Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

K

Koreth

New member
For Part I of this adventure, where the #3 saddle broke, see here.

*sigh* If it's not one thing, it's another. The #2 string lock block broke when re-stringing last night. I have a show in a couple weeks, and again, can't afford to wait a month or so for Japan to ship a new one. I've already put some calls out to my contacts to try to find one more locally, but until then it's epoxy to the rescue.

Either the Edge III is the POS everyone says it is, or I'm being too hard on the guitar. Probably both. Either way, I was hoping for this guitar to last long enough for me to save up for a nice PRS or maybe something custom. It is becoming apparent that despite me not outright abusing the guitar, it may very well not hold together that long.

I'm thinking it's time to start looking for a replacement. There's at least a few shops around here that sell used gear. Is it unreasonable to think I could score a deal on a similar used axe that's few notches up from the cheap Ibanez in quality for say $300-$500? Is it also unreasonable to assume such a replacement would hold together longer than the Ibanez and probably sound better to boot?

I'd prefer something with a bolt-on neck, HH config and a decent floating bridge. I think I can be flexible as far as woods go, so long as it sounds good. What brands should I keep an eye out for? Jackson? ESP? Schecter? Some other brand I've never heard of?
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

That sucks, man. I can identify with the struggles involving cheapskate Ibz hardware (Lo-TRS II anyone?).

As for a new guitar. You can get '90s Ibz on ebay for $500 or so all day long, there's a couple of nice ones on there now, e.g. black/maple 550, RFR 550. Granted, not all of them are HH. Occasionally I see a 520QS, which is a HH, mahogany, Edge affair; maybe Jessie Slammer will chime in, he's got one. In any case, you can't go wrong with an old RG - real workhorse guitars, and I've never heard of an Edge or Lo Pro crapping out. Also, anything before '93 lacks an AANJ.
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

Are you sure you're not just tightening bolts too much? Going gentle on gear in general usually works wonders. Floyd bolts don't require crushing the string.....just holding it in place...on both ends.
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

Well, it is a disturbing trend you're developing there. While cheaper hardware isn't made from the best materials, saddles do crack on Original Floyd Rose trems, as well.

I've never had a hardware problem on a nicer Ibanez, though. The Edge and Edge Lo-Pro trems have been great for me. I do own an RG520QS. It's a very well made guitar with a multi-piece neck, AANJ, HH pickup configuration, a mahogany body, and a quilted veneer with a rather dark translucent blue finish. It's heavy for an RG, and it sounds kind of thin -- maybe because I have it set up for a stupid-low action and have Evolutions in it. Aside from that, it's one locking-trem guitar that I'd rely on not to crap out on me.
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

Gearjoneser said:
Are you sure you're not just tightening bolts too much? Going gentle on gear in general usually works wonders. Floyd bolts don't require crushing the string.....just holding it in place...on both ends.
Click to expand...

I would be happy if that were the case, but I really don't know how to tell. I turn the hex wrench with my thumb and forefinger as tight as it will easily go, when it doesn't go anymore, I stop. I don't know how to tell beyond that, though it's been my experience in the past that much less than that can allow the string to slip on bends.

I do have a couple torque wrenches. I don't suppose there's an actual torque spec for the string lock bolts out there somewhere, is there? Consistency and a lack of ambiguity and consistency can't be a bad thing in this regard.
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

i think the edge pro will retrofit the edge III. might be worth looking into if the bridge is the one thing keeping this guitar from being the instrument of your dreams. it's either the pro, the zero, or the lo pro. a quick google search will tell i'm sure. i think it's www.ibanezrules.com that has tons of parts in stock, and ebay of course. sorry to hear about the bad fortune!

if not then why not look for a nice used MIJ Ibanez RG? i had a RG570 that would compete with anything J-Craft has made that i've seen. i also had a couple prestige models. i can't honestly say that the J-Craft stuff was any better. plus the old RG570's, RG560's, and RG550's can go for anything between $300 and $600. maybe a little more for the sought after 550's. worth looking around for.
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

That also puts you in the price range of a some used Schecters.
Hellraiser FR, C1 Custom FR, C1 Standard FR, C1 ATX FR.
MF has the C1 Standard FR in black on sale for $599.
Also, the LTD MH350 FR

Also look used for a LTD Deluxe M1000, or MH1000.

Used Carvin from ebay?
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

So I went into the local Music-Go-Round today to sell off my RG3EX1 to get some money to start the "Better Guitar Fund". While the shop was appraising my Ibanez, I poked around amongst the used guitars and saw nothing that really stood out as something I'd like to play until I spotted a used Jackson with a very pretty maple top.

The Jackson is a DR3, with a maple top (looks to be 1/8" at best, or a veneer, but still pretty) and an 3 piece ash body. I played around with it for a bit, and it was immedately and painfully obvious that the strings were completey dead and that the guitar could use a setup. But despite these things, the guitar sounded good when I plugged it into a few of the amps they had there, a Fender Princeton Reverb (mmm) a Krank (Yuck!) and a Traynor (pretty good). Doing some research on the DR3, it looks like it is a Made-in-Japan affair, a step up in quality from my Made in Indonesia Ibanez, yes?

I didn't pull the trigger for a couple reasons. One, there was something weird going on in the high frets and strings where if you didn't press a note down hard enough, the string would sound one fret higher (WTF?). Could this be a warped neck or worn frets at play? Or is it more likely just string pull from the fact that the pickups were less than 1 mm from the strings (WTF?)

The other thing I noticed is like their might have been gaps in the neck pocket where the neck wasn't sitting flush against the pocket. I dunno, it could have been a trick of the light. Despite this, both the neck and the body resonated well, and I could feel the neck joint vibrating. Contrast my Ibanez, where I can't even get a feeler gauge inside the neck pocket, and there's no resonance there at all.

There's also the (probably cheap) licensed Floyd Rose bridge, but as long as the wood in the guitar isn't acoustically dead I'm not opposed to upgrading the bridge to a better one down the road.

That said, the store wants $350. I'm sure I can find someone to level and dress the frets locally if the neck needs it. Does this sound like a good deal, or should I keep looking and keep saving my pennies?
 
Re: Bridge on my main Axe broke again. Thinking about replacing the guitar.

^^ keep looking you can do better then that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top