I've got an Ibanez AF75, that I tried to change the strings on, and well, I marked the bridge, where it was on the guitar before I removed the strings, and when I re-strung the e string snapped, first time that happened, also I got severe buzzing on the Low E string.
I was wondering how intonation is set, and stuff like that?
For the low E string the tune-o-matic part of the bridge is about all the way back towards the saddle, then they creep up on the A and D strings, then start over, a bit more back on the G string and almost all the way forward for the high E, is this right?
Also, I forgot to mark when I removed the strings again after the high e broke.
Any help would be great, this is quite a headache LOL.
Thanks!
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
I've looked at a picture of your guitar. So the wooden part is not attached, like a violin bridge? You do have the tunomatic adjustable part on top I see. That is nice. My son's Beatle style bass does not have that feature and the intonation is a real pain to set. The arrangement of saddles you describe sounds about right. For future reference, kind of horse is already out of the barn stuff .... change the strings one at a time if you can next time. If I were to take them all off, I would measure the distance from the edge of the wooden part to the nut. Does Ibanez have specs on this? From there the intonation would adjust like any other guitar, sliding the saddles back or forth til the 12th fret harmonic is the same pitch and the fretted 12th fret. I don't know if this helps or not. It can be fixed though.
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Thanks TR, I wanted to give this thing a good cleaning, I was hoping that it wouldn't be too much of a pain, but it is.
I'm going to take it to my guy tomorrow, and pay for him to put strings on it, and have him show me what he does.
I'm just glad I had things in the right place to begin with, but I hate the fact that I can't really play it yet LOL.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
I didn't know that; re: floating bridge. I guess in the future you will be changing strings one at a time instead of all off at once.
No marks needed, it's not that hard, just takes a few seconds longer to re-string.
For future reference in case you want to give her a good cleaning again and remove all the strings at once . . .
Tools needed: string winder (optional), Wire cutters (optional but really helpful), yardstick or tape measure, masking tape.
The scale length of the AF75 is 24.75 inches. This is THE measurement to remember.
1) Use a small piece of masking tape on each end of the bridge to hold it somewhere in the general area between the tailpiece and the bridge pickup.
2) Put your high and low E strings on, but tighten them just enough to hold the bridge in one place, but still allows you to slide it easily under the strings. Remove the masking tape
3)Measure down the centerline of the neck. This measurement should start at the back of the nut (closest to the bridge), and end on the bridge midway between the front and back. If this measurement is not 24.75 inches, slide the bridge forward or back along the strings until it is. Make sure the bridge is perpendicular to the string path by checking the same measurement beside the two E strings and adjusting as needed.
4) Check to make sure your strings are properly aligned over the pickups and neck. The easiest way to do this is to make sure they're centered over the pole screws of the pickups. If they're not, make the appropriate adjustments, and make sure the scale length is still correct.
5) Now your intonation is roughed in. Tighten the two E strings up a bit to clamp the bridge in place, and finish stringing your guitar. Once you've tuned up, you can adjust the saddles to fine-tune the intonation.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
heres a great source of info for that type of bridge...
Thanks guys, I appreciate the response, here is what happened to day with the guitar:
I took this to a Luthier today, and he was able to go ahead and work on it right there on the spot (he put me ahead of 6 others LOL).
The bridge was actually set right which made me happy, the neck didn't need to be adjusted despite the gauge and style change.
He raised the Tune-o-matic part on the Bass side of the strings, as well as explained to me intonation and how to set it and check it and etc.
He did just about a full setup on my guitar and explained everything step by step, but only charged me for a string change....this guy is really cool, I'm glad I use him.
I did find out that the neck had been cracked at one point though, but was professionally repaired and was sturdy, and closely checked by Doug (the luthier) So this thing has new flat wound strings on it, sounds great and I'm loving it!!
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In Space, no one can hear me sing!
