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Hi,

I have an ibanez rg570 that needs new trem anchors. They're stretched out & oblong, as well as very loose which ive heard is common with the older models with these basswood bodies.

Some people have reported good results with wood epoxy, but doweling and drilling new holes seems like a better long term solution to me. Plus I can use a harder wood than the existing basswood which will hopefully stop this from happening again.

Will the type of wood matter or can I use any handwood like mahogany, maple, ash etc? Would I increase sustain by any useful amount using a denser and/or larger piece of wood? Like instead of a dowel, routing out some space and glueing in a block?

It doesnt really seem like it'd matter since its a pretty small amount of wood compared to the rest of the body, but it is what attaches the trem (a gotoh FR) so I thought i'd ask.

Thanks!

Well, I am certainly no expert, but my initial thought is that when you redrill for these anchors you will be drilling into endgrain which offers much less support that drilling into the face of the grain. with this in mind mind I would think that a harder denser wood would be best, maple or ash I think would work well, (if it is hard maple). I think that you would harness a lot more of the strength from the wood if you route out an area for a block like you suggested, but you will also make a lot more work for yourself. I good hardwood dowel would probably do the trick just fine.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

BTW Shad you have some really beautiful looking guitars on your site. The hellcat is stunning!!

The dowel is probably what im going to do then...thanks for the info.

But just out of curiousity, would using a hardwood block increase sustain any meaningful amount over what the guitar originally had with basswood? I can see it not making much of a difference since its a small piece of wood compared to the rest of the guitar, but on the other hand it is what the bridge is attached to so maybe it would make a difference.

thanks for the kind words.

in regards to increasing sustain with a block and everything... I really don't know, its impossible to say without doing it or having done it before, but my guess is that with such a small piece of wood it would not make a perceivable difference.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/