Floyd Rose problem

Den_M

I recently bought a guitar with a licensed Floyd Rose. Brought it to a local music shop to get it set up and re-strung. The strings are now in tune in relation to each other but are all slightly flat. The fine tuners don't seem to be correcting it. When I use them to tune slightly up it doesn't stay. I brought it back from the music shop on a cold day so that might have knocked it out a bit but I should be able to adjust it back again shouldn't I?
The guitar is a Jackson DKMG by the way.

-=al=-

did they stretch the strings???? u gota break the strings in when theres new ones put on so they can stretch and get used to the tension, if they're not stretched proerly they will go out of tune for a bit, it will take a while to get used to it if your new to floating trems...

also, if they're slightly goin flat another thing u can do is tighten the tremolo itself - tighten the screws in the spring claw in the back cavity of the body, it will tighten the strings a bit BUT it will change the angle and position of the tremolo itself...

the tension of the springs relies on the tension of the strings and the tremolo unit itself "floats" inbetween, when u have it set up the way u like it it wont be as bad...

its always recomended that the trem is resting parrallel with the body of the guitar but i personally like a slight angle to the trem

Doctor J

Have a good read of this and this.

Firstly, undo the nut locks and turn the thumbscrews on the bridge anit-clockwise until they're having only one or two turns on them from being entirely slack. Now tune the guitar using only the machine heads. A Floyd bridge is balanced in position between the force of the strings trying to pull it forward and the force of the springs trying to pull it back. You want to have it set up in such a way that when you are correctly in pitch using the gauge of strings you like, the baseplate of the Floyd bridge will be in a horizontal or neutral position or you may experience tuning issues when you use the trem. The only way to do this is to balance the pull of the strings vs the pull of the springs by adjusting the postion of the claw the springs are attached to. Get the guitar into pitch first. Make sure your E is E, A is A, etc. You can save yourself a bit of time by tuning beyond the note, ie tune your low E sharp, tune it to F, by the time you tune the rest of the strings up (you will have increased the force of the strings vs the force of the springs and pulled the bridge forward) it will probably be flat again. This takes a long time and is a royal pain in the ass but that's the price of a floating trem. Just make sure the guitar is exactly in pitch using the machine heads only.

The thumbscrews on the Floyd are for making fine adjustments only. Use the machine heads to get it into tune, be as precise as it takes here. Your guitar's tuning shouldn't change once you re-apply the locks on the nut. Once you tighten the nut locks the guitar should still be in tune and at the correct pitch and any fine adjustments can be applied using the thumbscrews.

Now, once it's in tune with open strings, is it still in tune when you fret notes?

-=al=-

http://www.ibanezrules.com has a good tech section too

Den_M

It's parallell to the body of the guitar and the strings were stretched. I'd unlock the nut and re-tune again, but the guy who set up and re-strung it accidentally cut the d string at the wrong point once he'd finished, so that's all that's holding it in place!

Are the horizontal screws before the fine-tuners just for keeping the strings in place?
Thanks for the help.

Voodu Child

If all the strings have gone flat in a couple of days since it was set up, it wasnt set up properly. And if the goon in the guitar shop has managed to snip the string between the locking nut and the tuning post, he hasnt a clue what hes doing, and more than likely has made a dogs dinner of the whole thing.

Stick on a new D string and just set the guitar up again yourself. You should be really grabbing the wound strings and stretching the bejasus out of them (dont be quite so aggressive with the unwound cos they dont stretch as much, and will snap easier). Otherwise, every couple of days youll have to keep opening the locking nuts and retuning, and eventually youll find the bridge angle is way off.

If you do the job properly once, and stick to the same gauge and brand, it will be much easier the next time, youll only have to make very minor adjustments to the spring tension

Doctor J

I'd echo that, sounds like the guy that did it isn't entirely up to scratch. One thing: When you do re-string it, replace one string at a time - ie, leave 5 old strings on and up to pitch, get the new string up to pitch and stretched and save yourself a whole lot of time.

Den_M

The guy who did it is usually really good. He was just kinda spacing when cutting the excess string off at the end and clipped the wrong side of the machine head by mistake I think. I'll try what you said voodoo_child. Thanks to the both of you for the replies.

Voodu Child

Well I change strings at least once every month or so (or sooner if I snap my high E), and after they go on and get stretched up, i usually dont have to open the locking nut at all. If youre strings are gone flat to the extent that you cant correct it with the fine tuners, then they werent stretched properly. So forget the guy who set it up, and start learning it yourself.

Just remember that its a balancing act between the strings and the trem springs. Otherwise, youll tune all the strings up, and find the trem is right up i the air - so youll tighten the trem springs to get it back down, only now the strings are gone sharp. So you bring the pitch of the strings back down, and the trem is up in the air again... trust me that youll figure it out eventually...good luck anyway