Hollander

Hollander have a look at the most comprehensive trem tuning guide you will ever see in your life from Rich Harris - http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm most of the stuff written is for the better quality Ibanez trems - edge, lo-pro, edge -pro but still applicable for all floyd styles. Once you have dismissed all loose locking parts the prob is usually bad knife edges & wobbly posts. Read his guides, knife edges should be 'butter knife' sharp & check the shape of the 'v' in the pivot posts that nothing binds. Loose posts in their inserts hurt tuning, on a trs there are not locking, so wrap some ptfe tape on the threads. One of the reasons original floyds held their tuning so well was the pivot screws were just that, screws striaght into the wood - no movement. & as mentioned earlier if everything is almost spot on, chapstick lube gets it the rest of the way. Fantastic resource! Thank you very much! I had already applied some Vaseline, but I see where that might amass some grime after a while. But that's something the owner could take care of when changing strings himself. It appears the RG320 has been fitted with several types of tremolo's during its existence. I believe this is a 2006 model. They call the trem an Edge III? My own Schaller trem has hardened inserts for the edges. Time to check those I think. Anyway, The RG is returning to pitch quite nicely, so I'll get it back to the owner. Thanks for all the help!

Well, I put on my dancing shoes and took a file to the fulcrum edges. These edges certainly are not hardened. I polished them a bit with sandpaper for as far as I could reach it. I guess looking alright and performing well are two different things. It's a whole lot better. Not perfect yet. I'm guessing it's because I can't file as cleanly as Ibanez can. But with some slight adjustments in using it (Giving the trem a tug upward after a dive bomb, can be done silently) it is at least within playable range. I'm a bit disappointed with Ibanez. They are asking almost the same for this trem as an original Floyd costs.

Check. They actually did take some turns of fastening, but it still pulls off key... I really appreciate all your help in this little puzzle.

Thanks for the reply. I checked the clamps by turning the tuners a couple of turns intill the strings were loose. The guitar stayed mostly in tune so I guessed that would be good then. Only the D string slipped slightly, I replaced that screw. Haven't tried since. All the strings on the trem side were completely clamped to the bottom of the slot. I figured the thing with slipping is that if you pull the guitar very sharp, the string would slip even further and it would return to a lower pitch because of that. It doesn't, it returns to a higher pitch. And it's not just one string, it's all the strings. If one string slips the rest gets more tension and returns sharp. I'm pretty sure the problem is in the wiggly bits. The bridge is just one plate, including the knife edges, they're not inserts. It could be hardened locally of course. I'll recheck them. I'm not really an expert on Ibanez, but I thought their Lo pro trems had a pretty good rep.

This is about an Ibanez RG 320 from the son of a friend of mine. He's asked me to look it over because it detunes easily. This guitar has a Lo-TRS III tremolo, which is a pretty standard redesigned Floyd Rose type. I don't seem to be able to pinpoint the problem, though. The symptom is that it does not return to pitch. If I depress it it comes back flat and if I pull it up it comes back sharp. Strings are not that old. I think that means it's catching somewhere, it's not slipping because then it would come back flat on pull-ups. The lock nut is good, no slippage there, neither at the string locks on the trem. I've checked all around the trem, it's not making any contact anywhere. There is some foam at the bottom of the trem routs, front and back, But it doesn't seem to rub there either. I'll try removing the front foam, between the mounting posts, the rear really doesn't touch. I guess the only thing left is the fulcrum edges. But they look sharper and less burred than any of my own Floyds. I have turned the post a bit to a fresh place to rub against... Is there anything I might have missed? Does anyone have experience to share? In case it is the edges, can I just use a file and make them sharper and/or smoother? I really don't want to tell the guy (high school student) he needs a new trem. Better to get a new used RG. Less expensive.

