Tuning

[Jonny]

Obviously I'm not doing something right.

I've recently installed my Miracle Man set. And so I've taken all the strings off, and now with new ones on. Time for tuning.

And as I, and maybe some others, know that tuning new strings on a Floyd Rose - is the end of the world.

So I tune - the tuner needle to going all over the place, and when I finally get it green, I tune another string and the string goes all epileptic once again.

So I tried blocking it, I did that. And it did the same thing.

It's an Edge III brigde, with 9s, trying to tune to standard. And I'm out of luck.

[noodleplugerine]

Do as the rest of us do.

Put the guitar down.

Block the tremolo.

And never speak of this again.

[Jonny]

Do as the rest of us do.

Put the guitar down.

Block the tremolo.

And never speak of this again.

NEVER!

[WezV]

just work out a system for yourself - it gets more intuitive the more you do it

i start on the low e and roughly tune everything then go back through like this

E

A

EA

D

EAD

G

EADG

B

EADGB

e

EADGBe


now i am not saying its a perfect system - but because i have done it that way so many times it becomes intuitive and i automatically overtune slightly once i get to a certain point so the final fine tuning pulls it all together

[PhilKing]

When I have to set up Floyd Rose's I do the following:

Pack it so it is sitting level with the body.
set all the fine tuners to the middle of their range
Put all the strings on and bring them up to approximate pitch (I usually do this by ear, but you could use a tuner).
Start to tune to pitch
Unblock the trem
Adjust tuning.

The only time it is a real pain is on a build or if you are changing the gauge of the strings.  The you will have to adjust the spring tension.

[noodleplugerine]

Just make sure if you do it that way, you're not pulling the bridge way up.

[WezV]

Just make sure if you do it that way, you're not pulling the bridge way up.

now getting them to float in just the right spot is down to spring tension

bare in mind when i do them its normally because there is a problem with them  that needs sorting so it always tends to invlove some fiddling and re-tuning... i dont think i own a floyd rose equipped guitar anymore

[Jonny]

I do the whole E A EA, etc. and what Phil said. It just when I remove the block it sounds better coming out of a sheeps arse.

[PhilKing]

I should have also said that if the guitar has already been set up, then I pack it to hold it where it is before I cut off the old strings.

[JDC]

just work out a system for yourself - it gets more intuitive the more you do it

i start on the low e and roughly tune everything then go back through like this

E
A
EA
D
EAD
G
EADG
B
EADGB
e

EADGBe


now i am not saying its a perfect system - but because i have done it that way so many times it becomes intuitive and i automatically overtune slightly once i get to a certain point so the final fine tuning pulls it all together

I tune them the other way round, I put them on thickest to thinnest and roughly tune them stretching each string as I go

then I tune them accurately thinnest to thickest, but slightly sharpen the thinnest ones the first few times

I do it this way because the thicker strings don't change pitch as much as the thinner strings therefore less tuner knob turning!

so it would be, tune slightly sharp:

e
B
eB
G
eBG
D
eBGD

tune properly now

A
eBGDA
E
eBGDAE

and now it's in perfect tune.... until you lock the nut... and then I fine tune it thinnest to thickest

[Jonny]

EDIT: Upon tuning once again with the block, it seems the bridge is as unstable as a hippo on a tightrope.

Solutions?

[Antag]

A couple of things spring to mind (sorry, lame pun ;)):

1.  At some point while putting in/taking out the block have you accidentally disconnected one of the springs?

2. After removing the block, has the guitar retained its E std tuning?  If it had dropped to, say, C std, the bridge would flap all over the place with only 9s.