Bridge wont go down

[demeyes]

I just restrung my Sl3 and I was going to give the fretboard a good clean. So I put some cloth under the bridge and then took off all the strings. I cleaned up the board then restrung it. When I tuned it up the action was much higher. Even after I leveled up the bridge again the action was much higher than usual. I tried to take the bridge down with the allen key but then I hit a problem. The bridge won't go down any more on the high e,b,g side. It's tightening up and then it stops going down. I'm not going to try force it down as that will cause more problems.
Its the 580 licensed floyd bridge. I also tuned up from Eb to E after the string change. I didn't change the string gauge, Ernie ball 10's.
What should I do? The guitar is pretty much unplayable as it is because the action is ridiculously high.
Anyone have any idea what I might have done here?

[Nazgul]

Is the baseplate of floyd parallel to the body? If not, then tighten the screws in the spring cavity under the bridge and tune up again. You may have to repeat this few times.

[Sunbane]

You probably need to tighten the truss rod bolt. Going up half a step in tuning with 010's would cause the neck to bow more, creating higher action. If you've never adjusted the truss rod before, I suggest you research it before you start. If you do it wrong you may damage the neck.

[demeyes]

I did make the bridge level again. Its the actual bridge won't move lower on the end with the higher strings on it. I don't think it's the truss rod either. I think its a problem at the bridge end. The action is much too high for the truss rod. I've switched between standard and Eb before without any real difference in anything but string tension.

[Dave L]

If the bridge is all the way down it should basically be under body level by now, so that´s obviously not the way to do. Check the relief in the neck, I say. You might need to tighten the trussrod a few tweaks since you tuned a half step higher now. Too much relief in the neck makes it too curved, so the strings go way high.

EDIT: Sunbane beat me to the punch.

[dg]

Any way you can post pics? It almost sounds like you may have unseated one or both of the bushings when you had all the strings off. If you have the post screwed all the way in and still have clearance, that's about the only thing I can think of.

[Dave L]

I´m not sure how far the screws actually go down, but you´ve got a point... if he´s got the treble side bottomed out all the way down and still have the strings way above the fretboard (instead of them being smack on the frets) it sounds like something else except the trussrod needs to be looked over. But how could he have unseated the inserts? These things are glued and a heck of a job to get out even if you want to. How far down is the bridge now, compared to the body level?

[demeyes]

The bridge is above the body level on the treble side. I can see the underneath of the place for my trem bar to sit into. I think I must have done something to put something out on the bridge.
If I've done something like unseating the bushings will that be hard/expensive to repair?
I'm going to see if I can get some pics up and you'll be able to tell more then I suppose.

[Dave L]

Well, then something´s most definitely gone awry with the insert and/or the post. Maybe try to lube it up with a bit of machine oil first and see if it goes smoother and doesn´t jam?

[demeyes]

Would you recommend me unscrewing the bridge fully with the allen key from the guitar and taking a look? I've not done much work with floyds before so I'm not exactly sure what to expect though.

[Dave L]

Yeah, get the post out of the insert and try screwing it in again. Get the bridge off of there first, so you don´t put any wear on the knife edges.

[Sunbane]

If the trem bushing is coming out of the guitar, all you need to do is to glue it back in.

Take out the bushing. With a toothpick, smear some wood glue on the inside walls of the hole. You don't need to use a lot - only enough to coat the walls. Generally a drop of glue will be fine. Then push the bushing back in before the glue dries. Wipe off any excess glue, and make sure you don't get any glue inside the bushing. Let the guitar sit overnight before you put the trem back.

I did this my Rhoads that also had the treble side post coming out.

[demeyes]

Does anyone have some pictures of trems taken apart or a link with more info on them? I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to see and what parts are called what.

[Sunbane]

Would you recommend me unscrewing the bridge fully with the allen key from the guitar and taking a look? I've not done much work with floyds before so I'm not exactly sure what to expect though.

To take the bridge off:

1. Detune the guitar so you have minimum string tension.
2. While holding the guitar in your lap, hold down the bridge with one hand at the front of the guitar. The bridge will sometimes try to snap forward from the pull of the strings - or simply fall out of the guitar, so you need to hold it in place.
3. Now take the trem springs in the back cavity out of the sustain block.
4. From the front, lift the trem off of the posts and out of the guitar.

[MountainDog]

I'm wondering if the knife edge of the trem is not in the groove of the post, like the knife edge is hanging up above the groove??

A picture would really really help for people to see what's going on and give you suggestions!