Warwick owners, especially Streamer ERBs... Help!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Hi all.
For once I'm going to post a query on here...
I'm pretty competent at set-ups. I know what I like and how to achieve it (in terms of playability) on most basses. I will even slightly alter the set-up to get the best from the bass/myself given the intended use for the instrument.

Inspired by a charge into the dusty end on a fiver that culminated in "running out of frets" I elected to dust off my sixer, a 1997 Warwick Streamer LX6.
I took one look and thought "I can do better than this" and cracked out the allen keys.

Truss Rod done. Check.
Action lowered (by lowering the whole bridge, as the individual saddles were already well down in their holders). Check
Strings adjusted to match the non-existent fretboard radius? Yep, I even did that!
Intonation... er. No. The bridge is now SO low (I'd actually want it lower, but the intonation screw heads were touching the surface of the body!) that access to the intonation screws is completely blocked by the tailpiece that holds the ball-ends of the strings.

What am I to do? Raise the bridge, guess the adjustment and lower it again? That's a lot of trial and error!
I note from comparison with my Fortress MM5 and Infinity SN4 that the tailpiece is further away (and dramatically lower on the SN4) so that the screws aren't occluded by the tailpiece on either instrument.
The Streamer is currently running 30-130 (non tapered) Rotosound (they were cheap) Steel Rounds.
Main issues are with A,E and B strings, with the added bonus that the B string's saddle has run out of rearward travel.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated, as there's a good instrument lurking in there, albeit hidden by clumsy design.

Will a change of gauge for the the next set of strings help? It was supplied with Warwick Yellows of 25,40,60,80,100,125 gauge.
I might revert to this, but don't want Nickels and loathe Warwick reds. Any suggestions on string choice?

Thanks in advance!

Alex.

[LukeFRC]

strange... can the saddles go lower? is the neck screwed on correctly? any shims? otherwise loosening off the strings and popping it out the bridge would be easier than raising the whole thing

[Lfalex v1.1]

Thanks for that speedy response!
However...
No, they're at their lowest point.
Yes. Still as per factory (I'm the original owner.
No shims or that sort of stuff.
And finally, Tried that, but the only way to do it is grab the thread of the string with a pair of thin-nosed pliers and twist/pray.
Which still doesn't solve the problem of the B string running out of saddle travel.
Don't get me wrong. Its MUCH better than it was, but right it is not!

[icastle]

Well, the intonation setup looks pretty daft from what I can see.
Can you get access if you use a screwdriver like this..?

[b][/b]

Running out of saddle travel seems to be one of those things that gets flagged from time to time with various models.
Unless the bridge is easily 'backwards movable' (and it doesn't look like it is on an LX6 without some extreme woodwork butchery) the only real option I can think of seems to be using a heavier gauge string.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Unfortunately, there's only a 5mm gap between the tailpiece and the head of the D string screw! This increases for A,E and B because of the curvature of the tailpiece. I doubt I could get even the bendy screw driver in there...
I can't file many of the saddle slots lower either as the strings are already very close to the saddle blocks. I think the answer may be a lighter gauge (for lower action) with taper-cored E & B strings. That'd allow the bridge to come up a bit more.
On the subject of woodwork butchery, there's an answer there, too-
Deepen the rout for the tailpiece, and screw it down further into the body.

Thanks for the help guys.

[warwickhunt]

Having read your threads in the past I'm certain that you're switched on enough to have reached the limits of the set-up on the bass! It isn't 'just' Warwicks that this can happen to; I've had a few very high quality basses where the limits of low action can be reached very quickly and you can't drop any lower. I've wondered whether manufacturers consider that their lower limit of set-up should be the absolute minimum that you can go and everything should be going higher from that... short sighted but defo not uncommon.

I had an almost identical situation as yours and I had to do a lot of faffing (taking the whole bridge off to adjust then reinserting) to get what I wanted and wondered whether it'd have been better to have routed the body, however it would have been for the sake of a couple of mm... maybe not even that. Probably best just to compromise now!

[Lfalex v1.1]

I had begun to realise that I was nearing the lower limits of adjustment, but it happened all too quickly, and the end result with non-taper-cored strings is barely what I'd call acceptable. Even though one adjustment is maxxed out, it shouldn't prevent the other s being changed, especially as the rule of thumb (no pun intended) is truss rod > action > intonation. What I'll probably do is measure everything and adjust the intonation with the bridge "up" to give the correct result when I lower it again.