Ibanez S series; with Floyd Rose - tuning keeps slipping? Any ideas?

[drew_drummer]

Any ideas on this one?

Our guitarist has an Ibanez S series; a purple little dear, with pretty crappy pickups, but an otherwise good guitar. Except the tuning keeps slipping. He's taken it to a shop to have it setup twice, and they've been proper dickheads about it.

I said I'd give it a go, but I've never really used a Floyd Rose before. Any ideas on what is causing this?

 

[Notuern]

Check if the neck is properly attached to the body, very common cause for tuning instability.
Check the knives on the tremolo, if they have been dented/flattened, they need to be re-sharpened.
The nut could be cut wrong, clamping the string causing it to "pop" when it reaches a certain amount of pressure/tension.
Is the tremolo 100% balanced?
Are the nuts on the tremolo screwed on tightly enough(More likely to produce rattling & slight detuning though.)?
Are the screw holes that hold the spring plate worn out?

Is the player used to playing on guitars with Floyd Rose? Because if you hit the strings too hard, or press to hard when palm muting, it will sound detuned.

.. God damnit Floyd Rose sucks.

 

[grywolf627]

... God damnit Floyd Rose sucks.

Blasphemer!

 

[Executioner213]

Make sure it's actually a Floyd Rose and not a Lo-TRS. If it is a Lo-TRS, replace with an Original Floyd Rose immediately, thank me later.

 

[mick thompson]

get a pencil (something like a 2b) and draw on the nut where the strings go to very gently lubricate it -

sometimes a ridge in the string can catch in the nut and start slipping under string bending tension. again - real soft carbon pencil and draw in the nut where the strings sit

 

[Notuern]

Blasphemer!

Nah, but seriously though, what a bitch they can be to setup!
Still worth it though!

 

[16S]

get a pencil (something like a 2b) and draw on the nut where the strings go to very gently lubricate it -

sometimes a ridge in the string can catch in the nut and start slipping under string bending tension. again - real soft carbon pencil and draw in the nut where the strings sit

why would you lube a locking nut?

..but while you are there check the nut is tight. Probably two small allen bolts on the back of the neck (most Ibanez) or two screws on top of the nut , visable when the string clamps/plates are moved.

 

[greyskull]

Make sure it's actually a Floyd Rose and not a Lo-TRS. If it is a Lo-TRS, replace with an Original Floyd Rose immediately, thank me later.

yes.
the knife edges on the ibanez trems are dogshit.
naturally i hate all floyd gash double locking wankstains. and trems in general. nasty things.

 

[Eschatologist]

.. God damnit Floyd Rose sucks.

Out of the many guitars I have owned, I've found FR copies (especially the Ibanez trems) to be drastically inferior to the ORIGINAL FRs. I think the worst was my RG1527 7 string, that thing NEVER stayed in tune no matter how perfectly it was setup. Grrrrr.....

I since have an M1000 with an original and it is great for keeping in tune!

 

[mick thompson]

why would you lube a locking nut?

..but while you are there check the nut is tight. Probably two small allen bolts on the back of the neck (most Ibanez) or two screws on top of the nut , visable when the string clamps/plates are moved.

you lube a locking nut incase of minor string slips (im talking about mm's & half mm's here) the groves on your guitar strings can sit wrongly in the locking nut and slip a tiny fraction out of place setting off your tuning. it happens on my jackson.

oh also forgot to mention - pull the fuck out of your new set of strings to stretch them in - otherwise as they stretch in the 1st few days your going to keep going out of tune

 

[Executioner213]

After new strings:
Make sure your bridgeplate is competely flat/parallel to the body upon tuning.
Before you lock it down, and it is completely in tune and intonated, pop the bar in and start pulling/diving erratically for about 15 minutes.
Retune, re-level bridge. Do it again if you feel the need. After you feel good about it, lock the locks down and do it again, but not quite as heavily...just about as much as you'd normally use the bridge. This will ensure they are stretched out enough. This will also mean you'd have to change your strings a little more often unless you are a really light player, but there shouldn't be an issue with that. New strings sound good.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

Out of the many guitars I have owned, I've found FR copies (especially the Ibanez trems) to be drastically inferior to the ORIGINAL FRs. I think the worst was my RG1527 7 string, that thing NEVER stayed in tune no matter how perfectly it was setup. Grrrrr.....

I since have an M1000 with an original and it is great for keeping in tune!

I still have an edge pro on my 1527 and that thing never goes out of tune no matter how bad i beat the fuck out of it.

 

[StoneLord]

Check to make sure that the bolts going through the back of the neck to the locking nut are tight. Not too tight though. Don't want those famous Ibanez neck cracks..)

 

[lolzgreg]

I have an Ibanez JS100 (the cheap one). It's been in tune for like 2 years guys, even when using the trem...

 

[Executioner213]

I have an Ibanez JS100 (the cheap one). It's been in tune for like 2 years guys, even when using the trem...

As do I, and I had to replace the bridge with an original floyd rose many years ago...about a year after I bought it, and that was after accepting the fact that the bridge was just plain junk. It gave me problems 2 weeks after purchase and the pinheads at the shop could only suggest installing a tremsetter to fix it...which it didn't.

I can only imagine you lucked out or you don't use it much (or only go one direction with it). Those Lo-TRS bridges are made of cheap plated brass and the knife edges wear out on them fairly easily.

 

[diSEMBOWELMENT]

I haven't gone through all the replies but unless your issue is not the obvious "bridge level, tension, etc" it might be the following issue (which i've faced ONLY with cheap ibanez bridges, not the Pro nor the high end models):

Check if the knife edge (or the tiny knife round slots) are too blunt. I have an RG350EX with the not-so-reliable EdgeIII which seems to have this issue. I have been building and modding guitars for years now and the only stuff I came across which had that problem seemed to be the cheap ibanez stuff. Shame as I'm a HUGE ibanez fan.

A little grinding could solve it. Dont make it blade sharp though! It's not meant to cut anything anyway.

Not sure if that helps, but it COULD be why. My RG350 CAN"T keep a tuning at all because of this.