
If it's stuck.. all u need to do is remove the saddles (make sure u know thier position cause they have diff height, so I would remove em one by one) and clean em, oil em and stuff like that. General maintenance. The only problem is.. u will screw up the intonation of the bridge by doing that.
The intonation tool is only available for the higher end Ibanez's like Edge Zero I think. What u can do is get a Tremolo No or stuck a piece of wood/battery/Ikea pencils (Best.. suitable length and height) to make sure the bridge is parallel, and then start setting the intonation.

Hope this helps

 

[ShredCow]

The intonation tool is only available for the higher end Ibanez's like Edge Zero I think.

Actually, there is a "general purpose" intonation tool and it was available way before the Edge Zero.

 

[colt17]

Hi Colt7
If i am not wrong, if it is a MIJ RG 450 before year 2003, it should be the LO-TRS bridge.
If it's stuck.. all u need to do is remove the saddles (make sure u know thier position cause they have diff height, so I would remove em one by one) and clean em, oil em and stuff like that. General maintenance. The only problem is.. u will screw up the intonation of the bridge by doing that.
The intonation tool is only available for the higher end Ibanez's like Edge Zero I think. What u can do is get a Tremolo No or stuck a piece of wood/battery/Ikea pencils (Best.. suitable length and height) to make sure the bridge is parallel, and then start setting the intonation.

Hope this helps

The intonation is already messed up already like I mentioned.

I wasn't sure myself whether the bridge is an Edge, but I compared the trem with pictures I found on the internet.

Edge:

Lo-Trs:

And mine looks like the first one. There are horizontal bars which are "controlled" by the fine tuners and there are blades down there too if the description helps.

Basically what I'm trying to describe in problem 1 in my opening post and as you can now see from the picture from the Edge is that when I screw the fine tuners down, it will push that horizontal bar down correct?

The problem happens when I unscrew the fine tuners (i.e., rasie it) the horizontal bar doesn't come up like it should. I'm guessing the horizontal bar should spring up as you unscrew the fine tuners, and go down as you screw down the fine tuners. As mentioned, would I need to change the trem or try to oil it and remove the rust like you said.

I could try to take pictures if my trem is not an Edge like you said.

 

[faekildare]

u should not need to change the trem. I had the same probelm and turns out just rust and stuff. Removing the saddles and clean/oil em. should do the trick.

 

[colt17]

Alright thanks for the input. I'm glad that it can still be salvaged ...

 

[naviros]

Could just bring down to a local luther, spend about 50 bucks to get it all fixed up?