Replacing an Edge 3 tremolo with a gotoh

[jarnozz]

The edge 3 tremolo on my Ibanez rg350 finally failed after 3 years of intensive playing. It was literally falling apart. I love that guitar and would never part with it. Hence the new bridge.

I was looking for replacement tremolo's for my edge 3 and found that a fair number of people were looking for this as well.

Here's the deal.

Not all tremolo's fit ibanez cavity's.. You can either get one that fits or do some surgery on the guitar

I went with the last option and hope to answer some questions people might have regarding this subject.



I choose the gotoh tremolo simply because a OFR costs to much, and the quality of the gotoh tremolo's is pretty damn good!

Now will it fit the route for the Edge 3 tremolo...

simple and short answer: No, it does not.
Not without any modifications.

Here is how I made it fit with some pictures as well.

What is inside the masked area has to go

For the cornours and the small sides I used a dremel.
work slowly and steady. remember to wear a good dust mask!!

For the bigger part I used a router. A fair bit of ecpertice with this machine wont hurt they can be pretty mean and tear your beautifull wood to pieces within a blink of an eye.

Not to bad without the use of a guide for the router! there are no chips in the paint anywhere around the router area. sharp bits cut it like butter.

Now it fits!

Liked the way it turned out!

I will paint the 'bare' wood inside the cativy tomorrow and have it all white again with a black base.

The pickguard will be replaced with a tortoise one, and the tuners for golden ones!


Hope this will help someone, someday

 

[Le Jeff]

I did the same thing once. For whatever reason I still couldn't bond with the guitar. I'm glad yours is working out for you. You did a great job!

 

[Pikka Bird]

Wait, what? Did you... freehand that? If so then I am impressed by your steady hands. Looks very good indeed, and I am a major fan of the quality of the Gotoh units as well, not least because they come with brass blocks and locking studs.

Is this an ongoing mod project? Like matching up the tuners with the gold bridge, etc.?

Also, I'm interested in buying the Edge III saddles off you if they're not all crapped out and if you don't have plans for them. I borked one on my MTM2 recently in a way I can't figure out. Short story- the locking block on the low string is stuck in the saddle like Excalibur.

 

[jarnozz]

Wait, what? Did you... freehand that? If so then I am impressed by your steady hands. Looks very good indeed, and I am a major fan of the quality of the Gotoh units as well, not least because they come with brass blocks and locking studs.

Is this an ongoing mod project? Like matching up the tuners with the gold bridge, etc.?

Also, I'm interested in buying the Edge III saddles off you if they're not all crapped out and if you don't have plans for them. I borked one on my MTM2 recently in a way I can't figure out. Short story- the locking block on the low string is stuck in the saddle like Excalibur.

1. Yep! freehand all the way I have had many hours working with routers now and can pull of a fairly good job without guides.

2. The tuners will be replaced with golden onces yes!
and if I can find enough time, I have 4, 5 piece wenge maple neck blanks laying around doing nothing... plus an ebony fretboard...
A nice replacement neck made out of wenge/maple with an ebony board with a tree of life inlay would look pretty good, wont it

3. I have an RGA8 with the same saddles. On the edge 3 the screw broke of rendered it useless.

what I can offer you is a free E/E or D/G saddle, only thing you've got to do is pay shipping and pm me your address

Why not play the good guy once in a while

 

[Pikka Bird]

1. Yep! freehand all the way I have had many hours working with routers now and can pull of a fairly good job without guides.

Hot damn! Can't say I'm not impressed.

Why not play the good guy once in a while

The best kind of guy! PM sent.

 

[Pikka Bird]

In case any of you were wondering, Jarnozz delivered! What a dude!

 

[aesthyrian]

Nice! That is some crazy good free-hand work.

I really like those Gotoh floyds, and keep pressuring Gotoh to make them in a 7 string version as well, but I think more of us need to send e-mails.

I was able to drop the gotoh right into my '93 Ibanez S540, but I did need to purchase shorter string lock screws from allparts(GS-8387-003) since the stock screws where just a tad too long to fit in the route.

The bridge flutters like butter, and the high tension springs that Gotoh includes are really nice. The bridge seems to keep all of the innovations of the Edge including the spring lock screws and the locking studs, but the real winner is how the arm attaches and how much you can adjust it. Plus, the price is great.

