Custom HotRod Strat Build.

[Simon Barden]

Luckily here in the UK I'm normally insulated from this type of thing and generally manage to stay positive, though I can be induced to make the odd negative comment.

FR type trems really depend on very sharp knife-edges to minimise friction and come back in tune. Real FRs and very high quality derivatives use a really hard steel, and these stay sharp for ages. Most licensed FR copies use a mild steel which wears down quite quickly. Once the edges get flattened, that's when they start to not come back in tune. Likewise when the bridge support posts get notched, the friction goes up and tuning stability goes.

So it's never a good idea to rotate the bridge posts to adjust the height of the trem when there is any tension on the strings. It's a PITA to keep slackening off the string tension adjusting the height, and then tighten the strings again, but you only normally need to do it on the initial set up. But it does stop the knife-edges scoring the posts.

You can get replacement knife-edges for a lot of trems, especially proper FR and Ibanez trems, which along with some new posts is a worthwhile investment from time to time.

It's also worth looking at the other end of the neck as well. There's often a string retaining bar fitted behind the locking nut. This is often set too high, and it should be screwed down so that with the string clamps loose, the stings are pulled flat across the horizontal face of the locking nut. This helps guarantee that when the clamps are tightened, the strings are held as tightly as they can be and there is no upward force trying to pull the clamp off the string.

[FrankenWashie]

Luckily here in the UK I'm normally insulated from this type of thing and generally manage to stay positive, though I can be induced to make the odd negative comment.

That's Gold Simon! Some handy detail on the FR too. I did not know these things, and having it explained like that it all suddenly makes perfect sense. Thanks for that!

[DrNomis_44]

Luckily here in the UK I'm normally insulated from this type of thing and generally manage to stay positive, though I can be induced to make the odd negative comment.

FR type trems really depend on very sharp knife-edges to minimise friction and come back in tune. Real FRs and very high quality derivatives use a really hard steel, and these stay sharp for ages. Most licensed FR copies use a mild steel which wears down quite quickly. Once the edges get flattened, that's when they start to not come back in tune. Likewise when the bridge support posts get notched, the friction goes up and tuning stability goes.

So it's never a good idea to rotate the bridge posts to adjust the height of the trem when there is any tension on the strings. It's a PITA to keep slackening off the string tension adjusting the height, and then tighten the strings again, but you only normally need to do it on the initial set up. But it does stop the knife-edges scoring the posts.

You can get replacement knife-edges for a lot of trems, especially proper FR and Ibanez trems, which along with some new posts is a worthwhile investment from time to time.

It's also worth looking at the other end of the neck as well. There's often a string retaining bar fitted behind the locking nut. This is often set too high, and it should be screwed down so that with the string clamps loose, the stings are pulled flat across the horizontal face of the locking nut. This helps guarantee that when the clamps are tightened, the strings are held as tightly as they can be and there is no upward force trying to pull the clamp off the string.

Cheers mate, I used to own an Ibanez S420WK (Weathered Black) Superstrat Guitar, it featured Ibanez's then-new ZR Trem system ( basically a re-designed Double-Locking Floyd system) which used a ball-bearing system instead of knife-edges for the bridge pivots, Ibanez said that the new system included features designed to improve tuning-stability, well try as I might, I could never get the S420WK's trem to reliably come back perfectly in tune, if I did a dive bomb, the strings would come back flat, if I did a pull-up the strings came back sharp, I tried disabling the ZR system and the result was only marginally better, this was with a ball-bearing pivot system that should have eliminated any of the issues with knife-edge pivot systems.


@ FrankenWashie If you want, I could do a mini-tutorial of sorts, documenting exactly how I went about setting-up the trem system on my HotRod Strat, there's a couple of tools that will make the job of setting it up a lot easier, one is a special tool you can buy from Stewmac, called "The Key", it makes setting the individual string intonation so much easier, the other tool, which you can easily make, is a specially-shaped piece of wood which blocks-off the bridge so that it rigidly sits parallel to the guitar body, once the piece of wood is in place, you simply tighten the tension on the Trem springs, when I go to put some new strings on my Hot Rod Strat after installing the new pickups, etc, I will take some pics as I do the setup on my Hot Rod Strat, and I'll explain exactly what I do, step by step, hopefully that will be useful for other forum members who are building guitar kits that feature a double-locking trem.

[Simon Barden]

Cheers mate, I used to own an Ibanez S420WK (Weathered Black) Superstrat Guitar, it featured Ibanez's then-new ZR Trem system ( basically a re-designed Double-Locking Floyd system) which used a ball-bearing system instead of knife-edges for the bridge pivots, Ibanez said that the new system included features designed to improve tuning-stability, well try as I might, I could never get the S420WK's trem to reliably come back perfectly in tune, if I did a dive bomb, the strings would come back flat, if I did a pull-up the strings came back sharp, I tried disabling the ZR system and the result was only marginally better, this was with a ball-bearing pivot system that should have eliminated any of the issues with knife-edge pivot systems.

My mate Max (see above) has a whole range of Ibanez S types of different ages (he moved to them from Jems and RGs because of a worsening bad back and their reduced weight), so has a mixture of Edge, Edge Pro, LoPro and ZR trems. He prefers playing the Edge style ones over the ZR, but the one he plays the most does have a ZR on it and it stays in tune for him. I'll ask him if there are any special tips on setting it up.

[DrNomis_44]

My mate Max (see above) has a whole range of Ibanez S types of different ages (he moved to them from Jems and RGs because of a worsening bad back and their reduced weight), so has a mixture of Edge, Edge Pro, LoPro and ZR trems. He prefers playing the Edge style ones over the ZR, but the one he plays the most does have a ZR on it and it stays in tune for him. I'll ask him if there are any special tips on setting it up.

Cheers mate, that would be much appreciated because I have a white Ibanez RG350DXZ which features the ZR system, but it uses knife-edge pivots and it tends to come back flat after a dive-bomb, and sharp after a pull-up, I've tried lubricating the knife-edges with lip-eze but it makes no difference, there is very little wear on the knife edges, I also tried replacing the locking nut, tried making sure the neck screws were tight, and also tried making sure the string-retainer bar was adjusted properly, the locking nut screws are nice and tight too.

[FrankenWashie]

Cheers mate, I used to own an Ibanez S420WK (Weathered Black) Superstrat Guitar, it featured Ibanez's then-new ZR Trem system ( basically a re-designed Double-Locking Floyd system) which used a ball-bearing system instead of knife-edges for the bridge pivots, Ibanez said that the new system included features designed to improve tuning-stability, well try as I might, I could never get the S420WK's trem to reliably come back perfectly in tune, if I did a dive bomb, the strings would come back flat, if I did a pull-up the strings came back sharp, I tried disabling the ZR system and the result was only marginally better, this was with a ball-bearing pivot system that should have eliminated any of the issues with knife-edge pivot systems.


@ FrankenWashie If you want, I could do a mini-tutorial of sorts, documenting exactly how I went about setting-up the trem system on my HotRod Strat, there's a couple of tools that will make the job of setting it up a lot easier, one is a special tool you can buy from Stewmac, called "The Key", it makes setting the individual string intonation so much easier, the other tool, which you can easily make, is a specially-shaped piece of wood which blocks-off the bridge so that it rigidly sits parallel to the guitar body, once the piece of wood is in place, you simply tighten the tension on the Trem springs, when I go to put some new strings on my Hot Rod Strat after installing the new pickups, etc, I will take some pics as I do the setup on my Hot Rod Strat, and I'll explain exactly what I do, step by step, hopefully that will be useful for other forum members who are building guitar kits that feature a double-locking trem.

Thats not a bad idea at all Doc, i think it would be handy for other builders as well.

[DrNomis_44]

Thats not a bad idea at all Doc, i think it would be handy for other builders as well.

No worries, I just found a interesting forum thread article on the internet, it deals with all the possible causes of tuning stability issues with double-locking trem systems, so as I thought that maybe some builders might be interested in reading the article, I'll post a link to it here:


http://forum.ibanez.com/yaf_postst69...REM-GUIDE.aspx