Floyd Rose String Height // How to
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Floyd Rose String Height // How To
This is a little video about how to adjust the string hight on a guitar with a Floyd Rose type of bridge. Something to keep in mind when changing the string height on a guitar with a Floyd Rose type of bridge is that you need to loosen the tension on the bridge by taking away the bridge tremolo springs on the back of the guitar and/or just loosen the tension on them.
The intonation of a Floyd Rose bridge is not as easy as a strat type of bridge or a Les Paul type of bridge, you need some special tools to set the intonation of a Floyd Rose bridge, this tool can be found in most guitar luthier supply stores. Keep in mind that set the intonation on a Floyd Rose is not the easiest task to do and it would take some time before you get it right. The Height of the bridge will go hand in hand with String action and neck relief.. Practice on a shit guitar untill you understand how all these parts work and how to work with them and not against them.
Good Luck...
i was just about to just screw down my bridge but decided to watch you video just in case, THANK GOD
+Necronaut Yes, that could have been not very good, its always good to search for information before.. :D
@@HearGear Hello. Very informative video. I have a Warlock wit a No Trem Lock and I added a wood block for extra tuning stability and tone. The high E side height is good, the low E side is a millimeter or two high. How do I lower the low E side properly? The guitar plays good but I think it can play easier than it does. The No Trem and set-up was done by a pro but maybe that was over looked.
I like the part where you deviated from the subject in the title and just talked about something else
You're the only one who said this in a video!
I watched like 10 videos on how to change the height and there were ALWAYS comments about the knife edges, so I wasn't sure, so you helped, thanks :)
Great explanation. "I mean, what the hell, this is serious stuff". Haha we cracked up over that. Anyway, but great job pointing out the faults. I think the Floyd Rose system needs a revamp.
This video saved my brand new fender evh red striped strat...came from factory with NO setup whatsoever...1st time I've had to do a complete setup on a floyd rose equipped guitar. My god... I was just ready to start cranking down on those screws and thought, from my experience, it was the wrong thing to do. Instead I found this video, by luck. Thank u!!!
Finally a FR string height video -that is correct. This accually both explains and shows the truth about this. Thanks man.
for the ones with the damaged knife edges, what you can do is instead of leaving it floating, you can make it so that it is stuck in dive only mode.
then you make the spring tension greater than the string tension and you can still use it, but only one way
I would rather suggest blocking the tremolo block with some wood so that it will be a fixed bridge/hardtail instead. or perhaps a Tremolo-No that blocks the tremolo in a fixed position. But your idea could work to...
a tremol-no doesnt provide quite enough friction to completely and utterly keep the bridge from moving. trust me, ive tried it.
blocking it with wood or coins or come other material seems to be the best solution. and if you make the springs much stronger than the strings, then it should return to being right up against the block
@@HearGearthat still wouldn't help in a new strings for atleast 3 days .. 😂 .
When we bend the strings . It goes flat .. even if we don't use the tremolo ..
.
I only use adamantium tremelos
Thanks so much for this! I've never heard anyone address this before, but it makes so much sense. I did actually lower the bridge on my PRS Floyd very slightly when I first got it. Fortunately, it was very little. Hopefully, I haven't damaged the knife-edge too much. I'll definitely pay attention to that from now on, though.
+thormusique Yeah, there is not alot of ppl that know about this, but if not paying attention to this it will make the guitar go out of tune cus the bridge will not float properly when the knives are flat..
Oh my god. OH MY GOD. You are my hero. I live in an area with no professional luthier and the only guitar shop in town refused to adjust my Floyd because it's "too much of a pain in the ass". I was stuck with my action way too fucking high (almost a centimeter), for 2 and a half years. And I suddenly come across your video, randomly... And there we go. My guitar is saved. I just needed to loosen the strings BEFORE adjusting the two allen screws, which I didn't know at all. Your video helped me solve in SECONDS an issue I had been fighting with for years. You are my hero. Thanks :)
what kind of pro guitar shop won't work on Floyd Rose? wth. they probably didn't know what they were doing
Shawn Hall They definitely don't ^^
Thank you. Haven't been doing this for years, and forgot. Went to youtube to remind myself, and you are actually THE ONLY ONE I've found on youtube that says this.
