Setup questions: Pinning bridge & electronics

[Funkle (Funkle)]

 After restoring my FG100, I'm going to have it professionally set up. The repairman suggested "pinning" the bridge. This would entail sinking two small studs into the top of the guitar, so that the wooden bridge would be isolated from movement, once intonation was properly set for my strings. Set it and forget it. I could easily switch over to a tunomatic if I wanted.

The drawbacks I see are that if I ever changed string gauges or even brands, I'd be screwed. He also said that because it's "just an Ibanez" I shouldn't be too worried about effecting resail value much.

Any suggestions?

BTW, what's the proper way to change strings on a floating bridge guitar without totally losing the setup? Do you have to re-intonate it every time? Is it OK to move the bridge around while the strings are at full tension?

The pots are pretty scratchy. If spray stuff doesn't  work, I'll probably replace the pots. My pots say 47K. I thought pots were 250K or 500K. I hear 250K gives a warmer sound, and can be used with humbuckers. How should I wire the tone controls for the warmest tone?

Thanks

-Sven

[Williamwilson (Williamwil]

 Sven,

Ooh, I don't think I'd be too pleased about having someone drilling holes in the top center of my archtop!  This is a full hollow-body, isn't it?  How does your tech expect to secure the pins into a slim thickness of Maple ply?  Gluing a block inside the body would anchor it well enough, but it'll change the tone, for sure.  Even if its 'just' an Ibanez, that'll kill any resale value.

Why not anchor the bridge with a bit of double-sided tape?  Sticks like toffee to a blanket and you can still get the bridge off to change the intonation if need be.

As far as I'm concerned, anything that permanently defaces an instrument is sacrelige.  We don't REALLY own these guitars, you see - we're just living with them for a while.  We have no right to make changes that will permanently alter them and I think this is more true as the rarity (and value) of the guitar increases.

Intonating an archtop bridge is easy.  Ask your tech if you can watch as he does it.

Will

[Williamwilson (Williamwil]

Sven,

Have a look at this:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/Archtop/ArchtopString/atstring01.html

These are restringing and basic intonation instructions for an archtop from the FRETS.COM website.  Tons of great information here!  I'm not big on his string-locking bend over the tuner (too hard to change quickly on stage) but it holds well, though.

Will

[Mr_Roadstar (Mr_Roadstar)]

 Sven,

Just change one string at a time...

Cheers
Steve

[Funkle (Funkle)]

 Good points William!

One more question. The guitar has the 2 screw pickup mounting system found on many Ibanez'. The neck pickup makes a rattling noise in the mounting ring when played. Is there any way to dampen this vibration? I was thinking of putting some thin felt strips on the inside of the ring.

Sven

[Jerryneves (Jerryneves)]

 Sven,

I did that with my Howard Roberts because of that very problem and it worked well with felt.

Jerry

[Williamwilson (Williamwil]

 Sven,

The felt will work fine, but I'd check the tension on the two springs that fit over the mounting screws and space the pickup away from the mounting ring.  If they're both actually there and still "springy" enough, you shouldn't have any rattling.

Am I explaining this properly?

Will

[Munch (Munch)]

 Sven,

Don't pin your bridge! You will be stuffed if ever you change string guage. The best way to relocate your bridge is to run a tape measure along the neck from the nut. Measure out the scale length of the guitar, 24.75" I believe, and that is exactly where the bridge should sit.

You then need to make small adjustments to its location to get each string in tune. Usually you'll need to twist the bridge so that the bass side is longer than the treble. Generally if you intonate only the low and high E's, all the others will be spot on.

If you don't have a tape measure, you can use the f-holes as a reference point. The correct bridge position will sit on an imaginery line drawn across the body through the exact centre of the f-holes.

You can move you bridge around with strings on it, but I recommend you slacken them off somewhat to avoid any potential damage.

Cheers,

Mark