I greatly dislike floyd rose floating bridges

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wreckd504

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When you release the string tension the springs need to be recalibrated(?)

When you're tuning it will get to a certain point then it will slip down, like the springs lose tension, driving me crazy.

So to counter it, I wedged two erasers on either site of the floating thing thats in the back to stop the springs from taking the tension.

I could just buy a guitar that doesn't have a floating bridge, but I really like my Talman. Do you think this is weird?
 
The fastest way to get used to a Floyd, is to remove all strings and set-up from scratch. I showed a couple of students that, now they love the Floyds.:cool:
 
Nope - people lock down tremolos all the time when they either aren't using them or like a guitar that they didn't want a trem on, but it incidentally has one.

I used to play an Ibanez electric that had one of the cheap Floyds on it, and I don't use a trem, so I did essentially what you did, except I cut a piece of wood that was thick enough to place between the trem block and the little wall of the cavity, under where the springs are suspended. Then I tightened the springs so that the bridge would stay where it was whether there was string tension on the guitar or not.

Worked wonderfully. I'd imagine this is a similar situation for other guitarists as well, who might have purchased a guitar with the intent of using the tremolo, and then decided they didn't need it, or, as I said, just like to switch back and forth every so often. I agree though, it is a pain to keep the thing balanced, etc., especially when you don't even need it - it is much more annoying having to deal with problems on an instrument that don't, in the end, offer any advantage to your playing.
 
Yes, there is a certain way you have to approach tuning a Floyd equipped guitar if it is full floating. You just have to get used to it. When you tighten a string, of course it pulls on the springs and in turn, the other strings can fall out of tune.
Try taking each string above pitch as you're tuning to offset those effects. As you get them all closer to pitch the others will come back down and even out your tension.
Once you get used to dealing with one, all of that stuff becomes no big deal. I can restring and tune my guitar in just a few minutes, it's second nature.
 
I agree with Metalhead but I would also like to add that having the right amount of spring tension for your string gauge/set up is also critical.

Also, when you are tuning a floyd and get it close - quickly tune the first two strings, and then lock those two. Then tune the next two and lock those, and so on. The trick is to be quick...
 
I spent about 10 years with a full floating Floyd Rose and I really got to hate it. I understood how to adjust it and everything, but who wants to spend the time and effort? And doing a drop-D or other alternate tunings? Forget about it!

I went to the opposite end of the spectrum when I rebounded from the Floyd: Tune-O-Matic!
 
amra said:
I agree with Metalhead but I would also like to add that having the right amount of spring tension for your string gauge/set up is also critical.

Also, when you are tuning a floyd and get it close - quickly tune the first two strings, and then lock those two. Then tune the next two and lock those, and so on. The trick is to be quick...
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If you lock down 2 strings before you tune the others, don't you end up knocking them out of tune when you tune the others? That's my experience anyway. I get the whole thing balanced and in tune before I lock anything down.

And to the OP, remember that the whole thing is just a balancing act between the strings and the springs. Lower tuning or lighter strings = less spring tension to counter it. And vice-versa. Raising the pitch of one string will pull harder against the springs and the other strings will go slack.
Also, when changing strings it's smart to change them one string at a time so you don't have to go through the whole act of getting things balanced again.
 
I encounter alot of floating bridge hate around here! :D

You can do awesome things with a Floyd Rose, that makes it worth the (tiny bit of) extra effort. :p
 
If you do a little research you can find some you tube clips that go through a step by step on setting up a Floyd Rose. It isn't a big deal. Most people don't like Floyds out of ignorence. If you take the time to learn about your instrument it won't be a problem to change strings/tune.
 
If you lock down 2 strings before you tune the others, don't you end up knocking them out of tune when you tune the others?
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i do the same thing...but the E and A strings cause the most change in tension, so if you lock those down 1st, the change in the others won't affect them all that much

the trick i use is to let the fine-tuning screws at the bridge most of the way out...that way, when you tune from D-E and the 1st two strings get knocked out of tune, it can be fixed with a couple of turns of the screws

now if you want to talk a REAL pain in the ass...i had to set the intonation on a floyd bridge the other day, and that sucked more than anything.
 
The biggest fuck-up of the design is, that when you break a single string for example, on a gig... The whole tuning is shot, rendering the instrumen totally useless, until re-strung.:(
 
my floyd is to hard to push down, I would like it effortless. How can I accomplish that?
 
A Floyd Rose isn't any different than any other full-floating trem with regard to tuning, string changes, and having your tuning going to hell in a handbasket when you break a string.

All of them (as far as I know) are balancing spring tension against string tension.

That said, I once played with a guitarist that retrofit his LP with a FR, and he was very fast with string changes, and once he got his strings stretched, tuned, and locked down, his tuning stayed rock solid.
 
Jouni said:
The biggest fuck-up of the design is, that when you break a single string for example, on a gig... The whole tuning is shot, rendering the instrumen totally useless, until re-strung.:(
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It's not a design fuckup, it's the tradeoff. If you think you can design a truly floating bridge assembly that doesn't do that, go ahead. You'll be a wealthy man.
 
ggunn said:
It's not a design fuckup, it's the tradeoff. If you think you can design a truly floating bridge assembly that doesn't do that, go ahead. You'll be a wealthy man.
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That's what I've been trying to think of, off and on, for the last couple of years - and a surface mount to boot.

I'm not wealthy yet. :D
 
Metalhead, it does throw them off a tiny bit, but nothing you can't fix with your fine tuners.
 
i've owned two ibanez guitars both with floyd rose trem's on them. i LOVED how it would stay in tune pretty much no matter what i played or how. dive bombs and all. but yes they did take a little extra effort.
 
some guys just struggle and struggle with floyd roses.


other guys, play the hell out of them, and never have a problem.

go figure.
 
i think the real trick, like someone mentioned above, is really to strip one completely apart, and do an entire setup from the ground-up...change strings, adjust spring tension, set action/intonation, then tune and lock

as soon as you can go through the entire process once, it's all cheddar from there
 
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