So right! I use a batterycompartiment out of an old toy, holds 2 AA penlites. Most LEDs work fine on 3 Volts. I attach the - end to the bridge. All strings make contact with the bridge so that's fine. Actually it doesn't make any difference where you make that contact, every string is connected to any other via the bridge. I put the capo on, have the guitar in playing position and pick the string. Then I have the LED's other foot make contact with a fret only, not a string. If the vibrating string makes contact it flashes faintly. If I touch a string it just lights up strong. If it was only a couple of frets I wouldn't be posting here. But maybe I'm just too heavy handed and expecting too much. But I've got several other guitars that play lighter. And StewMac is making me crazy with the Guitar Player Repair Guide and those Artist setups: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_act...moussetups.html I've got a feeler gauge, it's in millimeters, being European and all. Infinitely simpler than the whole inches system. I made an excel file to help me calculate the millimeters from the 13/64" and such. When I get back I'll try to make some pics and movies and recordings detailing the whole thing. It'll be a week 'cuz tomorrow I'm gone.

Thanks ihocky2, I didn't think so. It just didn't feel right. If I play a string with a pick, I mainly push up or downwards. the shape of the pick pushes the string inwards, so there you have the vibrations at at least an angle, not parallel to the fretboard. I'll get me some better straightedges en try the leveling thing again. Again, when I try the led method it tells me the strings make contact on just about every fret, no matter where I put the capo. That would mean the relief would be good but the action would be too low, or I'm hitting the strings too hard. But it's not low. And I play pretty hard, but none of my other guitars buzz this much. I'm going vacationing for a couple of days, so I'll let this simmer for a bit.

There's no problem getting enough relief or none at all or adjusting the action... Mighty Mite only makes Strats and Teles. But I can imagine their catalog might not be on top of everyones mind... What I have here is a Strat with a two post tremolo bridge (Guitarfetish). Three Single coils, pretty standard. What can I take pictures of that would clarify this somewhat? My luthier friend said it's buzzing because the strings are not only vibrating vertically but also circulating to a horizontal (perpendicular to the frets) due to the magnetics of the pickups. I lowered those but it makes no difference. If there was only one or a couple of frets or strings that buzzed I could get that. But the buzzing along the entire neck is what boggles me. I've set up guitars before and even got problems out of my own acoustic that the shop I bought it from couldn't. Or couldn't be bothered with. It's been back twice and they said I should just have the relief and action higher and not play so hard. I don't think I'll be back there much anymore. I got the buzzes out. but the thing is: these were local and identifiable. Just bad frets that I could level. I just straightened the neck and took the leveling file to the frets. It took an even bit out of every fret except the highest three, closest to the body. Those were lower, so it seem it has a slight drop off at the top three frets, which should be even better against buzzing. Anyway, I have the frets crowned and pretty again so now I know I can do something like that to a guitar and at least not make it worse. :D The buzz remain, though. I'm going slightly mad. I haven't put the new strings on yet, I'll try that tomorrow. Didn't want to waste a set of strings when I don't believe that will help any. Running out of options

That's a remarkable story. I'm glad it worked for you! But I don't get the physics behind it... What actually changed here? The angle of the neck on the body or the relief of the part of the neck above the joint/creditcard sliver was put under tension? What's the difference between changing the neck body angle and raising or lowering the bridge/saddles? Actually when I first put this guitar together It had huge action with the bridge and saddles on the floor, they couldn't go lower. There was quite a bit of lacquer in the neck pocket, I filed off a bit of it to change the neck/body angle slightly backwards so I could raise the bridge a tad. I took extreme care to make sure the floor of the pocke stayed straight for the edge up 'til the inward screw holes, so there would be no surplus tension on the neck at that point. My old friend the luthier said there's nothing wrong with the neck, it just needs a good setup. According to him there's more to that than changing the tension and action. But he won't tell me how to do it. A matter of protecting his trade secrets, he says. He's always complaining he's got too much work? He's really a very cool guy that helped me a lot on different other occasions and built me a fantastic guitar for a very friendly price. Please don't judge him badly for this. Told him I'd tinker a bit more before I cave. I just want to do this myself.

