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just got a new Ibanez that has an Edge 3 trem in it.

The difficulty I'm having is that there appears to be a piece of plastic that goes around the circumference of the hole where the arm is inserted into the bridge, and it seems to have cracked. Is this something I should be worried about? Can I just pull the offending parts out and use it as normal?

I'm not really much of a whammy user (Most of my guitars have been hardtail), so I suppose I could just put some big springs in the thing and treat it like a fixed bridge...

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3 Answers

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You could try wrapping the trem arm in plumbers PTFE tape, I use this trick on strat trems and it keeps the arm nice & firm whilst still allowing some movement

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Ibanez trems don't screw in, they drop in and have a magnet. But this may be beneficial to people with strats who stumble upon this :) – Aurum Aquila Apr 19 '11 at 11:42
This is useful for some Ibanez trems - as some work looser with age. One or two layers of PTFE just bulks the shaft up enough to keep it in place during rough play. – Dr Mayhem♦ Apr 19 '11 at 12:49
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If your not too fussed about the trem you could always fit a Tremel-No to stabilise the bridge.

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Good idea. The thing is growing on me though - I use pinch harmonics liberally, and the 'choking' sound the guitar makes with a rapidly lowered pinch harmonic is awesome! – Aurum Aquila Apr 20 '11 at 10:47
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Ummm...is it really new? Or is it just new to you? Couldn't you return it to where you bought it? A new instrument shouldn't have broken parts. Unless there's something unique that you love about your new axe (And believe me, I understand that - my Ibanez addiction is quite strong!), you would be more than justified in swapping it out for one that's just right.

Flaws in a used instrument are character.

Flaws you cause in a new instrument are history.

Flaws in a brand-new instrument are wrong.

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It's new to me. Some clown was selling it for like, just over 1/3 the price. I have a fender strat that I use as my main axe, tuned to drop-b. This guitar is meant to be for school bands and such that don't approve of such brutality. I'm thinking of just replacing the bridge with an OFR/Gotoh Licensed Floyd. The Edge 3 on this thing is either really retarded or more worn than it looks. You tune it, play it for 30 seconds (without using the tremolo) and it's out. The cycle goes on for hours. Then you get bored and change tunings. You start over. It sucks. – Aurum Aquila Apr 20 '11 at 10:21

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