Floyd rose tuning

b0bsquish

Ive recently got my hands on an ibanez RG470, for the life of me I cant get the damn thing to stay in tune long enough to play a note, Ive never actually tuned a floyd rose before and Im being guided by google, so im guessing Ive made a c*ck of it somewhere! Anyone got any useful tips for me?


PS I blame this all on karls infectious ibanez gas :pac:

Gary ITR

Floyds can be difficult at the start... although a friend was playing my guitar and said it was strange that it was falling in and out of tune, idiot was resting his hand on the bridge

First of all undo the lock nuts, then tune top to bottom and repeat the cycle till it is in tune, the bridge should be level with the body when it is in tune.

Replace the lock nuts and tighten them up (don't over tighten)

After this is done check it is in tune, if not then onto the fine tuners at the bridge. Should stay in tune forever* then


*May not stay in tune forever

feylya

First of all, check out the resource sticky for a guide on how to set up Floyds. They're a beast to get right. When tuning, I tune from the middle out meaning I tune D then G then A then B then E and finally high E. Helps keep balance while tuning.

Voodu Child

b0bsquish wrote: »

Anyone got any useful tips for me?

Best thing to do is read and get your head around a full setup guide.

But for quick tips:
-Stretch the strings. Has to be done, or a floating trem will be all over the place. There is a huge amount of stretch to be had particularly in the wound strings. I can't emphasise how important this is, and most guys would be amazed at the amount of stretch in the strings.

-Get the trem perfectly level. The knife edges should be at exactly right angles to the posts. On some trems, you can see the knife edges through the side of the trem:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/images/tech/angle/ep_knife_close.jpg

-Lubricate the posts/knife edge. Just with a dab of chapstick or vaseline.

-Drop the bar before final tune-up (after the nut has been locked). Then, if you think you're out of tune, drop the bar again and hopefully it'll return to the same spot.

They're about the only 'quick' tips I can think of, you should definitely learn the full workings of locking trems. And of course, some trems just won't be as stable as others. Plus wear and tear on the knife edges etc.

b0bsquish

I'll give that another lash this evening after work and see how I get on.

And yes I did actually rest my hand on it the first time, quickly learned my lesson as I hadnt tightened the lock nut enough and the string promptly shot out at me. Demon things!

b0bsquish

Cheers for all the replies!
I seem to have found a new problem now (YAY) strings are touching the frets (quite tightly too) I think Im just going to end up taking this to get someone to look at it/show me what to do

-=al=-

strech those string-o's

thats the trick really, after a while you'll get used to it and ways to do it faster its easy enough, use elixers cause it will stay in tune for weeks/ months on end

Karl Hungus

b0bsquish wrote: »

PS I blame this all on karls infectious ibanez gas :pac:

Sorry about that.

Seriously though, it can take a little getting used to, but once you've got your trem set up, you'll have incredibly stable tuning. I greatly recommend you read the guides here, they're about as detailed and thorough and you could want, and you'll learn quite a bit from them.

I know it can be crazy at first, I remember my first floating trem, and it was nuts just trying to give it a proper setup, but once I got used to setting it up, I find it incredibly easy. So just stick in there, and you'll do fine.