Evening the spring tension on a blocked trem?

[MarcusGHedwig]

Hey guys, posted this question in another thread but didn't get a response, so I'll try again: when you have a trem blocked, how do you make sure the tension between the upper and lower halves of the bridge (adjusted by the two screws on the claw) is balanced? Right now I have the screws about even in terms of how much of each is sticking out of the body, but since I set my strings up with ascending tension from low to high, I fear it might not be balanced (don't wanna put too much strain on one of the studs)

Thanks!

 

[AudioPhile777]

If the trem is blocked off, spring tension doesn't really matter... Unless you're blocked for down-motion-only type setup...

Which is it?

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Ah right, sorry about that - down-only, but I definitely use it liberally for that!

 

[AudioPhile777]

The only thing I can recommend is that you have a decent set of strings and adjust the screws on the spring clamp in the back... add springs if necessary... I tend to use all 5 springs in the back of mine because I have a heavy hand when palm muting...

Its really about experimenting and finding the sweet spot... only real way to figure it out is to dive in (no pun intended) and adjust, play, adjust, play, rinse, repeat as necessary.

Not sure this was any help... I just kinda do it and make it work...

 

[SuperD]

Damn, I've blocked mine for 'down only' play since day one ( a LONG time) and never until this minute did I ever even think about even spring tension!!! I made sure the bridge was stable enough that if I broke a string (1 guitar band...) it stayed in tune so I could finish the song before I had to change guitars.

Well, for what it's worth, I have 'down only'-ed the FUCK outta my floyd since 1986 without so much as 1 second of grief......

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Haha, well that's promising anyway - I'm gonna need a trip to see my tech pretty soon for work on my other guitar anyway, so I guess I'll just bring the Jackson in and have him even out the tension while he's at it.

Of course, if anyone else has any input on how I could do this myself, it'd still be appreciated!

 

[AudioPhile777]

if anyone else has any input on how I could do this myself, it'd still be appreciated!

Screw driver. Trem claw. String thickness/tension.

honestly, if you don't know/can't picture it, you just need to mess with it...

also, the amount of springs you have in there and their placement will be a huge part of it...