Guitar bridge loose

[Jazz_Andi]

Hello everyone,

I just recently started playing Jazz guitar and bought myself and Ibanez AKJV90DAL guitar.

I found under the bridge a plastic foam:



Today I loosened the strings to see if I can lift the bridge and to my surprise the bridge is completely loose .

My Fender Strat and Tele bridges are at a very well defined place and I cannot move them. I was wondering if this is normal or not at all?

Other issues I have with the Ibanez is that the bridge pickup has far less output then the neck and also what is kind of strange but maybe normal as well is that the whole body is kind of warped in wave form.

Thanks for any advice!

Cheers
Andi

[TedBPhx]

Remove the foam. Floating bridges are common on archtop guitars. Whenever I change strings I reset the intonation by gently bumping the bridge into place while checking the high and low e string tuning at open and 12th fret positions. Since that is a compensated, each string is adjustable, bridge and you seem unsure of the procedure you may want to have a luthier do a setup. Then at next string change use some low tack tape, like blue house painters tape, to mark where the bridge goes back.

About the wave: the experts here are going to need more pictures.

[sgosnell]

Archtop guitars do not have flat tops, that's why they're called archtops, and those with flat tops are called flat-tops. You can raise the bridge pickup to make it louder by turning the center screws in the ends of the pickup ring. You have probably affected the intonation by moving the bridge, but it's not difficult to fix. Using a strobe tuner, ideally, but any tuner in a pinch, compare the fretted note at the 12th fret with the harmonic at the same fret, and move the bridge slightly until they're the same. You seem to have no experience with this type of guitar, so it might be worth the money to have a professional do a setup for you. It shouldn't be expensive to address your concerns.

[mr. beaumont]

Totally normal for the bridge to move, they're not glued down, and can be slid back and forth to intonate (you have a tune-o-matic style top piece, so you probably can handle all intonation issues right there, but some archtop bridges have wood tops, and the only way to set intonation is to physically move the bridge.

Re: output-- It's actually not too uncommon, I've found. I don't necessarily know the reason, but I don't use the bridge pickup enough to care, either!

[sgosnell]

The strings don't move much near the bridge, so there is less energy for the pickup to pick up. Many manufacturers use hotter pickups in the bridge position for this reason. If you don't want to buy a new pickup, just raise the bridge pickup so it's closer to the strings, and lower the neck pickup until you get a good volume match. I don't use the bridge pickup, so I don't bother with it much, but that's personal preference. If you want the bridge pickup to be as loud as the neck pickup, it's possible to get it, but there may be compromises in the tone of the neck pickup.

[pingu]

All perfectly normal Andi ....

Remove that foam ....
Try some TI jazz swings on there in a big gauge
and get it setup (or preferably learn to do a setup yourself)
(But deffo learn fow to do the intonation yourself ...it's easy)

welcome to jazz street man

[pingu]

BTW
thats a nice guitar you got yourself there
have fun with it

[Longways to Go]

It's gonna look and sound a lot better with that foam gone

[BBGuitar]

I recomend removing the foam and doing a scrape fit of the bridge to the top of the guitar.

I use carbon paper and a schard of broken glass.

place the carbon paper on the top of the guitar carbon side up, rub the bridge on the carbon paper just a little.
scrape the high spots marked by the carbon. Repeat as necessary until the carbon trail is fairly even, may take 10 or more fittings.
This will achieve a perfect fit and will improve the sound greatly.


I learned this technique watching machinist fit parts.

[sgosnell]

Or you can do it a little easier by attaching some sandpaper to the top where the bridge goes, either adhesive-backed paper or using thin double-sided tape, and just move the bridge back and forth until the marks are gone. This will also take some time, and one has to be careful to keep the bridge steady, and not allow rocking which can cause the bottom to become convex, not a good outcome. The same goes for using a scraper.

[Jazz_Andi]

Thanks so much everyone! This was really very helpful! Good to know all is good with the guitar!