So I was wondering. If you have a floyd rose and you don't use the whammy bar. You just bend some string (like high-e) does all the other strings loosen too? Like, the bend would make the whole floyd rose bridge move, which would loosen all the strings. Is this true?
About Floyd Rose tremolo...
- Thread starter Krondor
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Kenneth R.
Cináed
Ok so since this is "about floyd rose..." If I want to detune my guitar 1 whole step down (D,G,C,F,A,D) and I have a floyd rose, how should I do it? Just take the string lock away and tune from the original tuners? Or just tune it from the floyd rose?
And should I strech my strings somehow ? This is a brand new guitar and the strings seem to go out of tune a little bit.
And should I strech my strings somehow ? This is a brand new guitar and the strings seem to go out of tune a little bit.
anacrucix
aka Shredcaptain Matt
yeah take the string lock off and tune down, once youve tuned it down, youll probably need to retune it about 3 or 4 times before the guitar adjusts to the change in spring tension, once its near enough in tune, put the locks back on and fine tu,ne with the fine tuners 
to strech your strings should be pretty easy, i'd probably do that before you drop the tuning - all you have to do is pull the string quite firmly upwards - it doesnt have to be quick, but the distance it covers should be a sort of 4 fret bend, this should put the string out of tune, so tune the string back up, repeat this a few times and you should find after 3 or 4 repetitions it doesnt lose its tuning so easily.
to strech your strings should be pretty easy, i'd probably do that before you drop the tuning - all you have to do is pull the string quite firmly upwards - it doesnt have to be quick, but the distance it covers should be a sort of 4 fret bend, this should put the string out of tune, so tune the string back up, repeat this a few times and you should find after 3 or 4 repetitions it doesnt lose its tuning so easily.
Thanks for the tips! But I noticed that when I tune down my strings, the floyd rose kind of "drops". It's not in line with the body. How can i fix this?
EDIT: And btw when I strech the strings, do I need to take the string locks out?
EDIT: And btw when I strech the strings, do I need to take the string locks out?
anacrucix
aka Shredcaptain Matt
its probably advisable to take the string locks off when streching the strings because the easiest way to tune them back up will be to use the normal tuners, if you open the back of the guitar, there are 3 springs attached to a metal plate, the metal plate is held in place by 2 screws, screwing the screws further into the body will ease the bridge down into the body, whereas screwing the screws in the other direction will ease the bridge up out of the body.
If you adjust these screws I would advise not doing all that much at once, screw ina little bit, then tu,ne up again, and do this until youve got it in tune at the optimum height. Hope this helps.
I gotta say I love this forum more and more... You guys are just awsome!
You make it so easy for me to ask "idiotic" questions and I thank you!
You make it so easy for me to ask "idiotic" questions and I thank you!
To the original question: Yes. Some people don't mind it, some people (like myself) do. If you had to ask on a forum whether or not that is happening, then you probably aren't noticing it enough for it to be an issue for you.
For drop tunings, you'll either need to block the trem or getting something like a tremol-no installed so that you don't have to setup the guitar everytime you change tunings. Don't take offense to this, but I would reccomend not messing with it at all because you obviously don't know what you are doing and the likelihood of you screwing something up is somewhat high. Take it to someone who does and see if he can walk you through it while he does it.
For drop tunings, you'll either need to block the trem or getting something like a tremol-no installed so that you don't have to setup the guitar everytime you change tunings. Don't take offense to this, but I would reccomend not messing with it at all because you obviously don't know what you are doing and the likelihood of you screwing something up is somewhat high. Take it to someone who does and see if he can walk you through it while he does it.
CantoX
Member
I busted an Ibanez RG from screwing around with it, but after that I pretty much know how to adjust the bridge perfectly. You learn from mistakes !
But yeah, if you're a beginner get someone to show you how to do it properly.
But yeah, if you're a beginner get someone to show you how to do it properly.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
The screws are fine tune adjustment if it drops the bridge only a little bit. If you want drastic adjustment, reposition or remove/add springs.
Im a bit too warped to explain this now but I'll have fun trying.
Tune the guitar to what ever tuning you plan on staying with, as indicated by Meedley. It fine if your going to stay down but make up your mind and stick with it. If you want different tunings you need a second guitar or one hardtail.... which arent as much fun, but best if your want to change tunings all the time
What are you calling a string lock ? Is this one of those bridge locks that acts like a stop or lock for the floyd ? If so throw it away or get a hardtail, tremolo locks and blocking the base plate is for pussys who only deserve a hardtail.... HA !
Or are you talking about the locking nut ?