Omg you’re a life saver. I recently bought a real Floyd Rose and it cost like $300 USD so now you’ve saved me the hassle of having to buy another one and paying more.
silverdragon0000120 I think real Floyds don't have this problem unlike licensed ones but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful!
Put you trem bar on/in and push down like your bombing, hold it in that position where your strings are flapping, then make your adjustments with your 3mm allen wrench. Then release the trem bar. You got it👍
finally someone that understands how a Floyd works... I learned the hard way on my own..
Excellent video, friend. I'm glad that people like you care to give explanations as important, it was of great help to me. Thank you very much.
thanks for the useful tip, if I ever adjust the height of my FR bridge I will remember NEVER to do it under tension.
I especially enjoyed your presentation of the
Floyd Rose bridge adjustment video: You present the information as a serious young man that really knows his instrument. Second. your english is excellent. Well done.
Now I feel confident enough to adjust my string height, so simple a thing to do, thank you for helping me not screw up.
I Like This Guy no nonsense very good I admit I filed mine down too.
Very helpful, straight to the point. No bullshit!
Many thanks for this. No-one else seems aware of the damage caused by adjusting with the strings taut, even the Jackson leaflet that came with the guitar doesn`t mention it. I even had to remove the internal springs as once the strings were slack, the springs held onto the bridge just as tightly, so I ended up with the bridge just hanging loose from the strings.
It was a bit of a ball-ache de-tuning, adjusting and re-tuning so many times and I`m still not sure I`ve got the best setting, but at least it`s an improvement. I`m beginning to think the Floyd-Rose is more trouble than it`s worth. Perhaps I`ll hard-tail it after all.
Cheers mate, I owe you.
Good point! But you should demonstrate, show how to do it?
It's amazing that you're not a Luthier (maybe I'm wrong) but you're still giving the right information here.
Luthiers on CZcams say it's fine to not lose anything...
Btw you even may cut the stud's head.
Happened to me..
I chopped off one of the stud's heads the 😭 it was a 27 years old Floyd
Guitar tech changed my strings and he changed the height now i got string buzz.
bro I just got floyd guitar and this saved me my floyd rose
Very informative. I just bought my first guitar equipped with a Floyd Rose. There are no instructions about the bridge setup or adjusting, and their website has no printable information. I do wonder though, do the "Knife Edges" wear out from regular use? Thanks, this video was a great help!
+Mike Curry Thanx :D.. well the knives does not wear out very easy from regular use....
I wonder why companies don't put a warning sticker on the packaging for new units or have a sticker guitar companies can put on their brand new guitars to alert people about this as It's not obvious at all to people they can ruin there trems so easily...
Spam'n'egg. Its cus the the luthiers/repairshops/manufaturers need to survive to, this is one of the things that they all make a good amount of cash out of, by reparing all different stuff on a guitar.. i agree, its crazy that they dont inform about this, there is ALOT of ppl that dont know about this problem at all.
HearGear
Yes your right but I think Gotoh or schaller ect are obligated to inform customers of the damage possible of incorrect use as it isn't an obvious misuse issue.
+Spam'n'egg. Why don't you call them up and ask that yourself? Btw. I like your observations.
alexander dragutinovic
Yes, Why don't I? I shall:)
Just do it ! Man, I see you know very much about guitars, in this case Floyd Rose, thanks for posting your comments I have learned a lot.
This was exactly what I needed to fix my problem. Thanks man.
Glad I found this while working on my bridge. It just makes absolute sense to take the extra time to take precautions against damaging those bridge knives. Thank you for the upload. It was very informative. @4:21-4:38 is a laugh.
