How to tune/adjust Floyd Rose?
Keith Moore/Groundwire
neither of us can tune to save our lives! I finally called a tech at BC
Rich (who admitted they don't do much in the way of setup before these
things are shipped off to Guitar Center) who told me to lower the bride
until it was parallel to the body. Since the bridge was WAAAAY high I
figured this was the problem, but after lowering it I still couldn't get
it in tune...though I came close.
Any suggestions? I know Floyds are harder to tune than normal bridges,
but are they supposed to be THIS hard, taking an hour or more to tune?
No way.
--
Keith Moore
My new Ztar song
is online. New Age Pop!
www.mp3.com/marinmusic
James Andrews
: Any suggestions? I know Floyds are harder to tune than normal bridges,
: but are they supposed to be THIS hard, taking an hour or more to tune?
: No way.
They're a bitch all right. Best thing to do is keep the locking nut
undone, and get it as close to in tune as you can, then use the fine
tuners on the bridge to pull things into alignment.
Jas.
--
James Andrews
Philadelphia, PA
J. Gross
it's going to take a LONG time to get the balance right, and if it's never
been professionally setup, it's the same story. I play with Floyds & swear
by them - they're always in tune & I almost never break strings, and I'm not
what you'd call a 'gentle' player.
Almost any guitar that doesn't have a bad neck or one that's loose should be
easily tuneable with a Floyd on it.
Here's an easy (as easy as it gets, I guess) way to set up your friend's
guitar for tuning stability.
1. unclamp the locking nut & slack all the strings.
2. set the height you want the bridge at
3. start by putting the low E string on & tune it about a 4th higher than it
should be (A - doesn't need to be perfect, just close)
4. string & tune the A string about a 4th above (D, once again, close is
good enough)
5. string & tune the D string about a 3rd sharp (F#)
6. string & tune the G string about a whole step sharp (A or so)
7. string & tune the B & high E strings to tune.
Is the bridge at some really wierd angle to the body? If so, you need to
slack the strings & compensate for the string tension by adjusting the
springs inside the body that return the tailpiece to a neuteral position.
Now repeat the stringing process again. Still off, lather rinse, repeat.
You MUST get the bridge setup done before you can ever hope to get it in
playable condition, much less tuned properly.
If the bridge is where you want it, continue >
Use the tuners in the headstock (too obvious, huh?) & tune it up. Remember,
any adjustment you make to one string will slightly affect all the other
ones, so make your adjustments very small & 'work your way' up or down to
what you need. Be patient, doing this the 1st time will take quite a while,
but the effort is well worth it.
Once it's in tune (don't play with the Floyd yet or you might mess the whole
thing up), gently tug each string about an inch or two straight away from
the fret board a few times with one hand while holding the string down at
the first fret with the other (this prevents gouging the string at the nut)
& retune it. Do this process one string at a time. When it doesn't go flat
from your tugging anymore, you're done with it and can move on to the next
string. Done with all 6? continue >
Now, clamp the locking nut down & check your tuning. Some of the strings
might be sharp from the nut clamp. This is something you'll just learn to
compensate for when you string this particular guitar. Adjust any fine
tuning with (too obvious, once again) the fine tuners at the bridge. Give
the tailpiece a couple good yanks up & down & check tuning again.
Still out? Readjust using the fine tuners (it shouldn't be out very much at
this point).
Fine tuners as far as they can go? Loosen the locking nut for that string &
compensate for it at the headstock & try again.
Done? Good! Play the hell out of it.
Strobing the intonation will be covered in the next class.
Rock on,
- Jeff
http://www.littlebrother.net
Gene Conrad
tuning i.e EADGBE?
If former, then 1) string guage and tremelo spring tension are
important. three weak springs 11 guage springs are a obviously a bad
mix. My charvel has 10 guage strings, 3 springs at enough tension to
keep bridge parallel to body when tuned to standard. Then, setup as
regular.(of course I have a recessed body so I can pull up with out
bottoming up on the body!!) If you need to balance the bridge at an
angle somewhere, sorry I guess a lot of this doesn't apply.
If latter, on my double locking: 1) make sure strings are stretched
really REALLY good. if they are brand new not stretched, it will be a
real pain in the butt.2) make sure your fine tuners are somewhere in the
middle of they're travel. DON'T FORGET THIS!!!! you'll kick yourself
later when your almost in and you can't turn the fine tuner any more,
you gotta loosen the nut and start all over. 3) tune the guitar to
standard, then again, then even again if required without tightening the
locking nut. If you start with really lose strings and go from E to E,
by the time you get to the other end, the string tension has probably
adjusted the bridge so that everything you've already done is now out.
So rough tuning might take you 2 minutes. once your in all 6 strings,
then 4) tighten the nut and fine tune. You don't need 50 ft-lbs of
torque. don't need to put a pipe on the allen key. just snug with allen
key. everything will be GaH-Rooovy.
Or you can bo buy a Tele, like i did!!!
8^p
hope this helps
Keith Moore/Groundwire wrote:
> stuffff
--
Gene Conrad, P.Eng
eco...@bignet.net
dod#2092
y2k v-star 1100
Fender '01 Telecaster
..............o&>o
Vicman
see it?
thanx
Vic
<agri...@home.com> wrote in message
news:UL_k6.15592$5M5.1...@news1.frmt1.sfba.home.com...
> If I may say so, this is one of the best descriptions on tuning a Floyd
> Rose that I've ever read. Most of this stuff (even the shortcuts and
> tricks mentioned) I already knew... but only after 13+ years of experience
> with these tremolos. Nice work, Jeff! Please let me know when you
> post your intonation tuning tips to the group - that's my LEAST favorite
> task associated with FR tremolo ownership.