Ibanez tremolo trauma

[Soulthief]

I'm starting to develop a pretty good trauma of the tremolo's on my ibby's.

I have a Xiphos (or xtp700) and a rgd2127z but whenever i'm changing strings, those damn things are poping out of the damn bridge.
I do not have the courage to put on new strings on my xiphos. Every time I wanna put new strings on it, i'm bringing it to the local guitar shop and let them do it, I had those things pop out right into my face quite enough.
Now my rgd2127z also has the same problem.
It's not that every string is poping out, but most of them do. When i almost have the string in tune it just pops out!

So it's a great bitch and yes, I tighten those slots probably tighter then I should but still.................
Only thing my guitar teacher had to say was "welcome to the world of ibanez" He had the same problem and bought the music man JP signatures.

Is there someway to solve this??

 

[Mordacain]

PM MaxOfMetal and he'll sort you out. Actually, I'm pretty sure he has a total Ibanez Tremolo Setup post stickied somewhere on the forum.

 

[AK DRAGON]

With all the Ibanez guitars that I own or have owned I've never had a string pop out. Break, yes; never popped out.

Does it matter what string pops out or any/all pop out?
Do you replace one at a time or all at once?

 

[Soulthief]

I replace the stings all at once. I have the tremolo on my xiphos fixed. On my rgd i just put an AA battary under the tremolo put thay already pop out before i remove that battary.
Every time i replace strings it's a suprise wich strings are going to pop out

 

[theo]

stainless steel inserts.

FloydUpgrades.com! Floyd Rose Tremolo Upgrades

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Clean off the inserts and the place in the saddle where the string sits. The only time I've had this happen was on a guitar literally caked in with "gunk" from playing.

I've had over 60 Ibanez guitars, from over 40 years of production, and all different price brackets and have never had this happen on one of my personal guitars.

Could you post some pics, preferably quality closeups, of the bridge and saddle?
What gauge of string are you using?
Does this happen on the wound strings?
What tuning are you in?

 

[GSingleton]

I have never had this happen on my ibby. Edge III on my rg350dx.

It did happen a few times on my old jackson but it was due to not tightening the string correctly. But I think max will sort you out.

 

[Brian D]

stainless steel inserts.

FloydUpgrades.com! Floyd Rose Tremolo Upgrades

+1

Also, it's likely you're just not putting the string in enough. It should be going in as far in as possible. I'll restring my RG770 and if I do a quick messy job, I'll see a few strings popping out. But I just put them right back in, just a bit further then I did before, and they won't pop with the heaviest of abuse.

 

[guitarister7321]

Are you cutting the strings too short? Every time I used to cut my strings too short it would pop out of the saddle. Now i run the ball end through the tuner and cut the string a quarter inch past the fine tuners. Also, make sure when you insert the string into the saddle it hits the bottom of the saddle.

 

[b7string]

+1

Also, it's likely you're just not putting the string in enough. It should be going in as far in as possible. I'll restring my RG770 and if I do a quick messy job, I'll see a few strings popping out. But I just put them right back in, just a bit further then I did before, and they won't pop with the heaviest of abuse.

I agree you may not be putting them in far ennough, I had this happen when there was that tiny piece of core sticking out about 2mm from the end of where the wraps ended. I always make sure to cut them flush at the ends and shove them in directly in the center of the saddle, as far as they will go. I even had a string unravel on me because of the same issue.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I didn't see the post directly above mine, in which guitarister7321 said what I wanted to say only better with less words

 

[Soulthief]

Clean off the inserts and the place in the saddle where the string sits. The only time I've had this happen was on a guitar literally caked in with "gunk" from playing.

I've had over 60 Ibanez guitars, from over 40 years of production, and all different price brackets and have never had this happen on one of my personal guitars.

Could you post some pics, preferably quality closeups, of the bridge and saddle?
What gauge of string are you using?
Does this happen on the wound strings?
What tuning are you in?

Here are some pics:

Not the best quality photo's but the battary of my camera is empty so I had to use my cell phone.
I use .10 strings (elixer if that is any information), it happens mostly on the G, A and low E string and my tuning is a half step down so Eb.
Hope this helps.

Are you cutting the strings too short? Every time I used to cut my strings too short it would pop out of the saddle. Now i run the ball end through the tuner and cut the string a quarter inch past the fine tuners. Also, make sure when you insert the string into the saddle it hits the bottom of the saddle.

I cut the string just above the point where the string is wound up. Does the make any sense? Dunno how to explain this......
At the end of the string, where that little ball is, the string is wound up so the ball doens't fall out. The whole part that is wound up, I just cut it off.
The I put the string as far in as possible.

 

[edsped]

He had the same problem and bought the music man JP signatures.

Just wanted to say that doesn't make any sense because the EBMM JPs don't have locking bridges; you just feed the string through the back with the ball end still attached like a normal non-locking trem.

 

[Soulthief]

Just wanted to say that doesn't make any sense because the EBMM JPs don't have locking bridges; you just feed the string through the back with the ball end still attached like a normal non-locking trem.

exactly, so he doesn't have the problem his strings are coming out anymore. ;-)

 

[edsped]

Wow, I thought he said he had the same problem WITH the JPs. what the

 

[Soulthief]

yeah I wrote that a bit weird maybe.... English is still not my main language ;-)

 

[uncle_sprinter]

Idk much about tremolos, but i have watched videos about setting them up in my free time for fun (and dream about having one). But i guess some edge tremolos don't require the ball ends to be cut off. Could that have anything to do with your strings popping out?

 

[Soulthief]

I thought that only the edge pro trems didn't require to cut off the ball
I have a Edge zero and a Edge III..............

 

[Soulthief]

no one has any idea?? If i hear you all.. i'm pretty sure that i am doing something wrong..........

 

[guitarister7321]

I would still recommend trying what I mentioned in my earlier post. Do NOT cut the ball end off. Run the string through the tuner, then cut a quarter inch or so past the fine tuners. Then insert it into the saddle, lock the string in the saddle and tighten the strings with a winder (if you have one). The only way I've ever had the string pop out with this method is when I would cut the string too short. Cutting behind the fine tuners should be long enough.

This video is a good demonstration of this method:


Hope this helps!

 

[Greatoliver]

Why not just change one string at a time? Unless you want to clean your fretboard... I don't quite understand what is happening, is the tremolo like coming out of the guitar..?