ocnor said:
Open up the back plate. Tighten the 2 screws in the bracket that hold the springs until the tailpiece is level. If you run out of slack you may need to add an extra spring.
DING! DING! DING!
You need to tighten the spring claw with a screwdriver. Be sure to tighten both screws evenly.
If you ever change spring gauges, it's best to change one string at a time (always do that anyway), and tighten or loosen the claw as necessary as you get each new string up to pitch and in-tune with the other strings.
Stretching your strings also helps with tremolo systems. I always stretch the holy hell out of my strings when I put them on. I start with my low E and I put my left hand on the fretboard, and pick the string up with my right hand about 2-3 inches down the fretboard and pull upwards a few times. Then I slide down the neck 1-2 frets until I get as far as I can. Then I re-tune. Doing this 4 or 5 times in a row takes about a minute, but by the end, you can yank the crap out of the string and barely pull it out of tune. Then, onto the next.
Another method that would be a bit more involved but works a treat on the Parker guitars is this. Open your tremolo cavity and stick something between the body and the block of the trem to shim it in place (so the bridge action is right where you want it). If you're going with a heavier gauge of string, tighten the spring claw a bit, but not too much. If you are going lighter, you can leave the claw where it is.
Then you change strings and tune normally. If going with a heavier gauge string, make sure the block doesn't move and the shim stays where it should. If it starts to come loose or falls out, put it back in and tighten the claw some more.
When your guitar is in tune and the bridge is still flat and shimmed properly, slowly start backing off the spring claw tension until you are able to remove the shim. At this point you might have to tighten the claw just a little bit to pull your guitar back in tune.
It may sound involved, but it stops you from having to tune EADGBE-EADGBE-EADGBE 15 times until it's right. The Parker guitars have a switch on the back to block the tremolo and a wheel on the front to control the spring tension. So this can be done without tools for me. My 80s ESP also had a screw built into the bridge block so you could keep the bridge from moving sharp and you could tighten the spring so hard that it would never move. I have a thing for blocked trems that only go down.
