Roller Bridge ??????

[Nev]

Greetings to all,
I've got a Mustaine Y2K (autographed too he..he..!! ) and I had a guy that's been working on guitars for many years look at. It goes out of tune frequently without much pulling on the strings while I play it. His advice was to either try a set of 10 gauge strings (currently has 9's) or try a roller bridge instead of the stock one. It does not have a Floyd. Something to do with the way the strings are angled into the body are causing them to go out of tune.
Now, my question is, has anyone tried a roller bridge on their guitar, what company would you recommend, and did it solve the problem?
Will post some photos next time...
Many Thanks!!!

"What do you mean I ain't kind? Just not YOUR kind" Mustaine-Peace Sells

[toejam]

Are you stretching your strings enough after putting them on?

[shreddermon]

+1 to stretching the strings. And try locking tuners, too. I just swapped mine out, per info in this thread.

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76043

Unless there's something screwed-up in the angle of the ST ferrules to your TOM bridge, the tech guy's answer sounds full of s**t.

[yabba]

I have a roller bridge on my SG, which has a bigsby trem - I don't think I'd put a roller bridge on a non-trem guitar though...

[Nev]

Roller bridge

Yea I stretched the strings out for sure. Always do when restringing. I would consider locking tuners since 6 of them would be about the same cost as a roller bridge. I just wanted to see if replacing either one would solve the problem and which one to actually replace for best results. Looking for suggestions on manufactures of either pieces. I checked the above link, the Schallers from Warmoth look pretty good to me. Any further comments is appreciated, many thanks!!!

[jairic]

www.stewmac.com has some guitar parts, that may help. It's odd that you're having this problem though, aren't those particular guitars fairly high end?

[Newc]

Could be they're hanging in the nut a bit, then slipping out when bent.

[straycat]

I'm with Newc check the nut I'll bet thats where the problem is.
Which bridge is on the Y2K tom or the 3300 Kahler?

[Nev]

My Y2K photo

I think I'll go with my friends request and do the roller bridge after the holidays. I trust this guy, he's worked on guitars for many years. I don't think he's talking shit to me.

[toejam]

The strings going through the body have nothing to do with the guitar not staying in tune. Maybe if there's some problem with the saddles possibly being worn down or not notched right, but I've never heard of any kind of problem because of the strings going through the body.
I've had a couple of string-thru Jacksons (and other brands as well) and have never had any problem at all.
I'd check the nut out first, as was suggested. Or maybe your tuners are slipping? Or maybe the strings aren't wound around the posts correctly and they're slipping as well? Not saying you're putting the strings on wrong, just a possibility.

[dg]

Yep, you've got to rule out the nut and the tuners before blaming the bridge. They are way, way more likely to be the culprit. Locking tuners are hugely popular for a reason.

[zeegler]

The strings will not be moving enough back and forth over the bridge enough to cause the guitar to go out of tune like that. You should listen to the guys above pointing you towards the nut. The tuners should also be fine, since they are decent quality, and can't be worn out on a guitar of that age. Locking tuners could help, but your most likely culprit is the nut. I'll bet the slots are not the correct width. You need to get a set of feeler gauges to check that your nut slots are wide enough, and your strings aren't binding. If they are, invest in a set of nut slot files, and fix it.

One other thing to try - take an HB pencil, and grind up some of the pencil lead. The graphite dust in the nut slots will help stop the strings from binding.

[shredhed]

+1 on the nut lube. I highly recommend Big Bends Nut sauce. I use it on my DKMGT (similar thru body stringing and same bridge) and I can say I don't have tuning issues any more.

And the string angles over the nut on mine are way higher that on yours. The stuff is amazing

[Nev]

Bad design?

I decide not go with the roller bridge but did notice something. While looking at the original Gotoh bridge, I see that the strings actually made some marks on the bridge just after the saddles towards the back. It seems that due to the angle of each string going into the body from the bridge, caused some wear on the bridge itself. This didn't seem right but there it was staring me in the face. The nut is made of graphite which is supposed to allow more string slide than bone. (I don't think nut lube will really help any but will try it). If I lower the bridge height, I'll get string buzzing on the neck. So if anyone has a Y2K, take a look if you have the same situation. I'm fairly convinced that this is causing it to go out of tune more than it should. Any suggestions on how to correct this is appreciated.

[RobRR]

The strings touching the bridge corner is fairly common. I would just double check the nut then go for some locking tuners... I doubt the bridge would help much at all.