Washburn style stringing on acoustic?

[DylanJ]

I've got an Ibanez AEB8E, and I was wondering how easy it would be to mod it to be strung like a Washburn AB5. The bridge pins are really annoying on the Ibanez, I think they're just not a super great fit, cause there's a lot of work that needs to be done (leveling and crowning frets and the like). The Washburn seems to be strung through the back of the body like a solid body.

 

[Turnaround]

The Washburn seems to be strung through the back of the body like a solid body.

No, it's strung through the bridge, more like a classical guitar.

 

[DylanJ]

No, it's strung through the bridge, more like a classical guitar.

Ah, that's actually what I was thinking about trying to do. How would I go about doing that? Since stock the holes are too big to string like that, do I install an additional piece of hardware?

 

[DylanJ]

I can't imagine putting standard ferrules would work.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Pics?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

You’d have to remove the existing bridge and find or fabricate the Washburn bridge. The pictures I found online have a brass block at the end of the bridge for the strings to anchor in so definitely not a “standard” ABG bridge. Then glue to the Ibanez body. However, since the different string anchoring will change the stresses on the top you might need different or additional bracing. Last, a bridge change is not going to fix fret/neck issues.

 

[DylanJ]

You’d have to remove the existing bridge and find or fabricate the Washburn bridge. The pictures I found online have a brass block at the end of the bridge for the strings to anchor in so definitely not a “standard” ABG bridge. Then glue to the Ibanez body. However, since the different string anchoring will change the stresses on the top you might need different or additional bracing. Last, a bridge change is not going to fix fret/neck issues.

I'm going to level and crown the frets, the bridge pins just don't stay in that well and I thought if I can get the strings through the bridge it might be a little less annoying tuning it.

Pics?

The hole seems to be 1 cm

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Got it. I misread your question. I think I looked up the wrong model when I found the bridge with the brass block. At the least you would have to fill the existing holes with wood and drill through at an angle for the strings to come out the back of the bridge then countersink those for the ball ends. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Washburn bridge was thicker to accommodate that.

If they’re not already try filing a small angle on the end of the bridge pins. On acoustic guitars this seems to help the ball end of the string wedge in between the pin and bridge plate better.

 

[Riff Ranger]

I have no advice, only sympathy. I dread every string change on my Ibanez acoustic bass guitar

 

[Turnaround]

Ah, that's actually what I was thinking about trying to do. How would I go about doing that? Since stock the holes are too big to string like that, do I install an additional piece of hardware?

It's a whole different bridge. You can't just add something to the existing bridge.