A necessary Axis mod IMO...

[Chad]

I've had an Axis for a few years now and I did a mod a year or two ago that really helped its playability...

It always drove me crazy how the bridge radius and neck radius didn't match up. The bridge is flatter than the neck, so this leads to the outer strings having higher action than the inner ones. I did this mod awhile back, so I'm kinda going on memory, but before the mod I believe the mismatched radiuses actually caused the E strings to be 1/64"+ higher action than the inner ones. That doesn't sound like much, but to me it was a big deal and quite noticeable. It was irritating how I'd set the E action to where I like it and this would cause the inner strings to buzz.

So I shimmed the saddles on the Floyd. Again, I did this awhile back, but I believe I put one shim under the A & B strings, and 2 shims under the D & G strings.

This really improved the action on my Axis! I have been playing it quite a bit lately.

I was reading through the Harmony Central Axis and EVH reviews and was surprised that out of dozens of reviews not one person mentioned this radius problem or had done this mod. It was drastic enough for me that it meant the difference between keeping or selling the guitar. I wouldn't keep it in its stock form, so this is a necessary mod IMO.

Also, I thought I'd post a pics of my guitar:

 

[lenny]

i have absolutly no issues with my axis(transgold) in fact i ordered another in orange..........Sorry
Sweet Flame top on your Axis!
Sorry

 

[Chad]

That's why I added "IMO". Along with that I'll add "YMMV".

Apparently it didn't bother Eddie either because as far as I know he didn't shim the saddles on his EBMM guitars. But for me, like I said, it made the difference between a keeper and a seller.

 

[Larry]

yeah mine is fine but if it helped you thats awsome

 

[blackspy]

That makes me think a little. I've always had a nagging issue with what I deemed to be the radius of the fingerboard, your idea makes me wonder if that would make it feel a little more the way I'd like. I'll have to experiment with that now.

Where do you get shims for the saddles? Or, what did you use?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

At the moment I don't have an Axis here to look at, but I know that my Kramer came with a shim installed to adjust saddle height to the radius of the guitar. That being said, I've never had any issues playing any of the Axii that have come through the store (or my y2d), but I sure as anything notice when a saddle screw shifts on my JP!

Floyd style trems generally have 3 different height saddles, the tallest in the middle, then as you move towards the outside they get lower. This is to allow for the radius.


The shim under the saddles of the Kramer was a super thin piece of steel. It might be easiest to buy a feeler gauge and pick out the shim that best suits your needs, and then cut it so it fits. Remember, you can stack them!

 

[Beavis5150]

I think the EBMM EVH models had saddles that were varying heights to match the fretboard radius. I have an OFR that I bought last year and it has varying height saddles. I sometimes have a hard time switching between my Axis and the above mentioned OFR on my Kramer because of the varying string heights.

I bought some shims from Allparts last year, but I cant's seem to find them on their site now. I'll keep looking.

 

[Beavis5150]

Found some.

http://axcessories.com/products.asp?id=25

 

[Beavis5150]

Sorry, I forgot to mention, I dig the figuring on that neck Chad

 

[akozols]

I always did the opposite. I used a Dremel to grind down the E saddles just a bit.

Al

 

[Chad]

Lenny & Beavis5150: Thanks for the compliments on my guitar. It's a transgold, but it leans a little more toward orange and I wish it was more gold/yellow, but it still looks nice. I took those pics around the time I did this mod. The difference now is that the fingerboard is a little darker in color from play.

Beavis5150: The saddles *are* different heights, but it still isn't enough to compensate for the difference in radius between the neck and the bridge.

blackspy: I used the shims that came with "The Key" set for locking tremolos from StewMac. I believe they quit selling these awhile back. When they sold those, you could buy extra shims also. I've heard Allparts has shims, but I see that Beavis5150 found some elsewhere.

akozols: Yeah, that's an option, but I like shimming. That way you don't have to permanently alter the instrument. If I ever did sell this guitar I could tell potential buyers that it could easily be restored to stock condition just by removing the shims.

 

[beej]

Not to be a pest, but all the more reason I like the vintage trem over the Floyd. Stays in tune pretty darn well too.

 

[Beavis5150]

Yep, you're right Chad. I just looked at my Axis and the saddles are slightly different heights. I got the shims to raise the 3rd and 4th strings, but haven't got around to doing it yet. My 3rd string is the one that need the most attention.

On my OFR the varying saddle heights are really obvious. I wonder what radius they are.

 

[jeffrey]

...but I sure as anything notice when a saddle screw shifts on my JP!

I had a REAL problem with the saddle screws on both of my JP's "wandering" around. It was really often, like weekly. I'd have to re-adjust mine pretty much every time I changed strings.

I finally got tired of it and put a tiny dab of blue Loctite (and I stress tiny) on the screws where they thread into the saddle and haven't had any trouble yet.

If any of you do this make sure you use as little as possible. I applied it with a toothpick. The reason being is this: if you get too much on there, even though it's the softer Loctite, it may be too hard for that small an Allen key to turn those screws without stripping. So use the absolute minimum.

Chad - Beautiful figuring on that guitar.

 

[Larry]

Not to be a pest, but all the more reason I like the vintage trem over the Floyd. Stays in tune pretty darn well too.

but what fun is it without any work?

 

[Jimi D]

I agree that the mismatched bridge & fretboard radii are annoying. I shimmed the saddles on my Axis the first day I got it - I was still playing Jems then, and all the Ibanez Lo Pro Edge trems came factory shimmed, and I had a mess of the shims lying around and they fit perfectly under the saddles on the EBMM Gotoh Floyd. It's a really simple and effective mod that adds significantly to the playability, imho... Good post.

 

[beej]

but what fun is it without any work?

Hah! So true. If the guitar is perfect I invent a reason to take it apart