Converting a Floyd Rose guitar?

MoNkeE

MoNkeE

MoNkeE

Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2004
Posts
9,898
Location
NE England
Hey all,

Firstly, I'm not sure if this if the right forum to use - first time I've posted in this forum :)

Right, basically I have a Maverick X1 guitar - which uses a floyd rose bridge. Whilst it's great when it works, I just can't for the life of me get it to stay in tune, and when it's out of tune, I find it WAY too difficult to get back in tune. What I was wondering is is it possible to convert it to a fixed bridge? I'm not even too bothered if it costs and I have to send it away for a few weeks; would just be great to have it working again :)

Ta,

-RaZ
 
I have to ask how badly does it go out of tune? I have a floyd rose and my guitar keeps its tuning well (ie after a week or 2's play its just slightly off and can be corrected with the fine tuning knobs).
 
what position do you have your strumming hand in whilst you're playing? i had to train myself out of leaning it on the bridge because it used to mess about with the tremolo.

i can't see why it'd be a really expensive job...get on yell.com and look for your local luthier...they'll probably do it for you and make a decent job of it, too
 
Sorry, when I say stay in tune I mean in the process of restringing it; had a string snap on me, and I couldn't for the life of me get the individual strings to stay anywhere near in tune to lock it back up and then fine tune it.

I will admit it's fantastic when it's intune, but it's been sat with a broken string for months now because I just can't get it working :(

-RaZ
 
Sic said:
what position do you have your strumming hand in whilst you're playing? i had to train myself out of leaning it on the bridge because it used to mess about with the tremolo.
Click to expand...

I had to do the same thing; used to play my cruddy Encore for so long resting on the bridge that I got used to playing like that! Learnt not to do it with the Maverick though and fortunately stuck to not doing it with the Iceman :)

-RaZ
 
for the tremolo to work properly, dont all the strings need to be on there? it's all based on balancing and counter-balancing...get a new set of strings on there (if you've never done this before, get someone to show you how it's done) and it should be fine. you'll never get it to tune accurately with 5 strings...at least i couldn't when i had an FR
 
definately dont fret over this problem (god i'm funny!)


take it into a shop and ask them to restring it / show you how to do it.

the first time i had to restring my "floyd rose" style guitar, i was changing the string guage aswell, from 10'2 to 9's and changing the guage makes changing the strings to much more hassle!!


ive found now that if i keep the same guage strings on my guitar, when i come to change strings i use this proceedure..


1. Take off Low E
2. Put on new Low E
3. Tune up & stretch the new string

repeat the process until they're all changed, becuase if you do them all at once the springs in the trem will be messed up and it'll take ages to fix!

if you do it one by one then all your doing is taking the tension off of 1 string, and then putting the exact same (in theory) tension back on with a new string. therefore the trem height / tuning of the other strings should stay near enough in the same place!
 
Sic said:
for the tremolo to work properly, dont all the strings need to be on there? it's all based on balancing and counter-balancing...get a new set of strings on there (if you've never done this before, get someone to show you how it's done) and it should be fine. you'll never get it to tune accurately with 5 strings...at least i couldn't when i had an FR
Click to expand...

Oh no, I've not been trying to tune it in with only 5 strings on; I gave up after I snapped another string.

Sidewinder, that's some fantastic advice there, and really makes sense. When the chap at the shop told me how to do it, he basically just said keep tuning it in until it eventually stays put. Unfortunately, that never seemed to do the trick; as I'd be sat there for 45 mins to an hour and it still wouldn't stay in tune.

Unfortunately for this guitar, I think I'd rather just scrap the FR than keep it and try and figure it out. Is this a pretty unusual thing to have it converted, then?

Yeah, as you can see, the chap who sold me the guitar had forgotten to point out the FR, and being a total noob at the time, I hadn't even noticed... :o

-RaZ
 
best advice anyone ever gave me when changing strings on a floyd rose - make yourself a wooden wedge that you can stick in there...then when you're messing about with the strings, you wont get your tremolo all gay and unbalanced. probably the cheat's way to do it...but meh ;)
 
easy to block it, ive done it on mine. Take the back off the plug the gaps either side. I used bits of wood and then some plastic floor tiles to block the movement of the trem. Now it doesnt move and I can drop D whoop!
 
you have to remember to completely stretch out the new string and tune up before even attempting the next string!

what i usually do, which is probably a bad idea lol, is change 1 string, stretch and tune, then play it for a bit, tune & stretch & tune. lol.

ive really needed to change my strings, i havent done it in ages (they've been on for 6 weeks now) and in those 6 weeks ive had to use the fine tuners maybe once or twice!
 
I blocked the Floyd Rose on my Ibanez too, never use the thing and the tuning i is a lot more stable, not to mention the ease of re-stringing. It should also improve the sustain marginally.
 
By blocked, d'ya mean sticking something under the locks, or actually in the spring mechanism in the back of the guitar? After a couple of hours of trying to get it in tune (close, but no cigar), I'm about ready to hurl it out the window ;p

-RaZ
 
When changing strings on a tremelo based guitar find a tool/object you can place under the trem that is exactly the same size as the gap to stop it moving.
I have a screwdriver shank that is exactly the same size as the gap.
Change your strings one at a time and stretch outwards from the 12th fret for a couple of minutes.
When all six have been done remove the tool/object from under the trem and you won't be far off.
 
Yep, in the spring mechanism at the back of the guitar. Find a block of wood then add folded paper to fill as necessary.
 
Right-o chaps, I've got some wood handy, now what part do I block?

block.JPG


A or B? Or Both? Sorry; I'm a complete nab at this :)

Ta,

-RaZ
 
no, i'm serious!!!

check out the far right of that picture, you see there is a rectangular block? either side of that need to be blocked! so that metal chunk cant go anywhere!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom