Floyd Rose Trem

joshlane

joshlane

joshlane

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15 Feb 2007
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157
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Lincoln
Thank god that is over,

guitar needed a restringing and clean-up so took all strings of to clean everything up. i had forgot how long it takes to get the trem unit parallel to the body and compensate for the .11's i've put on when it was on .10's!

all done now though and has not detuned a mili-tone since thashing out some tunes with a few harmonic pinches followed by some trem action :D
 
:)
That'll learn ya.

When changing strings I always block the trem off with a screwdriver so it doesn't move and only change one string at a time.
of course putting thicker strings on takes it to another level.
 
Hmm I'm looking at a guitar with a Floyd Rose tremolo . . . should I be worried about how hard it is to change strings? Or is it a case of put up with it as it's worthwhile?

I'd love to use the tremolo more often, it's just if you use it on my Squier Strat it goes out of tune straight away!
 
Yeah, that'll happen. If you want to use a trem then you need a lock in nut. It prevents (well almost) the strings from going out of tune, by holding the string firm at the nut. Floyd Rose did release a trem called the 'speed loader' which basically made changing the strings a lot easier. You had to have special Floyd Rose strings though which would have been a pain. But once you know how to restring and setup a lock in trem, it's fine. There are others to look at as well. Stetsbars are fantastic.

Not sure I'd be happy with 11's on trem like that though.. One of my friends did that and it ruined his trem. It constantly kept tension on the strings and and such, they lost some of their springyness which rendered the trem useless.
 
Buy a grown-ups guitar without a Floyd instead :D

Floyds are fine once you know how to set them up, they are obviously a pain to tune though, if you're considering a guitar with one, make sure the trem is going to be of high quality, or else it'll cause you a whole world of pain.
 
Hmm the guitar I was looking at has a "two-point synchronized tremolo bridge" and not a floyd rose bridge. (it's a Fender Showmaster) So my bad!

I asked the local shop here (Neville Brothers in Derby) to order one in so I can have a bash on one as you don't see too many around. I tried one out back in France a year and a bit ago but it was out of my price range, and I was taking up guitar then so I went for the Squier Strat instead. Been tempted by this guitar as I remember it playing really well, going to find out again in a weeks time or so when it comes in!
 
I agree Floyd Rose trems are quite difficult and time-consuming to re-string when you get your first one... however with practice and feel for the guitar you can do it very quickly.... I can prob do it in around 10 mins now which is acceptable! Unless changing string gauge of course... however you also get a feel for how much to move the screws too...

The top end Ibanez trems are AMAZING... I'd say better than the original FR trems... Trust the Japs to come up with some great engineering and features to improve an already great trem :)
 
I have a 21 year old Westone guitar with a floyd rose immitation on with an awesome name: "Bendmaster FT".

I've briefly used a guitar with a licensed FR, i had to tune it up. It was a real pain, a lot more so than the bendmaster. IMO the bendmaster is much better than a FR, shame mine is so worn down that it doesnt return to the same point anymore :( and they're so hard to find!
 
Docaroo said:
The top end Ibanez trems are AMAZING... I'd say better than the original FR trems... Trust the Japs to come up with some great engineering and features to improve an already great trem :)
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I used to think that as well. I always preferred an Edge Pro to a Floyd Rose. But you can a better range going down on a FR to the EP, and a better range going up on the EP. I've never owned a guitar with either, but I have a friend that has a guitar with a FR and a guitar with an EP. And he has TERRIBLE trouble getting the Ibanez to stay in tune, it just doesn't want to stay. After hearing that I thought, it must just be his. But then I heard of someone else with an Edge Pro having the same problem. After that, again, I just thought it must be a coinsidence.. But then I heard of someone else having the exact same problem. Which has led me to believe that there maybe an issue with the trem. Never heard of any problems like that with a Floyd Rose though, licensed or no.
 
naffa said:
I used to think that as well. I always preferred an Edge Pro to a Floyd Rose. But you can a better range going down on a FR to the EP, and a better range going up on the EP. I've never owned a guitar with either, but I have a friend that has a guitar with a FR and a guitar with an EP. And he has TERRIBLE trouble getting the Ibanez to stay in tune, it just doesn't want to stay. After hearing that I thought, it must just be his. But then I heard of someone else with an Edge Pro having the same problem. After that, again, I just thought it must be a coinsidence.. But then I heard of someone else having the exact same problem. Which has led me to believe that there maybe an issue with the trem. Never heard of any problems like that with a Floyd Rose though, licensed or no.
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I've never heard of those problems with an Ibanez trem unless it was the lower spec models...

Mine is the one that comes with an RG1570 Prestige and it's just fantastic... never had tuning problems or anything.. just a great trem tbh!

I must say that I have been very shocked at the crap quality of some FR Licenced trems... my brother had a Jackson with a licenced FR and the trem was just terrible... rusted away to nothing within a year!
 
I hate tuning my floyd, takes so long compared to my other fixed trem guitar BUT its worth it for the cool sounds and divebombs. Plus its an origonal so it rarely needs tuning which is good :)

Chris
 
Docaroo said:
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I think Drew's Ibanez was a model higher than that. It was an RG Prestige but it cost a little bit more if I remember correctly. Has awful tuning problems compared to his licensed Floyd Rose on his Charvel.
 
naffa said:
I think Drew's Ibanez was a model higher than that. It was an RG Prestige but it cost a little bit more if I remember correctly. Has awful tuning problems compared to his licensed Floyd Rose on his Charvel.
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hmmm thats quite unlucky... I've never had problems with mine - I wonder if there was a set-up problem somewhere?
 
With Drew's, I probably wouldn't doubt that. But the other two people's ones were perfectly setup if I remember correctly.
 
The problem with the new Ibanez Edge Pro trems is that Ibanez no longer see it fit to build the guitars with locking trem studs, this means the studs themselves play against the trem inserts, causing instability. Some people have no problem with tuning stability at all (my bandmate has a J Custom with an Edge Pro that stays in tune fine) but others find it impossible to rectify without swapping them out for locking studs.

You can buy locking studs yourself and re-fit them as it's a simple job, but it's confused the Ibanez guitar community to no end as to why Ibanez are skimping on these locking studs, the previous Lo-Pro and and Edge trems all featured locking studs.

By the way Naffa regarding the increased/decreased drop/rise in pitch with a Floyd/Edge Pro, it completely depends on how the guitar is setup (trem angle most likely) as neither to my knowledge is better at dropping/raising the pitch than the other.
 
If you just want the down pitch, stick a bit of wood below the trem and tighten the springs on to it. Then changing strings requires less effort, especially when changing diameters.
 
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