Thanks for all the input! And yes of course there is a problem, so I must be doing something wrong. I was hoping someone could point a finger at what it could be. It's not so obvious. Maybe it's my ruler... It appears to be pretty straight but I have no idea if it was precision ground. And I've tried everything more than once. Except taking a file to it. Seems like a last resort thing to me. And I'd like to know where to file first... The LED method does appear to not point in the direction of the body end of the fretboard... I'll put on some new strings tomorrow. See what my old friend the luthier has to say. And if he still has good coffee.

Thanks for all the replies! You need to dress the frets, plain and simple. A fret file does not lie. Low action and a relatively straight neck IS possible provided the frets are properly dressed. Roman I would believe so... But I can't find what ilness to treat. The neck is perfectly level as far as I can tell and beautifully crowned. Some other guitars of mine have far more uneven frets and hardly buzz, maybe just locally. This one buzzes everywhere. I've tried sighting, straightedges, Stewmac Fret Rocker, the LED... I'm stumped. I wanted a single coil strat, both my other strats have all humbuckers and I really did this assembly (as upposed to just buying a complete guitar) as a step towards trying a refret on one of my older guitars that needs it kinda badly. This doesn't give me much confidence. Naturally I retuned. I even use pretty stiff strings at .010 (at least compared to .008s and .009 ) And I usually have a pretty good grasp of theory. But this time... I capo the string to hold it down. I use one hand to, of course, pluck the string and the other to hold the LED against the fret... As I wrote earlier, the nut is an Earvana, perfectly flush. If I depress the string at the second fret it clears the first by a hair, like .05 mm. There's no buzz on open strings. I think I'll better take this guitar to a luthier tomorrow... I guess it's almost impossible to diagnose something like this when you don't have the guitar in your hands.

Hi y'all. I'm new here. In a step towards educating myself into building and setting up guitars I assembled one from parts. I'm not in a position to do the woodwork as yet. The parts are Mighty Mite neck and body. Maple neck with ebony fretboard, pretty big frets and an ash body with a thin but very striking curly maple veneer. From a distance of more than three feet it's stunning! Anyway, it's assembled now, but I have a problem: it's buzzing along the entire neck, at every string. Strings are new, .010 gauge. Bridge is good. Action is actually pretty high, over 2mm (.08") on the low E and 1.8 (.07) at the high E. Relief is setup to factory spec as in the "Guitar Player Repair Guide (pg30,31)": capo on 1, depress string on 17 and measure on 7th fret: .3 mm, .012". The buzz is very noticable, also through an amp, it impairs the ringing out of the strings. They sound dampened. I replaced the nut with an Earvana, there's no buzz on the open strings. depressing at the second fret shows only a slight gap at the first, so that should be OK. I've tried loosening the neck more to more relief, I've tried setting it straight. Didn't help. So I set it back to slight relief since I believe that the strings need room to vibrate, no? Frets are perfect. Along several straightedges there is only the relief that shows. I have a Stewmac fret rocker, that showed no high frets, even when I had it straight, no relief. Checking the buzz with an LED like this method: http://www.schrammguitars.com/buzz.html and it shows it's usually lighting up at two to three strings up from the depressed one. So it's just not making enough of an angle coming away from the depressed fret? Therefore it needs more relief? I can't think of anything that would otherwise remedy that. So, just now I turned down the tension on the neck even more, relief is now a 0.6mm, .022" and if I capo at 7 the g-string now the led shows contact at every fret up until the 19th. Oh, and pickups are further away than fender specs. over 1/8". Now I like a fairly, but not extreme low action. And I play the strings fairly hard. But I do that on all my guitars and they don't buzz. I have two more strats and a PRS-type that all play fine that way. This one plays hard already and still buzzes. I'm out of ideas on this one. Can anyone please shed some light on this? What could I be doing wrong? And I read about techs and pro players (GPrepair guide, pg 30, halfway first colum, and in the table pg 31) that they "like" their necks dead straight with low action. Like they have the choice to do that or not! How the @*#$ do they do that? That's going against physics! I would love to have this neck straight with low action and no fret buzz! Sorry, I'm slightly frustrated here.