My new AM50, setup question

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Author Message Aalderson Username: Aalderson Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 11:23 am:    So I just bought an AM-50 off eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7373555844d=1). Cannot wait to get this thing in my hands! Sadly, I think it will arrive while I am out of town for Christmas. Yes, it sucks. Okay, now for the question. After speaking to the previous owner on the phone, I know that he used light gauge strings on this guitar (9s). I am wanting to jazz it up with some 11s or 12s but am worried (I don't know much about guitar setup) that this might be problematic. Is this kind of change a big enough issue that I need someone experienced to set it up for higher gauge strings? Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 12:04 pm:    Aalderson, Ah ha, so you are the lucky winning bidder. Congratulations! Hope you will enjoy your new AM50. At least a minor setup will be required if you change from 9's to 11's or 12's. You might check out Frets dot com to see if Frank Ford has some tips on truss rod adjustment (neck relief) and saddle height adjustment. There are also some good books on the subject - two by Hideo Kamimoto come to mind. If in doubt, you should probably contact your local repair person. I don't think it would very expensive to have your neck setup. Looking forward to hearing your comments on the AM50. I watched both auctions closely - that one appeared to be in very good shape. Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 7:41 pm:    Aalderson, You can attempt to set it up yourself, if you're so inclined. It's really just a matter of tweaking things a little at a time until you get it right. It can be a good learning experience (Just don't adjust the trus rod more than a quarter turn at a time) if you mess things up, you can always take it to a pro, but chances are you won't have to do much. I've posted a few how-to's on setup, you may want to do a search. -Sven Petruz Username: Petruz Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 5:23 am:    aalderson, if you want to "jazz up" your am50 (great!) maybe you should try thomastic-infeld or labella flatwound strings. compared to the industry-standard d'addario they are, imho, much better balanced, and put smaller loads on the guitar's neck (i.e., E, A, D and G strings are slightly lighter in gauge). i mounted thomastiks .013 flats on all the ibanezes i had - gb10. gb30, fg100, af200, am205, am400 and as200 - never had any problem. Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 9:31 am:    Found this website with useful info on adjusting your truss rod and bridge height. Hope this information is helpful. http://mysite.verizon.net/jazz.guitar/guitarsetup.htm#Truss%20Rod%20Adjustment Msawitzke Username: Msawitzke Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 2:14 pm:    I'll second the thomastik recommendation. They have sets with lighter 4th and 3rd strings while still having heavy trebles. I use the Benson set on my archtop and they're great. They are expensive, however. I don't personally like flatwounds at all. They're just so muddy sounding. Single note lines can be okay on the higher strings, but they aren't good for thicker chord voicings and I don't like how they fart out in the low end...obviously many people disagree! :D Mike Msawitzke Username: Msawitzke Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 2:20 pm:    I'll also add that the AM-50 is a pretty sweet jazz axe. I've had one for a couple of years and it is great for louder gigs or situations where you want your tone to cut more. I always feel like I'm getting a Monder, Rosenwinkel, Adam Rodgers kinda tone when I use it... I used mine at a gig with Metheny(sort of a guitar festival kind of thing). It was funny being the two guys with the old Ibanezes around all those Gibson dudes! Mike Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 3:52 pm:    I like the T-I flatwounds a lot. They work great on a fully hollow jazz box where you want that mellow Jim Hall tone. Semi-hollws have a more spunky tone, and I think round wounds are a better match, plus they allow the semi to be more versatile. You'll never make an AM50 sound like an L5 by putting flats on it. I have Elixir Nanoweb .011s on my AS200, and .010s on the AM200. The .011s are about perfect on the AS200 - brighter but still jazzy. This combined with the mellow flats on my AG195 give me a great arsenal of tones. BTW, I tried a set of T-I Be Bop rounds on the AS200 and they sounded dreadful. Maybe I got a bad set, but they were dead sounding, sort of plunky with some very unusual ringing harmonics from the G. I have also tried the T-I Superalloy rock strings on a solidbody, and I can say they are very bright and powerful sounding. Not really my cup of tea, but they certainly do what they say they're supposed to do. I like the darker tone of the Elixirs on my solidbodies. -Sven

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