Thanks for this, saved me destroying a brand new floyd rose system
My guitar strings bottom out on the frett board when you pull up the tremolo arm, so I need to raise the action up a little, great information
Cheers
Thank you your video was very helpful.I've been a strat player most of my life.It's great to have this information.
Thank you so much sm rly Nice tips that's what i have been searching for for like a year and a half thank you much !
Thank you for your advice - yes, I was occasionally making the BIG mistake you described - but now maybe my licensed floyd rose will last a little longer
Great information, and MUCH thanks for sharing this insight on Floyd Rose knife-edge importance! Cheers \m/
I know it is quite late for a response or comment, but I think I've found a solution delivering the same level protection for the screws holding the bridge. When I adjust the string action, I just have the whammy bar on, press it down, and start adjusting.
My theory is as follows: the 2 sharp knives are filed down at an angle. When the whammy bar is pressed down, those sharp knives will be tilted forward, increasing the contact areas with the pivots so the pivots will not be cut in so bad and the knives can maintain their edges.
I haven't done any scientific experiments to prove this postulation, but I've been doing so on 2 of my trem-equipped guitars and luckily, so far so good.
That’s a cool solution, but I would make sure the trem stays down without your hands, you could get some damage otherwise. I’ve heard of this before, I just can’t remember the trem bar “locker”.
thats is how i do it
very helpful glad I watched it....just purchased an axe with one on it and want to lower string height a tad
Thank u so much :D
Thank you for the great info, glad I found you before I adjusted my string height
Thank You my Friend, You have explained all needed to make string action work correct, Thank You again and again--Bobby S.
You are very much welcome.. i am happy i can help :D
Grrr! I wish he would have explained the importance, or non importance of, the screws/bridge being equal. Do they need to be equal?
I have been told by my luthier that they need to be equal. He knows a lot more about Floyd roses than I do so I’d probably say yeah keep em the same. Sorry it’s taken so long
Actually close to equal, spring claw no more than 10 degrees( use protractor) and fully floating bridge no more than 1/16 of an inch higher on bass side. The EVH’s are so much easier, spring claw no more than 10-15 degrees on any side, and bridge above body no more than 1/16 of an inch on treble or bass side. So on floating Floyd’s you really have to be on specs, otherwise the term won’t work right, and tuning trouble. The EVH dive down only Floyd is much easier to set up as it’s supposed to be around 1/16 of an inch on either side, but a bit higher on the bass side won’t sink the ship. EVH claw can be a hair off, no big deal. If you can get the factory recommendations, great. The Specials tend to be easier to get factory “settings”. How do know this stuff ? From talking to Fender EVH on the phone. The rep themselves said every guitar is different, and the dive down Floyd allows for some leeway in adjustments.
to adjust string height of a floyd rose you MUST use saddle shims the base plate of the floyd has to be flush with the guitar body thats all the post height is for, flodys are 12 inch radius so to make them work perfectly you need a straight 12 inch radius neck it will have super low action and never go out of tune , floyds are the best bridges ever made when matched to the neck and installed properly
John Wade or just use neck shims
Good info. All you need to do is take off the trem by taking off the springs, that way you are playing it safe :)
Thanks for the video: From Curitiba - Brazil!
I've owned floyd rose guitars for 30 years and it's crazy that they don't put a warning insert in with the guitar case. I bet 99% of guitar players simply crank the screws down without thinking anything is amiss.
Yeah.. its crazy, i totally agree...
Not to mention you can assume any used high end Jackson or Charvel etc with a Floyd has a damaged Floyd knife edge. :(
@@phillipgohorns if it's high end Floyd, you can file it out, fix it that way.
As long it's sharp and smooth. Let the filing Rod do the job, don't apply pressure.
This is a great help & at the same time makes me worried about my Floyd.
heargear, so used to strats that this is a learning experience. You have a straight foward common sense approach in your vid. Thank you for the good info-if It makes sense it's worth a shot. Hope to see more vids from you!
