Locking a Floyd Rose and other Qs

S

Sam SG

New member
Ok so I have a 1992 HRR-50 strat from Japan with an Original Floyd Rose.
I Hate the Floyd Rose period.
Not only is it a royal pita to restring. But I do allot of pedal steel type anchored finger bends and as I stretch the anchored noted dive outta tune. I can also hear a pitch waiver/ warble as I play at times.
So I want to lock it hardball. What is the best option? I thought that's what a trem setter did but I guess not. Or do I need to cut a couple slices of wood( maybe maple) shim both sides of the trem block?
Last question. The guitar seems to have a weird resonance at times that almost sounds like reverb coming from the bridge. Will locking the trem stop that?
I was looking for a traditional strat when this popped into my life. Its Oly white with a very worn maple fingerboard which reminded me of my dads vintage strat i learned on. AND the trem posts were broke so it was cheap, so I grabbed it and had it fixed.
 
Take a look at the Allparts Tremol-No Tremolo Locking Device. I don't know if it will stop the resonance you are hearing.
 
Part of the service I provide my clients is hardtailing whammy systems. I usually use wooden blocks cut and shaped to fit between the sustain block and the body tight enough to keep any movement from happening. If the strings are causing any noise, a little foam block between the springs and the body take care of it.
 
Securb said:
Take a look at the Allparts Tremol-No Tremolo Locking Device. I don't know if it will stop the resonance you are hearing.
Click to expand...

I would not recommend this, after using a tremol-no for years.

The Tremolno is designed to allow you to kinda lock the trem in place and then unlock it later for use. It doesn't work great at locking in place - there are just thumbscrews on a shiny metal shaft holding your trem in spot, and a small peg sitting in your block that holds the whole thing in place . . . so something like breaking a string will usually knock it out of tune, and sometimes the whole peg will just blast out rendering the whole thing sort useless. It's definately not possible to lock it in place and change strings. The tremolno after a few years of use will also introduce some friction when using in free-floating mode which means that the floyd will never zero back to tune properly. Overall, the tremolno is too finicky to depend on. Cool idea, poor execution.

For full blocking, wooden blocks wedged into both sides of the trem work best. As Chris said, foam between the strings will kill weird resonances. (With the floyds I have, I often will cut a bit of foam and wedge it into the spring coil itself - this also kills that resonance thing and for me it seems to interfere less with operation of the floyd - although when fully blocked you're not going to care about that.
 
Sam SG said:
Ok so I have a 1992 HRR-50 strat from Japan with an Original Floyd Rose.
I Hate the Floyd Rose period.
Not only is it a royal pita to restring. But I do allot of pedal steel type anchored finger bends and as I stretch the anchored noted dive outta tune. I can also hear a pitch waiver/ warble as I play at times.
So I want to lock it hardball. What is the best option? I thought that's what a trem setter did but I guess not. Or do I need to cut a couple slices of wood( maybe maple) shim both sides of the trem block?
Last question. The guitar seems to have a weird resonance at times that almost sounds like reverb coming from the bridge. Will locking the trem stop that?
I was looking for a traditional strat when this popped into my life. Its Oly white with a very worn maple fingerboard which reminded me of my dads vintage strat i learned on. AND the trem posts were broke so it was cheap, so I grabbed it and had it fixed.
Click to expand...
Spring reverb! lol but actually true, it's the trem springs sympathetically vibrating with a particular frequency. Since you don't wanna use the bar, shove some dense foam around and under the springs. Should mitigate it.
 
Ok so looks like blocks are the way to go. I like the foam idea never thought of that.
I haven't had a floyd since that one pos Kramer I had when I was 15. So after 30yrs of no tremolo I thought maybe it might be fun....but allas I realize I have no clue what to do with it.lol All my vintage style strats I used to deck the trem and give the bars away.
 
GuitarStv said:
I would not recommend this, after using a tremol-no for years.

The Tremolno is designed to allow you to kinda lock the trem in place and then unlock it later for use. It doesn't work great at locking in place - there are just thumbscrews on a shiny metal shaft holding your trem in spot, and a small peg sitting in your block that holds the whole thing in place . . . so something like breaking a string will usually knock it out of tune, and sometimes the whole peg will just blast out rendering the whole thing sort useless. It's definately not possible to lock it in place and change strings. The tremolno after a few years of use will also introduce some friction when using in free-floating mode which means that the floyd will never zero back to tune properly. Overall, the tremolno is too finicky to depend on. Cool idea, poor execution.

For full blocking, wooden blocks wedged into both sides of the trem work best. As Chris said, foam between the strings will kill weird resonances. (With the floyds I have, I often will cut a bit of foam and wedge it into the spring coil itself - this also kills that resonance thing and for me it seems to interfere less with operation of the floyd - although when fully blocked you're not going to care about that.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I always wondered about this device.
 
Foam did the trick. Thanks
Now I gotta figure out what to use to tightly shim both sides of the block. maybe paint sticks cut into peaces and stacked?
 
Yeah, I think a block of hardwood is the best thing. Scrap maple or even non-guitarish hardwoods like oak- it isn't very big, so it won't really contribute to weight.
 
Paint sticks will actually compress because of the pressure on them and won't hold to the size you cut them. I've done it, would not recommend.
 
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