If your talking about a locking nut, yes you must loosen the 3 allen heads on the lock nut
assuming you are using a chromatic tuner proceed as follows.... if not you are crazy, chromatic tuner is a must if you messing with Floyd
center your fine tuners and forget about them for a long long time, I estimate this process could take up to 45 minutes or even an hour for someone that its all new too because you will make all the typical mistakes
do a quick, ruff drop tuning of the strings approx half way to where your headed, dont get all fussy at first because as you detune other stings, the ones you just did will head back sharp, you will chase this around alot, thats why you dont want to be real picky, drop them till the tuner gets close and move on, back and forth back and forth. remember to stay a bit sharp from the D because.....
you will now need to loosen the two screws on the spring retainer (slowly) to get the base plate of the floyd flat/parallel to the surface of the guitar.... this will make the strings flater. If you just wasted a bunch of time getting perfect tuning to D, you will now find your at - D flat or maybe even close to C.
It will all make sense once your at it awhile, the goal is to end up with your tuning where you want it and the base plate of the floyd flat/parallel to the surface of the guitar... this is essential.... it must be flat!
now you are getting close, lock the lock nut temporarily and take your wammy through the motions, dives and streaches, now you will notice you are no longer in tune and will want to cry.... but fear not.....
re loosen the lock nut and begin tuning with the machines(tuners) again
You can start getting fussy but still go through the strings quick because every adjustment of one will change the pitch of the rest.
this is a tip.... for example you are close....have the base plate flat.... but just got done tuning everything yet previous strings are now out of wack again... check all your pitches with out tuning.... if some are slightly flat and others are slightly sharp.... as you bring the pitch of the flat strings up where they need to be.... you will find the sharp strings dropped toward where you want them with out ever touching them. Like I said it will all make sense once you get the drift of whats going on.
tune with the machines until you have perfect tuning.... but still keep your eye on that base plate, if it starts to drop you have to loosen those screws again, just slightly, everything a little bit at a time at this point, or if it raises you need to increase tension
then once you are there... dead nuts... that is perfectly in tune
lock the lock nut
check all your pitches, locking the lock nut most likely will have changed them, make no adjustment, make an assesment based on the "tip" above.... and make these final alterations now with your fine tuners
work the wammy bar again and recheck.... always following that "tip"..... dont just hit the e string and say great... now thats flat and tune it up.... make sure you dont have a few that went sharp... because once again as you flatten them the flat low E string will come back up toward pitch.... this is just an example... on the reverse... you could have G, B & high E flat and low E & A sharp.... as you flatten them the D, B & high E will sharpen toward desired pitch
totally confused ? ......... lol
welcome to the wonderous world of the tremolo........ well worth it once you decide you will be the victor... master dominator of all things steel
the biggest mistake anyone makes with a floyd style tremolo is chasing it all the way to hell and back not being keen to its little games
I just went through this last May when I switched from 10/heavy bottoms to standard 9's due to having not played in awhile, soft, weak fingers and all that. It had also been awhile since I played the little game with Floyd so he won the first few battles but I got wise, my memory came back and I wipped him up good.
Once you have it, you should have it, and be able to play for the duration of good string tone life with only minor adjustments to the fine tuners and dive and streach to your delight and come up in tune everytime.
Lower tunings such as D really should have at least 10 gauge, I understand people that tune way low to C or even B use much heavier like 11's and even 12's but they will have to tell you about that. As of now I'm still tuning to standard tuning.
Then theres the nightmare of dropped tunings needing to be re intonated. In fact my guitar was intonated near perfect for the 10/heavy bottoms but that set up is not as good as it should be for these standard 9's.
Tune the guitar to what ever tuning you plan on staying with, as indicated by Meedley. It fine if your going to stay down but make up your mind and stick with it. If you want different tunings you need a second guitar or one hardtail.... which arent as much fun, but best if your want to change tunings all the time
What are you calling a string lock ? Is this one of those bridge locks that acts like a stop or lock for the floyd ? If so throw it away or get a hardtail, tremolo locks and blocking the base plate is for pussys who only deserve a hardtail.... HA !
Or are you talking about the locking nut ?
If your talking about a locking nut, yes you must loosen the 3 allen heads on the lock nut
assuming you are using a chromatic tuner proceed as follows.... if not you are crazy, chromatic tuner is a must if you messing with Floyd
center your fine tuners and forget about them for a long long time, I estimate this process could take up to 45 minutes or even an hour for someone that its all new too because you will make all the typical mistakes
do a quick, ruff drop tuning of the strings approx half way to where your headed, dont get all fussy at first because as you detune other stings, the ones you just did will head back sharp, you will chase this around alot, thats why you dont want to be real picky, drop them till the tuner gets close and move on, back and forth back and forth. remember to stay a bit sharp from the D because.....
you will now need to loosen the two screws on the spring retainer (slowly) to get the base plate of the floyd flat/parallel to the surface of the guitar.... this will make the strings flater. If you just wasted a bunch of time getting perfect tuning to D, you will now find your at - D flat or maybe even close to C.
