From: ken@batman.austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Tremolo system -- HELP !!!
Date: 19 Nov 92 20:40:07 GMT
Reply-To: ken@austin.ibm.com (Ken Goach)
Organization: IBM Austin, TX

For what it's worth (and I've owned a Floyd Rose for about 8 years)
I never ever ever ever unlock all the locking nuts at the same time.
That's bad. I always do two strings at a time (E&A, D&G, B&E). It seems
that this way the tension is kept closer to constant. ESPECIALLY if you
are changing strings! I would recommend that you chang them 1 at a time.
Tune the new string to pitch, then do the "mate" that's on the same
lock. Tune it up. You may have to go back and adjust the other one a bit.
I tend also to turn my fine tuners so the string is a somewhat sharp,
because once you get everything on and locked up, the new string will
stretch and you'll have to retune them. Then lock those at the nut
before moving on to the next set.

In article <9211070736.AA05706@cs.columbia.edu>, dbi@cs.columbia.edu
(Dmitry Babayev) writes:
>Tonight I ran into trouble tuning my guitar. The problem is that I have
>Floyd Rose tremolo mounted on the bridge and while I get two strings
>tuned the rest goes out of tune. See, I used to tune my guitar without a
>tuner - just using my own pitch. And since I don't have a perfect pitch
>I did not seem to have any trouble tuning the guitar. But now, the tuner
>I am using is much more precise than my ears and i see that the
>strings aren't tuned properly, but I can't help that. The tremolo is 
>"floating". So that when I tune say two or three strings, tremolo shifts
>and other strings change their frequencies. I tried locking the tremolo -
>using some tape and I was able to get perfect tune with locked tremolo.
>But when I released the tremolo, the whole thing would get screwed up ! :(

I see a few things that could be happening here:

-Are you tuning to a different base pitch? I assume the tuner is A 440.
 Maybe your ear was a few cents sharp or flat. When I've gone and played
 with a new band and had to retune my guitars to them (of course we all
 know it should be the other way around! ;-) I've had problems. In fact,
 I've had to loosen/tighten the tremolo claw (where the springs hook up)
 in the back of the guitar since the string tension was different. Ideally,
 tension between the strings and the springs will be even. You can tell if
 a floating trem's tension is correct by looking from the side of the guitar.
 If the plane bridge doesn't run parallel with the plane of the body, then
 you're in for trouble. Not just pitch/tuning, but you could even damage your
 bridge.

-Maybe the intonation of the instrument is off. Have it checked. Novices are
 not advised to try this!

-Maybe you should try tuning two, then locking them down, then tuning the
 next two, etc. It may require more than one pass. Also, see that you have
 enough winds around the peg at the tuner or else the string will slip
 (they may be slipping a little while they're just sitting there).

-Lastly, remember that once you lock the nut, the pitch will likely go a
 bit off. It can change the length of the string (depending on how angled
 the headstock is, etc). You'll likely have to do some fine tuning even
 after you lock the nut.

Hope this helps. Your mileage may vary!


=============================================================
THIS POSTING DOES NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYERS.
-------------------------------------------------------------
"The killer awoke before dawn, he put his clown shoes on, and
             he ... flopped on down the hall..."
=============================================================
Newsgroups: alt.guitar