My bridge is pulled out pretty bad. Does anybody know how I can fix it? After the pics, the rest of the post is me explaining how it got to be this way, so if you don't care, just stay up here. Here are the pics-
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/1403/dscn34068ju.jpg
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/8928/dscn34079yk.jpg
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/6250/dscn34084bv.jpg
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/357/dscn34110gw.jpg
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/4031/dscn34132tm.jpg
http://img161.exs.cx/img161/1364/dscn34148he.jpg

Okay, here's how it went. My mom got me new guitar strings for Christmas, and I specifically requested thick guitar strings, which I can't afford to buy normally. So, as soon as I got them, I put them in, thinking, "Yay! For the first time in like 2 years I can play Carcass again!" I was also excited at the prospect of playing newer Emperor, Cannibal Corpse, and Morbid Angel, just to name a few bands.

Well, I'm tuned in C to do some Suffocation. Then, I tune to Bb to do some Morbid Angel. After I finished the Umulamahri tab, I said, alright, time to get serious. I tuned back up to Eb to finish a couple of Morbid Angel tabs I said I was going to do. Now, when I tried playing, the strings were too tight for me to tremolo pick very well, so I sighed disappointedly at the minor setback, knowing I'd have to put off those already way behind schedule tabs for longer. Not realizing there was anything wrong, I tuned down to Db to play around with some Suffocation and other shit until I could get some regular strings.

Then comes today. A newbie is complaining about their gear, and knowing that showing them my piece of shit will automatically make them feel like a king (or at least give them a worthwhile chuckle to lighten the mood), I posted the links of the same pics I took in August when people asked me what my guitar looked like. When I reposted the links, I noticed a small part of the bridge looked rusty. I never remembered my bridge being rusty (other than the screws), so I decided to have a look. Then I noticed the whole fucking thing was bulging out. I figure, alright, don't panic, just take some pics and see what can be done to help.

Now, I can still play my guitar. I'm just worried what's going to happen to the bridge over time. I'm also concerned how exactly I'm supposed to de-string and re-string with the bridge this far away from the back of the guitar. I guess I could unscrew the panel, but fuck, my guitar is already a major hassle without having to do that shit.

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did you check the springs? a spring might have come loose, and that would cause the bridge to go way up like that.

BTW, what gauge strings do you use?

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Yup check the springs, they might have loosened or theyre tired of all the shit that they have to put up with and you need new ones .

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Wooow.....that is seriously an INSANE guitar.

thats a real player!

anyways, what gauge did you use before? and what gauge is on it now?

take of the back cover to check everything there, I've never seen a strat-type bridge raised so high!

fuckin hell dude , u ve definetely got a problemo with ure springs, i suggest getting new springs and if that dont work, lock the bridge down completely using the screws in the back, then it wont move

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it looks like theres no springs at all, they are definately having no effect on the bridge. it looks like its wedged against the wood.
your action must be sky high, if you can still play that, im impressed.
if you open the back panel, you should see something like this.

http://members.aol.com/celadoreuk/back.jpg

if the springs are still conected, then check that they are taught.
your bridge is way out, and if it started in the right place, then its either out because the strings you are using are too tight, or the springs are nackered.
detune the guitar so the strings are floppy, and if it doesnt move, then you need new springs. if it goes back to where it should be, or further, then you need to tighten the springs.

if you turn those screw clockwise, it should draw the plate closer to the wood, tightening the springs.
the object is to get the bridge back to where it is in the picture(so you can restring, and fix the action), so if the springs are taught, and the screw is as far into the wood as it can go, then i would suggest either getting shorter springs, and more of them, or putting some wood wedged between the bridge (referring to the picture) and the wood beneath it. this will disable the bridge.

remember, Bb to Eb is a major change, and if your using strings which are not slapping about in Bb, they will be applying far too much pressure in Eb.

i would say its unrealistic to want to be able to go from one to the other without re-setting the guitar.

as far as long term damage, i cant see how it would be a major problem. but if you paid a lot for this (i doubt you did - no offence) i wouldnt want to leave it like that, as it may damage the springs. other than that, messing around with tension will put the neck out, requiring truss rod adjustment. but if its a cheap guitar, you probably won't notice too much.

oh, and remove that tissue paper/cardboard underneath the saddles.

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maaaan you need a new guitar worse then anyone on this board

that guitar is ghetto...

im not trying to be that n00b you were descibing earlier, but why dont you get a new guitar? that guitar looks pretty beat.
what guitar is it?

i cant say much tho, mind is pretty crap and all

its as simple - tighten the spring, the "bulge" goes down, you let it loose, it bulges.

like amon_ra mentioned, going from Bb to Eb is a big jump for any type of strings. like you mentioned, you got a set of thickies...dont tune to Eb if its a 0.12 gauge ! i re-strung my guitar two nights ago and i put 0.11s at D. although i've set my springs at the maximum tension, the bridge is perfectly hotizontal and parallel to the neck axis. amon_ra has summed up the whole thing pretty neatly. dont use the same set of strings for two tunings that are that much apart from each other.