It will all make sense once your at it awhile, the goal is to end up with your tuning where you want it and the base plate of the floyd flat/parallel to the surface of the guitar... this is essential.... it must be flat!
now you are getting close, lock the lock nut temporarily and take your wammy through the motions, dives and streaches, now you will notice you are no longer in tune and will want to cry.... but fear not.....
re loosen the lock nut and begin tuning with the machines(tuners) again
You can start getting fussy but still go through the strings quick because every adjustment of one will change the pitch of the rest.
this is a tip.... for example you are close....have the base plate flat.... but just got done tuning everything yet previous strings are now out of wack again... check all your pitches with out tuning.... if some are slightly flat and others are slightly sharp.... as you bring the pitch of the flat strings up where they need to be.... you will find the sharp strings dropped toward where you want them with out ever touching them. Like I said it will all make sense once you get the drift of whats going on.
tune with the machines until you have perfect tuning.... but still keep your eye on that base plate, if it starts to drop you have to loosen those screws again, just slightly, everything a little bit at a time at this point, or if it raises you need to increase tension
then once you are there... dead nuts... that is perfectly in tune
lock the lock nut
check all your pitches, locking the lock nut most likely will have changed them, make no adjustment, make an assesment based on the "tip" above.... and make these final alterations now with your fine tuners
work the wammy bar again and recheck.... always following that "tip"..... dont just hit the e string and say great... now thats flat and tune it up.... make sure you dont have a few that went sharp... because once again as you flatten them the flat low E string will come back up toward pitch.... this is just an example... on the reverse... you could have G, B & high E flat and low E & A sharp.... as you flatten them the D, B & high E will sharpen toward desired pitch
totally confused ? ......... lol
welcome to the wonderous world of the tremolo........ well worth it once you decide you will be the victor... master dominator of all things steel
the biggest mistake anyone makes with a floyd style tremolo is chasing it all the way to hell and back not being keen to its little games
I just went through this last May when I switched from 10/heavy bottoms to standard 9's due to having not played in awhile, soft, weak fingers and all that. It had also been awhile since I played the little game with Floyd so he won the first few battles but I got wise, my memory came back and I wipped him up good.
Once you have it, you should have it, and be able to play for the duration of good string tone life with only minor adjustments to the fine tuners and dive and streach to your delight and come up in tune everytime.
Lower tunings such as D really should have at least 10 gauge, I understand people that tune way low to C or even B use much heavier like 11's and even 12's but they will have to tell you about that. As of now I'm still tuning to standard tuning.
Then theres the nightmare of dropped tunings needing to be re intonated. In fact my guitar was intonated near perfect for the 10/heavy bottoms but that set up is not as good as it should be for these standard 9's.
Thanks again! This sounds pretty hard so I might have to ask a friend to help me or something. And I'm only planning to change the tuning once. I played like a year with a D-standard tuning and I really liked it a lot more than E-standard. At first I just tuned it to D because I was learning some Symphony X songs, but I really like it and feel more comfortable playing in it.
I guess I'm gonna stay in this E tuning for a while.
I guess I'm gonna stay in this E tuning for a while.
noble savage
Member
I would definitely take Meedley's and Canto's advice. The first 7 string I got (RG 7420) I screwed a bunch of little pieces up by not knowing what I was doing.
schenkadere
Obey my dog!
Absolutely. Don't mess with a Floyd Rose unless you know what you are doing, or are willing to accept messing up your instrument and paying a tech to fix it afterall.
You do learn from your mistakes. I've been in over my head a few times customizing my guitars...wound up spending money for what I originally attempted and then again for someone more skilled and knowledgable to fix it.
you have gotta be kiddin me....... how can anybody be able to play guitar and not know how to deal with a Floyd ? Its one of the most rudimentary mechanical devices I've ever come across. I wish playing the guitar was as easy as setting up a Floyd.... we'd all be "rockstars"
Shit, thats less realistic than telling someone not to bother learning scales..... hire a trained professional to do your solos for you. Decline of Westeren civilization alright
Luthiers are for filing frets, scalloping fretboards and building archtops or acoustics, and maybe setting intonation, not tuning guitars and adjusting two friggin phillips head screws on a friggin plank.
"Mommy.... mommy.... I cant figure out how to tune my guitar cause theres three springs attached to my tailpiece and two big scary phillips head screws I might have to turn a little bit"
No wonder so many people hate tremolo systems....... good advise....
