Floyd Rose springs tension

[Uncle Junior]

Ok i have an ESP LTD kh-603 guitar, I believe its 24.75 scale. I have tuned it to E standard tuning with DR 11-50 strings. The gauge is kinda heavy and I had to tighten the spring on the back of the guitar so that the screws are 5mm from the wood and the springs are pretty much stretched ni this position.


Is this harmful for my guitar, for the springs in particular?

What kinda tone is to be expected with the 11-50 gauge on E?

I have my springs in triangular position (3 springs) /|\, instead of ||| .
Does anyone know what this does?, I mean my guitar kinda feels the same in both cases, maybe there is a little tension change, but I couldn't find anything about this in detail.

 

[plague_rider]

from what i know... what you've done is what the springs are there for... you may find that the strings will relax after a while... then again they may not...

11-50 is a decent enough gauge for E-Standard... i know people who've used heavier for the same tuning... myself included (but not on a floyd)

 

[mburton21]

^

Maybe drop a string gauge to 10s if it acceptable for you.

It might just be me, but I really do not like my Floyd to be too tense.

I also run the /|\ spring setup. Different spring combinations usually correspond with heavy top-skinny bottom etc.

 

[Masticore]

I have 52's on my floyd rose tuned a step down. The hard part is getting equal tension or pull on both the springs and the strings. Usually I will block off the tremolo, tune to what I want, set spring tension to where it barely lifts off the block and there you have it. I have 3 heavy springs on my bridge. You can use 4 regular springs to have enough strength, but there are heavier duty ones available.

Also you will want to check your neck relief, and make proper adjustments with a truss rod wrench. You must have feeler gauges to check string heights, and then I would recommend checking your intonation and action if you are making a large change in gauges.

Using custom gauge strings can help, like he said heavy top slinky bottom, but I dont have any problem with action and feel with these heavy gauges.
Better feel can be achieved through redoing neck relief and action hieght, the 2 together can make great changes to a setup.

Spring combinations are to taste. Ive seen the triangle, ive seen as little as 2 springs. Heavier gauges require more or stronger springs.

But I can not stress how important neck relief is, and making sure it is proper with heavy gauge strings. It is alot easier than most think, and no you will not break your neck through any adjustment made with common sense.

Now, if you like, you can block off the bridge. Essentially it will turn into a fixed bridge except you can pull up on the tremolo. Google floyd rose block for more info.