Seriously, if/when Gotoh makes these bridges in 7 string versions, I will be replacing all of my Edge Lo-Pro 7's. That's not saying that I think the Lo-Pro 7 is bad, just not as nice as a 7 string Gotoh would be IMO.

 

[Pjmarinh]

Hello everyone!

I know this is an old thread but hopefully The OP will see this. Im thinking of doing the exact same mod to my rg350. What block size did you used? (I understand that the options are 33, 36 and 40 mm). And also, what fretwork upgrade do you recommend for the same guitar? (If you have one in mind/already did it).

Great job btw! The routing was perfectly nailed and the guitar is looking sexy as well

 

[sphinx87]

Amazing work! That's exactly what I was looking for my RG370DX, thank you for sharing this

I have a couple of questions:
- Did you change the mounting studs? was it easy to remove the old studs?
- What kind of locking nut did you use? I went to the Gotoh website and there were many models (the Gotoh GE1996T I'm looking for doesn't come with the a locking nut)
- Which block size fits?

Thanks again.

 

[Pjmarinh]

- Did you change the mounting studs? was it easy to remove the old studs?

I recently acquired the gotoh tremolo system to replace the Edge III on my rg350, so everything I'll tell you know I could corroborate in a couple weeks after I installed the bridge (It hasn't arrived yet). For the looks of it, he didn’t change the mounting studs nor the bridge posts (the ones that come with the gotoh bridge are golden as well). I understand that in order to replace the old mounting studs you have to redrill the holes making them a little bit bigger. I'm gonna try and do that.

- What kind of locking nut did you use? I went to the Gotoh website and there were many models (the Gotoh GE1996T I'm looking for doesn't come with the a locking nut)

- For the locking nut I went with the GHL-1, which is R4 dimension-wise and bottom mounting (check if your rg370 locking nut is bottom or top mounted).

- Which block size fits?

- I went with the 33 mm block size, since the stock one in the Edge III is about 30 mm measured from the base plate.

Hope this helps!

 

[sphinx87]

- I went with the 33 mm block size, since the stock one in the Edge III is about 30 mm measured from the base plate.

Hope this helps!

Thank you, that was helpful.

- I found a Floyd Rose ii laying around with a 37mm block, I checked it and it fits just fine (in regards of depth), so I'm gonna buy the Gotoh GE1996T with a 36mm Block, I wanted the 40mm block, but I'm not sure if it will fit.

Please share your project steps with us, and I'll share mine but it won't be before a couple of months (international shipping delays and paint job isn't decided yet).

 

[Pjmarinh]

Thank you, that was helpful.

- I found a Floyd Rose ii laying around with a 37mm block, I checked it and it fits just fine (in regards of depth), so I'm gonna buy the Gotoh GE1996T with a 36mm Block, I wanted the 40mm block, but I'm not sure if it will fit.

Please share your project steps with us, and I'll share mine but it won't be before a couple of months (international shipping delays and paint job isn't decided yet).

So the new parts for the project arrived yesterday, and so far I've noticed something interesting, worth knowing beforehand and not mencioned by the OP (maybe he didn't run into the same problem). Although the spacing of th edge III is the same as the ge1996t (10.8 mm), the distance between the center of the round knife edge (themolo arm side) and the center of the 1st string saddle is bigger (roughly 1.5 mm), displacing the overall center of the bridge to the bass side of the guitar when pressing it against the mounting posts, and causing the 6th string saddle to hit against the mounting post of the straight edge side. Therefore, when redrilling the holes for the new mounting studs, I cared about pushing the new centers further apart (also note that the gotoh mounting studs are longer so you also have to drill deeper to fit them in).



As you can see above, the left saddle is barely apart from the mounting post. I wished they weren't so close and now that the drilling is done I don't think there is much I can do, but there is no contact between the two parts so there shouldn't be any problem as long as the tremolo is installed correctly.



The tremolo cavity without the bridge. I deepened the mounting studs holes to fit the new studs, but didn't go all the way through since I was getting pretty close to the spring cavity on the left side.

Now I all have to do is route the cavity to fit the bridge, just like the OP did, but I havent been able to go to a repair store since we are lockdown in Chile and I don't have the tools at home (at this point I'm seriously considering ordering a dremel router online and do it myself).

Hopefuly it won't be much longer until I can enjoy the final result. I'll share pictures when it's done!

