Fixing up Ibanez JS100 - Bridge Questions

[Hagbard Celine]

I traded an Ibanez Artcore semi hollow that I wasn't using much because everything it was good at my SG does better, plus 100 dollars (by the way I got the Artcore with gift certificates so I have very little money in this Satriani). I recognize that it is the Korean made bottom end of the Satriani line but the body is very comfortable and it has surprisingly good sustain and unplugged resonance. From a little research on the serial number I think it was made by Cort in 2006.

I am putting a JB with an A8 mag in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck position. I already have them lying around and that wiring is the kind of stuff I've been doing a while.

What I am pretty darn ignorant about is Floyd Rose style bridges. I didn't have a guitar with one and have little experience with the genre. According to what I have found the JS100 in that time frame came with the Edge Pro II bridge. The tuning is pretty stable, going to completely slack string dives and coming back in tune with maybe a little tweaking or the fine adjusters every once in a while.

It seems odd that it requires 4 springs with the claw almost touching the back side of the cavity to balance a set of regular 10 gauge strings and the feel of the trem is very stiff. That's about an inch more spring stretch to set the trem to float compared to what I have on a Stratocaster with the same strings and 3 springs in a W formation, for example.

It just seems strange to me.

Any ideas or suggestions from those with more experience in this area?

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Fixing up Ibanez JS100 - Bridge Questions

It depends on the springs - sometimes you need more, even going up a gauge to 10s. For instance, I use Raw Vintage springs in my Ibanez and I need 4 for 9s because they're fairly soft, but the claw is more or less in the same spot as when I got the guitar with its stock springs.

In a previous guitar, I used 10s for a while and with the three stock springs but even with the claw maxed out to the paint, the guitar was always shy of being in tune in standard pitch; going back to 9s fixed things.

Personally, if I was going to use the Floyd on a guitar, I wouldn't go any heavier than 9s. Some guitars can handle 10s, some can't - becoming really stiff.

For improving tuning stability, put a little Chapstick on the studs where they mate with the knife edges.

 

[Hagbard Celine]

Re: Fixing up Ibanez JS100 - Bridge Questions

Thanks.

I did swap the springs out to what seemed like some stiffer ones from a Strat.

It just seems odd to me. I would think that the same string set on the same scale length would produce the same tension requiring roughly the same spring tension to counter it.