I changed the strings on my Jackson Dinky JS11. Normally I use light gauge, but this time I went with medium. After tuning it and noticing the difference in thickness, the bridge is on a sharp angle, and the whammy bar couldn't even swivel past the volume knob.
I tried loosening the two bridge screws which helped a bit and raised it to be less sharp of an angle, but it also raised the action considerably. At least the whammy bar can swivel freely. But the amount I can "wham" seems less than before, too. (Pictures are after this adjustment)
Is there a way to get the back end of the bridge downward so it is more "even"? That would reduce some of the action and give me more whammy room?
Thicker strings mean higher tension, so you actually want to tighten the claw screws on the guitar's back in order to pull the bridge back down.
What do you mean by "I tried loosening the two bridge screws"? Could you clarify?
I’ve just tried opening up the back panel and tightening the screws attached to the spring mechanism to get it to pull back more. I don’t see a noticeable difference on the bridge angle, though.
I figured it was the strings causing it. Here's a pic of the bridge screws I'm referring to. Thanks
What gauge did you put on there? A wound G string!
Shit that's right! I didn't even notice that!
@eezeebee you bought electric guitar strings, right?
Honestly I've had these laying around for over a year. It's quite possible they were meant for my acoustic, but I don't remember. I seem to recall acoustic string packs saying so in the past. Also possible I'm an idiot (the evidence is mounting)
These. And yeah I found that odd, too. If this is medium I would hate to try heavy.
It's medium, for jazz
13s on your dinky might be a little too much if you want to play on E standard.
Pretty decent if you want to play in C ou D Standard, though
I'm trying to play some death/doom metal type stuff. Should have mentioned this is tuned to D standard. Maybe I can get away with tuning lower to compensate though. Thank you
No problem!
So.. Those are not the right screws to turn in that situation.. And that's why your action is super high.
I'd recommend you screw them down as they were before, not all the way down! Else the bridge won't be able to pivot.
I'll try setting them back. Thanks so much for your help
Those aren't the screws you need to tighten! You need to flip the guitar over, take the back plate off, and adjust the screws in the cavity. You should only adjust those with the string tension off. Send us a picture before you do anything.
Youtube told me they were, but yeah I agree they aren't correct for my problem. PS I loosened them because after putting on the new strings and tuning, the bridge was sharply pointed downward toward the pickups, almost digging into the body.
I did take off the back plate and tightened the two screws attached to the spring mechanism, as tight as they would go without stripping. That didn't make too much of a difference unfortunately.
I'd change the gauge of the strings then.
That seems like the root cause of this issue. I'll try downtuning and see if I can live with it that way before resorting to changing strings again. Thanks for your help