Intonation help?

[memphiskat]

hello- I have a Schaller Floyd that I replaced the base plate Thanks Len!
Everything was great until I finally got around to intonating the guitar. In order to get it to intonate properly the saddles are extremely far back. If you look at the picture below you'll notice that the low E and G string are as far back as they can go. Anyone ever see this? The G and E string still show a hair sharp at the 12th fret, but I can't move the saddles back any further. The base plate was replaced with another Schaller one, only difference I could dectect is this one is stamped Jackson and the other was stamped Charvel. The G string saddle is so far back its moving up on the slanted part of the bridge. Am I losing it

On a different note, now one of my intonation screws has it's head stripped.
Does anyone know where to get these? They're 4-48 not the standard 4-40 If I can find a source for black ones I'll just replace them all.

Thanks
karl

[Sunbane]

Do you tune down? In some cases that could cause the intonation to be further back than normal.

[memphiskat]

Do you tune down? In some cases that could cause the intonation to be further back than normal.

hello- no, standard tuning. A=440

thanks
karl

[Twisteramps]

could be a number of things...

bad string?
replaced neck?
bad battery on tuner?

[Racerx2k]

Hmm....I'm wondering if it's the blade edges on the new plate. Could be that the contact points are slightly farther back, thus sliding everything FORWARD, THUS the need to slide those saddles back, so much.

[Twisteramps]

oh, also, if your pickups are too high, then the magnetic field will throw off your attempts to set intonation.

[fett]

I have all kinds of real Floyds and Charvel German Floyds and Licensed Floyds just lying around. My eye isn't good enough to measure the saddles and such. But I will tell you this. They ARE different. Are there two holes or three holes for the saddles? The prongs look different. Some saddles look longer than others on the different trems. I guess what I am saying is: It doesn't look like it pays to mix and match.

[toejam]

Lowering your action a little might help, too.

[memphiskat]

hello- thanks for all the suggestions. The neck and middle pickups are definately not to close. The bridge pickup was questionable so I lowered it, but that made no difference. I tried comparing the two bridges and they seem to have the same measurements- intonation holes match up .......

OK, I just took the new bridge off. After carefully measuring everything it all looked the same, then......the knife blades sit farther back into the bridge on the newer one. I don't mean that they are worn, but the entire insert is either shorter or is set farther into the new bridge. It's not much, maybe a little over a 1/16th of an inch. It's enough to probably explain the differences in the set up. I was sure these were both Schaller 590s. The only visible difference is the older one is stamped charvel and has the "made in germany by schaller" on the other side. The new one is labeled Jackson but does not say "made in...." on the other side. Is it possible this new one is not Schaller made? Did any of the Schaller 590's Jackson used not have the "made in....." on the trem side?

karl

[RobRR]

Thats a JT500 or JT580 baseplate.

[fett]

The answer to all your questions are: Yes. And I saw that the Floyd didn't look right on the posts. What was the original set up. I my be able to help. PM me.

[memphiskat]

The answer to all your questions are: Yes. And I saw that the Floyd didn't look right on the posts. What was the original set up. I my be able to help. PM me.

You mentioned that you didn't think the trem looked right, but it was definately seated in the posts properly. There is some GHS nut lube on the knife blades (try asking for nut lube at your local Guitar Center and see what kind of looks you get :ROTF: ) that may make it appear funny but it's definately seated into the posts correctly. The only thing that's changed is the trem base plate- I am using the original saddles, intonation screws, saddle block screws, and tremelo bar setup. So here's where I'm at....

Here's the original setup....



Here's it now with the new plate...



If you look closely at the posts you can see that they protrude farther forward of the front plane of the base plate.

Additionaly, if this isn't a Schaller than the intonation scres which are 4-48 shouldn't fit the holes of none schallers which are 4-40....wierd. If I just say screw it and get a new Schaller Floyd might I have the same problem?
I think I asked this before but will an OFR or LP OFR fit?

thanks for any help
karl

[RobRR]

An OFR will fit, but the locking screws in the back will probably stick out too far to use the trem... you can always trim those screws down though!

Whats strange is that the saddles on the new plate seem further back in relation to the trem posts. If your using the same saddles the position of them really shouldnt have changed, as the string pivot point should be the same.

[zeegler]

You see how your fine tuners on the new one are completely black? That tells me right there, that it is not a Schaller made trem. Schaller only ever used brass fine tuners, and the paint started to wear off immediately. I have a couple of Schallers in super minty condition, but you can still see the brass showing through. It does appear that the trem is sitting to far forward in the route. You could try switching the inserts for a start. I'll bet they're not easy to get out though.

What was wrong with the old baseplate by the way?

[jackson1]

As a last resort, try using the saddles that came with the replacement plate. They could have a slightly different layout to match the farther back position of the knife edges. But something tells me, that you only got a bare base plate?

I agree with the others, i don't think you got a replacement JT-590 base plate.

zeegler, i'm almost sure that my Schaller made "Floyd Rose II" base plate does NOT have brass fine tuners. They are still perfectly shiny black after 2 years of use and feels like non-brass. Just a little piece of info to add to the confusion