Ash = God

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:36 am

Ash made my Ibanez S470 damn near perfect last night (just needs two more DiMarzios, and it will be

).

Backstory: I bought the S470 in 2003. That year was the first they put the ZR bridge on the S guitars instead of the crappy Lo-TRS. The ZR (apart from looking way cool, and coming in shadow-chrome

) has what Ibanez call the "zero-point" system in the back rather than the usual set of springs. This stabilises the tuning - even if you break one of the top 3 strings. The only problems I found were (a) the arm screws in, and has a threaded collar which screws over the top. It's a hassle to get in and out, and when you move the arm around, the collar tends to unscrew and the arm gets wobbly. (b) The arm holder is cast steel, and mine broke

A while ago Ash investigated replacements (then not available), and said he could probably adapt an Edge or TRS arm holder. The Edge arm holder it turned out is too small, so he put in a TRS one. At least I had a bar again, but it's not really very nice (the TRS being Ibanez' cheapiest trem system). What Ash has done for me now is make an adaptor to fit the arm holder from an Edge (much much nicer: push in, pull out, adjusts better, feels better to use.....) to fit the bigger hole in the ZR bridge.

It's bloody fantasmic

and I am now the proud owner (and enthusiastic user

) of a hybrid ZR/Edge bridge. Best of both worlds, I reckon.

Anyone who has an S, or is going to get one, or is getting a ZR bridge for their current guitar; you should definitely get Ash to put in an Edge arm holder. The difference is huge

Cheers Ash :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Post by Bg » Thu May 19, 2005 9:04 am

yes but are you happy with it?

Zakk Wylde · Post by **Zakk Wylde** » Thu May 19, 2005 10:44 am

Hmmm, what if you have a les paul? would you suggest a trem arm then?

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:35 am

bluesgeek wrote:yes but are you happy with it?

errr .. just a bit

Pics will follow - they would be done now, but my camera's batteries died, and the spares (which I swear I charged) are flat

Zakk, I don't have an LP, but if I did I wouldn't be putting a trem on, no. I wouldn't be without at least one locking trem-equipped guitar though, and the ZR/Edge hybrid (for me) is the perfect situation

B45-12 · Post by **B45-12** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:36 pm

Zakk - you don't beed to - Gibson made an LP iun the 80's or 90's (forget precisely when but pics in guitar player somehwere) with a built in floyd rose and locking nut.

Of course such guitars are all naturally now 'rarevintagecollectibleawesomewowknockoutunique' in trademi speak hence you won't be able to afford one - ever!

Bummer eh???LOL.

B45-12 · Post by **B45-12** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:38 pm

MInd you I recall seeing a Hummingbird fitted with a custom tremlo bigsby arm and I wonder what say an SJ 200 with a Floyd rose would sound like??

ash · Post by **ash** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:09 pm

Maybe I need to start my own church.... And buy a shiny suit like Brian Tamaki wears....

Someone should call him and tell him he's not goig to be God anymore, now that I have the votes

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:15 pm

Well a god we have - an Emperor we haven't!

Wanna be Emperor Ash?

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:33 pm

Emperor Ash!

I definitely agree.

And now for some pics.

This one illustrates the difference between the ZR (top), TRS (middle) and Edge (bottom) systems:

This one shows the problem with my ZR arm holder: the middle two pieces are actually one piece

This one of my guitar shows the various mods Ash has done for me: the Breed pickup in the bridge position; the Stewmac "superswitch" wired cleverly to get all the combinations I want; the coil splitting switch; and the little brass washer he made in order to fit the Edge arm holder.

I thought I'd just throw in a pic of all my old broken trem arms for good measure.

Red Fred · Post by **Red Fred** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:13 pm

What the hell do you do to break them!? I always just thought trem arms just screwed in and that was that....never knew there were different types.

tasty · Post by **tasty** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:54 pm

ash wrote:Maybe I need to start my own church.... And buy a shiny suit like Brian Tamaki wears....

Someone should call him and tell him he's not goig to be God anymore, now that I have the votes

own cult u mean

worshiping hendrix would be fun

darkness · Post by **darkness** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:05 pm

Jloo wrote:
ash wrote:Maybe I need to start my own church.... And buy a shiny suit like Brian Tamaki wears....

Someone should call him and tell him he's not goig to be God anymore, now that I have the votes

own cult u mean worshiping hendrix would be fun

but if theres any "spiked" kool-aid, I'm no interested :p

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:35 pm

Red Fred wrote:What the hell do you do to break them!? I always just thought trem arms just screwed in and that was that....never knew there were different types.

The first one I broke was because of Reb Beach

In the solo for "Headed for a Heartbreak" by Winger, he hits a natural harmonic, and lifts the guitar up by the trem arm - raising the note a maj 3rd, I think. I thought it sounded (and looked

) cool, so i started doing it. Then I took to actually shaking the guitar while I had it lifted up by the arm. Eventually it broke ... funny, that

After that they just seemed to break without provocation for a year or so - then I just didn't break any more. I have no explanation

The original Floyd arms do just screw in and that's that. The Ibanez Edge system pops in and out, and has a couple of plastic bushes. The TRS and ZR systems screw in like the Floyd, but have a collar over the top to adjust the tension of the arm. I don't like that, because the collar tends to unscrew when you move the arm anticlockwise.

Optimus_prime · Post by **Optimus_prime** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:41 pm

Quick question
Don't want to start a new topic
Better value for money
Squire fat tele
or Epi Les paul?
both $600

Zakk Wylde · Post by **Zakk Wylde** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:36 pm

Tsuken wrote: Zakk, I don't have an LP, but if I did I wouldn't be putting a trem on, no.

Dammit! This happened the other day too.

I wasnt serious, I was taking the piss.

LP with a trem arm? blasphemy, you bend the neck by leaning on it like Randy Rhoads.

This little statement did start an interesting topic-shredding interlude.
- B45-12 : Your Trademe lingo was a riot! nice call.

Optimus: Buy the epi! They can squeal awesomely on Pinch harmonics, I've been messing around with my mates. It rocked.
Squires are just the samick version of a useless guitar

(in my opinion!!)