Here's the deal. My new guitar came today, but the strings were really fucking nasty. The only new strings I had lying around were higher gauge (11-49s), so I decided to retune the guitar to D. During the process, I tightened the bridge's lock too tight and a string snapped. I took off all of the strings after this, as I knew there's nothing I can do until I get new strings (I decided I'd restart with 10-46s). I'm wondering, will the tremolo be fine? The strings are pulling it down into the body. I don't expect there to be any problems, but I want to be sure. Also, the neck should be fine, as there isn't uneven tension on it (no tension at all), right?

I don't see how anything could go wrong. If there's no force acting on it, then nothing happens...

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Well there is a force acting on it, the springs in the back are pulling the bridge into the back position because there isn't any string tension to balance things out.

Unhook the tremolo springs- you don't want to damage the finish on the guitar by having the bridge against it. Apart from that, you'll have no problems at all... why not take the chance to give the neck/fretboard a good clean whilst there are no strings in the way?

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When I'm restringing, how should I go about it? One string on top, then one on the bottom, and work my way into the middle strings? Any special tips on how to do it without damaging the neck? It's a 3-piece Ibanez Prestige neck, should I even have to worry about it getting damaged?

what kind did you get? i just picked up an ibanez rgt42dx today i have a completely new found respect for Ibanez

Ibanez Prestige RG1570. For the short time that I spent playing on its slightly out of tune old strings, it was quite nice. I'm not used to floating bridges though, so it also pissed me off when I tried to retune it to proper tuning, only to discover that minute changes on one string knock everything else out of whack. Probably going to get a tremsetter soon.

yea my first time with a trem at all. i usually have fixed bridges. whats a tremsetter? (don't tell me it sets the trem either)

Avoid the tremsetter, its really a waste of time. Something like the Tremol-No would work great. You can change from Hardtail to Dive-only to full floating in a matter of seconds and you need to drill any holes to install it.

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Where can I get a Tremol-No? Doesn't seem like they're very available online. I just got my guitar in tune for the first time, new strings and such, I'm so excited ! . I keep playing around with the tremolo, expecting the guitar to go out of tune, but goddamn is that Edge Pro good!

I have a question about the tremolo arm. When I remove the white circle things (to loosen it up), it kind of sounds like its rattling around. Is this normal with really loose tremolo arms?

There is tension on the neck, it has a truss rod..

Anyway i left a guitar of mine unstringed for 6 months or so and put new strings on it last month and the neck was fine. YMMV though.

And +1 to removing the trem springs.

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www.allparts.com

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The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to just stick a dead 9 volt battery between the trem block and the body. If you get it in there just right, it should level out the trem. Then string it up and tune it. since the battery is keeping it from moving forward, you'll be able to tune it like a hard tail. Also, this will let you adjust your trem level perfectly, as the battery is just thick enough to make the trem sit at the "0" position. So after it's tuned, just tighten/loosen the trem claw screws until battery falls out on its own. After all that, you should have a tuned and set up trem for no extra cash.


ps - This is also a good time to adjust your intonation as the movement of the trem is blocked by the battery and the string tension/tuning factor will be eliminated.