guitar setup question, Floyd Rose

[bryan_kilco]

So I'm in the middle of tracking rhythm guits for our album. I had set up the guitar for .11's in Drop C. I used .10's in this tuning for years and never really had a problem. Recently I realized that those were a bit light for me, so I upped it to the .11's.

Everything was set up just fine, it held tuning nicely, etc. Now, just the other day before our show, I restrung and noticed that even before I put fresh strings on it, the bridge was pulling out of the body. Restrung, same thing.

Are my springs stretching? I may try adding a 4th spring. But the springs are the only thing that (I think) it could be.

 

[Loki Laufeyiarson]

Thicker strings put more tension on the springs, so you'll have to adjust those as well (turn the screws in to the wood more). If you already did that, then I have no idea what's going on...

 

[TheWinterSnow]

The springs on the bridge are adjustable, the claw with the screws allows you to adjust the tension of the springs. The rule of thumb for all Floyd bridges is that the tension of the springs must equal the tension of the strings at pitch. That means you have to adjust the strings accordingly. Now if the screws are really maxed out and the bridge is still dipping down into the body of the guitar, then that means the springs don't have adequate tension and adding additional springs, usually on at a time, and readjusting the screws will take care of that.

 

[schismatic]

I ended up blocking my Floyd Rose bridge out because of tuning issues. Don't get me started on the intonation. Got it setup professionally following that and now have a joyful 13-65 setup in Drop A that I can rely on.

Not an answer at all to your question, but food for thought perhaps.

 

[abaga129]

I ended up blocking my Floyd Rose bridge out because of tuning issues.

This is pretty high on my to do list. I had to add a spring to mine when I switched from power slinkys to the Not Even Slinkys.

What did you use? Tremolo stopper? Tremo-no?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Sorry dudes, I accidentally double posted this thread and both versions are getting posts! AHHHH!!

Yes, I know all about the screws and spring tension and I adjusted accordingly. I tweaked it a bit more yesterday and got it set up again.

Pretty sure my springs are not too happy with the heavier strings and are stretching out.

 

[schismatic]

This is pretty high on my to do list. I had to add a spring to mine when I switched from power slinkys to the Not Even Slinkys.

What did you use? Tremolo stopper? Tremo-no?

I used a Tremol-no - been pretty pleased with it to be honest. Easy to install, maybe a little pricey when you actually see it in flesh, but excellent performance. I do advise getting a proper guitar tech to setup the rest unless you're excellent at that sort of thing.

 

[Terminus]

Best thing about the tremel-no is that you can still use the tremelo if you want to, it has a stopper on it that locks or unlocks. three "modes", one for no trem at all, one for whammy down and one for whammy down and up (which I suppose is the "off" mode).

 

[hurdy]

Sometimes you will need to add an extra spring. I am guessing that this is what you need to do

 

[53Crëw]

If it's an Original Floyd Rose (the real deal) the springs can stretch out, but is a long slow process over time. Not something you'd notice in a matter of days...

Put a couple turns on each screw for the claw and retune. Check to see if the baseplate is parallel with the surface of the body. Repeat until you get it right. Should be good after that. You'll also likely need to reset the intonation when changing from .010's to .011's.

Also note, different brands of strings, even in the same gauge can have different tension. D'Addario, for example, has higher tension than most other brands in a given gauge set. Once you get set up with a specific brand of .011's, consider that changing to another brand may require some minor adjustment on the trem springs. Usually, it's only a half or one full turn on each of the two claw screws, though.