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I use 5 springs with my trem just to make sure it can handle everything. The guitar is in E with 0.10 gauge and its smooth.

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If your using a thick guage like that and trying to tune to e.. then you'll need to adjust your truss rod. And definetly tighten those spring.. the thicker guage + standard tuning = ALOT OF FUCKING TENSION.

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Yeah, I doubt the springs are even having an affect the tension on them is so great. Basically, if you tune back down to Bb or something, the tension will be reduced thus the 'bulging' will go down.

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A few things-

I slept on it, and the bridge depressed considerably while I was asleep. I also opened up the panel and tightened the screws before getting online, checking this, and reading what you all told me- to tighten to screws. Haha, got that done. It's much better now, but still jutting out a bit. I'm going to try to tune from C to maybe back to Bb, just to see if it depresses any further.

I also wanted to point out that I'm not still tuned in Eb, nor was I when I noticed this problem. That's just what caused the problem, presumedly.

Another thing- I didn't tune from Bb straight to Eb, because my guitar doesn't allow me to. It wasn't a sudden jump from Bb to Eb that hurt the tension in the springs, because it wasn't a sudden jump. I'll even show you what I have to do when I want to tune, because my guitar doesn't allow me to accurately tune up or down more than a half step at a time. Now, what I do is tune one full step at a time when making a big adjustment like that.

1. Tune up or down one full step.
2. Each string goes out of tune about 3-5 seconds afterward, so repeat step 1 about 4-8 times depending on the string. The higher ones get in tune quicker, so maybe 4-5 times for them, the lower strings are bullshit, and maybe 6-8 times for them each.
3. Leave the guitar alone for at least two hours.
Since now I've gone from from Bb to C, I still have 1.5 steps to go for each string... one step at a time.
4. Now, tune to D.
5. Repeat step 4 about 4-8 times depending on the individual string.
6. Wait an hour (only need an hour because there's only another half step to go).
7. Tune to Eb.
8. Repeat step 7 about 4-8 times depending on the individual string.
9. Leave guitar alone for about half an hour.
10. Pick it up and see how much in tune it is. Usually it requires a couple more re-tunings, then I can play.

So, you see, it's a rather long process for me to make that jump, which makes it impossible for a sudden jump to have caused the problem.

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if your in C, and the bridge is still out, that suggests damage somewhere, unless you have incredibly thick strings, like 60+ on the bottom.
you can fix the tuning problems by getting new pegs.

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your tremelo springs are fucked or your screws that old the springs are stripped out. nothing new springs and some superglue or wood filler cant fix.

Nothing duct tape can't fix.

I would say get new/more springs, but that would be redundant. I don't know what your guitar is like, but in mine, I got 3 springs in the back and space for 5. So you could add more springs to it to improve tension?

Id deffiently say go with 5 springs in the back. the same thing happened to my strat the time i put jazz strings (.13-.56) on my strat. puttin on the 2 extra springs did the trick for me.

That's a good piece of advice, I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it, although I certainly did get some good advice.

Sorry I didn't update this, but the bridge depressed days ago when I tuned down to Bb and left it alone for a little while. Thanks for your help, everyone.

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i have a quick question...i was told by a bloke in the guitar shop that if you want to have anything thicker than standard gauge strings, you will need to get the neck lengthened. i told him "righto mate" not wanting to offend him, but i thought it was horse shit.

do i need to get the neck lengthened or not? yes or no question.

Haha, yeah, even with my abysmal knowledge about guitar hardware, I can say with absolute certainty that it was raw horse shit.

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yeah i thought it might be hehe.

its horseshit, though there are complications.
a longer neck will make it easier to tune to concert pitch, and allow tighter string at lower tunings. heavier string also create more tension, a la bridge de rezendes.
making the neck longer is stupid money.

no

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well thanks very much guys, i'll tell him to stuff it!!

Make your neck longer?

How do you do that ... get some fertilizer, water and sunshine ... and hope the wood of the neck somehow , revives, and starts growing again?

I have an extra piece of shit guitar with a fixed bridge that I use for alternate tunings. Retuning with a tremolo system takes way too long to do correctly because you should be adjusting the action and even the intonation whenever you make those radical changes bro. That's the one I use for random experiments like fret scalloping and boiling the pickups in beeswax, etc... The neck is flexible enough that I can pull off a good vibrato range by bending the neck (no need for a bar). My nice guitar stays in the same tuning and I don't mess with it outside of playing the shit out of it.

why would you boil the pickups in beeswax?!?!?!?

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To reduce feedback if you are getting microphonics from loose windings.