The danger of not doing your research. Getting it wrong can work out expensive and very annoying. Thank you for this .
Thanks. Saved my new guitar.
You are welcome...
thanks for the info that was helpful I have a Gibson Les Paul that was Made with a Floyd Rose I took it to Guitarcenters Las Vagas N V and the intonation be out it sets in the case
Wow, first video where it is actually said you need to keep knife edges away from the posts when turning them.
I hope you can help me out with something, I've boughgt a Gotoh GE1996T for my Jackson which had a licenced FR installed from factory. I brought the guitar to a "luthier" but he kept the old stud posts and inserts in the guitar and swapped only the tremolo, since the old inserts are 8 mm in diameter and Gotoh are 11,3 so he said he didn't want to replace them so he doesn't ruing the finish when he widens the holes (?!). Of course, now I have a new Gotoh Floyd scraping along 15 year old licenced cheap posts and while the guitar stays in tune, doing dive bombs or pull ups on the floyd will make all the strings go flat or sharp - respectively. My gues is this is due to old posts, I presume he coulnd't have damaged the knife edges already, especially if the Gotoh is harder than stock.
Anyway, I'm gonna do it myself now and I was wondering how to wide the holes without any woodworking professional tools. I saw a vide where a guy uses a smaller diameter wooden dowel (just below 8 mm in my case) with a notch on it. Then he uses a small piece of 80 grit sandpaper to widen the hole. After that he adds more and more layers of sand paper so he keeps widening the hole. (12 to 14 in that video). I think this is the best way I could try and do that, but was wondering if anyone had a better way? I do not have a drill bench nor do I know anyone who has it (plus, even if I had it, I don't know how I would center the new drill bits).
I hope you can help me out, I should fix this as soon as possible as I fear playing the guitar so I don't do damage on the knife edges before posts are replaced.
Thank you for this video!
Hey man thanks for the video I actually thought about that myself but I need your help what do I do to get rid of a little bit of fret buzz in getting in the second and third frets keeping a low action should I give a little more relief with the truss rod?
Are any of those Floyd Rose Originals?
Very informative information...many thanks.
thanks a lot for the info man! excellent vid
This is of great help, thanks.
Is it possible, instead of de-tuning, to take the tremolo arm and screw it in and press it down to make the strings loose, and while holding it in that position, go ahead and screw in the bridge screws(knife edge screws) to lower the action? Or do you physically have to detune the strings, I don't understand the difference but am just checking.
Kevin Dewey This makes sense to me, though I am no expert.
+Kevin Dewey you would still be pushing the bridge knives onto the pivots, the only difference is the tension would be coming from the springs instead.
When you loosen the strings, the springs will keep on pulling it down all the way till it bottoms out right? When I change string I put a AA battery under the floyd rose to keep it from pulling all the way down. So even if you loosen the strings, the springs are still pulling in the other direction. It seem you would actually need to take the spings off as well. If the strings are pulling forward and the springs are pulling backward and you only lossen the stings there is still tension from the springs on the knife edge.
thank you, this is very helpful.
just stopped my self from screwing up...thank you..!
I've heard that if you notice that your string height is too high so you can lower your floyd rose bridge without any problems of wearing your bridge off but if you want to raise your tremolo higher, then you have to take the string tension off. What is your opinion about this?
Thanks, You helped a lot!
Thanx :D
Good precautionary information. I believe this video is not a How to as much as it is a what not to do (i mean that in a positive way). I say that because you didnt actually show how to, but you did say what had to be done in extreamly general terms in 26 seconds 7.5 min video. I liked your video because of the cautionary information which is not talked about in many if not any other videos that ive seen.
Yeah.. i think you are right.. Cheers.. :D
I have a Jackson /rhoads rs32rt my folyd /rose strings are on to top of the frets how do I fix it …???