 

[dmlinger]

I was scrolling down waiting to see a picture of guitar shaped fire wood. Did not expect clean routes by hand. As others have said - nicely done!! Looks great, too

 

[Pjmarinh]

I finally got my hands into a dremel and router plunge attachment and did the job myself. You can get a pretty acceptable result if it is handled with care



The tremolo after finally being installed



As seen in the picture below, the stud spacing for the edge III is a little tight for the Gotoh. It plays great anyway, but I'll try to figure how that can be fixed (I'll gladly accept suggestions)


The final product


The finish suffered a little from the routing process, so I plan on refinishing it eventually, and fixing the stud spacing problem, but for now this one is fully set up and plays wonderful! The stability of the gotoh bridge is impressive. Highly recommended.

- Did you change the mounting studs? was it easy to remove the old studs?
- What kind of locking nut did you use? I went to the Gotoh website and there were many models (the Gotoh GE1996T I'm looking for doesn't come with the a locking nut)

The previous studs were not hard to remove. It's susprisingly easy with a claw hammer and some cloth to protect the guitar body when pressing against it with the hammer. The R4 locking nut was an perfect fit for the previous one.

 

[gtapia81]

Excelent work! Are you from Chile? I'm from Argentina and I just purchased a Gotoh tremolo to replace the original on my Ibanez RG370DX.
Can you give me a hand?

 

[Pjmarinh]

Excelent work! Are you from Chile? I'm from Argentina and I just purchased a Gotoh tremolo to replace the original on my Ibanez RG370DX.
Can you give me a hand?

Hola!

Así es, Chileno Qué necesitas? La rg370 entiendo que es casi igual a la 350. Al final las modificaciones que haya que hacer dependeran de si tu guitarra viene con el edge III o el edge zero II

 

[gtapia81]

Perfecto! podemos hablar en español. Si, es casi igual el cuerpo y viene con Edge 3 si no me equivoco. Compré un Gotoh GE1996t y voy a necesitar rutear la cavidad donde va el puente, pero como sacaste los postes? Los que trae el Gotoh son considerablemente mas grandes, hasta pareciera que no me alcanza el grosor del cuerpo.
Mi guitarra viene con una barra y los postes a los extremos, mayormente vienen los postes solos

 

[Pjmarinh]

Osea tu guitarra trae una pieza metalica entre los postes? De todas maneras sacar los postes con un martillo es bastante sencillo, con la garra como si estuvieras sacando un clavo, y cubriendo el cuerpo para no rayarlo al apoyar el martillo para hacer palanca.

Vas a tener que re-taladrear los agujeros de los postes con un taladro pedestal ojalá. Como bien dices los postes son mas largos tambien, asique agrega tambien tanta profundidad como puedas sin pasar para el otro lado, pero no es problema si quedan un poco hacia afuera, mientras se mantengan perpendiculares al cuerpo al instalar el puente. Ademas de hacer los agujeros mas grandes, vas a tener que hacerlos mas hacia los lados, para que las sillas de las cuerdas no queden apretadas entre los pernos de los postes (más arriba hablo de lo mismo).

Solo una vez que hayas hecho todo lo anterior y tengas certeza de donde va a quedar el puente instalado, ve cuanto vas a tener que rutear en la cavidad para que no topen los pernos de apretan las cuerdas, o los lados del puente. si o si usa una base para rutear, a pulso es muy dificil que quede bien. Yo use una base para el dremel como la que usa el OP.

Si haces todo con cuidado no debiera haber problemas Yo nunca habia usado un dremel antes y quede bastante satisfecho con el resultado. Lo mas importante es el espacio que dejes entre los postes, preocupate de que el puente quede centrado y sin contacto entre las sillas y los pernos del poste. Avisa como te va. Suerte!

 

[speedygonzales]

Hola!
I'm from Brazil , pero no hablo espanol ...
I have a ibanez gio grgs22 , set neck with a edge 3 .
Voy necesitar cambiar los postes que estan rotos , arruinados , ¿Cuál es el tamaño del taladro para los postes gotoh ?
Thanks , sorry for my bad spanish and english .

 

[Pjmarinh]

Hola!
I'm from Brazil , pero no hablo espanol ...
I have a ibanez gio grgs22 , set neck with a edge 3 .
Voy necesitar cambiar los postes que estan rotos , arruinados , ¿Cuál es el tamaño del taladro para los postes gotoh ?
Thanks , sorry for my bad spanish and english .

Los postes gotoh son de 11.3 mm de diametro. Una broca de no mas de 11 mm te servirá, para que el poste quede apretado en el agujero