My son got a Schecter Synyster Gates model guitar for Christmas with a Floyd Rose trem. He's broken a few strings since, and we've replaced them with no problem. Yesterday he broke the fourth string and replaced it, and it's fine, but the first string is vibrating against the one screw on the saddle... I'm not sure about how to adjust it... anyone have a clue as to what could be wrong and how to adjust it? If I push down on the bar a little, the vibration goes away, so maybe the bridge is too far down?
Thoughts?
Hey Mark.
Floyds are (or can be) a shit to set-up which is why I don't own any floyd equiped guitars anymore.
How ever...Depending on the type of floyd bridge you have, (a pic would be good), the best way to set them up is with a new set of strings.
Put the new set on and leave the locking nut undone until the last minute (it's the last thing you do) tune the guitar to concert pitch and check to see if the base plate of the floyd is level with the body of the guitar. when I say level, I mean that the front of the bridge (where the pivot points are and the back (where the fine tuners are) are the same height from the body. If not, adjust the spring retaining claw in the back cavity (usualy two phillips screws) until it is then retune. Do this until you 'balance' the base plate.
Play the thing until the strings stop going out of tune, do the locking nut up, then you can tune it using the fine-tuners on the back of the bridge.
The thing about your post that worries me is you saying that the top string is buzzing against a screw :-?. Is it one of the small 'grub' screws that adjust the saddle height? If so, the strings should pass an equal distance between these on each saddle.
Like I say, good clear pictures would help us to help you.
P.S. There are several items on google that give you a full set-up guide to floyd-rose bridges.
http://www.imuso.co.uk/directory/guitar-lessons/floyd-rose-trem.htm
Here's a good one for starters.
Mark,
The first thing to look for is what Andy mentioned about the trem being level. If it tilts back, the strings can hit something that they are supposed to be suspended over.
Basically, Jr needs to learn the process of how to restring a Floyd guitar. A couple tips to make it a bit simpler: Run the strings backwards. Ball end through the tuner end. 3 wraps around it then run it down the guitar to the locking part of the bridge. Here's another tip that I came up with. When tuning ANY guitar with a floating bridge (I did the same thing on my strat before I reset it to be non-floating) take a piece of notebook paper and fold it in half over and over until it becomes thick enough that you can push down on the bar, tuck the paper under it, and it will hold it at the "level" position. This way, when you cut the strings off, the bridge won't be pulled all the way down by the springs. This is FAR FAR better than letting it do that, because the you add more and more winds around the string peg as you keep tuning. It keeps pulling the bridge back up to where it's supposed to be. Do the complete restringing with the paper under it. Do all your string stretching with the paper still under it. When you think the strings are fully stretched, THEN take the paper out and begin the "adjust the springs-retune" ritual. Yes, you need to do this EVERY time you restring IMO. Even putting back on the identical kind of strings, I've never not had the bridge need some adjustment.
Oh, and sometimes I'll play the strings an evening or so before I tighten the nut string locks. They will continue to slightly stretch and you want to take all that out with the tuners. Speaking of which, set your adjustment screws on the floyd in the middle of their range before tuning, so that once they are locked you have up or down tuning ability at the bridge.
There's more...
This is NOT fun, and it does take a little time, but it's part of owning a Floyd. Got to take the good with the bad. Kinda like being married.... :D
Thanks, guys. spud's post hit it right on... he put a string from a set of nines on... for the third time. Didn't realize it came stock with 10s. Restrung it with 10s and all was good again. There wasn't enough tension to hold it level.
But, you're right... it is a bitch... labor of love it is. Gotta be.
Did you explain to him what all the knobs on the guitar do yet?
;)
In lieu of figuring out how to stabilize the bridge and take off all the strings at once, you can change them one at a time. makes any sort of cleaning a bit more tricky, but basically works on all mine...
Even putting back on the identical kind of strings, I've never not had the bridge need some adjustment.
I've run into this with some of my guitars, but not all of them... Even more oddly, it only happened some times... I will say it has happened a *lot* less with heavier gauge strings. In fact, I think beyond my red nez which has a messed up knife edge, I don't have this issue at all anymore. but I use Hybrid slinkies - .52 to .10
My 7 string is crazily consistent, and stays in tune amazingly well. Change strings and it's exactly in the same spot. Oddly, this bridge gets badmouthed on all the forums, yet it's been the most stable, trouble free floyd (licensed) I've had. Also I have 4 springs on it - that may add to the stability.
KrankZilla — Feb 07, 2009 Even putting back on the identical kind of strings, I've never not had the bridge need some adjustment.
Also I have 4 springs on it - that may add to the stability.
I've come across this theory before as well. I think it might have been Jeff Healey (not sure) who used a classic 6 screw Fender trem with light guage strings but had all 5 springs in the back and had stupid consistancy with tuning and general string life. Whoever it was, the downside was that they had to work harder when bending which when you look at it long term is not such a bad thing.
Just a theory as I don't know if the answers are the same for a Floyd as for a standard trem. As I said earlier in the thread, I don't have any locking
trem guitars any more for the very reason we are discussing this. Life's too short. Get a good nut, a Wilkinson/Gotoh bridge and some Sperzel/Gotoh M/H's and your good to go. (IMHO)
yeah, and what Paul said is probably the best advice for Mark. The old "one string at a time" really simplifies restringing a Floyd guitar.
My advice was based on the fact that since I started using the Duncan string cleaner, my strings last so long that I usually want to do a fingerboard clean, fret polish etc almost every time I restring so I just make an evening out of it. :)