Tuning a guitar with a Floyd Rose trem?

[Evil Undead]

(Hoping this is the right place to put this!)

I have a Jackson DX10D guitar with a FR trem.

It's half a semitone flat on all strings, and I don't know how to tune it up. Do I use the fine tuners, or is this too big an adjustment for them? Maybe should I remove the locking nut clamps and tune from there?

I've not had this guitar for long, and have never ever tuned a guitar with a FR before.

Help!!!!

Any advice would be awesome, cheers

[fleabee]

Cant hurt to watch this or the hundreds of youtube vids on this exact topic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQQT9...044&feature=iv

[tycobb73]

for a half step I'd loosen the clamps and do it that way. Once you get them all tuned up check them again.

[Evil Undead]

Hey fleabee

Yeah, I've watched about 20 of these types of vid, but I never find them quite detailed enough
I wanna know everything haha

[Spraeg]

Take the clamps off, tune slightly higher than the note, then back down to pitch, put the clamps back on, and adjust with the bridge tuners. 3 bands with guitarists who play Jacksons, I've seen it done enough times, but someone else may be able to give you a more detailed description.

[jive1]

1. Make sure you have enough give at the fine tuners to raise or lower pitch.

2. Loosen the clamps at the nut.

3. Tune the strings to pitch.

4 If the trem isn't floating the way you like, or it is floating too much, open the back plate where the tremolo springs are and tighten or loosen the springs. You may need to add another spring if the trem floats too much. Go back to step 3 If it's OK proceed to the next step.

5. Tighten down the clamps

6 Use the fine tuners to tune it to pitch if the clamps knock it out of tune.

7. Rock out

[JTE]

Originally Posted by jive1

1. Make sure you have enough give at the fine tuners to raise or lower pitch.

2. Loosen the clamps at the nut.

3. Tune the strings to pitch.

4 If the trem isn't floating the way you like, or it is floating too much, open the back plate where the tremolo springs are and tighten or loosen the springs. You may need to add another spring if the trem floats too much. Go back to step 3 If it's OK proceed to the next step.

5. Tighten down the clamps

6 Use the fine tuners to tune it to pitch if the clamps knock it out of tune.

7. Rock out

Um, you left out 6a. Repeat the above 25 times until it settles into tune and stays there....

Hate Floyds, just absolutely hate 'em. I'd rather restring a guitar with a Bigsby and a slotted headstock than anything with a Floyd or a Kahler...

John

[ggunn]

As with any other floating bridge, every adjustment you make to a string affects all the others in the opposite direction. If you have to bring the guitar up a half step, tune the first string you change a half step sharp, and bring each successive string up a little less sharp than the one before it. Keep cycling through the strings until you've gone through them all without making a change to any of them.

We floating bridge guys all have something twisted in our makeup.

[jive1]

Originally Posted by JTE

Um, you left out 6a. Repeat the above 25 times until it settles into tune and stays there....

Hate Floyds, just absolutely hate 'em. I'd rather restring a guitar with a Bigsby and a slotted headstock than anything with a Floyd or a Kahler...

John

LOL

I took care of that by not making my Floyd float. It only goes down. The way I see it, I can bend up but can bend down. It also improves the tone to my ears.

I hear you about the Floyd. But, when it comes to a massive dive-bomb, it's hard to beat a Floyd.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

FR is a hard piece to get working as planned, but when You get the hang of it, it'll be a breeze. EVERY single FR user has gone through the steepish learning curve or given up.

Without good 'ol Floyd, the guitar music wouldn't be the same as it's today. Too bad it was for the expence of a great early metal band:Q5. Check 'em out.

Regards
Sam

[Evil Undead]

Lol, thanks for all the responses guys
Ok... think I get the idea... but what about re-stringing? Would I need to tune up and let the new set stretch out before putting the clamps back on and finishing the job?

[Implosion]

One string at a time. Remove the old string, replace with a new string. Repeat six times.

Also, licensed FR-trems don't usually have a long life expectancy. The materials used are cheap and wear out quite fast => tuning problems.

[Evil Undead]

Originally Posted by Implosion

One string at a time. Remove the old string, replace with a new string. Repeat six times.

Ok, sounds like it's not too bad. I am so nervous about making any adjustments to my guitar, cos I don't wanna break it (It's all shiny and new!) but I guess the best way to learn is to just get on with it?

Also, licensed FR-trems don't usually have a long life expectancy. The materials used are cheap and wear out quite fast => tuning problems.

Oh bummer. How long is not long?
Are they replaceable?

[Evil Undead]

Any further bids?

