Floyd Set Up on Axis

[donbarzini]

Hello again,

Well I got my guitar back from the tech local today and he did a horrible job. I stated earlier that I bought this Axis used and the Floyd was floating and there was a shim added. I told the tech that I wanted the bridge flush to the body and only wanted to be able to lower pitch with the tremolo. I picked it up and he had the two side posts of the bridge raised very high so the bridge was at a slant tilted upward and the tension was unbearable, I even noticed that he added another spring, I had a spare and I only use 9 guage strings. I lowered the bridge posts and removed the extra spring. Before I dare take this back to him I have a couple questions.

When the two bridge posts are tightened down to bring the bridge flush again, should the entire bridge be against the body or is there a little space between them both? (from a side view). It looks like when I lower the posts the bridge goes even with the body but there is a little space because there is a back plate on the Floyd that is barely resting on the rear of the body, right after the cavity. Should this entire back plate be in the cavity? This would be the only way I could see the entire bridge resting on the body with no space in between.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Big Dainjerus]

great question dude, I was wondering the same thing about mine, but couldnt describe it in words on this forum, so I am eager to hear what you guys have to say.

 

[bluebullet]

the little back plate is what rests on the body you will see a gap but that backplate should be flat against the body. if you take your guitar back to that guy which i would not do tell him that he will need to take off the neck and remove the extra shims but and i cant stress this enough they come from the factory with a shim in there so if he removes all the shims and bolts the neck back on your action is going to suck. you might want to call ernie ball customer service and see what it would cost to get a set up done by them it wont cost that much except for the shipping but when you get it back you will love that guitar and you will know it is correct. just my opinion.

 

[donbarzini]

bluebullet,

I'm starting to do this myself. I lowered both bridge posts to the point where the bridge is even with the body, if you look from the side there is a small gap between the bridge and the body however if I look at the back of the bridge, the metal plate is perfectly even and justs rest ever so lightly on the body right past the rear of the cavity. I noticed that now the strings are a lot closer to the bridge pickup, which looks to be non-adjustable, but I would assume this should be correct.

 

[spkirby]

That sounds right to me!

 

[bluebullet]

yes the bridge setup you have sounds correct. the pickups are mounted directly to the body so once again unless the previous owner put shims under there they should be ok but i can check mine and give you a reference dimensionon the pickup string distance. as far as the neck goes you can ask some of these guys who have had there necks off how thick the original shimm was or ernie ball may even send you a shim if you ask customer service they have the rep of being very friendly.

 

[donbarzini]

bluebullet,

thanks, if you could post the mesurement that would be great. I brought back the guitar back to the tech today and directly talked him through this, I actually lowered the bridge posts myself so it was flush against the body. He didn't realize or was not listening when I explained that I wanted the added shim out, that is why he did what he did with the bridge at a slant. (By the way, I cannot see how that bottom metal plate of the Floyd cannot eventually do some minor damage to the finish of the guitar the way it rests on the rear overlap of the cavity). He said there was no way he could set up the Floyd bridge flush the way the neck was unless he took out the added shim, I said, ah yeah that's what I told you yesterday. I know he is a good tech, he's been a full time guitar tech since the 70's and he really does good work. He basically told me that he does not see many EB Axis's or that type of Floyd that rests on the body. This is really a Les Paul, Fender Strat city I live in.

 

[bluebullet]

it might do some damage but its under the bridge so you wont ever see it any way.