Looking for some advice on Floyd Rose setup.

[Max Headroom]

Back when I was playing floyd guitars, I'd always make sure fine tuners were in the middle of their adjustment so when you lock down the nut you'll be able to adjust. They go a little sharp when you lock down the nut. Nut doesn't have to be very tight either.

Helpful tip here. When stringing Floyd's, always leave ball end on headstock end. Don't clip ball end off and stick it in locking saddle.

The reason, ball keeps string captured at the tuner. Wrap more than you need as well. When you break a string it will ALWAYS happen at the saddle sooooo if you have extra wraps and ball end is at the tuner you can loosen locking saddle and pull broken part of the string out, wind out a bunch of string, put it back in saddle, clamp it and tune. String is already stretched and string won't pull out of tuner while you're doing this.

Huge advantage at a show or simply get more life out of strings if you are practicing a bunch.

Just one of the YouTube videos I watched said to do this and that's exactly what I did but great tip on the extra winds for getting more use out of a string/s.
Good to know its solid advice.

 

[dkilpatrick]

Is the retainer bar in place? That can help with the drift when clamping the nut.
You don’t need to clamp the nut too hard to lock. Some setups tend to go sharp when clamping the nut so if you experience this on any of the strings, tune it a few cents flat before clamping. Also have the fine tuners in the center of their travel range so you can dial them either way after clamping.

 

[Bogner]

it was setup with some pretty heavy strings.

Maybe The Store Was Out Of Stings So They Tried Out The Electrical Lines To See If They Brought More Powerful Toanz?

 

[Alnus Rubra]

So to summarise, stretch well before you “wang” and don’t tighten your nuts too hard.

 

[Juan Luis Vidal]

One of the most baffling things I've learned through the years is that a good floyd-like bridge (like the Lo Pro Edge on my Ibanez Prestige) can maintain tuning stability much better than fixed bridges. When I went from the tremolo bridge to a tailpiece one I was expecting to keep my tuning forever and ever (in exchange for not being able to dive bomb and perform vai-like gimmiks...) but that was not the case. I guess the switch from fixed to tremolo might be trickier but it's worth the effort: there has been some really good advice in this post.

 

[JasonE]

Back when I was playing floyd guitars, I'd always make sure fine tuners were in the middle of their adjustment so when you lock down the nut you'll be able to adjust. They go a little sharp when you lock down the nut. Nut doesn't have to be very tight either.

Helpful tip here. When stringing Floyd's, always leave ball end on headstock end. Don't clip ball end off and stick it in locking saddle.

The reason, ball keeps string captured at the tuner. Wrap more than you need as well. When you break a string it will ALWAYS happen at the saddle sooooo if you have extra wraps and ball end is at the tuner you can loosen locking saddle and pull broken part of the string out, wind out a bunch of string, put it back in saddle, clamp it and tune. String is already stretched and string won't pull out of tuner while you're doing this.

Huge advantage at a show or simply get more life out of strings if you are practicing a bunch.

I used to do this same thing. It is nice to be able to save the string by having a little on the post. Plus the ball ends look cool on the headstock.

You can tune down the line but low E needs to be sharp by a few cents. A slightly less sharp D slightly less until high E which should be on pitch with tuner.


Now you'll have to do this a few times to understand just how sharp to make em first time through but once you do string changes will be pretty quick.

I wouldn't own a guitar without a floyd back in the day.

Now days I prefer the feel of the prs trem. Just hate the play in the screw arms on Floyd's now.

Me too. If it didn't have a Floyd, I was not interested in it. I only own one guitar with a Floyd on it now of all of the guitars I own and I never play it.

 

[Max Headroom]

Is the retainer bar in place? That can help with the drift when clamping the nut.
You don’t need to clamp the nut too hard to lock. Some setups tend to go sharp when clamping the nut so if you experience this on any of the strings, tune it a few cents flat before clamping. Also have the fine tuners in the center of their travel range so you can dial them either way after clamping.

A google search shows floyd rose retainer bars but I see no sign of one ever having been installed on this guitar . This is my first so definitely a Floyd Rose "virgin" here
This is a picture of the nut area with clamps from headstock


Edit, now I see where one would be, definitely not something that my guitar has or ever had.
See picture of Kramer headstock, I guess this is what you mean?

 

[alantig]

I agree with @Birdsofprey. I would add that sometimes if the retainer bar isn't screwed in enough it will add to the amount of "sharpness" when you lock it down at the nut.

Also a tip for tuning. I came up with this method in the 80s but I am not sure how well known it is. I just told my brother (Floyd Rose hater who bought a Charvel) about it, around a year ago. He told me he has never heard of it before an told me I should post a how-to video. I don't do videos, but I will share it here.

Many times people will complain about "chasing the tuning". As an example: the guitar is flat and as you go through the strings to bring them up to pitch, by the time you get back to where you started the string is flat again. I find this is usually the reason people block the trem.

To avoid this nonsense what I do (if the guitar is flat) is I will check the low E to see how flat it is and tune it approximately the same amount(or a bit more) sharp as it was flat. Then tune from the high E back to the low E. By the time you get back to the low E it should be be close to pitch. Then you can dial it it in after you lock down the nut.

It works in reverse as well. If the guitar is sharp, drop the low E around the same amount flat as it was sharp and tune it from the high E.

If anyone wants to know why this works, so do I.

Hope this is useful.

Edit. Obviously this works after the nut has been tightened.

