Wednesday, March 31, 2010

how to tune a Floyd Rose



Tuning your Floyd Rose bridge is certainly a tricky business when
the bridge is floating. This is because the total tension of the
strings must balance the total tension of the tremolo springs with
the baseplate of the bridge parallel to the face of the guitar and
with the strings tuned to the desired pitch. So, follow these steps
andit will start to make sense.

Step 1:
Loosen the three string clamps at the nut

Step 2:
Set your fine tuner screws on the bridge to the middle of their
adjustment range.

Step 3:
Tune the strings to your desired pitch (this can be drop tuning,
open tuning, or standard pitch, the procedure is the same for
any tuning) with an electronic tuner starting with the low ‘E’.

Step 4:
When you have finished tuning all of the strings, check the tuning
on the low ‘E’ again. If the low ‘E’ is now flat, re-tune the strings
starting again with the low ‘E’ but this time tune the E, A, D, G,
and B strings a little bit sharp, then the high ‘E’ to pitch. If the
low ‘E’ is sharp, re-tune as just described only tuning the first
five strings a little flat. You must tune the strings a little sharp or
flat to get to your tuning cause every time you change the tension
(or pitch) of one string, the other strings change pitch in the
opposite direction.

Step 5:
Repeat step 4 until all the strings are at the desired pitch.

Step 6:
When the strings are at the desired pitch, check to see if the
bridge base plate is sitting parallel with the top surface of the
guitar. If the base plate is tilted forward away from the body,
you must tighten the tremolo springs tension by turning the spring
claw screws clockwise and repeat step 4. If the base plate is tilt
back toward the body,you must loosen the tremolo springs tension
by turning the spring claw screws counterclockwise and repeat
step 4.
[Step 6 only needs to be done on initial setup of the bridge or if
you change to another gauge of strings or change to a different
tuning.]

Step 7:
When the bridge is sitting parallel to the face of the guitar and
the strings are tuned to the desired pitch, re-clamp the three nut
clamps and re-tune (if necessary) once again using only the fine
tuners.

Step 8:
When tuning is complete, check the action of the strings off the
neck. If your action is to high or to low, adjust the action with
the two rocker screws (bridge pivot screws) using the 3mm Allen
wrench. This adjustment will slightly change your tuning. If your
fine tuners run out
of range you must repeat steps 1 through 7.

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