A couple of neat mods to floyd rose equipped guitars - Ibanez Edge Pro arm torque and Schaller SureClaw replacement for conventional spring claw.expand...
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Ibanez Edge Pro arm torque
This is a neat mod to Ibanez Edge Pro tremolo unit I find very useful. As we know the tremolo arm uses two bushings for arm torque which wear out very fast. And the time isn’t weeks or months, but hours or minutes, and the included extra bushings aren’t of great help here. So this is what we do to tighten the arm torque.
For me, I use D’Addario strings for many years and the cellophane (?) packaging helps here.
Tear off a small bit of the cellophane and
twist it clock-wise around the tip of the tremolo arm. More towards the bottom end. Hold it very tight.
Then insert the trem arm into the baseplate also turning the arm clockwise. You need to keep the cellophane very tight around the tip as you sink it into the hole.
And then you’re done. You’ll get the technique as you do that again and again. For me, this wrap works for months. Keeps the arm very tight, perfect for flutter, for example. The main reason for me is that I like having the arm fixed at the point that I want it to be (for easier grab), not just hang and roughly gravitate.
And by the way. These pictures are Ibanez RG350 which originally had Edge III trem which had this arm torque control with the hex screw (very handy) like Gotoh units have but it is very cheap materials, wears out very quickly and you’ll need to change it to, say, Edge Pro, which is an excellent trem. BUT, be sure to change the Edge III trem posts to Edge Pro trem posts as well, because that is at least 80% impact on stability. It will require body routing, so bring the axe to a trusted luthier but I really stress that changing Edge III to Edge Pro without changing trem posts might ruin your impression of the latter trem. I’ve read a lot of forums that guy here and guy there is exchanging the trems but not a word about the trem posts. Just pay attention in this case.
Schaller Sure Claw
I am in no way connected with Schaller Electronic GmbH but this is a very handy little thing to maintain your floyd rose equipped guitar.
It installs in the spring cavity to replace the traditional spring claw which. SureClaw mounts with two screws vertically into the body. (Please note that this is Ibanez RG350 and SureClaw might not work for many guitars, please do the measurements yourself. The reason is that on the other side might be pickup. For example, Jackson Dinky bodies do not allow this to be mounted)
The convenience it gives is that you can tighten or loosen the springs with a hex screw.
You just put your deadening porolone and
put the trem cavity plate on. Drill a circular hole in it and you’ve got access to your SureClaw without having the need to remove the plate to make any adjustments. Turn the screw clockwise to stretch the springs or counter-clockwise to loosen.
This is how SureClaw looks far clockwise turned.
And far counter-clockwise turned.
Hope you find this useful. SureClaw retails at 25EUR.
This is a neat mod to Ibanez Edge Pro tremolo unit I find very useful. As we know the tremolo arm uses two bushings for arm torque which wear out very fast. And the time isn’t weeks or months, but hours or minutes, and the included extra bushings aren’t of great help here. So this is what we do to tighten the arm torque.
For me, I use D’Addario strings for many years and the cellophane (?) packaging helps here.
Tear off a small bit of the cellophane and
twist it clock-wise around the tip of the tremolo arm. More towards the bottom end. Hold it very tight.
Then insert the trem arm into the baseplate also turning the arm clockwise. You need to keep the cellophane very tight around the tip as you sink it into the hole.
And then you’re done. You’ll get the technique as you do that again and again. For me, this wrap works for months. Keeps the arm very tight, perfect for flutter, for example. The main reason for me is that I like having the arm fixed at the point that I want it to be (for easier grab), not just hang and roughly gravitate.And by the way. These pictures are Ibanez RG350 which originally had Edge III trem which had this arm torque control with the hex screw (very handy) like Gotoh units have but it is very cheap materials, wears out very quickly and you’ll need to change it to, say, Edge Pro, which is an excellent trem. BUT, be sure to change the Edge III trem posts to Edge Pro trem posts as well, because that is at least 80% impact on stability. It will require body routing, so bring the axe to a trusted luthier but I really stress that changing Edge III to Edge Pro without changing trem posts might ruin your impression of the latter trem. I’ve read a lot of forums that guy here and guy there is exchanging the trems but not a word about the trem posts. Just pay attention in this case.
Schaller Sure Claw
I am in no way connected with Schaller Electronic GmbH but this is a very handy little thing to maintain your floyd rose equipped guitar.
It installs in the spring cavity to replace the traditional spring claw which. SureClaw mounts with two screws vertically into the body. (Please note that this is Ibanez RG350 and SureClaw might not work for many guitars, please do the measurements yourself. The reason is that on the other side might be pickup. For example, Jackson Dinky bodies do not allow this to be mounted)
The convenience it gives is that you can tighten or loosen the springs with a hex screw.
You just put your deadening porolone and
put the trem cavity plate on. Drill a circular hole in it and you’ve got access to your SureClaw without having the need to remove the plate to make any adjustments. Turn the screw clockwise to stretch the springs or counter-clockwise to loosen.
This is how SureClaw looks far clockwise turned.
And far counter-clockwise turned.Hope you find this useful. SureClaw retails at 25EUR.
nice post! I used to use PTFE pipe sealing tape to stop rattles.
ReplyDeleteThat Schaller trem adjuster looks good if you change string gauges a lot or like to do a lot of tweaking :)
oh yeah. actually tuning from E standard to, say, drop D is a breeze, too
ReplyDeleteI like that Sureclaw! Great tips mate thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou can remove the spring claw screws and replace them with studs. A brass nut on either side of the claw helps sustain resonance and tonal quality and the bridge is infinitely adjustable. I'm coming up with a new system soon to anchor the spring claw...
ReplyDelete