Question Axis - tremolo, base plate, bridge angle

[Purple Yoda]

Hi,

I just received my new Axis and I wanted to know, based on your experience, if everything seems normal. I’d like to mention that the guitar is brand new and I received it today.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Stevie]

My two cents, in the third picture, the back of your base plate is not sitting flush on the body. It currently shows that low e is sitting lower that that of the high e. First and second pictures show a tilt downwards. There should be no tilt, down or up. If you do a divebomb now you are likely to press holes into the top of your body, especially at the low E side.

You need to raise your trem posts so that the back of the base plate sits flush and even and level with the body. Any action adjustments are via the adjustment wheel, neck shims or saddle shims.

Hope that helps.

 

[Purple Yoda]

Taking into account Stevie’s response and the FAQ, I made a few adjustments (see the photos).

Now the action is a bit high even after adjusting the truss rod (0.2 mm at the 8th fret when pressing the first and last frets).

From the factory, the string height is 1.6 mm — here I’m more around 1.8 to 2.1 mm depending on the string.

 

[Stevie]

I can't quite tell in the third picture if the base plate is sitting flush, it seems to be. In any event the adjustments you have made bring the bridge position to where it should be. As I mentioned, to adjust the action, you can adjust the truss rod, which you have. The next step, if the action is still too high, is to shim the neck. If you are not comfortable shimming the neck yourself, take it to a luthier.

Pictures are from my Axis Tribute. I have swapped the bridge over to GOTOH 1996T. They show a level and flush sitting bridge. I have had to shim the neck to get the action I want.

 

[Purple Yoda]

Hi,

I just received my new Axis and I wanted to know, based on your experience, if everything seems normal. I’d like to mention that the guitar is brand new and I received it today.

Thank you in advance for your help!

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Here is the reply from Music Man Customer Service after I showed them those pictures:

“There is a smaller plate located on the bottom of the bridge plate.

This is the plate that should be level and making contact with the body, and it appears correct in the photos you’ve provided.

The bridge plate itself will never make contact with the body and should be slightly lifted up from the rear.”

Anyway, I returned the guitar because the string retainer bar was damaged.

Thank you so much, Stevie!