Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

greekdude

New member
Hi, my Carvin DC135's floyd is one of the pivot screw type vs the newer bushing/stud type. I noticed lately that it has developed a gap at the rear side of the hole. Because of that the screw has developed a small angle towards the strings-side. Should i just try to fix this, or upgrade to bushing/studs?
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Officially: Call or email FR.

Off the record: take it to a repair shop to have it plugged and re-drilled. Find a shop that knows what it is doing.


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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

How old is it and how do you feel about contacting Carvin

I'm sure they would correct it for you

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

I have not run into that before. Seems odd for that to have happened, not that it's impossible. Out of curiosity, what type of wood/woods is the body made of and that the posts are screwed into? I don't think that the newer bushing style posts are necessarily an upgrade. When I use the screw type, I drill the hole for them to be very snug in the thread area and the upper solid part. I used those on my alder test bed Strat that I put together in 83/84 and haven't had any issues, and I am very aggressive with a Floyd. Could the bridge have taken a hit? I agree, it would be worth wile to contact Carvin about this and see what they have to say.
Best of luck on this. John
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Officially: Call or email FR.
Off the record: take it to a repair shop to have it plugged and re-drilled. Find a shop that knows what it is doing.

Its an old guitar, from 1988, and also an old RH floyd, which i bought to replace the old LH one. I am in the process of converting this guitar to RH, and it has taken me step by step more than 15 years, since i bought it used, some time i guess around 1997-1998.
Two of the most interesting things that happened to this guitar in the past year were :
- installation of a top mount RH Gotoh locking nut, which replaced some cheapo chinese nut, which replaced an RH Schaller nut, which replaced the original Schaller LH nut, which gave me all kinds of sitar sounds, and killed all natural harmonics on open G. With the Gotoh the guitar seems to "breath" better. All strings but open B and A, which is not big of an issue. Info can be found here : http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/6878/gotoh-lock-installation-carvin-dc135
- "carving" out some mass of wood on the now lower cut, to make for better access to 24 fret, info : https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...ckthrough-left-handed-gt-right-handed-cutaway

So i won't spend any money on any workshop, since i feel pretty capable of doing whatever it takes myself. And i doubt FR would ever answer back, since its not their problem.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

How old is it and how do you feel about contacting Carvin
I'm sure they would correct it for you

Its an old guitar model from 1988. I had contacted Carvin during the lower cut-away curve, and i didn't receive anything useful. + I am in Greece, so i prefer to correct this myself.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

I have not run into that before. Seems odd for that to have happened, not that it's impossible. Out of curiosity, what type of wood/woods is the body made of and that the posts are screwed into? I don't think that the newer bushing style posts are necessarily an upgrade. When I use the screw type, I drill the hole for them to be very snug in the thread area and the upper solid part. I used those on my alder test bed Strat that I put together in 83/84 and haven't had any issues, and I am very aggressive with a Floyd. Could the bridge have taken a hit? I agree, it would be worth wile to contact Carvin about this and see what they have to say.
Best of luck on this. John

Thanx, i don't know, this guitar has given me many problems, it is the most unstable among all my guitars, but it is nice to play, and has recessed tremolo ideal for tremolo pull ups, squeelies, Pantera-style.
This guitar is neck-through and the specs : http://www.carvinmuseum.com/decade/images/88-dc135.html said "Rock maple neck through the body". So the neckthrough part is rock maple, i dont know the wood of the wings. But i suspect by the geometry of this that the trem pivot screws are screwed in the "wings" wood rather than the neck-through wood. About the bridge taking a hit, hmm not at least in my presence, but i dont know if the problem was there when i bought it sometime in 1997-1998, and i dont know if kids/wife/mother-in-law might have done to this while i am away.

