NGD: '87 Ibanez RG560... need help with Floyd...

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It's in pretty good condition, all things considered. Not sure what pickups are in it as they aren't labeled (HSS). Has the original Floyd Licensed trem in it. Pickups actually sound pretty good. Good enough where I probably won't swap them out as this is a backup guitar.

Serial is F742658 (Made in Japan)

It stayed in tune pretty well in the store, but when I got it home and loosened the nut to tune it with my Peterson, I just couldn't get it to hold its tuning when using the trem. If anyone has any tips or good online guides, let me know. It's like the locking nut isn't really locking anything. When I dive bomb everything seems to go way sharp. I tried following some of the guides I Googled, but nothing helped.

Here's what I did when I tuned it:

Loosened nut.

Unscrewed fine tuners all the way, then back in about three turns each.

Tuned to pitch (took around six passes).

Locked nut down.

Adjusted tuning using fine tuners.



Am I missing something? It's not my first trem, but it is my first Floyd... and it's already giving me gray hairs :doh: As far as I can tell, the trem is parallel with the body (I'm using the tops of the saddles as a judge).
 
And it's not NGD without at least one shitty iPhone pic :D

ibanez.jpg


Also, I think I'm getting the hang of the Floyd; the low E block was loose, which is what was fucking everything up. I might have to get new blocks/screws, as these are pretty worn down...
 
Wow. I never realized how far apart the RG560 volume/tone knobs are.
 
i had one that was driving me bat shit, and turned out to be the strings.


it was a brand new guitar, and guess they were just shitty strings?


switched to D'addario and been fine ever since.
 
Capulin Overdrive":cjzijl3k said:
i had one that was driving me bat shit, and turned out to be the strings.


it was a brand new guitar, and guess they were just shitty strings?


switched to D'addario and been fine ever since.
Click to expand...


They do seem like brand-new strings to me. I actually have the trem under control now... mostly I think it was that loose nut block that was doing it. I've been playing non-stop and beating the shit out of the trem, and she's still in tune :)







Anyway, to give my first impressions now that I've got it playable:

So far I like the pickups... I think they're stock, too, because I checked the control cavity and everything looks like it just came out of the factory (barring dust, of course). The whole guitar has a very "glassy" tone to it that my mahogany guitars just don't have. The bridge pickup has enough output to make me happy, though it is a little on the bright side. I may end up swapping it for an Anderson or Suhr Aldridge. Overall it's pretty decent. Middle and neck pickups sound nice; lots of sparkle. It's nice being able to get "stratty" in-between sounds as well. I may have to add a cap to the volume pot, though, as the guitar gets muffled with the volume down.

I really, really, REALLY like the neck. It's not too thin like some Ibanez necks I've played. Very comfortable and fun to play on.

Overall the guitar has a very solid feel. I have no idea what this guitar has been through over the past 21 years, but the frets look almost brand new. Barely any wear at all. The body has some chips and dings, but nothing glaringly obvious.

Looking at the Ibanez Rules website, it is indeed a 1987 model made in the Fujigen factory.

At this point it's the best $400 I've spent on a guitar yet :D
 
You loosened the whole locking nut system or what? I had a problem with my RG507 few years ago where the guitar went out of tune badly after bending a string or doing tricks with the trem. It turned out to be that the whole locking nut system's fastening screws, those two that go thru the neck, had loosened! After tightening them it started staying in tune again.

nut_tight.jpg


-Jaakko
 
Jakem":mu1bbxjm said:
You loosened the whole locking nut system or what? I had a problem with my RG507 few years ago where the guitar went out of tune badly after bending a string or doing tricks with the trem. It turned out to be that the whole locking nut system's fastening screws, those two that go thru the neck, had loosened! After tightening them it started staying in tune again.

nut_tight.jpg


-Jaakko
Click to expand...

Nah, just the string blocks. I'll keep that in mind, though I've been beating on this thing for a half hour now and it's still in tune.

Anyone have any idea what kind of pickups might be in here if they're stock?
 
I've had tuning problems that were fixed by cleaning and oiling the knife edge pivots.
 
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