imprinted Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 How much of a bother is it *really* to change strings/tunings. was almost completely set on the guitar i was wanting yet a few of my friends persist in saying that I should get a floyd rose style locking trem equipped trem. I was thinking of selling my current guitar (an idea i've changed my mind on now that i've realised it's a rare (ish) finish for the guitar so it might be worth something eventually!) but if i did i'd need to change from standard tuning, to Eb to Drop C and would i eventually be driven insane doing that with a locking trem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 it's not something you'd want to have to change in the middle of a set. If you want to use different tunings or are worried about string breakage take a second guitar (you should really do this anyway as it's still quicker to change guitar than strings). But on a day to day basis it's no big deal and the benefits of a floyd rose trem outweigh the drawbacks.Having said that the main reason I sold my last guitar was that I wanted to get rid of the floyd rose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprinted Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 I wasn't really worried about changing tunings live. two separate bands with two separate tunings! but it was more for jamming with friends and for practicing/covering different songs when i don't have two guitars about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 well if you're just having a jam, and know that you're going to be switching tunings, you could just leave the locks off of the nut and then it would be the same as a normal guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprinted Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 good thinking mate! why oh why did i not think of that!?excellent - now i've got to play shitloads of guitars and see what grabs my fancy! birthday in april and the parents have said they'll give me some money towards a guitar of my choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 But remember when you detune a floyd the trem will move and sink down with pressure of springs. Thus changing action and what not. Also you'll have problems with gauges of strings and the tension for each tuning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprinted Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 arg - true dat. but if it's just for a Jam i won't be too worried Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 for changing tunings at a jam or something a floyd would be rather annoying, for switching tungins you will also need to adjust the springs in the back of the guitar so the bridge balances level, which isnt a hard job, but takes timeone way i found to get by it, have the floyd set up in your normal tuning, then when you want to change tuning, i used two small blocks of wood, which i stuck in the back of the guitar to stop the trem moving, so i could retune to drop d or whatever and the bridge would be level and in tune, then when i wanted to go back, i just tuned it back to normal and popped out the blocks and everythign is back to normal, this means you can get the use of the floyd in one tuning, and can still use the guitar for other tunings relatively quickly (though without the use of the floyd)its easiest to have it set up in the highest tuning, then when you want to drop tune it at all, you need to stick a block of wood or something inbetween the body of the trem sticking through from the front, and the body (on the side nearest to the neck) if you want to go from a standard tuning up, you will need to have a block on the other side of the trem as wellDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Borlax Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 im a guitar retard and have a floyd rose bridgewhy?because i though the guitar looked cool, but seriously i have to take it in all the time cause the bridge buggers updont get one (unless your not a guitar retard) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzzlebutt Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 floyd rose trem.......a small word of caution... i fitted a floyd rose to a japanese fat strat copy about 12 years back...previously fitted with an actex trem.... fitting the floyd was a doddle... next jam i had noticed that as i played down the neck.. i was was going progressively further out of tune with everybody else... in short the actex bridge was positioned about 10 mil further toward the neck than the floyd and the intonation was well out.... the options were1. move the trem posts 10mm towards the neck...2. mod the body to sink the neck 10 mm further into the body...option 2 was simpler... a bloke who worked at R&B was a luthier and charged me about 100 bux to impliment mod 2... he did a damn fine job... but in short the whole exercise was considerably more involved than first envisaged... however the floyd rose is much better trem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulscoconutass Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 The only thing i dislike about my guitar is the floyd-rose trem, it's probably one of the worst inventions ever. It takes about 4 times longer to string a floyd-rose compared to a normal string through body, the sustain is pretty gash, it slips out of tune soooo easily (even with the fine tuning on the bridge), it keeps getting stuck in the lining of my guitar bag, the two giant pins/pegs holding it in have slipped from the body twice, and to semi-resolve the problem i blocked it off.... but it's still pish.With two different tunings you'll also have to spend ages fickering with the springs round the back to keep the strings level with the neck every time you change from one to another, honestly, it's not worth the bother. I'd rather use my ten year old standard, beaten up, squier bridge any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 the floyd on my guitar has never really been a hassle, they are pretty simple really once you know how they work (i can explain further if anyone wants)paul, i am quite surprised that your floyd slips out of tune really easily, that makes me think there is a problem somewhere on your guitar, as floyds tend to be very stable once they are set up and tuned properly... most of the complaints i hear about floyds are from people who havent taken the time to work out how to use it properly, or people who want to use different tunings, if yuou want an excellent tremolo system for one main tuning, floyds are excellentthe one thing i have noticed since getting a new guitar is the lack of sustain and resonacne that my floyded guitar has, it sounds fine plugged in, but acoustically, sounds very weedy and thing compared to a hardtailed teleDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulscoconutass Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 paul' date=' i am quite surprised that your floyd slips out of tune really easily, that makes me think there is a problem somewhere on your guitar, as floyds tend to be very stable once they are set up and tuned properly... [/quote']It's stable enough these days (now that there's a phat chunk of my old bed slats rammed down the back of it), but I used to hate it when one of the strings went slightly out, then you'd tune it and it would knock every other string out of tune, thus taking 5 minutes to re-tune the guitar again. The springs had to be re-set every time the gauge or tuning was changed and a single snapped string was a nightmare. Blocking it off was the only thing that could stop all these continuous problems; which totally defeats the purpose of having such a delicate contraption on the bridge of a guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tav Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 See the quality of bridge really affects how well it works. Alot of gutiars come with cheap licensed bridges that just don't work as well as the real deal. We've got a Yamaha with a licensed floyd and it seems to be really good. Never goes out of tune even with mag waggling of the wiggle stick and the guitar has good sustain etc etc. Haven't changed strings on it yet...not really looking forward to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 but I used to hate it when one of the strings went slightly out' date=' then you'd tune it and it would knock every other string out of tune, thus taking 5 minutes to re-tune the guitar again. The springs had to be re-set every time the gauge or tuning was changed and a single snapped string was a nightmare. [/quote']that's not down to the floyd rose though, that's just down to the floating trem. any floating trem system will have the same problems. I cryed laughing the first time my brother tried to tune one of my guitars with a floating trem. He'd only ever used a Tele and it never occured to him that after he'd gone through each string once it would still need to be tuned again as the first strings would now be out.Any guitar with a whammy bar enabled bridge will have that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HARRY Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 that's not down to the floyd rose though' date=' that's just down to the floating trem. any floating trem system will have the same problems. I cryed laughing the first time my brother tried to tune one of my guitars with a floating trem. He'd only ever used a Tele and it never occured to him that after he'd gone through each string once it would still need to be tuned again as the first strings would now be out.Any guitar with a whammy bar enabled bridge will have that problem.[/quote']Floating trems do tend to get fairly annoying. A lot of the time involves major downtuning in order to reset the position of the bridge before you begin the proper tune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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