Help me out with guitar setup.

[sandra-]

Hello

First i apologize for this thread as it is very "noobish" but well i'm pretty frustrated and i really need help.

Some will say "GOOGLE!" but i did. I searched half the web and read tons of ressources but i don't really know. None of them are really clear.

As you can tell from my questions, i'm not pro at guitar so i didn't find my sound yet.... resulting in playing clean, blues, rock, metal.... basically any sound and that is why i need a good "allround" setup for my guitar.

What strings do you use? 009? 010? 011? And what brand?

What about string heights?
What about pickup heights?

Please help me.

Regards sandra

 

[Metaltastic]

First off:

What guitar do you have now?
What tuning do you plan to play in?

These are the most important questions to establish right off the bat!

 

[egan.]

What tuning, what scale guitar, what bridge?

edit: Marcus you really need to get out of the house more.

 

[sandra-]

Ibanez RG 350 with Edge III tremolo that is driving me MAD.

And standard tuning.

Regards sandra

 

[egan.]

I use 9's in standard. If you don't like the trem I would recommend getting a tremel-no. Obviously switching gauges is a much bigger PITA with a floating trem.
Pups as high as you can get them and action as low as you can get it (w/o buzzing for your personal technique). That's what I like anyway. Marcus is going to make you buy EMGs.

 

[Fox Mulder]

My Edge III used to drive me mad till I replaced the springs with the ones that come with japanese Jacksons. Those black rugged ones. As rumour has it, some japanese made Ibanez guitars don't pass the quality control check at all before they get shipped into South Asia!

If you are having problems with it, get a tremel-no as mentioned above, or change springs like I did.
Best: Get an OFR. I know OFRs are really easy to fit into Edge III guitars.

 

[Jind]

Or do what I did - block your tremolo (I've since unblocked it but back in the day when it bothered me that's what I did.)

 

[sandra-]

Thanks for your awnsers!

About EMGs and Tremol-no (never heard of the latter actually) i don't really want to spend more money unless i play better.

Sorry but OFR? Original Floyd Rose?

I recently switched from 010 strings to 009 strings and i feel the "artifical harmonics" are not that "full".... is it just that i'm not used to the thinner strings yet or is it the strings?

Pups as high as you can get them and action as low as you can get it (w/o buzzing for your personal technique).

Thanks.... any kind of numbers where i can relate to?
Something like "Distance between neck pu and strings 1 - 8 mm"?

Regards sandra

 

[abigor731]

on my guitar the distance between 12th fret and the strings is ~3mm distance between the pickups and the strings is ~4mm
i'd say try out the 09s a bit, at the beginning different strings always feel weird, but after some time you'll get used to it
i think tone-wise the rg350 should be versatile enough to do clean, blues, rock, metal
(f you want to play clean and blues sounds emgs are not that good anyway)
for the sound, the amp is what matters IMHO, so the strings and the whole stuff concerning the guitar itself are not even that important as long as the guitar stays in tune and the intonation is ok
so i think apart from fixing the tremolo there's not much you can do,
you could also get some additional springs, (up to 5) which should also make the trem more stable, completely blocking it is a safer method though
believe it or not, i have an edge III on my rg370 that stays perfectly in tune most of the time, so appearently not all of them are crap

 

[Sacha]

If you can, find a good tech in the area to set your guitar up for you. If you don't know what you're doing it's relatively possible to fuck shit up more!

 

[Metaltastic]

What tuning, what scale guitar, what bridge?

edit: Marcus you really need to get out of the house more.

Don't be jealous cuz you don't gots the speed

 

[Metaltastic]

And Sandra, this should help you as far as action, truss rod adjustment, intonation, etc. goes

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/ElectricGuitarRepair.htm

Basically, everything you need to do a basic setup yourself! (except for fretwork, nut routing, etc., that I leave to the pros). And yes, EMG's and I are best buds, we fish together on the weekends and give each other noogies

 

[DanLights]

And yes, EMG's and I are best buds, we fish together on the weekends and give each other noogies

don´t the mesas get jealous dude?

 

[Lazzari]

edit: Marcus you really need to get out of the house more.

.. the good thing is that he is always here when u need him

 

[guitarguru1969]

Hell a block of wood behind the tremolo block, between the edge of the trem block closest to the headstock and the body will stabilize things for ya. Just takes a few minutes with a power sander to get it right. Just shave it till the trem floats parallel to the body with the wood block in place and tighten the springs a bit ad there ya go. Means you cant pull back on the trem, but still can dive bomb. The difference in sustain is huge! Then use 10 gauge strings unless ya want a light touch. Still this mod adds sustain and brings harmonics back.

 

[sandra-]

Thanks again!

You people have been very helpful!

I somehow managed to have my guitar in tune now (the trick with a small block behind the trem is really cool) and - as far as i can tell - the intonation is correct.
It's just that the tremolo is not in "one line" with the body.... that's cause there were thicker strings on that guitar before i guess.... i didn't have a screwdriver right now. But i'm gonna adjust it later.

Thank you so much

Edit:
The tremolo is now nearly in one perfect line with the guitars body.
Distance from 12th fret to strings is 3.2 mm.
Distance from strings to the neck pickup is 3.5 mm.

Is that ok so?

It just took me about 3 hours or so to set that up

Used Ernie Ball strings.... are they good?

Regards sandra

 

[kramer1309]

don´t the mesas get jealous dude?

Not since he sold his recto...

(am i doin it rite ?)

jk

On topic:
It might be the fact that you changed string gauge. This usually affects a floating bridge and you need to adjust the spring tension so that it matches the tension caused by the guitar strings

Yea, what you mention seems about right.
A floating can take a couple of hours for a first timer, heck i remember taking 2 hours just to change strings the first time.
Ernie balls- personally did not like the feel of them but they aren't bad.

 

[Sweetnothing]

Distance from 12th fret to strings is 3.2 mm.
Distance from strings to the neck pickup is 3.5 mm.

Is that ok so?

That sounds like a bit too much for my taste...mine has less than 2mm ( think 1'7-8 roughly, from 12th fret to the first string, and 2mm to the bottom string)

 

[sandra-]

I tried to put the strings lower. But the bendings in the 14th thread of the two lower strings didn't work.... they just "died" when i bend the strings up. Weird.

Regards sandra

 

[Metaltastic]

Yup, that's when you have 'em too low, or it could be an issue with certain individual frets (not surprising, since that guitar isn't exactly expensive the fretwork is probably far from perfect, and Ibanezes especially are prone to that IME)