What do you mean by pulling back the bridge
Adrian Olivo that's a good question, and I think I understand what he means. The tension of the strings are pulling the bridge towards the headstock. When you loosen them, you are able to pull the bridge a little bit in the opposite direction, since the dominate force is now the tremolo springs.
Hey man, thank you so much for your video!! I was kinda scared when you showed the old almost flat knife edges, but I read in some forum that if I remove the springs then the top plate will just come off easily just so that we can easily work on the pivolt.. This was the first time in my life that I ever did such kinda of work, it took almost 3 hours, but it was a worthy learning experience!! and even after setting everything back into its place, the floyd just stays in tune perfect even after lots of bendings and divebombs...
Floyd all the way, for the rest of my life!!
God Bless
The reason you can't use the other bridges is because there cheap knockoffs and not real Floyd's! ! As for adjusting the pivot screws, the base plate will wear out anyways from tremolo use so either way the pivot sockets will wear down... It doesn't matter if there is tension on the string when adjusting.
Nice video!! Happy 2014 from Spain!!
BRO MY GUITAR STRINGS ALWAYS DROPS I CAN'T TUNE IT INTO STANDERD TUNE PLZ BRO HELP ME PLZ PLZ BRO MAKE A ONE VIDEO FOR IT PLZ
:(
Very helpful, thanks
Ok, so first release string tension then adjust the posts...and you said to put something behind the trem cavity to stop it from bending backwards...do I still need to do the second step is the trem is blocked?
Thanks for the video
The D and G strings look slightly higher than my E and A strings on my RR1 Floyd rose
Can you tell me what is the right string action for a 13.78" radius fretboard?
Thank u for sharing sir
thank you , does that mess with the intonation?
+WFIST No, as long as u dont adjust the sadles, the intonation does normaly not has anything to do with string hight.
U didn't show .. we didn't understand .. how to pull back and in the bridge..
My guitar came stock with a decked bridge that only dives. I'm fretting out a bit with bends on the 14th and 15th frets. I thought it might be the frets but the high E string is slightly lower than the fat E (0.5mm). I was going to raise the treble string side by an eighth of a turn or so try and get the action on that side up slightly. Just detune the strings, push down on the bar and adjust the screw upward a tiny bit? Or does it have to be dead even on both sides? Mant thanks for any advice. Its an EVH striped series.
If we slacken strings the bridge will fall back right? So before lowering the studs should I flatten it with the whammy? I saw someone do that in a video..
I did not know this. Thank you. One question...if I have a block in the back to keep the floyd rose level to the body when i'm working on it, can I just loosen the strings very much and then turn the screws? I'm not sure if the bridge will move back any with that block in the back. Thanks again.
The bridge will move back so you need to fix it in both directions. The tremolo springs on the back of the guitar is on heavy tension so thats what will make the bridge move back when loosing the string tension.
Sir i have an ESP ltd MH 50 with a high action and is very uncomfortable to play is there a way to reduce the action without causing tuning problems?
should i unlock the nuts on the neck to release tension then detune strings at head stock then raise bridge and heighten at the poles while holding it up? my bridge has slated to the high e so i just need to adjust that one string
I dont want to be responsible for anything you do, but yes, releasing tension is the key to do this with success..
dude I got a question: Is it enough to "just" loosen the strings in order to prevent damage to the kife edges (especially when you have a cheaper non-Schaller FR with softer metal). Isn't it much better to remove the whole bridgepart? Or is it really sufficient what you suggest?
You just have to loose the tension on the posts that is in the bushings..thats all, its alot more job to remove the whole bridge.
If lowering the strings on floyd by adjusting those screws, would this cause the bridge to tilt backwards? or would it still remain in horizontal position?
+xarran No matter what you do with the bridge you will have to adjust the springs on the back of the guitar that is connected to your bridge, of course only if needed. If the bridge is in line with the body after adjusting the hight on the bridge, then you dont have to adjust the springs.
Thanks man
Very helpful
Many thanks!