I think it works because you're pre-adjusting for tuning the rest of the strings. If you tune the low E first, as you adjust the rest of the strings, the bridge shifts its equilibrium with the springs, and takes that low E back out of tune. The same is true on a PRS trem, but I don't think it shifts as much, but I have no real evidence to back that up.

 

[gush]

A google search shows floyd rose retainer bars but I see no sign of one ever having been installed on this guitar . This is my first so definitely a Floyd Rose "virgin" here
This is a picture of the nut area with clamps from headstock


Edit, now I see where one would be, definitely not something that my guitar has or ever had.
See picture of Kramer headstock, I guess this is what you mean?

I would not put one on your guitar. To me there is zero benefit. It is a real life PITA to feed strings under it. I know this from experience.

 

[JasonE]

I would not put one on your guitar. To me there is zero benefit. It is a real life PITA to feed strings under it. I know this from experience.

I agree. I have had some guitars with them and some without. I prefer to not have it. You will get scratches on your headstock from pushing the strings under the bar as well.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

Helpful tip here. When stringing Floyd's, always leave ball end on headstock end. Don't clip ball end off and stick it in locking saddle.

I do this as well

Wrap more than you need as well. When you break a string it will ALWAYS happen at the saddle sooooo if you have extra wraps and ball end is at the tuner you can loosen locking saddle and pull broken part of the string out, wind out a bunch of string, put it back in saddle, clamp it and tune. String is already stretched and string won't pull out of tuner while you're doing this.

And this

I would not put one on your guitar. To me there is zero benefit. It is a real life PITA to feed strings under it. I know this from experience.

Agree, never add one! I don't like them but my current Floyd guitar has one… whether it’s needed or not depends on headstock angle. So if it’s not there it’s not needed.

 

[dkilpatrick]

A google search shows floyd rose retainer bars but I see no sign of one ever having been installed on this guitar . This is my first so definitely a Floyd Rose "virgin" here
This is a picture of the nut area with clamps from headstock


Edit, now I see where one would be, definitely not something that my guitar has or ever had.
See picture of Kramer headstock, I guess this is what you mean?

Not having one is completely fine, I also do not have one on my Floyd equipped guitar. You will notice a bit more drift in the tuning when clamping without one and you might have to pre compensate a little more for it.

 

[RossF]

I think it works because you're pre-adjusting for tuning the rest of the strings. If you tune the low E first, as you adjust the rest of the strings, the bridge shifts its equilibrium with the springs, and takes that low E back out of tune. The same is true on a PRS trem, but I don't think it shifts as much, but I have no real evidence to back that up.

Sounds reasonable to me.

I can confirm your thoughts on the PRS trem. I changed the gauge on my JH from .10s to Hybrid Slinkys. I didn't have to set up the trem, but I did have to retune it and compensate by adjusting the low E to get it to stabilize.

 

[dmatthews]

I had a Yammy with a Floyd. Not for long though...

 

[Max Headroom]

I think it's all going to be worth the effort as the Brian Moore iM superstrat with HSH configuration just sounds amazing and the neck is super slinky.

I may have to consider trying out a Silver Sky as I seem to be gravitating towards Strat type of late.
A Carvin Bolt in SSH configuration also joined my stable a couple months back which is also really growing on me.

 

[JasonE]

The one and only guitar I have with a Floyd on it is a 1993 USA Hamer Diablo with a reverse headstock. It reminds me of my days as a young guitar player. Honestly, it is one that I will probably sell if I start a purge.

 

[Max Headroom]

The one and only guitar I have with a Floyd on it is a 1993 USA Hamer Diablo with a reverse headstock. It reminds me of my days as a young guitar player. Honestly, it is one that I will probably sell if I start a purge.

I likely will not be hunting for another one anytime soon I must admit.
I got back late last night and tried it this morning and it was still nicely in tune from where I left it Sunday night so I must have got it mostly right.

It just happened to be Floyd equipped, it was the rest of the guitar I was intrigued by and impressed with.
And still am it's a real shredder machine!
The humbuckers say Seymour Duncan on them but they definitely ain't your dad's pups!
They freaking scream!
Next string change I will pull them just to see what they are.

 

[JasonE]

I likely will not be hunting for another one anytime soon I must admit.
I got back late last night and tried it this morning and it was still nicely in tune from where I left it Sunday night so I must have got it mostly right.

It just happened to be Floyd equipped, it was the rest of the guitar I was intrigued by and impressed with.
And still am it's a real shredder machine!
The humbuckers say Seymour Duncan on them but they definitely ain't your dad's pups!
They freaking scream!
Next string change I will pull them just to see what they are.

The guy I bought this Hamer from put a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge position. Definitely hot and definitely not your Dad's pickup. This is the one that many of us went to back in the 80's and 90's. The guitar is a pearl white and the pickup is a double white bobbin. It looks goon and works well in the guitar. I still have the original pickup as well.

 

[Max Headroom]

The guy I bought this Hamer from put a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge position. Definitely hot and definitely not your Dad's pickup. This is the one that many of us went to back in the 80's and 90's. The guitar is a pearl white and the pickup is a double white bobbin. It looks goon and works well in the guitar. I still have the original pickup as well.

This was one of the three new to me guitars I acquired on the Veterans Day weekend.
But what I think will be the star of the show is out for delivery today and that will get a NGD post


Edit...and literally as I finished typing the UPS van arrived so without any further delays.....

 

[Maxime Bousquet]

Also look at the springs, sometimes it does not return the trem to the Zero position, I also always lubricated the knives, and as everyone says, tightened the strings to the fullest maximum!