Floyd rose and string bending

Mattias the Bitch Boy

New Metal Member
Dec 1, 2001
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When I bend a string on my floyd rosed geetar, all the other strings will go flat since the floating bridge goes up a little. Anyone know how to lower how much the bridge raises when bending? I've already put 5 springs in there. I don't know if it's always been this bad and that I just noticed it now, or if something has fucked up. Anyone know?

Cheers
 
hmmmm

i dont know, but i noticed the same thing with my buddy's RG7 as i bent the g string, the b string went flat, i dont know why, and i hope that when i get an Original FR it wont happen.
 
bobvex said:
hmmmm

i dont know, but i noticed the same thing with my buddy's RG7 as i bent the g string, the b string went flat, i dont know why, and i hope that when i get an Original FR it wont happen.
It's because you pull the bridge up a little when you bend a string, like when you push down the whammy bar. It happens on all Floyd Roses to a certain extent, but I don't know if mine has always been as bad as it seems to be now.
 
Well my theory just went down the drain lol. But seriously, floating trems have a tendency to do that. Do you perform set-ups on your guitars yourself? Some lower end Floyds I've played with (Ibanez TSR ou something) did that a lot, but after being setup properly the problem was almost unexistent.
 
Indiooo said:
Well my theory just went down the drain lol. But seriously, floating trems have a tendency to do that. Do you perform set-ups on your guitars yourself? Some lower end Floyds I've played with (Ibanez TSR ou something) did that a lot, but after being setup properly the problem was almost unexistent.
I've been setting mine up by myself, although I really have no clue what the fuck I'm doing. I guess I should take it to some bad ass to have it set up for me. At least now I know that the problem shouldn't be as big as it is on mine.

Thanks.
 
Yeah On my RR Sharkfin with its FR tremolo, I had to rework alot on it myself, and bs'ed the whole job, and it took for damn ever to get the thing together, but since then it's always worked fine.
All that I can think of that might make adjacent strings go out of tune from a bend would be if the bridge wasn't level with the body of your axe. Aside from that just make sure everything is clamped tight, and that you stretch your strings before you clamp them down at the end of the neck, otherwise the strings will jsut stretch as strings do.
Don't know if any of this will help, but if does : D, and if not, =/ and good luck to ya either way.

Rock on,
-Needle-
 
IF it REALLY drives you nuts..you have two choices-

1.Block the Trem-basically, you can only go down in pitch, and it no longer floats.
pros-VERY stable tuning wise, things like string bends dont' affect the tuning
cons-you lose the "warbly" floyd sound

2.(if it's still made)A Hipshot Tremsetter-it replaces one of your springs, and make your bridge more stable while retaining the floating bridge.
 
I'll second what MetalChef said.

The drop in pitch when bending a string is inherent of the design of any floating tremolo, including an unmodified Floyd Rose.

A floating trem is a delicate system. It is balanced on two posts, being kept in center by the force of the strings on one side - and on the other side, the force of the springs in the back. When you do a bend, what you do is increase the pull from the strings, which makes the trem rise slightly and all your other strings will go flat. There's no way around this, short of modifying the guitar. An original Floyd will do it just as much as a licenced Floyd copy or a vintage floating Fender trem.

Just as MetalChef mentioned, there are two ways in which you can modify your guitar to avoid this.

Blocking the trem will still allow you to do dive bombs, but not pull up on it. Most people accomplish this by gluing a form fitted block of wood into the tremolo route - the block goes in between the sustain block of the Floyd and the guitar body. You then tighten the springs in the back until you can bend strings without having the rest going flat. The trem will be much more stable (since the sustain block is resting against the wood block in the back) and enables you to rest your hand on it without affecting pitch. I believe this is how Ed Van Halen sets up his trems. There's a permanent thread (with pictures) about blocking trems in the Q&A section of the Jackson message board:
http://www.jcfonline.com/ubb/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000013

The Hipshot Tremsetter is a device that tries to keep the bridge in the "zero" position. I've never tried it myself, but some people have reported good results with it. The bridge will probably be a lot stiffer than usual, but you'll still be able to pull up on it.

So far I've kept my Floyd floating without any further modifications. I just avoid doing things like blues bends with adjacently ringing strings. =P

'bane
 
The problem for the most part is that I want to do unison bends. I find that I can compensate for the flattened pitch by bending both strings a little bit, but it's a bit of a pain to get that right every time. You think taking it some geetar tech can reduce the problem at all? I don't want to block the trem. Maybe a tremsetter would be good if it's easy to get my hands on one and there's no other way out of this.
 
I don't see how a tech could improve on the trem, so I think trying the TremSetter would be your best option. It may or may not be what you're looking for though. If you're into Vai stuff and creating those warbly notes, it may make the trem too stiff for you.

Here's a review of the TremSetter by someone who liked it though:
http://www.jcfonline.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000737#000000

'bane