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JTV 69 Strings


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I have used 9's on my JTV-69s and they worked fine. After reading a few posts on this very topic and how it seems to work better with the 10's for the acoustic modelling I went back to the 10's. Plus the fact that The Edge of U2 uses 10's on his Strats and I wanted the closest sound to him as I could get.

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Thanks guys, I'm a light player, and doing bend on tens is noticeably different that's why I was asking.... When the strings and the pick guard come in I'm going to be adjusting everything, and treating the fretboard.... I can't wait, the action is a little high too

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Ouch, good to know, maybe I'll remove the springs on the trem, I have a small metal plate I block my Floyds with, come to think of it, I wanted to put a tremolo no on it so I may get one of those before I take all the strings off

 

Thanks for the reminders guys....

 

I do love 9.5 hybrids though, not as much adjustment as you would think between 10s and them... Been using them for years, better sustain then 9s too

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In my case, a block under the bridge plate didn't do anything about the upward force on the pivots.  If the springs are left at full tension you have a surprising amount of leverage trying to lift the inserts out of the body.  This is definitely a YMMV.  I take pains never to remove all the strings.  Haven't been through the exercise since adding pickup ground wires a year or so back and hope never to again.

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I can see that being a viable option on a vintage Strat tremolo where the pivot screws also retain the bridge plate, but am having trouble picturing how that helps on a JTV-69 where there's nothing to keep the bridge plate up against the pivots.  But, if I ever have a need to take all the strings off again I'll keep it in mind.

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I can see that being a viable option on a vintage Strat tremolo where the pivot screws also retain the bridge plate, but am having trouble picturing how that helps on a JTV-69 where there's nothing to keep the bridge plate up against the pivots. But, if I ever have a need to take all the strings off again I'll keep it in mind.

It's just a matter of keeping the bridge level. If you shove something behind it to prevent it from pivoting, it doesn't really matter if the springs are pulling on it or not. Whatever you put back there just has to be thick enough to keep the bridge in its neutral position. I've used a wooden ruler in the past. Anything that's rigid enough to let the bridge rest against it without too much give.

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If the bridge inserts are very firmly seated into the body, I agree with your comment.  However, even with a shim holding the bridge in neutral position, there is an upward force vector.  I happen to be one of the lucky ones with sloppy-sized holes in the body.  You can literally pull the inserts out of the guitar with two fingers.  I probably should glue them in, but with what?  Epoxy is probably too permanent and I'm not sure that wood glue can tolerate a sliding force.

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If the bridge inserts are very firmly seated into the body, I agree with your comment. However, even with a shim holding the bridge in neutral position, there is an upward force vector. I happen to be one of the lucky ones with sloppy-sized holes in the body. You can literally pull the inserts out of the guitar with two fingers. I probably should glue them in, but with what? Epoxy is probably too permanent and I'm not sure that wood glue can tolerate a sliding force.

I wouldn't glue them in...but the size of those inserts do vary slightly. I just put a Wilkinson trem on a Strat re-build, and the inserts that came with the bridge were slightly larger than the stock Fender ones. Turned out to be a good thing, as one of the holes was slightly out-of-round...the insert had been pulled forward a bit over the years. Might work in your case too.

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I've used 9's on my JTV69 for a few years and I think they play (and sound) fine. But I did go thru some ordeal getting the guitar back together after I took the factory 10's off. I'm kinda relieved to see some other people mentioning how the bridge will "pop loose" if you remove all of the string tension. I thought I was the only one who had this problem. Also, I'd not seen a trem bridge like this before and had no clue how to change the strings. There's a post in the old archived forum from me asking about it.

 

I'm also curious to know how "blocking" the trem would help in keeping it from popping loose. It seems the only way this could work would be to push down on the tremolo arm and put the block under the back of the bridge while strings are being changed. I understand blocking a floating-style trem but JTV69 doesn't have a cavity underneath like a Floyd Rose would. Anyway, from here on out, I'm only ever gonna remove all the strings at one time if I absolutely have to.

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The reason the trem pops loose is that it can go too far back when the springs pull the bottom forward.  You have to block it to prevent the springs from pulling it forward in the back or as you say put something under the back of the bridge.  The problem with the back is that then there is leverage trying to lift the bridge away from the body which can pull out the pin inserts if they are not tight enough.

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I'm also curious to know how "blocking" the trem would help in keeping it from popping loose. It seems the only way this could work would be to push down on the tremolo arm and put the block under the back of the bridge while strings are being changed

It's amazing how much confusion this seems to be causing.

 

This is exactly what we've been saying. Shove something back there that will keep the bridge in its neutral position...it's not difficult or supernatural. Anything that's sufficiently rigid and the right height will suffice. Hell, in a pinch you can take the sleeve that the set of strings comes in, fold it in half, and shove that under there, and it'll work just fine...done it a million times. I've been doing the exact same thing on 2-point floating Strat bridges for the last 20 years, and the bridge never shoots across the room...the JTV's design isn't any different.

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A photo would be worth 10,000 messages.  Or, maybe we start with a definition of "behind"?  I can see arguments for calling both sides "behind" - depending on your point of view.  I've been visualizing "behind" as being on the neckward side of the sustain block.  If by "behind" you mean between the sustain block and the electronics cavity, that's another issue and I can sort of picture how it might do the trick.

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A photo would be worth 10,000 messages. Or, maybe we start with a definition of "behind"? I can see arguments for calling both sides "behind" - depending on your point of view. I've been visualizing "behind" as being on the neckward side of the sustain block. If by "behind" you mean between the sustain block and the electronics cavity, that's another issue and I can sort of picture how it might do the trick.

It's not necessary to mess with anything in the routed cavity in back of the guitar. Ruler, paint stirrer, piece of cardboard....anything the bridge can rest on. Just don't use anything that will scratch the finish unless you put something else under it first, hence the polish cloth in the photo.

post-1838810-0-94048700-1450047972_thumb.jpg

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That is exactly what I have done every time I've needed to get all the strings off. The upward force pulls out the the pivot pin inserts.

Then something is terribly wrong with either the inserts, the holes, or both...I've done this to countless guitars over the years, and never managed to yank out any hardware.

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