Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

[Jaganath]

I figured it was time to change the strings on my Ibanez RG1570L as it still had the original crappy strings on there.

I bought some Ernie Ball 'Slinky Top, Heavy Bottom' strings and fitted them.

I tuned it up and realised that with the guitar in tune the floating tremolo was being lifted right out of the body!

So I tightened the screws holding the spring claw and what happens?! The f*cking earth wire from the tone control that's soldered to the claw snaps :argh: :argh: :argh:

Even with the claw screwed right up the trem is still lifting way too high.

There are 3 springs fitted and although there are 5 claw hooks there are only 3 holes in the tremolo block so I can't add any.

Any ideas????

At the moment I'm thinking of fixing the earth then drilling 2 more holes in the trem block so I can use 5 springs instead of 3 - unless I can get some heavy duty springs from somewhere??

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

Anytime you go up in string gauge, you have to do an extensive setup, which means making sure the locknut's low string slots are wide enough
Adding a spring or two, or like you said, finding the stiffest ones possible. The bright chrome ones with thick wire are the stiff ones.
Next, set the action height with the two bolts.
Then, tighten the truss rod, so the neck is fairly straight with the heavier strings.
Lastly, you MUST intonate the saddles, so that every note above the 10th fret reads dead center on your tuner, when all strings are tuned to pitch and you fret all the notes on the fretboard. If the 15th fret reads sharp, move the saddle away from the neck, and visa versa. Check all the upper notes, because if they're all centered on your tuner, your guitar will always stay in tune, no matter how abusive you are on the bar.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

Move the two outer springs end into the slot next to the center one, will add extra tension.
If that is not enough, screw that little plate off and an extra spring, it can use all 5 if you want, not a very nice feel though!
Floaters

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

Welcome to the world of floyd rose and why I hate them. Any time you change string gauges it's either going to go down or up. If you are inexperienced you could spend 6 hours trying to set it up and still not get it right. I recommend you take it to a professional and have it set up with the gauge and brand of string you normally use, then use that from now on when you change strings. Don't drill holes in it! That's not going to fix anything. From your description it seems you don't understand how the bridge works or how to adjust it.

 

[Jaganath]

Re: Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

Thanks for the advice guys, this is the first guitar I've had with a floater.
I understand that the trem springs balance the tension of the strings, I just think the springs are way too soft for the strings I fixed.

The original strings were crap, you could easily bend a tone and a half on the top strings and it wasn't helping my bending at all.

I think as I managed to snap the tone control ground I'll take the guitar to my friendly local pro shop and get them to fix it up for me

 

[nuntius]

Re: Floating Trem Nightmare!!!

Ahh man, been there before!

What I wanna know is though, how does a huge slash fan end up with a shred axe with a floater?