Floyd Rose and Ernie Ball

[BloodMountain]

Hey people, havent posted for ages, but i'm back! at least, for a bit. don't know if anyone remembers me though  :)

well i just restrung my Dean Razorback with Ernie Ball Regular gauge 10-46. I was tuning up to standard tuning, but as i did so the trem pulled right up.
Normally, this wouldnt be a problem, but the springs round the back wouldn't help very much at all when i tightened them. Now they wont go any further, and havent helped at all...

it baffles me why this should happen especially if they are regular gauge and i am tuning to standard tuning...
Is there something strange about Ernie Ball strings?

Also, to solve this problem, do i just need to get new stronger springs for the trem?

Cheers all  :)

P.s. i searched and could only find threads similar to this, and none were asking the same question.

[AJDS]

This happened to me once (mine you i was going up a gauge). I added another spring and it made the problem pretty much go away. I can't think of why it would be the strings though.

[Transcend]

Hey BM welcome back its been an awful long time since i've seen you around here.

And as AJDS said adding extra springs is a simple solution.

[Lazy_McDoesnothing]

Some brands have different string tension even if they are the same size string so maybe the Ernie Balls are a bit stiffer.  Or if your strings were really old and stretched out the new ones will have a higher tension at first.  You could try putting your springs into an arrow configuration if you haven't already before you get an extra spring.  This gives the springs a higher tension than a straight configuration.

[ToneMonkey]

Did you restring it by taking off all the old strings and putting on the new set? Or did you do it one at a time?

Doesn't help you now, but worth remembering in the future.

[BloodMountain]

Hey BM welcome back its been an awful long time since i've seen you around here.

And as AJDS said adding extra springs is a simple solution.

Haha! im surprised someone remembers me, its been so long!

yeah i think in future i will add extra Springs

ToneMonkey, i did the whole lot at once, isnt that what youre supposed to do?

Turns out this situation resolved itself... No idea how, we took out the trem block, tuned it back down to standard (as it was wayyyy high after we took it out!) and hey presto, locked the nut, and used the fine tuners and it was perfect Standard, almost perfectly balanced.

Conclusion: guitars are REALLY odd things.

[the guitar repair workshop]

if the trem gets caught on the posts in the wrong place it'll send the balance way off, this may well be whats happened here, you obviously havent gone up a gauge?

As its the inner core tension that does all the work its possible to have a different inner core size and thinner outer wrap - this will mess with the floating trem,  its noticeable but not to the degree mentioned above. Its why some brands are stiffer than others,
cheers


steve

[ToneMonkey]

ToneMonkey, i did the whole lot at once, isnt that what youre supposed to do?

As far as I remember, and I have no experiance with this (the usual cop-out), if you change one strings at a time, then you should get less of the issues as the tension on the trem is kept a lot closer to the original rather then completely releasing it so that the trem moves and then trying to tension it all up.  I also think that this is good practice for changing the stings on any instrument as you keep the tension in the neck... Although I could well be talking out of my arse.

[Will]

^^ I heard that too.

I often change 2 at a time, so most of the tension is atleast there.
Not usually an issue, but apparently some necks just start warping. (local tech said it was rare though)
With trems though, its easier to retune the strings if you take them off one at a time :P

[Matt77]

The same thing happened to me last month when I put a set of Ernie Ball 10s on an Ibanez 540. The old strings were 9s and the springs wouldn't do enough to get the trem level.
I ended up getting some more springs from Jonathon at Feline.

I wouldn't bother changing string by string as it seems to be a lottery when you take the strings off a Floyd.
As long as you block it up so it's level before you put the strings up to tension you shouldn't have too many issues

[the guitar repair workshop]

keep something resembling a beer mat (but stronger- dont want to mark the paint tho!) in your case, slip it under the trem when changing strings and you can do all 6 at a time easily enough.

If you go up a gauge you'd pretty much expect to use an extra spring, if you've put the same gauge on and the trem is really lifting your probably tuning too far up i.e overal tension is too high. get the strings roughly to tension (if its your usual gauge) and then look at the tuner, you cant tune each string to pitch, the trem will rise and send the previously tuned string low.
the floyd rose site has some good pointers on it
cheers