My New Axe! - Some Questions

philbagg

philbagg

Just Killing Time
Hey Guys, been away for a while. How ye doin :p

Got myself a new guitar, she's friggin' sweet :D (pics below)

Ibanez S 670. Plays great, low action, amazing tone (especially the clean tone), Ibanez ZR (Zero Resistance) floating bridge, 2 humbuckers & 1 single coil with 5-way pickup switch, one tone & one control volume, and durable outer-casing to prevent fall-apart :-)D)... Not to mention, this is one of the skinniest guitars I've ever seen, and weighs about half as much as what I'm used to, without losing any sustain. The top edge of the upper horn for example is only half-an-inch thick!

Oh, and Elixir Strings kick ass ;)

So, 2 reasons for this thread: 1) To show off :D, and 2) I have a question about tuning this thing with regards to the tremolo bridge. This is the first guitar I've ever owned without a fixed bridge.

At the moment, the guitar is in D standard (and the bridge is level with the body), but I want to tune it up to Eb standard, and maybe E standard in the future. I understand that different tunings change the string tension, and will therefore have an effect on the bridges position. I believe that with any usual Floyd Rose (etc.) bridge, you'd have to open up the back and use a screwdriver with the springs in order to alter the bridge back into place. However, this guitar has a turn-wheel on the back that can be moved by hand, and has "String Tension" written above it, eliminating the need for screwdrivers and spring adjustments.

I'd imagine that what I have to do is:

1) Unlock the nut
2) Put the fine tuners (bridge) back to their middle-position
3) Tune to the desired tuning
4) Lock the nut
5) Turn the "String Tension" wheel on the back until the bridge sits parallel with the body again.

?? :confused::confused: ??

Am I missing anything? Probably sounds stupid, but I don't wanna mess up anything with this guitar. I believe a lot more care needs to be taken when dealing with a tremolo bridge.

Oh, and one more thing, have any of you ever (or heard of) broken a tremolo bridge from doing, let's say, shitloads of divebombs etc. ? :o :D Is it easy or hard to do?

Here she is:
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Cheers guys! :D
 
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The adjustments you're talking about are EXTREMELY difficult, and best handled by an expert (like me!). You'd better send it to me and give me a couple months with it. In fact, if you pay shipping (both ways) we'll call it even.





:D
 
WhiteStrat said:
The adjustments you're talking about are EXTREMELY difficult, and best handled by an expert (like me!). You'd better send it to me and give me a couple months with it. In fact, if you pay shipping (both ways) we'll call it even.





:D
Click to expand...

I'm glad you like it :D





... Now answer my god-damn question :mad: :mad:





























:D :D :D
 
Sheesh. :rolleyes: :D

When you have the capability to split coils on a humbucker, you will have either an extra switch, or your volume and/or tone knob is a push-pull. Splitting the coils cuts one of the coils out of the humbucker. That reduces the volume but gives the pickup the more focused sound of a single-coil.

If you can do that, and combine the split-coil HB with that middle position single-coil, then you could get some authentic Strat-like tones as well as the normal HB tones.
 
i had this same exact guitar for a while!
'cept mine was silver.


it was on loan, from my luthier buddy, for me to keep for him for a while.
it was a really nice guitar.

what you said about the bridge, yes.
you've just got to find that 'sweet spot' where you like the tension and all that.

once you've set it, you'll never have to mess with it again, unless you change string gauges.
 
Zaphod B said:
Sheesh. :rolleyes: :D

When you have the capability to split coils on a humbucker, you will have either an extra switch, or your volume and/or tone knob is a push-pull. Splitting the coils cuts one of the coils out of the humbucker. That reduces the volume but gives the pickup the more focused sound of a single-coil.

If you can do that, and combine the split-coil HB with that middle position single-coil, then you could get some authentic Strat-like tones as well as the normal HB tones.
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty friggin sweet :) But no, this doesn't seem to have that :(
 
GONZO-X said:
i had this same exact guitar for a while!
'cept mine was silver.


it was on loan, from my luthier buddy, for me to keep for him for a while.
it was a really nice guitar.

what you said about the bridge, yes.
you've just got to find that 'sweet spot' where you like the tension and all that.

once you've set it, you'll never have to mess with it again, unless you change string gauges.
Click to expand...

I love you :D

Now, I'm going out to get pissed. If anyone wants to drop by and play it while I'm out, feel free :D
 
What an absolute POS. I can't believe you actually spent your money on that, but tell you what, because I'm such a nice chap and for all your poor business sense I do find I kind of like you, I'd be happy to take that off your hands for, oh, a buck seventy-five.





























:D

Awesome guitar, man. :D Great top too, I love the matte finish. However, I'm afraid I've never set up a ZR trem before so I don't know what tot ell you. I SUSPECT that the "string Tension" thing is just an adjustment for the tension against the bar that keeps it stable for compound bends, and that you need to adjust trem angle as you would on a Floyd, but I saw nothing on either Ibanezrules.com or (after a quick search) Jemsite.
 
Yo BaggDude :D

I've never even seen one of those trem set ups before so I'm no help. :)

But.....dats a damn fine gee-tar ya got there. :drunk:
 
Hey Philby...

Things are looking up!

Nice axe Eugene.

You shouldn't be able to break the bridge by divebombing. Just strings...

Happy shredding! :laughings:
 
Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated :D

I tuned to Eb and adjusted the string tension and all is fine, however I'm having a problem when bending strings. When I bend a string, it temporarily puts the other strings out of tune until I release the bend. This means that 1) I have to bend higher to reach the right pitch because the tension is loosening temporarily, and 2) I can't do double bends without them being out of tune (ie. bending the 15th fret on the B string while holding the 12th fret on the E string aswell).

What can I do about this?
 
philbagg said:
Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated :D

I tuned to Eb and adjusted the string tension and all is fine, however I'm having a problem when bending strings. When I bend a string, it temporarily puts the other strings out of tune until I release the bend. This means that 1) I have to bend higher to reach the right pitch because the tension is loosening temporarily, and 2) I can't do double bends without them being out of tune (ie. bending the 15th fret on the B string while holding the 12th fret on the E string aswell).

What can I do about this?
Click to expand...

Normally, I'd say nothing - that's the disadvantage of a floating trem.

However, the Ibanez ZR is a little different - it has some sort of a mechanism that should allow you to counterbalance that. I don't have any firsthand experience with it, but the manual should help - page 25 is the English version of what you need:

http://resources.ibanez.com/resourceservicehost/images/Ibanez/web/support/manuals/guitar2009.pdf
 
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