Floyd Rose Questions

[Nine Toes]

Some of you may have seen the pic of my new guitar.  For those of you who haven't:



As you can see, it's equipped with a floyd rose bridge, and as with most floyd rose-equipped guitars, it's also got a locking nut on it.

I don't know too much about these kinds of bridges, and I don't want to mess anything up by monkeying with it.  I've tried Google to find an answer to my problem, but I get a bunch of pages full of guitar-tech gobbledygook.

My problem is this:

As far as I know, floyd roses and locking nuts are supposed to help your guitar stay in tune better.  When I brought the guitar home from the pawn shop, it was perfectly in tune.  But over the past month since I've had it, the strings have been slowly falling out of tune.  I've tightened the fine-tuners on the bridge to the point where I can't adjust them any farther.  So I opened up the locking nut, and I tuned the strings, then put the nut back on.  Why are the strings going out of tune?  I do use the tremolo arm excessively, could that have something to do with it?

Also, when I tune the strings, some of the strings (for the most part, the low E string) won't stay perfectly in tune.  The needle on my tuner indicates that the notel goes sharp, then goes flat, and then sharp again, and so on.  It doesn't stay directly on the note.

Any suggestions?

[Squinky]

I've got a pretty similar Ibanez. I've never had a prob like that, except when (on another guitar) I used the whammy bar. I don't use it anymore though, and I have never fooled around down there.

[Helm]

welcome to the wonder that is floyd rose.

Personally, I've heard so much complaining about those getting out of tune, I made sure to pick up a guitar without a whammy bar. Don't need it for my style of playing, personally. Of course it has to do with how much you use the whammy bar, and of course you should know there's no such thing as strings that don't go out of tune. Just put them back into tune, and change your strings every month or so.

[Nine Toes]

Alright, cool.  Thanks.

I wanted a guitar equipped with a floyd rose, so that I could do the harmonic squeals, deep tremolo dives, and the super high stretches (it won't go quite as high as I'd like it to, so maybe I'll have to do a little shaving on the bridge cavity  ).  With my strat-style guitar, I can do the deep trem-dives, but you and I both know that when you do that with a strat, the strings usually go out of tune fast.

I guess the only reason why I asked is to see if there was anyway to keep the guitar from going out of tune...?    Like I said before, I'm new to these kinds of bridges.  I've played one or two other guitars with these that belonged to other people, but this is the first time I've actually owned one, and I really don't know too much about them.

[Helm]

somebody's doing the pantera dive-bomb!

[Nine Toes]

*guilty grin*  Oh, you know it, man.  8)


Respect! Walk!

Hey, the anniversary of his death is coming up on Dec. 8...

[Phemar]

I know I used to use my tremolo quite a bit and my strings were constantly out of tune. I've stopped using it since as the music I play doesn't really need it.

I think it has to do with the constant tightening and loosening of the strings that make them go out of tune faster.

[DoorKnobHandle]

I have an Ibanez with floyd rose tremolo system and I have the same problem with tuning. Sometimes it's a b*tch to change tuning "real quick" on a gig etc. but then I still have my other guitar, so I can use one for standard tuning and one for - say drop D...

[Chicky]

Just learn the drums, not much tuning needed there


*Chicky leaves himself open for one of those 'drummers have no skill' jokes

[Nikolas]

I'm pretty sure that in bigger gigs, with bigger names, guitarist tend to change guitars every song (or every two). This would probably solve the problem of detuning, although you will need a second crew person to retune the left over guitar every track...

Hm...

As far as I know, though, in time strings tend to be more "stable", and note be detuned no matter what you do to them. So maybe old strings is the answer...

[Squinky]

Except old strings sound dead. They get crap in the grooves and lose their true tone.

[Nine Toes]

Well, you know... I read somewhere once that if you take a soft, clean rag, and spray some WD-40 onto it, then wipe your strings down with it, your strings will last longer... or something like that...

[Evil]

Just learn the drums, not much tuning needed there

I'd like to point out that drums are some of hardest instruments to tune.

And using WD-40 is totally wrong. Sure, it'll work, but only once. They sell a special spray just for that purpose. I've seen it run from five dollars to fifteen. WD-40 will ruin your strings.

[Helm]

I completely hate pantera and their mind-numbing redneck idiocy.

[Squinky]

Well, you know... I read somewhere once that if you take a soft, clean rag, and spray some WD-40 onto it, then wipe your strings down with it, your strings will last longer... or something like that...

I've also heard that you can boil your strings. But I had a habit of breaking the bass strings a lot so I changed out my strings very often.

[Blackthorne]

Try these links.

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/floydrosetremolo.htm

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/floydrosetremolo.htm


Be sure to change your strings frequently.  All the "wives" tales you hear about strings are wrong.  Only go with guitar/string cleaners sold in guitar shops.  Be sure all you strings are their proper gauges.  After excessive dive bombing, adjust your tunings in the full fashion.  If you want to excessivly dive bomb, it requires much extra care.  Dimebag Darell had a guitar tech that repaired his guitars for him EVERY night after a show, keep that in mind.

Happy shreddin'.


Bt