Need some help

[CantoX]

Hey,
Im new to this board but im a long time reader and i have to say your an awsome group of people. I love Symphony X and they have inspired me in many ways. I guess you could say im a musician and i can play alot of instruments and i understand the fundementals of musical theory and composition.
Now to the point, my guitar is an Ibanez RG320FM. I recently tuned it down to D tuning(1 step down) and my strings buzz at certain frets.
My question is, what would be the apropriate set up of my guitar in order to keep it at 1 step down tuning without any buzzes. I have 10 gauge light strings and my bridge is an edge II with only the D string in the lower hole while all the rest are in the upper holds.
Thank you.

 

[Shredboy]

You could try raising your floating bridge up just a little bit, the two biggest nuts just infront of your bridge(touching). Or you can take the back panel off and slack back on the tension of your springs which in turn raise the bridge up a little... I find this(slacking the strings back) only works well if you need a slight change, if all your strings are buzzing just about every where on the fretboard this probably wont help.

Keep in mind if adjusting your bridge make sure you use an equal amount of turns in anything you do.. dont make things totally out of whack.. and make sure you re -intonate your guitar .. adjusting the bridge can throw it way off.

 

[Yngvai X]

Yeah, definitely get your guitar set up. It might not even be the action that needs the readjustment, but the neck, since you did change the tension on it when you tuned down.

But please do not perform any sort of neck adjustment yourself as you can easily crack the neck from the inside and make your guitar worthless and unplayable. Take it to a trained tech for a proper set up. If he isn't used to setting up guitars for "shred style" playing, set the action how you want it, then tell him to set your guitar up so that the action is that hight, without any severe buzzing.

Also keep in mind that you will have some slight buzzes here and there with really low action, but most of these will be inaudable when played through an amp as the pickups won't register them. I only get concerned with its buzzing enough that you can hear it through an amp with distortion.

 

[Horus]

Do you know the source of the buzzing? Because the bridge may not have much to do with it. It may be the fretts. Since you tuned down your guitar without adjusting the springs in the back, the springs most likely pulled back more on the bridge itself, and lowered the action by quite a bit. If that's the case, the buzzing could be coming from the low fretts. All you need to do, as stated above, is Loosen the springs. That should allow the pressure between the strings and springs to equalize again.

(Heh. Strings and Springs. I busted a rhyme.)

 

[Jaen]

as said above, loosen the springs, change the intonation and set the truss rod. all these are things that must be done when you change the tuning on your guitar.

 

[CantoX]

Alight..
First, i live in this small country named Kuwait and the place here only sells the Ibanez guitars and does not have any qualified personel of which i can ask to adjust the guitar, so im pretty much on my own.
Second, i have this bad allen key wrench that ruined my last guitar.. and i accidently used it on my Ibanez guitar when it got mixed in with the other allen key wrenchs so when i tried to adjust the action one of the nuts got busted up inside.. this happened when i was restringing and forgot to loosen the strings causing the bridge to float very high.. so the action is at a high place right now.
I took the back plate off and tried to loosen the tension on both springs, but to my dismay one of the screws came out so now i only have one screw in the back of my guitar, if i try to get the other one back in it would be very deep inside for it to stay and would result in a backfire of my original plans.
As you can see i pretty much screwed my guitar over, but i was just wondering if theres anything i could do to make it sound normal, there is only minimal buzzing and when i have it in the amp i cant really hear it.. it just annoys me, im sort of a perfectionist lol
Thanks for your replies

 

[Shredboy]

Yikes sounds like you've got yourself in a little mess... the only advise I can offer for next time is throw that old allen wrench away !!.. and when changing your strings next time.. only change 2 strings at a time.. ie loosen only one locking nut ( top part of your guitar that holds the string tension in place) at a time, thus allowing you to change 2 strings( if its a six string)... semi tune( they will stretch anyway) those 2 strings to what the rest of the guitar is tuned then relock the nut for those 2 strings.. then do the next 2 and so forth.. this should keep your bridge from moving up or down in gross proportions. The only thing that will really throw it off no matter what you do is changing string guages.. if you change string guages you'll have to re-adjust and do things we've mentioned in the above posts.

 

[Shredboy]

double post....

 

[CantoX]

Alright thanks,
I actually changed from the extra light 9 and so forth to the 10 light gauge.. and that 2 strings at a time with the nut in it sounds risky.. lol but thank you anyways

 

[Kenneth R.]

also, if you still have buzzing problems despite all this, it might mean your frets are worn down at the buzzing spots. one of my guitars has this problem on the 5th fret..

 

[Shredboy]

Nothing risky about it at all lol... Im not sure you understand what I mean.. Ive worked on my guitars and friends guitars for a long time.. Im not a professional although I have been taught a few things by my Step father who was(is) a guitar luthier.

Taking all the strings off at once on a floating bridge is only asking for trouble... especially when you dont know how to set the action back

However if you do want to take all the strings off at once.. make sure you have something that can hold the bridge in position... something to jam in between the guitar and the bridge as to not let it fall down.. however make sure what your using isnt going to scratch the heck out of your guitar... Ive seen all kinds of foolishness.. like using a screwdriver lol.. lets just say that made a mess in behind the bridge..

 

[Kenneth R.]

If you take off all the strings at once, be prepared to spend several hours trying to get it back in tune afterwards.

 

[ToRuinAll05]

(Heh. Strings and Springs. I busted a rhyme.)

Ur an ass...btw I get my amp tonight or tomorrow