Floating Trem issue...

[alex1fly]

I'm having an issue with the Floyd Rose trem on my PRS SE Custom, and hoping to get some perspective on what's going on. I have some gigs lined up where I was planning to use this axe, but don't know if I can if these issues continue. I've had the guitar since March 2020, and it's been nothing but rock-freaking-solid tuning wise since then, through several string changes and all kinds of whammy ridiculousness and bends. I had a setup done when I got the guitar and have tweaked the truss rod a few times to maintain the same relief.

I have 3 springs in the tremolo cavity, parallel to the strings, nothing fancy. D'adarrio .10s, standard tuning. Locking nut. The Floyd is the 1000 series. The strings are a month old and have probably 10 hrs of play on them. I'll add that where I am currently, it's been extremely dry until this week. And summer crept up for temps in the 80s and 90s the last couple weeks, but this week was much cooler - 60s and 70s. It does not live in a case.

What it's doing just as of this week is all strings are staying a few cents flat after I depress the bar, and all strings are staying a few cents sharp after I pull up on the bar. Annoyingly precise. So I can knock it back into tune with a few tries, but this is definitely a new behavior. And, it's losing tuning overnight - sometimes flat, sometimes sharp.

Any thoughts? Try another string set? Check the springs and claw?

[Bogner]

I wouldn't do anything except play it and use it and watch it for a couple days and see what it does in relation to the weather shifting back. I would make sure your trem pivot points are lubricated as that could be a help. The problem with making tweaks in adverse or non settled conditions is that they may be temporary and when the climate/weather balances back out it may create a whole different set fo problems. You want to tweak in the most predictable conditions possible (in the perfect world).

If the guitar is still behaving (badly) after continual playing while the weather is crazy AND the weather balances out to normal as it usually is AND you are still having trouble then I would make minor, documented, incremental adjustments and see how it responds. Again, its a slow process because you want to try to isolate the problem and then eliminate it. If you go tweaking everything there is no guarantee it will solve the problem. I know it is probably not what you wanted to hear but it is the wisest way to approach it. If tweaks are easy to you and you have the tools to measure string height, neck relief, and know how to intonate and all that stuff and it is easy for you to do then sure, go ahead and dive in but understand when the weather shifts back, you will most likely be making further adjustments. I hope this helps in some fashion. If you have further questions or need help, ask and I will do my best to help you! Good luck!!

[ICTGoober]

Lube the friction points. I use a dab of Chapstick.

[devastone]

Check the nut, it may be loose and moving a little when you change the string tension with the bar. Also, as Goober mentioned, chapstick on the pivot points is good too.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

... but understand when the weather shifts back, you will most likely be making further adjustments...

Wouldn't it then be advised for the OP to keep the guitar in a case going fwd, as well as in room with humdity control, if possible?

[nexion218]

+1 for the lube. Though I prefer somethung thinner than chapstick, I'm always afraid that thick stuff like that collects dust and whatnot, but many people use it without issues. Regardless, I use a teflon based machine lube spray. Before doing it, I'd take out the unit ( leave the strings on, just remove the springs, much less hassle) and clean the knife edges and the pivot point just to make sure there is no built up grime causing the problem. They I just spray a little dab of the lube on the contact points and reassemble.

The 1000 series is all fine, OEM version of the German made, produced in Asia from the same materials, so that shouldn't be an issue. Have you been tinkering with action lately? If yes, have you removed the springs before doing so? You can ruin the knife edge in no time if you adjust the action under full tension, resultung in issues similar to what you described.

[Ashurbanipal]

Another vote for Chapstick, a little goes a long way. When there is friction where the knife edges interact with the stud (unless you have the absolutely perfectly cut stud profile and knives, allowing for a perfect return to zero after diving and raising pitch) lube can help mitigate that.

Another thing to check would be the anchors in the body which hold the studs. Over time, string/spring tension and whamming can sometimes cause them to work loose, and even rapid temperature/humidity changes, resulting in tuning instability. Worth examining.

[Bogner]

Wouldn't it then be advised for the OP to keep the guitar in a case going fwd, as well as in room with humdity control, if possible?

Humidity control is never a bad thing. Guitars can still shift in a case even though it is probably more consistent temp/humidity wise in a case but the case in and of itself will not be a permanent fix. Guitars are always shifting and moving a small amount (at least) on weather, season, temp, humid, etc changes.

[devastone]

If it is unstable during use of the bar, it's not humidity. Yes, controlled humidity is a good thing for wood, but that's not the issue here. Since it starts in pitch, then doesn't return to pitch after use, something is moving or binding, those are the places to look. Wood shrinks as it ages, so the nut screws will loosen, well, the screws don't move, the wood gets smaller. Also, if it is a bolt on, make sure the necks screws are tight (it is wood, so don't over tighten anything, but they should be quite snug). As mentioned, worth looking at the inserts too, but this doesn't really sound like that. It could be binding though so check the knife edges on the trem and for excessive grooves on the pivots.

And, sometimes there is just a crappy set of strings, I've had sets occasionally just not stay in tune. Can't explain it, I would think the processes are pretty tight, but who knows, so I would start with new strings.

These are things that I have found in my 30+ years of Floyd nonsense, but of course YMMV.

[alex1fly]

Thanks all. I'll check the low hanging fruit items. Good advice not to make any wild changes to the setup in response to this new instability.

It could be as minor as a single string being out of tolerance, since every string affects every other string in a floating trem system.