Before getting down to the step-by-step guide of the installation of a Floyd Rose bridge, we should understand some of the basics. A o be called Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. It was first invented in by Floyd D. Rose who was a member of a rock band at that time.
Due to his skill and knowledge as a jeweler, he created a brass nut which locked the strings with 3 U-shaped clamps to keep his Strat in tune. Through many years, this tool is more and more popular among those who love the guitar. A Floyd Rose will allow you to lock the strings in place at two points on your guitar: at the locking nut and at the bridge itself. The nut which uses 3 metal plates locking down 2 strings each and being tightened with an Allen key will stop the strings from sliding over the nut and going out of tune when using the whammy bar.
In the meantime, the bridge features locking saddles into which the strings are inserted and it also features fine tuners, which allows the guitarists to tune the guitars if the strings flatten or sharpen from extensive tremolo use. By incorporating a string locking system at both saddle ends and the nut, the Floyd Rose bridge can help you avoid the problem of tuning instability through large pitch changes that traditional vibrato systems often meet.
Even though the Floyd Rose is considered to have the best design when compared with the others in the floating tremolo system, it still has some shortcomings that can make you frustrated and confused. The article today will provide you with detailed steps of correctly setting up a guitar with a Floyd Rose tremolo in an easy way.
First and foremost, you need to change the strings. This step is very vital for any guitar setup process because old strings will finally go dead and can even cause intonation issues. Nearly all Floyd rose bridges have locking nuts to prevent the strings from sliding on the nut when you are taking tremolo action, hence the first step in replacing the strings is removing the nut.
To do so, you will use a 2. Remember that you should change the strings one at a time since this action will help keep the tremolo floating appropriately, minimize any major change in tension on the guitar as well as save you from plenty of extra adjustments during the process. After removing the nuts and loosening the strings, you keep using the 2.
You can use another Allen Wrench to loosen the clamp on the string saddle and remove the string. Then you will cut the ball end with the wire cutter and thread the string through the machine head.
After that, you will pull all the slack from the string before tightening the trim lock into place. Before cutting the excess part off, you should tune to the desired pitch to make sure that all the strings are tuned appropriately. Remember that you should put the clamps back into place and be sure that they are lined up properly.
However, you should not rush to tighten the clamps yet because you will have to make a lot of adjustments in the next steps…. In this step, you will take out the cloth under the tremolo first. If it is parallel, there is nothing for you to do in this step and you just need to skip to the next step quickly.
Conversely, if the bridge is not floating precisely, you should check again to detach the whammy bar as well as use a Phillips head screwdrivers to remove the back plate of the spring compartment.
And if the bridge is angled towards the headstock, you should turn the screws in a clockwise direction to tighten the springs. And this check may be repeated many times until you get the desired result. After all, you can locate the spring compartment cover back into place. Adjust it to be less than one millimeter. Once the truss-rod adjustment is done, you can go to the saddles and try lowering the strings from there too.
For many players, using a guitar with a Floyd Rose affects the tone of their instrument. It makes a sustain shorter and it cuts off some of the low end.
The theory behind this assumption is that Floyd Roses, or any other kind of double-locking tremolo, prevents the strings and the bridge to sit on the wood of the body. That way, a Floyd Rose is making the guitar resonate less and it kills some of the frequencies in the way.
Technically, it sounds very convincing; it is a good theory. The fact that it affects your playing is a different thing. For example, if you happen to play with a lot of distortion, then you will never feel the difference while being able to pull all the tricks this tremolo system allows you.
The height of the strings is also a huge factor to the overall tone and feel of your instrument. In this sense, Floyd-Rose equipped instruments are always the ones that allow for the lowest action. The answer is a definite yes. Will it affect your playing negatively? Well, that depends on your playing style and the rest of your gear. The thing I think you should never do unless you are doing a complete set up of your instrument, is to remove all the old strings at once.
This will cause the Floyd Rose unit to literally fall inside the cavity. This can ruin the previous set up your guitar had. That being said, you can check this great video to help you out in case you are a visual learner. Put the new ball-less string inside the empty clamp and close it firmly until it is tight.
Make the string go all the way to the tuning peg making sure it goes through the designated cavity at the locking nut. Wind the string to its tuning peg and tune it to the note you want it to be at. The first pro is actually the main reason why some guitar players do choose a Floyd Rose equipped guitar in the first place. That means to let the strings loose in the guitar by activating the tremolo and going all the way down.
This way, all the strings will go floppy and they will virtually not make any noise at all. When you hear it is actually as a dive bomb killing the guitar sound after making it go down in pitch. On the other hand, it is also possible to do a pull on this kind of floating bridge and have it go up in pitch from the original note. This was very common in the eighties and early nineties in which many guitars would have a Floyd Rose system. You can check the amazing guitar player from Pantera and Damage Plan, Dimebag Darrell doing an extreme pull with a harmonic and taking the original note way higher.
Well, the answer to that question is a definite no. I learnt all my chops on that thin and beautiful neck. My life went on and I discovered the almighty Telecaster and then owned my first Les Paul and the rest is unknown history. I opened the case and strummed an E major chord and to my absolute surprise. It was perfectly in tune. Can you believe it? Well, this is one of the biggest positive things about a Floyd Rose: the tuning stability.
Yes, it is difficult to set it perfectly in tune, but once you do, it will hold up like no other guitar. Along with the tuning stability, Floyd-Rose-equipped guitars have an amazing accuracy. Once you tune your guitar perfectly and close the clamps at the locking nut, you can still perfect your tuning with the micro-tuning wheels.
This can take your guitar to absolute perfect pitch. Also, if it goes slightly out of tune yes, Floyd Rose systems go out of tune eventually you can tune it using these little devices in the back of your tremolo. This is a plus when you compare a Floyd-Rose-equipped guitar with a Telecaster or a Stratocaster that have the strings going through the body or the tremolo, respectively.
When you are restringing a Floyd-Rose equipped guitar, all you have to do is to cut off the ball end and close the clamp on the tremolo system and the one at the locking nut to finish the job.
I am a writer but also a touring musician and have been on the road for some time without a huge budget. If I have a problem with my Telecaster or Yamaha , I open it and get it fixed myself right away or watch a YouTube tutorial or, worse case scenario, take it to the closest repair shop. If I have a Floyd-Rose equipped axe, chances are I am totally out of that guitar if I have an inconvenience with the tremolo system. Thin metal shims are readily available that sit under the saddle to raise it to the proper height.
Not all saddles need to be shimmed in order to achieve the correct or desired radius to match your instrument. Using a string radius gauge, measure the radius of the fingerboard and the radius of the strings at the saddles and see if they match.
To shim a saddle, first slacken the string at the tuner. Then loosen the saddle mounting screw and place a shim under the saddle. Retighten the mounting screw and tune the string back to pitch. Shim the saddles until the correct radius is achieved. To measure the string action at the nut you can use feeler gauges or a string action card. We measure the distance between the top of the first fret and the bottom of the string.
This is the string action at the nut. To change the height of the nut, these screws or bolts need to be taken out and the nut shimmed underneath with a metal shim to raise it or shims taken out to lower it. If the nut needs to be lowered and there are no shims present underneath, then the wood shelf itself will need to be sanded down in order to lower the string action there. Of course different instruments, playing styles, or preferences may require a lower or higher action here.
The final adjustment in the Floyd R ose setup is setting the intonation of the strings. To set the intonation of a string, first play it open and tune it to pitch. Then play the string fretted at the 12th fret and compare it to the open note. To adjust the saddle for proper intonation, first slacken the string at the tuner.
Then loosen the saddle mounting screw and move the saddle forwards or backwards to the proper intonation point. Tighten the saddle down with its mounting screw and retune the string and recheck the intonation. Repeat this process until the open and fretted note are identical and all strings are properly intonated. One trick we like to use is grabbing a small flathead screwdriver with tape on the end of it to help hold or push the saddle into the proper position while the other hand tightens it down with the proper allen wrench.
After the intonation is set we are almost done. At this point you want to make sure the strings are all tuned to pitch, the bridge plate is still level with the body, and the string retainer bar if installed is properly pushing down on all the strings behind the nut. Play the guitar, use the tremolo bar to move the bridge back and forth, and recheck the tuning. Use the fine tuner screws at the bridge to adjust and correct the tuning if needed.
Congratulations on setting up your Floyd R ose bridge and go shred away!! History First a little history. And the rest is history! The Setup Adjusting a floating Floyd Rose bridge is certainly tricky business. Lets go through the setup process now to unlock the full potential of your floyd rose tremolo!
Initial Evaluation The first step in any instrument setup is the initial evaluation. Nut With the neck adjusted straight at this point in the beginning evaluation, here is the perfect time to check the locking nut and see if there are any common issues that can be addressed now.
Bridge The bridge of a Floyd R ose is made up of many parts. After the bridge is locked into place, we can continue with changing the strings. Step 2: Detune each string a bit at the tuners Step 3: Loosen the string lock screw, string by string, on each saddle to release the strings from the bridge and then remove them from the tuners and discard them.
Step 4: Polish frets, oil fretboard, clean up hardware, clean and polish guitar Step 5: Grab the new low E string and cut off the ball end with the wraps at the end. Repeat this for each string until they are all locked in the saddles and tuned up to pitch. Leveling out the Bridge Now with the new strings installed we can adjust the spring tension to allow the bridge to sit parallel to the body of the guitar to use it to its full potential.
Step 1: Remove whatever tool was used to hold the bridge in place during the restringing process Step 2: Adjust the fine tuners screws, the ones that sit on top of the bridge for each string, to their halfway point.
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