Ibanez Edge Tremolo: 'Knife Edges'?

[ibanezjunkie]

what is a knife edge? i hear the biggest killer of edge III tremolos is the failing of the knife edges, but i cant find any information to tell me what a knife edge actually is. help?


IJ.

[thekiwidisciple]

They sit against the trem posts, and the entire trem pivots on them. The trem is generally built around them, so if they fail, the whole trem is gone.

[ibanezjunkie]

so these parts? (circled in red)

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/LeadGuitar2009/knifeedge.jpg

[marnold]

so these parts? (circled in red)
Yep. It's the C-shaped part of the bridge that contacts the posts. Generally speaking licensed Floyd Roses aren't made with the same quality of metal that the OFRs, Schallers, and Gotohs are. Eventually the knife edge will no longer be sharp and the trem won't stay in tune. This is only an issue if you keep the bridge floating. If it's blocked, the size of the block and the pressure of the springs will return it to the right position regardless (almost) of the sharpness of the knife edges.

I was a little concerned about that with the JT580LP on my DK2M but since I know that any of the above trems are a drop-in replacement, I'm not worried about it. If I do manage to mess up the knife edges, I'll just slap in one of those and be happy. The quality of construction and the metal is clearly not the same as my Ping-made Speedloader on my old Floyd Rose. Conversely, it seems to stay in tune every bit as well right now.