How Do I tune a guitar with a floyd rose locking trem?

[rlhjr34]

I've been frustrated by this same issue myself. My recommendation. Leave it in standard and buy extra guitars for the drop tuning. Makes a great excuse to buy extra guitars that way. Hey who doesn't want a few extra guitars right? :twisted:

 

[Julia]

buy yourself a Tremolno. You'll thank me later. You can set the guitar up for standard tuning, then tighten the tremolno and do a drop tuning.

 

[Daryl]

Hey fellas,
Some of you are looking for some good info on setting up your Floyd I hear. If you haven't been there yet, go to: http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/
and stop fucking around. If you want to get your Floyd in top shape, this really is the place to get your Floyd on.
Adam Reiver is a straight up guy and guitar geek like us. He's also worked with a laundry list of pros. Here's some setup videos he produced and it gets it done.
http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=86&zenid=v9l5fh1rve23vafrpfmph803q5
Scroll down and check out the vids. Be patient and watch em' all. If you have any further questions you can ask Adam and he will totally hook you up.
I got the titanium string lock blocks, titanium sustain block, stainless steel, string lock screws, stainless intonation screws, and the D-tuna (which Adam also developed). Check it out. I promise you will thank me later. Peace.
:twisted: :shock: :twisted:

 

[Daryl]

but I am RELIGIOUS about getting REAL USA made Floyd Rose bridges. If youre gonna do the Floyd..pay the man.
Its well worth it...avoid a thousand wasted hours and bad notes..
In the USA we still can and do make some good things.
Having said that.... I really dont know if the USA Floyds are still in production.

Unfortunately, George. They are no longer in production. The best you can get are the German made Floyds including Schaller. Just make sure that it has a hardened steel baseplate. No stamped metal junk. George's sentiments are right on the money. Don't screw around with cheap stuff unless playing out of tune is your thing. You will just end up wanting to burn your guitar. There are also a wider range of upgrade parts that you can get for the Original Floyds and Schallers. If you do nothing else, at least try a brass big-block in place of the stock sustain block. It is really a huge difference. Check out this demo with before and after: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sZ3w_Qwq2Q&NR=1
It is pretty drastic of a difference, but until you play it for yourself you won't know how awesome it "feels" versus stock. Cheers.

 

[Daryl]

Good instructionals on Floyd setup, modding, and tuning:
http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=86&zenid=v9l5fh1rve23vafrpfmph803q5

 

[Julia]

There's another great set up for a OFR. Remove the springs and glue a tightly fitting block of wood on both sides and make sure the bridge is level. Then you never have to worry about setting it up again. :lol: That's what I did with the trems on my guitars. I never used them so why hassle with them?

 

[Mattfig]

Wood shims work great too!

 

[Daryl]

For shame...
Wood shims and blocks suck, y'all.
Seriously, set up your Floyd
Now in the instance that you have a licensed Floyd-abee bridge, do whatever you want. I would actually encourage you to block out those pieces of junk. Better yet, sell em' and never look back. If a trem isn't your bag, why in tarnation would you buy a trem equipped guitar?
A good Original Floyd needs to be set up right and it will stay in tune and be very stable. If you watch the vids on the site I linked to, you will see that it really isn't that difficult. It just needs to be done properly. There are also a lot of misconceptions surrounding what a proper setup is.
Tuning is all in the screwdriver. What am I talking about? Watch the video. This guy is THE authority on Floyds. In fact George Lynch is now using FU equipped axes and we all know how picky Mr. Lynch is.
http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=86&zenid=nr6omql2oqci227f3k59qussk0
This topic is for Floyd users not Floyd abusers... :lol:
Sorry Julia and Fig....I'm slapping PPs today!! :lol:
Save some trees...

 

[Mattfig]

For shame...
Wood shims and blocks suck, y'all.
Seriously, set up your Floyd
Now in the instance that you have a licensed Floyd-abee bridge, do whatever you want. I would actually encourage you to block out those pieces of junk. Better yet, sell em' and never look back. If a trem isn't your bag, why in tarnation would you buy a trem equipped guitar?
A good Original Floyd needs to be set up right and it will stay in tune and be very stable. If you watch the vids on the site I linked to, you will see that it really isn't that difficult. It just needs to be done properly. There are also a lot of misconceptions surrounding what a proper setup is.
Tuning is all in the screwdriver. What am I talking about? Watch the video. This guy is THE authority on Floyds. In fact George Lynch is now using FU equipped axes and we all know how picky Mr. Lynch is.
http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=86&zenid=nr6omql2oqci227f3k59qussk0
This topic is for Floyd users not Floyd abusers... :lol:
Sorry Julia and Fig....I'm slapping PPs today!! :lol:
Save some trees...

No worries D...I have one FLoyd-equipped guitar that isn't blocked...That's just in case CC Deville stops by...

 

[drewiv]

I'm a H-U-G-E Ibanez guy and prefer the Edge series tremolo system to anything. Ibanez Rules!! has a great reference section.

Tuning the floating trem:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/tuning.htm

The index of his complete setup guide:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

Rich is a great guy too. If you're ever in the market for a new Ibby I would highly recommend him and his platinum setup.

