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General => Musicians => Topic started by: wkiml on November 07, 2010, 06:07:56 PM
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Okay here is my problem...I just purchased the above guitar for my son (he been playing about a year now) when we got the guitar home we noticed it buzzed alot in the neck. I took it back and had them do a set-up on the guitar. Since he got it back, he can't change the tuning ( I know nothing about guitars)..I looked on the internet and it seems that a floyd rose system has locking nuts, my question is : does it make sense to loosen the locking nuts each and every time he wants to change the tuning on the guitar ( I understand that guitars with a Floyd Rose are a bitch to get into tune) or would he be better off keeping this guitar tuned in E and using a second guitar ( without the Floyd Rose system) for multiple tunings
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The nuts keep it in whatever tuning it's in, to an extent. The tuning pegs don't work at all if the nuts are locked.
There should be turny things on the floyd rose that allow minor tuning adjustments. If he wants to majorly adjust the tuning, he needs to loosen the nuts on whatever strings that need to be tuned. No way around it. If he doesn't use the whammy bar alot, he can keep the nuts either off or loose.
So basically, he has to loosen his nuts or he'll he won't be able to properly finger his wood.
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Yeah, fucking with tunings on a guitar with a Floyd is bad. It completely messes it up. What I recommend is, and this is only if he doesn't care about the wammy things he can do with it, is block the bridge. A random guitar store won't charge much to do it and now, I can go anywhere from standard tuning, to tunings that bands like Morbid Angel or Pantera would use.
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I think if your son wants to mess around with a whole bunch of different tunings then either what numbers said, or a second guitar is in order. Its really down to personal preference.
I myself would look at getting a second guitar, as a floyd rose locking trem system was pretty much invented to keep the guitar in tune while withstanding heavy whammy bar usage. Getting a guitar with a system that was specificallly designed for something and not taking advantage of that seems silly to me.
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I got mine more for the pickups and feel. I could have gotten a Schecter with the same stuff but without the floyd and I didn't like the feel. I didn't care about the wammy so I blocked mine.
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I got mine more for the pickups and feel. I could have gotten a Schecter with the same stuff but without the floyd and I didn't like the feel. I didn't care about the wammy so I blocked mine.
Oh yeah for sure, I have a friend who blocked his as well, even though there were no problems with it and he didn't really mess around with tunings. Again, its all about personal preference.
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But anyway, I would say you should block it because if you get another one for not standard, you could have used the money spent on both and gotten a really good one without a floyd so you could do whatever you want. Blocking it seems like the best option here.
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But anyway, I would say you should block it because if you get another one for not standard, you could have used the money spent on both and gotten a really good one without a floyd so you could do whatever you want. Blocking it seems like the best option here.
Except whammy rape-age, which he might've indeed wanted to do. Personal preference blah blah blah.
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:lol
Yeah. That is why fucking with a floyd is a twisted path to get into. The most important thing is what does your son want out of his guitar? Tell us that and then we'll get back to you.
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As I mentioned in my PM, it's probably best to set it to standard and get a fixed bridge for alternate tunings. You'll avoid a ton of headaches.
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Thanks for your input....he doesn't use the whammy at all, he doesn't even have the bar attached. He picked out because he liked the design and feel/playability of the guitar. So a store bought or homemade block seems to be the way to go.
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Google is your friend:
https://www.guitarzone.com/forum/topic/96691-floyd-rose-problems/ (https://www.guitarzone.com/forum/topic/96691-floyd-rose-problems/)
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Or, y'know, maybe he wanted to hear from people he knows/recognizes.
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Thanks for your input....he doesn't use the whammy at all, he doesn't even have the bar attached. He picked out because he liked the design and feel/playability of the guitar. So a store bought or homemade block seems to be the way to go.
I know it could be more money but I would definitely have a professional do it. I mean, it would cost you average Guitar Center ALOT of cash because they need to send it to a tech but if you have a mom and pop place around you, that is best. There is a special chain around us called Dave Phillips. They are only like 3 of them and they undid my floyd, blocked it, and re set it for 20 bucks plus the cost of strings.
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Thanks for your input....he doesn't use the whammy at all, he doesn't even have the bar attached. He picked out because he liked the design and feel/playability of the guitar. So a store bought or homemade block seems to be the way to go.
I know it could be more money but I would definitely have a professional do it. I mean, it would cost you average Guitar Center ALOT of cash because they need to send it to a tech but if you have a mom and pop place around you, that is best. There is a special chain around us called Dave Phillips. They are only like 3 of them and they undid my floyd, blocked it, and re set it for 20 bucks plus the cost of strings.
Actually found this https://www.tremol-no.com/default.asp seems you can buy and install yourself..anyone familiar with it?
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Gwii has one and seems to love it:
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=8407.msg267147#msg267147
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So funny I find this thread. I spent 2 hours cleaning/ restringing / resetting my ibanez with a floyd rose on sunday.
I have my bridge blocked as well. All it is a short but kind of thick dowel of wood stuck between the plate and the body of the guitar (on the inner back side where the springs are). In order to block it you just wedge that piece of wood in there and then re-attach the springs. It was a real pain in the ass for me.
One thing to note is that if you want to clean the guitar and take all the strings off, you run the risk of dislodging the piece of wood, which throws off all the tension in the bridge, which then makes the bridge just fall out of the guitar. So I had to spend some time getting all that back into place.
But once you know how to do it, it really isn't so bad. Except for messing with the springs, I hate dealing with that.
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I'd just block it with a big ol piece of wood and take the locking nut off or loosen it. I have an old agile interceptor, and they had a routing issue, lucky for me, so I only had to lower the floyd enough until it hit the body.
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Just adjust the spring tension on the back of the body of the guitar. Loosing and tightening the spring tension will allow the guitar to be put into different tunings. Most of the time though, If I'm using a floyd rose, I never tune down past Eb. If I want drop C or something, I'll use one of my guitars with a fixed bridge.
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Just adjust the spring tension on the back of the body of the guitar. Loosing and tightening the spring tension will allow the guitar to be put into different tunings. Most of the time though, If I'm using a floyd rose, I never tune down past Eb. If I want drop C or something, I'll use one of my guitars with a fixed bridge.
Being that this is his only guitar at the moment..(the first one I bought about a year ago was cheap and has wiring issues that would cost more to fix than the guitar is worth) it looks like he may be getting a fixed bridge guitar for Christmas at this point.
Not sure what tunings he is trying to attempt, but when we had the guitar set up it was returned to us in Standard E ( I'm assuming..i actually know nothing about guitars) and since he is playing alot of Metallica/As I Lay Dying/Amon Amarth I assume they use different tunings.
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Being that this is his only guitar at the moment..(the first one I bought about a year ago was cheap and has wiring issues that would cost more to fix than the guitar is worth) it looks like he may be getting a fixed bridge guitar for Christmas at this point.
guitar electronics are not as difficult to work on as most people think, you could probably fix the wiring yourself. guitarelectronics.com has diagrams and info, plus you can order any parts you might need from them too. if that guitar's just sitting around not working anyway it would be a good one to practice on.
In regards to floyd guitars, you can adjust the tuning by adjusting the springs but it's a pretty big hastle if you change tunings frequently. The idea is to make the spring tension match the string tension and when you tune it lower the string tension goes down so you must loosen the springs to match.