[jive1]

Originally Posted by Implosion

One string at a time. Remove the old string, replace with a new string. Repeat six times.

Also, licensed FR-trems don't usually have a long life expectancy. The materials used are cheap and wear out quite fast => tuning problems.

Really, I've had guitars with Floyd Lic trems that lasted for years without any tuning problems. But not all FR Lic trems are the same. Some are nicer than others.

[jive1]

Originally Posted by Evil Undead

Lol, thanks for all the responses guys
Ok... think I get the idea... but what about re-stringing? Would I need to tune up and let the new set stretch out before putting the clamps back on and finishing the job?

IMO, stretching the string won't do too much. Most of the time, "stretching" the string makes the windings on the tuner tighter, more consistent, thus less likely to go out of tune. But on a FR trem, it won't make that big of difference since once the clamps are down, the tuners don't do anything.


One trick for restringing for any floating trem is to put a wedge between the trem and the body so the trem is closer to being in the same position as when it's strung. An old toothbrush handle works fine for me. That way when you tune the guitar, the trem is closer to the position it's supposed to be in, and you won't have to retune as much to get the trem into place.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by jive1

IMO, stretching the string won't do too much. Most of the time, "stretching" the string makes the windings on the tuner tighter, more consistent, thus less likely to go out of tune.

I don't think so. I don't believe that stretching strings is just tightening them on the tuning pegs.

Someone with a locking nut try this, willya? Tune up without stretching, lock the nut, then stretch the strings. I'm betting they go way flat.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by Implosion

One string at a time. Remove the old string, replace with a new string. Repeat six times.

Also, licensed FR-trems don't usually have a long life expectancy. The materials used are cheap and wear out quite fast => tuning problems.

Nobody is saying why, but let me tell you. You do one string at at time because if you start removing strings and NOT putting a new one back to take the tension, pretty soon the last string is holding up a huge tension alone and it snaps. It'll be quite a surprise, but once you've done it once you won't forget it!

I don't agree with the short life expectancy thing. I've got a
LOT of FL trems. They are my Fav. Many are major cheapo (those are the kind of guitars I like that have mojo) I can't say I've never had a failure, because I have. Problems tend to center around the fine tuning screws which strip out of the cheap metal. Turn the other way as I tell you I fixed it by mashing the cheap metal threaded plate with a hammer to squish the holes and re-tapping the threads. The other problem is that the wammy bar friction joint tends to wear. Usually a new handle (if you can find one) fixes that. But a quality FR does last slightly better than an Asian "licensed" one. However, you should notice (as I did) that while a replacement FR bridge can be purchased, they cost like $200. This is more than I paid for most of my FR guitars WITH the FR parts on it! In fact in one case (my Hamer Slammer) I just bought another used guitar just to get the FR parts.

And I'd suggest that when installing new strings. Center the fine tuners before installing the strings and using headstock tuners. My personal preference is to NOT tighten the nut string clamps until the guitar with the new strings has "settled" for a few days. Just leave the fine tuners centered and only use the headstock tuners to adjust tuning as strings stretch etc. Playing it in this period helps it settle in. Then give it a final tuning and clamp the nut. Hopefully, it will stay in range of the fine tuners.

And if you think a FR is a pain in the butt with standard tuning you ought to try it with an open tuning of some kind! But hey there is NOTHING like a FR!

Enjoy!

[jive1]

Originally Posted by ggunn

I don't think so. I don't believe that stretching strings is just tightening them on the tuning pegs.

Someone with a locking nut try this, willya? Tune up without stretching, lock the nut, then stretch the strings. I'm betting they go way flat.

Every time you bend, you are stretching a string by giving it more tension than when it is in tune. So based on what you're saying, every time you bend a string it should go flat.

You get a little give on a new set of strings, but like I said, most of the "stretch" comes from pulling on strings so that the windings get tighting on the tuning pegs. The rest comes from change in the metal caused by tension.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by jive1

Every time you bend, you are stretching a string by giving it more tension than when it is in tune. So based on what you're saying, every time you bend a string it should go flat.

You get a little give on a new set of strings, but like I said, most of the "stretch" comes from pulling on strings so that the windings get tighting on the tuning pegs. The rest comes from change in the metal caused by tension.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Strings stretch to a point and then stabilize. If I bend a string before I've stretched them out, it will indeed go very flat. There's just not nearly enough slack at the tuners to make strings go as flat as they do when I stretch them.

Tell you what; the next time I put on new strings, I'll mark where they cross the nut with a sharpie. If you are right, the mark will move quite a ways onto the fretboard when the strings adjust their position on the pegs. I'll wager whatever you want to bet that you are wrong, though.