Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar



One image shows how the bridge is getting sucked in by spring tension, another shows how the strings are hitting the frets at different heights (causing deadnotes, no sound) and the final image shows how the saddles, or whatever those little rectangle string holder thingamajigs are, are not sitting flat (which may or may not be normal)

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

way too much tension.. untighten the claw screws a few turns or take out a spring.. ONCE you get it level.. then you can adjust the action/intonation.. to do that w/o a level bridge would be pointless

also..i knoticed that one side of the bridge is set what looks to be too low..the high E side

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

Okay, cool. Will work on the action, but the claw screws are all the way out, that's what I've been trying to say. I have another pair that are longer I could try, but then the springs would just fall off.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

here is my main guitar and how my bridge looks.. i replaced the stock trem w/ this awhile back and gave her a pretty good setup.. other could probably do better but im pretty happy w/ her playability..All she needs is a fret level and she would play perfect..

the only way to get lower action is with neck shims as the bridge is as low as it will go..this action is perfect for me imo




a bit of a slant.. could easily be rectified with a 1/2 turn on the claw screws

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar



See what I mean? I took one spring out even to show how much tension is coming from the springs. Literally all I have to do is tug it a tiny bit to get it in there.

Even with 2 springs on, still dips, but the action is noticeably better, lol.

Something is wrong, just don't know, I've been searching for the answer for so long, lol.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

Okay, cool. Will work on the action, but the claw screws are all the way out, that's what I've been trying to say. I have another pair that are longer I could try, but then the springs would just fall off.

are you using the proper length of screw.. perhaps too short.. try 2 springs then

AND are you sure you are tuned to pitch.. my advice.. take a rectangle eraser.. raise the bridge.. put eraser so that bridge rest on eraser.. tune to pitch.. remove eraser.. adjust springs.. then tune.. then springs.. tune..repeat until you have the result you want....then adjust the intonation.. intonation adjustments works best with a strobe tuner but a regular tuner that is reasonably accurate will work in a pinch

after that.. put on the bar and really whale on it.. then check/readjust/.. repeat until the bridge stabilizes

these are my ways to approach this bridge.. others might differ but this works for me...

with a FR.. alot of the steps will be repeated several times

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

The old bridge had this same problem, which was one of the big reasons I wanted to get a new one and test it out. I had no room to raise the bridge out of the body. The old bridge was rusted out though, so regardless it wouldn't stay in tune at all even when it did work.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

The old bridge had this same problem, which was one of the big reasons I wanted to get a new one and test it out. I had no room to raise the bridge out of the body. The old bridge was rusted out though, so regardless it wouldn't stay in tune at all even when it did work.

problem is more with the pivot screws i think... and/or the intonation was way out of whack

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

Okay. Doing what you said, so far so good. I don't have an eraser but on a video I watched the guy used his back-plate to catch the bridge at balance. Tuned it up - seems to be perfect in terms of no dead-notes, going to remove backplate and see where the tension lies (will let you know after I do what you said a couple of times)

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

Best advice I've heard all week. Now I'm getting tension from the strings - that's more than likely what I was doing wrong, not trying to tune from a balanced point. Thank you.

I at least can work with this now!

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

I will probably have to go back and fix all the crap I messed with earlier though, lol, but at least it all makes sense now.

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

The thing I've noticed is, I get it in tune with the bridge blocked temporarily, then I take the piece holding it out, it's in a good position. I adjust springs to balance the bridge, then I tune, and it keeps going out of tune - then when I tune it back I end up loosening the strings and the bridge sinks in again.

So is there a trick to locking in that perfect bridge height without is sagging back in when I take the plate out that's balacing it?

Also - the action of some of the individual strings is noticeably different. So the 'D' string is def. lower than the others, and will buzz out after the 12th fret after lowering the action before any other string. I can see the piece that you feed the string into is lower down.

I thought that manipulating the piece that pulls the whole individual string closer or further from the neck only changed the intonation, but could it also be effecting the individual string action?

Maybe I need to loosen and tighten those? They're just not sitting flat.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

I thought that manipulating the piece that pulls the whole individual string closer or further from the neck only changed the intonation, but could it also be effecting the individual string action?

i have no experience with saddle shims but some people use shims to adjust individual saddle height to better conform to the radius of the fretboard.. IF your intonaation is off.. EVEN if your guitar is in tune.. the fretted notes will not be.. the most beautiful sound to hear a freshly strobe tuned guitar when you play a chord.

 

[Teapole]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

i have no experience with saddle shims but some people use shims to adjust individual saddle height to better conform to the radius of the fretboard.. IF your intonaation is off.. EVEN if your guitar is in tune.. the fretted notes will not be.. the most beautiful sound to hear a freshly strobe tuned guitar when you play a chord.

I ended up figuring out the problem. Each individual saddle where the string is held is purposefully a different height so that the strings will arc correctly from the bridge.

Not only was my block installed backwards on arrival, but some of those saddle pieces were on the wrong strings. The 'D' string was on a low saddle and should be on a higher one - because it wasn't on a higher piece it caused the string to fret out and buzz (too low action). This whole ordeal limits how low the action can be.

Just thought I'd share my findings in case it helps someone else in the future.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Replacing Floyd Rose in an LTD MH-50 guitar

I ended up figuring out the problem. Each individual saddle where the string is held is purposefully a different height so that the strings will arc correctly from the bridge.

Not only was my block installed backwards on arrival, but some of those saddle pieces were on the wrong strings. The 'D' string was on a low saddle and should be on a higher one - because it wasn't on a higher piece it caused the string to fret out and buzz (too low action). This whole ordeal limits how low the action can be.

Just thought I'd share my findings in case it helps someone else in the future.

well my advice was if the bridge was correct to start with.. LOL yeah.. there are 3 different size/pairs of saddles that conform to the neck radius.. as long as its 10" or better.. there is a reason a fr will not work on a strat with a 7.5" radius..w/o first redoing the radius to atleast 10".. i could be wrong but this is what ive read in the past.... still some use fr shims to tweak the action a bit for a particular neck... or shim the neck to change the angle thus changing the action or shim the nut..changing the action at the nut

found this on a site.. truth is most people do fine with out shimming.. IMO..really just for problem guitars or for problem guitarist that are anal about low action.. LOL