Floyd Rose trem question

[King Elvis]

A neighbor just gave me an old MIK Kramer Striker guitar that he had in a closet since the 80's. The thing has an original Floyd Rose that locks at the bridge but not at the nut. I dont have any guitars with a Floyd on them so I wanted to work on it and get it in playing condition. My question is, does the bridge lay flush against the body of the axe when it is correct. This one has the Floyd sitting way off the body and I didnt know if this is correct or do I need to do some adjustments.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

Depends. Some guitars are set up for the FR to float so that it can rock backwards a little, and some are set up for it to be flush and rock backwards into a recessed area (think Steve Vai). Still others are set up for it to actuall lay flat agains the body and not rock backwards at all (think EVH).

I owned 2 Strikers back in the '80's, and both had the FR sitting parallel with the top of the body and slightly raised... maybe 1/8 inch.


A
www.aaroncheney.com

 

[AcidRain]

Well... if the bridge is "way off the body", you need to have it lowered. Where you stop is based, as Aaron said, on the type of floyd.

 

[Light]

The important thing is that it is parallel with the body, or else you will never be able to get the intonation right. The height is a factor of action, on all Floyds. The higher the bridge is off the body, the higher the action. If you have the right amount of bow in the neck, you want to have the strings about 5/64" off the twelfth fret on the high "E" and about 6-7/64 on the low "E" (again, measured off the top of the twelfth fret). This is what I would call "spec" action for an electric. You can sometimes go a little higher or a little lower, depending on your playing style. However, make sure your bridge is parallel with the body when the guitar is tuned to pitch, otherwise the action will change as you start to adjust the intonation. It becomes like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except for the needle keeps moving into the part of the haystack you have already searched. Very bad indeed.

Or just take it to a good repair person and have them do it. Then you don't have to worry about the extreme annoyance of doing it yourself.


Light

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M.K. Gandhi