I am interested about what you said on the bushing/stud style not being better than the screw style. Can you elaborate? From what i can think, its not the aggressivenes in playing that might affect the screw/hole tightness, but the excessive use of the screw for lowering/raising the trem. That's where the wood is worn and the bushing/stud type taking the advantage. Another factor is the height of the bridge. In a non-recessed strat for trem diving only, the groove/screw sits closer the body, than in a recessed floyd, for pull ups, where the groove/screw sits higher to the body and poses greater force to the wood.
In that aspect, and for this guitar, i would consider the bushing/stud a better idea.
 
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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Because of the amount of pressure exerted in the area, some guitars develop the 'ovaling' phenomenon you mention over time. Depends on how hard the wood is, overall degree of pressure exerted. Every axe is different - my Ibanez guitars are all close to 30 y.o.; two have the first generation Edge without the locking posts - no problems at all.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

thanx, i know it maybe has been beaten up before and the question might sound silly and childish, but will i lose tone or other qualities if a go the newer busing/insert-stud style? I have the hardware for this.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Don't think you'd lose anything - might be different because the combination of bushing and stud has more weight by default. I'd do the conversion, as the issue can only get worse over time and have an increasing impact on tuning stability.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

It doesn't have to be FR's problem for them to clarify a good solution. There is more than one thing to consider when plugging and re-drilling, so it could be worth the effort to get an official response.


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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Don't think you'd lose anything - might be different because the combination of bushing and stud has more weight by default. I'd do the conversion, as the issue can only get worse over time and have an increasing impact on tuning stability.

i agree, + this guitar begs for mods!
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

It doesn't have to be FR's problem for them to clarify a good solution. There is more than one thing to consider when plugging and re-drilling, so it could be worth the effort to get an official response.

achieving the absolute center while drilling could be an issue, but i have removed a broken screw (the hard way), plugged and redrilled in the nut, playing russian-roulette with the guitar's future. Don't think that plugging and re-drilling for the bridge's inserts/studs can be as scary.
This guitar can take it :)
 
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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

I can't see the point in bothering FR. You gotta do what you gotta do, this time you ain't gonna make it without a bunch of drillin', I'm telling ya. Either drill/plug/redrill the wood screw pivot holes or convert to bushings, whichever you prefer. Don't worry about tone loss because it only makes a tiny difference. What's more to say? Give it a practice shot on a scrap piece to gain confidence, measure twice, drill once, good luck.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Come on bro, this is an ugly fix, even for my standards! i would expect smth more from the masta!!

haha Maybe silly glue then? haha come on man we need pics. PICS NOW!

For the record i always tape up my post threads. I like it firm. But i have never had anything to do with the non bushing type.

I dont know about you guys but changing posts on a old tremolo setup ''sometimes'' isn't the best option. The tremolo and the posts have cut grooves into each other that are perfectly matched, When the posts are changed it means one of those areas has changed. I prefer to replace the entire trem and posts at once or stay with the ones that have been with the tremolo.
 
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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Yep. Scary. The big deal is that the real basic FR inserts should be 10.2 mm and FR specs drilling a 10 mm hole. That's on top of getting the holes centered properly on both axis as well as drilling just deep enough. A drill press is a must. I've done it a few times many years ago and hope to never do it again if I can take it to a pro.


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Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

@kramersteen, taken into account bro
@darthphineas : thanx, i have tried to use a drill press 1 year back when i wood plugged/glued/redrilled for the nut of the same guitar. I remember it was a pitta to hold the guitar in place with the vice. I have a prortable drill press I had bought especially for the nut operation. I cannot imagine achieving this for this guitar, especially since it is neck-through.

Now that i think about it twice, maybe i should just correct the "oval" shape, with some additional wood/veneer, keeping the original holes, just partially filled with a slice of venner from the front-side, then plug smth non-wood-adhesive to press helping the veneer stick better to the hole using wood glue, then some super glue inside to harden it a little bit.
In the spirit of retaining the initial "soul"/design of the guitar.
 
Re: Floyd Rose pivot screws went loose

Here is a pic of the problem :
14423404563_8462d85a13_c.jpg

this is the bass side, the treble side looks ok.
 
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