Had this guitar for about 2 years, and very shortly after I bought it I did something stupid and stripped the allen hex pattern off of the bridge screws. One is bad, the other is almost useless. The problem is that it makes it nearly impossible to adjust the action. I've even been trying to get the bass side screw to turn using a pair of pliers and I can't get it to budge. I found a picture and part number of the screws on Ibanez's site, but can't find a way to order them. Even if I did, I'm not sure how I could get the old screws out.
Any ideas on how I can get these screws to move in spite of their crippled hex grooves? Sorry if this is at all unclear.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
They want you to order them through a dealer. Write down the part numbers an have one of their dealers get them for you. Have you removed all the tension on the bridge or removing the bridge and tied adjusting them?
joe
Haven't tried to move them without tension. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
I could probably just leave it where it is, except sometimes when I restring the bridge makes this awful wobbling sound when I try to play, like it's not seated just right. Usually a quick turn of these screws tightens whatever gets messed up.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
How are you changing string? You should be only removing one or to strings at a time, put new ones one, then tune them and do the same until you've restrung the guitar.
Joe
I had been changing all the strings at one time, mostly so I could clean the board and the area on the pickguard under the strings, but I'll start doing it two at a time.
I changed today actually because as I was checking out the bridge I noticed that when I restrung a few days ago I somehow managed to get all the saddles crooked. I was more careful today and now they're all straight. I was able to turn the allen screw using a rag and some pliers with the strings off though, so I think it should be workable. I can also turn it to the right if I press hard with the allen wrench, so I think I'll be able to work around it for now at least. I think the biggest problem is that the entire bridge system sucks.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
What I've seen is the allen wrench's they supply with the guitar are not very good quality and off size wise just enough to cause problems if the screws become froze up. Which happens just from the vibration, sweat, finger ease, and mainly from being over tightened. Good to hear you can get it to adjust.
Joe
A friend of mine did the same thing with the height adjusting allen screws and ended up with the sockets so bad he could not get the wrenches in the hole any more. What he ended up doing was using 2 "easy outs", one left handed and one right handed that just fit the hole. He uses whichever is correct for the way he is adjusting.
I asked why he just didn't use the easy outs to remove and replace the screws and his answer was "why it works fine and I don't adjust it often"
I was going to ask about easy outs, as I'd just learned about them. From your post I'm assuming that you can use them multiple times. That is, they don't permanently damage the screw, they just allow you to get a grip on a damaged hex hole. Is this correct?
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
Thats true. They have a spiral tip that gets a bite in the hole and turns it.
The way they are normally used is on a jammed nut or screw by drilling a hole in the head of it and inserting the easy out and turning it with a wrench.
