Troof 'Bout Floatin' Tremolos

Dear Fellow Six String Junkies,

Oh wait... I suppose some of y'all are on seven, eight, and nine stringers though. Thats OK we can still be friends, there is help. haha.

Tremolos are a love/hate relationship for most of us. They are necessary for some, pain in the ass for others. However sometimes, you can't get around them, this may help.

First off is that I am not going to be speaking of Kahlers or Bigsbys, as I have very little experience with them. I want to educate, not discombobulate peoples brains. In addition to that I will not be talking about differences on the variations. If you want to know the difference of a Licensed Floyd or a FR1000, there is Google for that. 

Here are some troofs:

You absolutely CANNOT change the tuning on a floating tremolo and maintain function without setting up the guitar. You can get by with going from E std to Drop D, but you will need to re-tune the guitar, possibly necessitating taking the clamps off with the nut and tune using the tuning keys.

Stringing them and setting them up takes longer. Period. Intonation is even more of a pain in the ass. ALSO, you need to have the string tension removed to raise or lower it without causing damage.

Trashed, Whaddaya do if you need multiple tunings with a floyd? BUY ANOTHER DAMN GUITAR. YES ANOTHER GUITAR. THAT IS A MUST.

I have five Ibanez Prestige with floating tremolos, yes, FIVE, for a damn good reason. Two in C#std, two in Estd, and the fifth is Estd also, but strung with .009"s for some five semitone bending and shredding action. (lol I hate the word 'shred' and 'shredding.' just sounds dumb).

Why get a more expensive floyd than a cheap one?

They are not created equal. On cheaper models the baseplate isn't hardened to the same degree. That is the worst offence, but everything suffers.

Whats wrong with that Trashed?

The knife edges dull and it doesn't stay in tune. YUCK! the whole point is to stay in tune and make crazy noises, right?

Also the size/material of the block on the tremolo is different, HOWEVER, THIS is an easy swap. You can find the blocks for relatively cheap and and in a variety of metals and alloys. The size is variable too. I have seen nice results from a new block.

SPRING TENSION = STRING TENSION. That is the unwritten law of a tremolos. If you change strings to a different gauge or change the tuning, OR both, you are going to need to to mess with the tension on the claw AND possibly the number of springs.

For example I use .011"s in standard on nearly EVERY guitar. I use five springs in every one of them. You can only get so tight on the claw with the three springs that typically come with. For my C# guitars i use .012"s with five springs as well, same deal.


This topic will be revisited at some point in the near future.

CHEERS! Trashed.