hezochiah Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Just got my ESP KH-2 in tonight. It arrived out of tune and as I'm trying to tune it it just won't stay in tune. I start with the top 2 strings and tune them and lock the nut. I then move to the middle and bottom 2 strings and do the same thing. But by that time all the rest are out of tune and it is starting to frustrate me. I never had this problem with my strat. The strat had the non-recessed Floyd but the ESP does have a recess. Is that what's giving me problems. Also there are 3 springs on the inside of the tremelo route, do I need 5? Any help would be appreciated. I am new to the Floyd Rose thing and if I'm asking a stupid question please forgive me. Thanks for any help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 that is common....you must leave the nut unlocked until you get it completely in tune with the headstock tuners.this will take SEVERAL tunings because everytime you tighten one string,it pulls the trem up,looseningthe other strings.after a while you get used to it.when i change strings it usually takes me about 2-3 minutes to tune to pitch. don't worry though,it's worth it when you learn to use that trem. btw after you get it tuned to pitch and the nut locked you will have to use the fine tuners at the bridge to tune it back to pitch,as locking the nut also usually throws iyt out of pitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 also you should read the tutorial on setting the trem up,because if you want to change tunings or string guages it will be necessary to set it up again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Tune the low E,A,D, Sharp then tune the G,B,E to pitch this should pull the low strings flat. If you don't you get stuck in the endless loop and have your trem at a horrible forward angle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnuk Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Wes and Scott are right! Tuning a floating tremolo can be a REAL bitch! In a normal tremolo, the springs pull so hard against the strings that the tremolo can only tip forward, and only when you press the bar down, so it's as if the strings are tightening against a fixed bridge. In a floating tremolo, the tension in each string directly effects the bridge, since it can tip forward and backward now without you touching the bar. Say for instance you tune the low E string to pitch and then start moving towards the top E. By the time you reach the top E you've added a lot of extra tension to the strings overall to bring them up to pitch (If you just put on a new set). This tension doesn't just go anywhere, it pulls the bridge up slightly. In doing so, you now have a perfectly tuned top E, but you've effectly pushed the bar down on the other strings; the low E will usually be a good half step out. If you're starting with a new set of strings, leave the nut unlocked and rough tune the guitar. Go mental on the strings for a while with the whammy bar and retune them... they'll probably be about two or three notes off already. Go mental with the bar again... retune... I find it helps if I leave my guitar overnight after mucking about on it with the whammy bar. This gives the strings time to settle down and get used to being closer to the tension they'll need to be at later. Retune the guitar until all the strings are close to pitch. As Scott pointed out, tune the first three slightly over pitch at first, then the last three dead on. This last bit of extra tension drops the first three down close to being in pitch. I find that when I close my locking nuts the strings almost always go slightly sharp, so I purposely wind the fine tuners out and set my strings slightly flat. Then when I close the nut they're pulled up slighty and I can get the rest with the fine tuners, which will cover about a note in range. The strings WILL stretch out and drop out of tune over the next few days. This is why I like having my fine tuners wound out because I am fairly confident that I will need to make positive adjustments to them over the few days after tuning the guitar. First time I tuned a Floyd Rose it took me about 3 hours to get the ****er in tune! Have patience, it will happen soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulNeeds Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 My traditional strat trem is set up to float, and I find that tuning to pitch, then literally grabbing the string and pulling it about an inch from the 12th fret, then retuning and repeating this settles the strings in very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 If your strings are going sharp after tightening the locks, try screwing down the string retainer bar a little more. the strings go sharp because ththe arent laying all the way down on the nut because the string retainer is too high Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 i've tried adjusting the string bar till my hands fell off, it's cause as you tighten the tighten the blocks on the nut the blocks clamp the string and turn it a bit in the direction you're tightening.. (usually only the low E for me) if you have a really good floyd nut this shouldn't be happening, but for people like me that just have an average one i usual set the fine tuner high so after i clamp the string at the nut i just return the fine tuner to the middle of it's range and the low i E is back in tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hezochiah Posted October 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Thanks for all the help everyone... I've got it pretty much perfect now. It sounds amazing. Plus its a lot easier to do tapping and stuff like that than it is on my LP. Anyway, thanks again fro coming through with great advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.