Installed John Mann 2000NOS trem on my Tremonti SE Custom - did I do it right?

[VStratto Music]

Made a thread a while ago asking which bridge to buy and everyone here recommended me Johnn Mann's trems, so I got one! Took a while but it's here today!

Making a thread now because I'm paranoid and (kinda) insecure about my luthier skills, well, concerning PRS trems at least.

The trem looks and plays awesome, while installing it there were some complications. Let me explain, it seems since I've had the guitar (2014) I've been aware that it's trem is uprooted (meaning it can go up and down) but completely oblivious about it when setting up the guitar until today.

You see, when installing the 6 trem screws, you're supposed to lay the bridge down the hole and put the screws in, like it's shown in John Mann's tutorial on PRS trems, the thing is, when I did this, the hole was larger since it's uprooted, the trem has no solid surface to rest on, leaving it's position at the mercy of gravity, and making my first attempt at installing the bridge and aligning the screws a mess. I messed around tuning and detuning the guitar for a couple minutes but that's about all I did with the bridge set up wrong.

Anyway at the 2nd attempt I fixed this by putting a very thin ruler to cover the hole and support the bridge while I put in the screws and align them, I checked and it seems like nothing was damaged, but can I ask you please to take a look at some pictures and tell me if you think there's any damage to the trem? Also what do you think of the alignment?

Mostly paranoid because I heard these were really fragile. It's setup perfectly now, 1,5mm parallel off the body on both sides. Action 1,5mm 12th fret as per PRS factory setup and intonated.

Thank you.

Pics incoming

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Dunno, looks okay.

Does it stay on the knife edges when you push it up and down? If so, you’re golden.

 

[VStratto Music]

Dunno, looks okay.

Does it stay on the knife edges when you push it up and down? If so, you’re golden.

I...think so! If it didn't it would probably make clicking noises wouldn't it?

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I...think so! If it didn't it would probably make clicking noises wouldn't it?

Most likely.

 

[Rider1260]

The knife edges are much tougher than you think I'm betting your fine

 

[VStratto Music]

Most likely.

Well, the trem doesn't make any noise, just the springs when I really push it upwards, but I guess that's normal since it's not supposed to go that far up.

The knife edges are much tougher than you think I'm betting your fine

That's good to know, I hope this bridge will last for a long time!

 

[László]

OMG it’s ruined. Send me the guitar so it can be recycled in an environmentally-conscious way.

“How’s that done?”

“Oh, I keep it and play it.”

“But that’s just you getting a new guitar for nothing.”

“Yes, What could be more environmentally responsible than recycling it to myself?”

 

[Russ73]

Looks good to me!

 

[bodia]

Yer fine!

 

[Collywobbles]

That looks pretty good from what I can see. In case it helps, this is what I do when I reinstall / re-set a John Mann trem. Once I've set the screw height using a hex wrench as a spacer I then sight without any strings or springs fitted to visually check the screw notches are all in alignment. Once I'm happy they are all aligned I'll pivot the trem by hand by pushing it in to the notches to check it rocks OK without binding etc (the trem needs to be string and spring free for this). Re the height of the six trem screws - the neck angle effectively controls how high the trem needs to sit off the guitar body. Ideally the saddles want to be fairly low in their adjustment range once the action is set. I can see the bridge saddles in your picture look set well (i.e they're fairly low) and the screw heads all appear to be the same height so based on your pictures it all looks good given you'e said the action is set to your tastes. The trem looks fine too - I had a very worn trem on a '86 Custom and while the knife edges showed wear and the holes were a bit elongated it worked fine and tuning was very stable. I can't see any wear or damage in your pictures so you've almost certainly not done any harm.

 

[VStratto Music]

Awesome!

Anyway, here she is, completely upgraded by now, it's been almost 4 years. Looking clean too, I cleaned the guitar with the Dunlop 65 stuff.

Mods so far:

Phase II Locking Tuners
PRS USA Nut
SD JB and Jazz Pickups
John Mann's 2000NOS Trem

 

[dogrocketp]

Looks great!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Has all the ingredients for a Bangin’! guitar.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

yup, what Sergio said!!! Nice job.

 

[John Mann]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner...
Hey guys... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

From your photos, everything looks good! The main thing to concern yourself with is that each v-notch (groove) of the screws is the same as the others.
As mentioned above, if the bridge feels smooth and does not click, you should be good to go!

The installation video is for standard routes, but the idea is the same with up-routed guitars... you would just have to account to the additional routing under the trem, which you should be able to measure with a good scale or calipers. Just add that measurement to the 2.5mm hex key that I talk about in the video.

Again... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

 

[Glide-bpm]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner...
Hey guys... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

From your photos, everything looks good! The main thing to concern yourself with is that each v-notch (groove) of the screws is the same as the others.
As mentioned above, if the bridge feels smooth and does not click, you should be good to go!

The installation video is for standard routes, but the idea is the same with up-routed guitars... you would just have to account to the additional routing under the trem, which you should be able to measure with a good scale or calipers. Just add that measurement to the 2.5mm hex key that I talk about in the video.

Again... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

The Mann has spoken!

 

[VStratto Music]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner...
Hey guys... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

From your photos, everything looks good! The main thing to concern yourself with is that each v-notch (groove) of the screws is the same as the others.
As mentioned above, if the bridge feels smooth and does not click, you should be good to go!

The installation video is for standard routes, but the idea is the same with up-routed guitars... you would just have to account to the additional routing under the trem, which you should be able to measure with a good scale or calipers. Just add that measurement to the 2.5mm hex key that I talk about in the video.

Again... anytime you need help and/or advice, I am just a call or email away!

Thank you John!

The thing with the uprooted trem for me was, like I said, I put a thin ruler to cover the extra space of the uprooted trem, to make it lay flat, and the installation went fine.

Well I before did that, the problem was that the trem would lay there at the mercy of gravity and after setting it up it would be crooked, like 1,5 mm on the bass side and 2 mm on the treble side. Right now it's 1,5 mm off the body on both sides. I didn't make any extra measurements, just covered the extra space with very thin ruler so it would lay flat on the body and did the procedure as usual.