floating my bridge, help?

[Left_Hand_Strat]

erm having a go at this on my squier affinity with a 'synchronous tremelo' (as they call it) fitted to the guitar but im a bit stuck...

should i loosen the strings or do it with the strings fully tuned?

also when i have tightened up the strings to standard, the bridge is like a good 7-8 mm off the body???? whats a recommended height?

Also, the Six screws just under the start of the strings, do i need to tighten them up as i go along or not???

Also should i Re-set up the guitar, as in a total re setup after i have got the bridge sorted?

also, any other good advice?

many thanks.

[IanBallard]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

Floating a Fender vibrato bridge can be tricky. The idea is to loosen the springs under the guitar until the bridge raises to your desired level. That level is up to you. If your bridge is already 7-8mm raised when it's up to pitch, try it out and see if you like the range of the pitch of the vibrato. Jeff Beck uses a floating bridge quite a lot as do a few other Strat users, but most do not because there are many factors that make your setup VERY hard to keep in tune. If I were you, I'd think about a TusqXL nut and some locking tuners too.

Another thing to consider, is that when you float a bridge like that, when you bend a string hard, the bridge will move with the bend, giving you less bending range...so no Albert King stuff. It's a compromise. I keep my trem "down-only" and it is tight enough that I can do a 2 full step bend and there is no movement upward.

[Bludave]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

When I set up my Strat with a floating bridge(I normally don't) I prefer to set it to where I get a 1/2 step up when I pull the arm up. Its a matter of preference really.

I would keep the strings tuned to pitch(or wherever it is that you normally tune)

I would not tighten the screw. This is the fulcrum that allows the bridge to move.

I would plan on doing a complete setup. the intonation is going to be out after you set it up with the bridge floating.

Just a bit of advice..... If you break a string with the bridge floating you are going to loose all of your tuning stability. the guitar will go completely out of tune. This is the prime reason most players set the bridge against the body.

You should also look at replacing the saddles, nut & tuners as well as the string trees. All of these will cause drag on the strings and knock the guitar out of tune.

I just built a new Strat & we used locking tuners, graphite nut & will soon replace the stock saddles with the graphite ferraglides. No string tree either. I don't use the whammy excessively but I want to keep the guitar in tune as much as I can. Because of this I prefer to use 4 or 5 springs. This makes the bridge much more difficult to move but I can get pretty aggressive with my normal bending, knowing that the bridge will remain fairly stable.

Good Luck!

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

thanks guys I will keep everything in mind

what sort of nut, if any, would you recommend?

[MojoMonster]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

erm having a go at this on my squier affinity with a 'synchronous tremelo' (as they call it) fitted to the guitar but im a bit stuck...

should i loosen the strings or do it with the strings fully tuned?

Fully tuned.

also when i have tightened up the strings to standard, the bridge is like a good 7-8 mm off the body???? whats a recommended height?

Ideally, it's up to you.
You can set it so that a "full up" is a set step bend... 1/2 step, one or even two steps... I'd start with a half- step bend and go from there.

Also, the Six screws just under the start of the strings, do i need to tighten them up as i go along or not???

You might need to adjust it depending on how it is currently set.
Check out the Dan Erlewine repair/set up books at your local bookstore for particulars.
Ideally, the two outside screws should determine your height, the insides screws should just be "snugged down" to the baseplate, ie., touching the base, but not tight against it.

Also should i Re-set up the guitar, as in a total re setup after i have got the bridge sorted?

It isn't absolutely required, but it might be necessary.

also, any other good advice?
many thanks.

Graphtech nut, polish the nut slots, locking tuners, fret polish, Graphtech saddles/saddle slot polish, pickup height adjustment.
String breakage is going to be your biggest problem. You want to make the saddles and nut grooves as comfortable as possible for string travel.

MM

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

after a lot of adjustments, i currently have it pulling up to a maximum of 1 and a half steps

so i need to tighten it so it just goes up half a step

[Jeff_H]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

When I built my strat, I decided to use the best vintage hardware I could find, so I went with Callaham. Even with the quality of his stuff, I still have mine set up so the trem is flush against the body and stays there even when doing nice double stop bends. I can downtrem if i want to, but honestly I usually don't even put the trem arm in. Callaham also suggests that you set his hardware up this way.

If I wanted my trem to float, I'd do what others have suggested and go with a graph tech nut, graphtec or similar saddles and maybe even a roller string tree if my guitar needed one or two of those. You will have to decide if you want to spend that kind of money on your guitar, or get another guitar all together.

I had several American Standard strats with the floating trem and just never really got along with them. Not until I had a strat with a vintage style trem that I locked down did I find myself playing the strat a bit more. FWIW.

I can only get along with floating bridges that have a locking nut, like a floyd...and it took me years to finally understand how to set one of those up properly, but I'm slow.

[MojoMonster]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

after a lot of adjustments, i currently have it pulling up to a maximum of 1 and a half steps
so i need to tighten it so it just goes up half a step

If it's already a step and a half, I'd try a whole step first.
You can set it to whatever you like, but the general idea is that it be something useful, like a whole step bend.

MM

[AlexR]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

The only floating bridge I've ever got on with (and that stays in tune) is the G&L one I have on my S500. Doesn't have much 'up' FWIW.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: floating my bridge, help?

Hi guys, I have got it sorted out at 1 whole step, the intonation is now bang on and also the guitar's setup on the saddles is just fine as it was before, the strings are just a little higher and if anything, it feels more comfortable to play