Shit, thats less realistic than telling someone not to bother learning scales..... hire a trained professional to do your solos for you. Decline of Westeren civilization alright
Luthiers are for filing frets, scalloping fretboards and building archtops or acoustics, and maybe setting intonation, not tuning guitars and adjusting two friggin phillips head screws on a friggin plank.
"Mommy.... mommy.... I cant figure out how to tune my guitar cause theres three springs attached to my tailpiece and two big scary phillips head screws I might have to turn a little bit"
No wonder so many people hate tremolo systems....... good advise....
noble savage
Member
Damn Razor.
I encourage people to learn how their guitar operates inside and out, but I think in some cases (Such as this one.) it may be better to watch and learn from someone who knows what they are doing.
I wasn't very bright as a kid so I ended up doing things like taking apart a guitar with a pair of scissors and screwing the trem posts down while there was still pressure on them because the guitar was in tune etc. If anyone has even twice the amount of common sense I have, I think it would be fair to say they still need some help. Initially at least.
I encourage people to learn how their guitar operates inside and out, but I think in some cases (Such as this one.) it may be better to watch and learn from someone who knows what they are doing.
I wasn't very bright as a kid so I ended up doing things like taking apart a guitar with a pair of scissors and screwing the trem posts down while there was still pressure on them because the guitar was in tune etc. If anyone has even twice the amount of common sense I have, I think it would be fair to say they still need some help. Initially at least.
you have gotta be kiddin me....... how can anybody be able to play guitar and not know how to deal with a Floyd ? Its one of the most rudimentary mechanical devices I've ever come across. I wish playing the guitar was as easy as setting up a Floyd.... we'd all be "rockstars"
Shit, thats less realistic than telling someone not to bother learning scales..... hire a trained professional to do your solos for you. Decline of Westeren civilization alright
Luthiers are for filing frets, scalloping fretboards and building archtops or acoustics, and maybe setting intonation, not tuning guitars and adjusting two friggin phillips head screws on a friggin plank.
"Mommy.... mommy.... I cant figure out how to tune my guitar cause theres three springs attached to my tailpiece and two big scary phillips head screws I might have to turn a little bit"
No wonder so many people hate tremolo systems....... good advise....
The kid clearly doesn't understand the mechanics of the thing and someone who doesn't understand the device and how to fix it shouldn't try. About the "learning scales" thing...there is no parallel whatsoever between that and what we're talking about here. You don't even know how to spell, so why make a dig at people who don't know how to do a setup on a Floyd Rose? Way to make a complete douche of yourself.
schenkadere
Obey my dog!
you have gotta be kiddin me....... how can anybody be able to play guitar and not know how to deal with a Floyd ? Its one of the most rudimentary mechanical devices I've ever come across. I wish playing the guitar was as easy as setting up a Floyd.... we'd all be "rockstars"
Shit, thats less realistic than telling someone not to bother learning scales..... hire a trained professional to do your solos for you. Decline of Westeren civilization alright
Luthiers are for filing frets, scalloping fretboards and building archtops or acoustics, and maybe setting intonation, not tuning guitars and adjusting two friggin phillips head screws on a friggin plank.
"Mommy.... mommy.... I cant figure out how to tune my guitar cause theres three springs attached to my tailpiece and two big scary phillips head screws I might have to turn a little bit"
No wonder so many people hate tremolo systems....... good advise....
It's a vibrato, not a tremolo.
Hate Floyds...prefer Kahler...actually, prefer nothing.
No one said don't bother learning...just suggesting not to screw up his axe.
schenkadere
Obey my dog!
Yeah Meedles...what is it about the crew around here. I'm considering bailing out of this forum entirely...it's no fun at all and no longer informative, just a bunch of bitches.
Razor...you're totally off base...again.
.... well thing is he just got advise and nobody mentioned using scissors to get the job done.here ye go
tools needed to do the job
chromatic tuner - should have one any how
proper size allen key/wrench to loosen the lock nut
proper size phillips head screwdriver for spring retainer screws
proper size phillips head for removing back plate/tremolo route cover
two hands
1/3 brain
no more than 2 beers (for beginners... experienced pros can drink more)
check scissors at the door
sit in front of computer and read my instructions and tips while doing the job, take your time, everything is just a little bit at a time, concentrate of task at hand
1 hour later - skilled Floyd Rose "tech"
ya'll may be right, many kids are not brought up without any mechanical knowledge what so ever these days.
When I was 15 I reshaped, narrowed and thined the neck on my old Kay guitar, hand chisseled a route to put a Gibson humbucker in the bridge position, soldered it in, removed a half moon shaped chunk from lower cutaway of a right handed guitar for lefthanded fretboard access. Stripped and refinished the entire RED guitar in clear finish and was playing it again in less than a week............ but I was failing horribly in school........
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