bombershredder Posted January 17, 2006 Report Posted January 17, 2006 Since I have a bad hand I can't do unecessary typing, but this is imp..so I will have to do this.. A floating tremolo, needs balance or equal tension when tuning. If you tune the sixth string to E and then you tune the A then the D, it will start to lift from one side and will be difficult to tune and it will take more time to get the trem straight and standard..Now, I learned this trick off an instructional video of Eric Johnson where he tunes the guitar from the centre and then tunes out. He first tunes the G string, centres the bridge and then what I do is tune the D. 2 centre strings tuned! then I do the same for two other strings, the strings being the second and the fifth and then the sixth and the first. When I reach the outer strings I repeat the same process inwards. I keep doing that till It tunes up. Now, what i have understood is when I tune the 1st string to an E and the Low E to an E simultaneously and then move onto the next string group, which is strings 2 and 5, the B and the A string, when i tune B and A simultaneously the tuning of the E's i just tuned goes off by a bit, as on a floating tremolo if you tighten one string it loosens the rest. So I though since the thickest string is E, and it creates most balance/tension/pull on the trem, I could even try and tune up the trem when it is completely flat in pairs with the Low E. FOr eg. Tune the Low E and the High E. Tune the low E and the B and then the Low E and G string and so on. This I feel is quite good too. I could even tune the tremolo back up in 2 pairs of 3's and one combination of 4 strings and then use the inward and outward tuning..The pair's of 3's being 6-3-1, and 6-4-1 and the four pair being 6-4-3-1. Anyway! My point is I want to be able to do setup's for myself and they should be as good as professinal setups, fast and accurate. Also since I'm gonna be knowing this and doing this for myself, I might wanna earn little money doing repairwork, setups, wiring etc..while I pursue music and wtvr..etc!...I might just get a second hand crap guitar with a floating trem and take it out and then reinstall the tremolo..and do that and stuff.. So I was wondering if anyone has anyone information, basic understanding type stuff, tricks, tips shortcuts, WISDOM, to share with me since earlier when the first guitar I bought was a floating tremolo equipped guitar and I didn't know Jack and I was quite small then and I feared the trem abnd stuff and the guy I bought the guitar from told me , and many people told me that this is something I shouldn't mess around with and guitar techs perform the stups and setup itself was a scary word! but now I can afford to mess around and do stuff as long as I don't adjust the neck and bow, since that cannot be repaired and this cannot be damaged anyway, you know, earlier on setting up a guitar a floyd equipped tar to a low tuning was a professionals job to me and now it's like piss man, nothing to it I guess! So is it actually safe for me just mess around with the trem and tuning and action? What I am saying is that even if I take the trem out, It can still be re-insled..right? kinda like a string? but obv more complicated.... Also I think the floating tremolos are awesome! I can't play much guitar or I can't do whammying much, but from what I have heard and seen people, people like Vai, it is absolutely Jaw Dropping, and very inviting I must say, I just feel like mastering this bridge now and knowing everything about it..SO.. Please correct me if I am wrong anywhere in what I have written above, and partly why i wrote in the form of facts rather than questions cause I just wanna let the person readingmy post know what I know, and then ask questions and well ask for correctino and more Info since I wanna learn and know more, So also what's your approach when retuning a floyd, when tuning the bridge back up? and anything else you can think off, that I, would wanna know or should know!? Also I forgot, Let's say I'm allin tune and the tremolo angle needs to be raised, or decreased, so I tighten or loosen the strings from the screws in the cavity at the back(Don't know technical terms) , will I have to retune the guitar or just do a pull or dive bomb and then tune and then the result will show when I look at the tremolo Angle, Am i being clear or is this query of mine hard to understand. When the trem angel isn't right, we do what we need to to fix it, like either tighten or loosen, so...Will it automaticall show a difference up front at the trem when I've finished adjusting the tension from the back? or will I need to dead the trem and retune? Quote
exafro Posted January 18, 2006 Report Posted January 18, 2006 I don't really understand what your asking but when I change a tuning or string gauge on my floating floyd I: 1.Put new springs on 2. Adjust spring tension to where I think it needs to be 3. Tune the guitar 4. Check the angle 5.Adjust spring tension again 6. Retune etc. I do this until its parallel to the body when in tune. On a side note, when tuning up new strings I usually try to stretch them out so they don't go out of tune when I lock the nut up. I don't know if this helps or not. Quote
bombershredder Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Posted January 18, 2006 Yup that helps, adjust the tension AND Retune, that's what I wanted to know, though, How do you retune ? some chap I knew Used to just tune the guitar so fast! Normally when you tighten one string the others loosen ..so I can't see how it can be done fast, that's what i am aslo asking..like anyone know any shortcuts tips etc.. as to retuning..how to do it faster..for eg. if you tune with balance it is better, like I mentioned above, so how else..anyway maybe I am being vey vague..forget it. Thanks. Quote
exafro Posted January 18, 2006 Report Posted January 18, 2006 Did he have a floating floyd? Maybe his was set up for divebomb only? Could have had a tremstopper or some other device of the sort. Quote
Gemm012 Posted January 18, 2006 Report Posted January 18, 2006 If you change only one string at a time, it helps alot. Check out www.Jemsite.com in the tech section as well as the tech section of www.ibanezrules.com. Galen. Quote
Pr3Va1L Posted January 19, 2006 Report Posted January 19, 2006 bah you can try to compensate when tuning or tightening the springs... IE: tuning from e to E, tune the higher strings a little bit sharp. It takes much less time... And btw, setting a trem is not so hard... I've set up mine a few times alredy (when changing string guages (got 11s on now... went from 9 to 10 and now 11)) even though the 1st time I had no idea what to do... It's pretty damn easy, just time consuming! Quote
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