 

[Daryl]

I'm a H-U-G-E Ibanez guy and prefer the Edge series tremolo system to anything. Ibanez Rules!! has a great reference section.

Tuning the floating trem:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/tuning.htm

The index of his complete setup guide:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

I have to admit that I have an Ibanez RG3120 Prestige with an Edge on it and it stays in tune very well. It's a great rig. I didn't mean to leave Ibanez out. Those bridges are made by Gotoh in Japan. I am a big fan of Japanese made stuff. I like the links as they get you there. When I used to play Ibanez nearly exclusively I used to frequent these pages. I started out with an Ibanez RG470 (Jap Spec) with a TRS II bridge, so I needed to adjust it quite a bit. The most important step in the process for me was when I learned how to tune it up partially and then use the screwdriver to tighten/loosen the springs to bring it all into tune. That was the Eureka moment for me. After that it was a lot quicker and easier to do string changes and setups. I learned that stuff from Adam Reiver@FU. Proper tension of the springs is crucial for tuning stability. It's all in the springs.

 

[BigBrewtus]

Speaking of Ibanez. I traded off my EX270 I bought new for a Super Jap strat and been regretting it ever since. I stayed local for a long time but I have yet to see it in the past years. It was midnight blue(kind of purple) HSH setup, Floyd, Maple fret board. If you see one let me know.

 

[drewiv]

I didn't mean to leave Ibanez out.

And I didn't mean that "Ibanez Edge are the best available." I, personally, just prefer them to any other. I'm still trying to decide if I like the newest version of the Edge (the Zero systems), but I'll take an Edge Original, Edge Lo Pro or Edge Pro any day of the week. Again, simply my preference.

 

[Daryl]

I didn't mean to leave Ibanez out.

And I didn't mean that "Ibanez Edge are the best available." I, personally, just prefer them to any other. I'm still trying to decide if I like the newest version of the Edge (the Zero systems), but I'll take an Edge Original, Edge Lo Pro or Edge Pro any day of the week. Again, simply my preference.

Do you have the FU Big Block upgrade on your Ibanez guitars?
I got my Original Floyd guitars hooked up, but I don't have my Ibanez guitars upgraded yet.

 

[ibenhad]

Great topic. GTRGEORGE is dead on but one small thing. You want to stretch the guitar string evenly from top to bottom. I do one at a time just like he says but I use a cloth underneath and pull the string up off the fretboard from the bridge all the way to around the nut. Then tune and repeat. Do this a couple of times and once you get all the way to the last string it ain't going out of tune. Cleaning the neck is not as easy one string at a time but doable. Once tuned and locked she ain't going nowhere.

What is our issue? Hendrix used a crappy old Strat trem and yanked the hell out of it. He was pretty anal about tuning too and would often times be tuning throughout a song. What a great player.

 

[ctgblue]

Tuning is often overlooked. It's an art and a science,imho. With a Floyd, you'll need a little sorcery thrown in..
This is what I teach my students:
1. Buy good strings (I prefer D'addarios...they are American made and the QC is very high)
2. Always put them on a week before you need to gig. Never shorten this!
3. As you take each old string off, put the new one on...
example: Remove the old low E and then put on the new Low E..now go and do that for the A and D etc etc
this maintains tension on the neck and springs and it's wise for many reasons more,as well.
4. Keep the locks on the neck slack all during this:
Once the strings are on, at the 12th fret pull the strings one inch off the fretboard. This stretches them in. Your hands are clean, right? Good.
Note: Take it easy on the high E and B strings with pulling. In their case pull 1/2 inch, not a whole inch and as they are really prone to slipping off their posts.
5. Using a good tuner: Tune it first to Low E D G A B Hi E then repeat. each time the guitar will get a little closer to being "there". Still do not tighten the necks' lock.
6. Play the guitar for about 3 days like this. Bend all the strings often, this will "let out" whatever tension the strings are holding. Because the locks on the neck are loose be careful they dont fall off. maybe put em in the case for the next 3 days.
7. After three days tune again (using an accurate tuner), like before, EDGABE is the order.
8. Now lock the neck down, and have fun.
This works very well. But you can't rush it.
I have my Floyd Rose-guitars set so I can pull up, as well as down. I can pull up as much as a 5th (!!!) and stay in tune. That's from an G at the 12th fret to a D note above. And I stay in tune, almost always.
Like I said, I teach guitar...if you like what I know ,and live in Long Island area, consider taking lessons from me. What I know sure beats trial and error! -George Barry (GtrGeorge!)

This is very good, I might add (not having read the entire thread so sorry if repetitive) that when you go to final 'tune this, I have found that starting outside and going in then back out, works better than going down the line and you get the final tune faster.
So tune E's, A & B, D & G, then back out.
Had floyds for 15 years and this helps.
I can also shorten the time to set if I run them all 1 step high and let it sit for a day with the nut locks off. Then I am set and ready to gig in 2-3 days and they stay in tune. My Jacksons have always taken this method well, the Ibanez S series wanted another day.
I ALWAYS take a backup when my guitar has a Floyd. It's nice to have a fixed bridge guitar too, for alt tunings.