I'm glad I watched this first but I just followed the directions on a brand new guitar I got about 10 days ago and got a good fret buzz when I lowered the Floyd to where I like it so then I just went back and forth raising it to get rid of the buzz. Now i'm back to the same height that the new guitar came with. Its a Jackson RR24. My guess is maybe the neck needs to be adjusted as well to get the strings down to normal with no fret buzz ? Does that sound right ?
No it does not sound right.. what needs to be done is Level the frets..
Thanks very much. I have never tried to work on one before. I'll get a pro to do that.
Its not an easy task at all to level guitar frets.. so let a pro do it..
Thanks I love my Jacksons but I bought a King V last October and that one came with the action a little high as well though not a high as the RR24. You would think the factory would have taken care of that.
I adjusted my bridge the wrong way last night 😱😱. Now I'm afraid to check
Me personally I just depress the trem bar to loosen the strings and screw the poles slowly, it saves a hell of a lot of time retuning
does that actually work because I thought about that once but didn't want to risk it.
Levi Salazar Hellyeah it works lol just keep it firmly down (as far as it goes) and don't let it fly back up at you.
I'd be careful. Even though you're taking tension off the strings. The springs are still pulling on the bridge keeping the force on the poles the same.
MrIbanez87 It is true, you can still feel a little tension when loosening them. I just do it that way because im lazy. Plus the pole pieces are cheap to replace for some units if you are unlucky enough to thread them too much. If they are threaded, they can still be taken off with a monkey wrench.
great video! where are you from?
Good info thank you!!
I just detune until they buzz and than I unhook one of them, tighten it, than I hook it up do it on the other side and it is done :D Only a lot of tuning to go :D
Hey thanks for the video but i have a question. Doing this won't bow the neck will it?
It shouldn't, if it does then you've either; bought a dud, or screwed something up massively.
🤘 Thank you 🤘
Can you adjust the wood screws in back of the tremolo without removing the knife edge contact with the studs?
No
There is a brand called coherent sound in light (CSL) they make amazing trems ... Check them out! They eliminated some serious problems of the conventional floyd
How do you deal with the floyd rose bridge saddles as they are not in straight line which causes the strings to be at a different height from one another.
I put new strings on my Floyd rose on my ibanez RG 270 and the tremolo went up instead of staying down on the body. How can I reset the tremolo bridge to go back down again I put gauge 10 strings on it.Thank u.
Demetris Georghiou make the springs tighter in the back loosen and tighten them until you get the trem level hope that helps
*height
Tried a lot but im not able to get the floyd rose back (pushing the knifes back as he says) before raising the height!
how is this supposed to be done exactly? Do I loosen the strings and then pull the floyd rose behind? Thats how I did it but it didnt seem to move and im pretty sure im doing it the wrong way!
Someone please help! Dont wanna fuck my knives up!
Try removing some of the springs in the back of the tremolo.
Thank you
You can’t adjust height of each string individually to follow the curvature of the neck?
dpajc056 not on a Floyd nope
When you loosen the strings, that would let the bridge go in right from the tension of the springs, Wouldn't the bridge still be up against the height bolts/whatever they called, but at say 45 degree angle and still wreck it?.. Not sure... Please let me know. Still useful video Thank you Guitartech man..
If you loosen the strings, the springs will pull the bridge back, away from the hight adjusting bolts
okay cheers.
+Joel Haire It seems to me, if you don't loosen the rear tension springs too, there would still be force against those pivot screws. I would think, if you want to raise or lower the bridge, you'd have to loosen both the strings and the rear tension springs, or the pivot points could be damaged. I have a 1970s strat and just figured out, after 40 years, that's probably why it won't stay in tune. Time to buy a new floyd rose. Or, a new guitar...... Now, should the bridge be level, or tilted? That is the question
Rick
Tucson
+azcharlie2009 level is your best option, you can have both as long as there is equal tension force on each side.
+Joel Haire This is totally right Joel Haire.. very good answer.. :D Cheers.