NGD: Ibanez S520 (and questions about locking trems)

guitarcookie1

Recently been thinking about picking up a guitar with a locking trem because I’ve not had one before and I wanted to see if the tuning stability is all it’s cracked up to be. 

Was looking at various RG’s but then this came up cheap so I though why not: 2015 Ibanez S520

https://i.imgur.com/ngmIsW4.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DLQ99fg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/g7gw2OF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pWbDijh.jpg

It's in pretty good condition, a couple of dents in the finish on the back and a missing trem cavity cover. It had clearly never been setup in its life, the saddles were in completely the wrong place on the bridge and the action was a mile high. 

The action was easily sorted by lowering the bridge, the intonation on the other hand.. What a pita and time-consuming job - slacken string, unbolt saddle and move it back, re-tighten saddle, tune up & check. Rinse and repeat over and over... Each adjustment seeming throwing out the tuning/trem balance across the board. That took most of Saturday off & on. 

All sorted now though and it plays really well. It feels “faster” and gives up less fight than my usual Telemaster. It also weighs next to nothing, 2.9kg compared to 4kg of the Telemaster. 

The pickups also offer up a good selection of tones, it favours more crunchy settings but the neck parallel and split inner coil settings clean up really well (the parallel setting benefits from rolling off the tone pot somewhat to tame what can be a shrill high end). 

Top tips for others new to locking trems as I was:
- Leave the nut clamps loose for a few days until the strings are well stretched in otherwise you’ll run out of adjustment on the fine tuners and have to start again. 

- Don’t tune up in the normal string order (6 through to 1), but go 6-1, 5-2, 4-3. It doesn’t disturb the tuning so much and limits the number of times you need to repeat the cycle to get it in tune. 

Now my questions please:
- It doesn’t have one of the string tree bar things that you often see on guitars with locking trems. Is there any benefit in fitting one, or is the back-angle on the head stock enough?
- It came fitted with four springs in the cavity and I’ve set it up as so without thinking at the time. Wondering if three springs would be better to make the trem feel a bit looser, but will I need to faff about with the intonation again if I take one out (if yes it’s staying as it is)?

lysander

No need to let the nut clamp loose for days, just stretch your strings after installing them as you should do with any new set of strings. 
That means pulling on each of them with your finger along the length of the string, and doing large bends on each string in a few places along the neck.
Tune, stretch, repeat 2-3 times and you're good to go and lock the nut, or just play for non locking guitars.

No string tree needed due to neck angle.
Three springs or lower tension springs will make the trem looser, you won't have to adjust intonation, you'll just have to screw in the trem claw further in and retune / readjust the claw until you find the equlibrium again.
It is a bit of a faff but it should take 10-15 min max.

BeardyAndy

Great looking guitar, enjoy. 

ThePrettyDamned

These are great guitars  

drwiddly

Nice guitar!

Did it have a string retainer bar fitted previously - ie are there two screw holes in the headstock? Most guitars with locking trems have a retainer bar to apply a bit of tension to the strings so that when you tune with the nut clamps undone, the strings don't go sharp when you re-tighten them.

skunkwerx

When restringing I used to move all the fine tuners to their midway point, then change one string at a time. 

Change strings and tune up.

With the guitar on your lap facing up:

Stretch each string by pulling it up away from the fretboard using 3 fingers and your thumb, pull it a couple times and slightly twist with your thumb. 

Do that around the 5th then again at the 12th then again more toward the bridge/neck pup. 

Then fret the 1st fret and hold it, pull the string up at the 12th fret. 

Then fret the 2nd fret while pulling up at the 12th. 

Do it all the way to the 10th. 

Do that for all 6 strings then retune. 
It'll be out by a step. 

Repeat the whole process 3 times over tuning back to pitch after each go. 

Now clip the strings at the peg unless you do it before stringing. 

If you do clip the strings now, repeat the above stretching once more. 

Tune to pitch. 

Then bolt the locking nut down, and adjust the fine tuners til its all good. 

Strings will still settle in after a day but you'll probably notice theyre nowhere near as out of tune. 

Most of my guitars are sharp when I pick them up, but playing for a bit warms everything up and often gets it in tune. 

If tuning using a pedal, select your neck pickup and roll the tone all the way off. 

Doesnt make your tuning any more accurate, but I've found it helps the pedal/tuner to track the notes better. 

guitarcookie1

lysander said:

No string tree needed due to neck angle.
Three springs or lower tension springs will make the trem looser, you won't have to adjust intonation, you'll just have to screw in the trem claw further in and retune / readjust the claw until you find the equlibrium again.
It is a bit of a faff but it should take 10-15 min max.

drwiddly said:

Nice guitar!

Did it have a string retainer bar fitted previously - ie are there two screw holes in the headstock? Most guitars with locking trems have a retainer bar to apply a bit of tension to the strings so that when you tune with the nut clamps undone, the strings don't go sharp when you re-tighten them.

Thanks for the tips, will definitely remove a spring then.

No string retainer bar fitted previously, the back angle on the headstock is quite steep so I assume this is enough.

skullfunkerry

Nice looking guitar, congrats! Don’t worry about the missing trem cavity cover - I always take them off anyway, and my Performance didn’t even come with one from the factory

maltingsaudio

My S540 came with a string tree not really necessary. With regards to doing the intonation it’s not necessary to de tune the string every time you adjust it, it can be done under tension and also don’t undo the nur which holds the saddle too much undo it just enough so that it will move when you turn the adjuster

clarkefan

guitarcookie1 said:

lysander said:

No string tree needed due to neck angle.
Three springs or lower tension springs will make the trem looser, you won't have to adjust intonation, you'll just have to screw in the trem claw further in and retune / readjust the claw until you find the equlibrium again.
It is a bit of a faff but it should take 10-15 min max.

drwiddly said:

Nice guitar!

Did it have a string retainer bar fitted previously - ie are there two screw holes in the headstock? Most guitars with locking trems have a retainer bar to apply a bit of tension to the strings so that when you tune with the nut clamps undone, the strings don't go sharp when you re-tighten them.

Thanks for the tips, will definitely remove a spring then.

No string retainer bar fitted previously, the back angle on the headstock is quite steep so I assume this is enough.

I agree with Drwiddly, I read about the string retainer on the net and found it to be really important.  The strings need to come out of the locking nut right down so the strings follow the "curve" in their path across the nut.

If you've got a back angled headstock I'd suggest winding the strings so the winding ends up low rather than high on the tuner.