downtuning with a Floyd Rose

[Dead Winter]

Looking for some help here. As you all know, tuning with a FR is a pain in the dick. I'd like to downtune to B to simulate Ihsahn's 7 string, but when I go that low, my action also drops dramatically, almost touching the fret itself....way too low. Also, as you all are aware, every little change in tuning affects the ENTIRE pitch of every other string...so you end up fucking with it for 20 minutes, just to tune down 1 or 2 steps. I love floating bridges, but sometimes I wonder if I'm better off with a fixed bridge. I'm not changing it, so i'll just have to deal. Any suggestions on how to improve downtuning with a FR? Thanks.

 

[Floyd]

use heavier strings......

 

[xenophobe]

For a Floyd or floating bridge to play correctly and be properly intonated, you need to adjust your spring tension first, then the trem posts second...

If you're tuning down that low, you may also need a slight neck adjustment, but we'll deal with that later...

1. Make sure your trem is paralell or level to your body. If it is not, remove the plate on the back of your guitar covering the trem route... Tune to your desired pitch, then check to see if your trem is level with the body... If it is not, djust the springs (attached on to a 'claw" that is screwed into the body).

Tuning down will give the springs less tension to counter against, and the back of the trem will be closer to the body than the pivot point at the trem post.

To correct this, turn those screws counter clockwise. This will release some tension. Re-tune your guitar to your desired pitch using a tuner and check to see if the trem is paralell to the body. I would reccomend 1/2 turn at a time per screw. Try to keep the claw relatively paralell to the route.

Retune your guitar, and once you've got that done, check your action. If it's still too low or too high, you will probably need to adjust the trem posts...

Turning counter clockwise will raise the action, and clockwise will lower the side of the trem with the screw.

Adjust to your preferred string height.

Hope this helps... I'm tired... time for bed.

 

[Dead Winter]

Thanks guys, that helps alot! However, I listened to the sound that I downtuned to, and I don't like it. Waaayy too low. I then tuned up to C#, and I'm pretty happy with the sound I get from that tuning. Normally, I don't like tuning down, I feel that it takes away from that smooth, easy sound you get from just plain ole' E. However, for some riffs that I was coming up with, E just wasn't heavy enough. I think for rhythm, tuning down can be good, but for leads it sucks. Just go on and get a 7 string, so you can have the best of both worlds, lol.