Floyd Rose Discussion

I think I finally solved the tuning stability issue, and it was as simple as locking down harder at the nut. I did manage to get the nut tighter mounted to the neck but that by itself wasn't enough.

My excuse is that I have been using these convenient magnetic Allen wrenches lately (not my guitar in the picture below), and my muscle memory of how much torque to apply needs to be recalibrated. :)

On the bright side, I have a high quality nut now that closely matches the neck radius, and a very smooth tremolo with push-in arm. Still good wins in my book.

Thanks everyone for helping me with suggestions, especially Andy who of course had been right from the start.

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Henry said:
I think I finally solved the tuning stability issue, and it was as simple as locking down harder at the nut. I did manage to get the nut tighter mounted to the neck but that by itself wasn't enough.

My excuse is that I have been using these convenient magnetic Allen wrenches lately (not my guitar in the picture below), and my muscle memory of how much torque to apply needs to be recalibrated. :)

On the bright side, I have a high quality nut now that closely matches the neck radius, and a very smooth tremolo with push-in arm. Still good wins in my book.

Thanks everyone for helping me with suggestions, especially Andy who of course had been right from the start.

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I had the same problem in my Sun Valley Super Shredder; the symptom was a return to zero from diving, but returning sharp from pulling up. Gerry Haze recommended looking at the tightness of the Floyd nut, and, sure enough, that was it! Glad you do fixed it; I felt your pain.
 
Glad you got it working. I have one of those hex hider keys and don't use it because I've spent years with a regular key and can feel the torque but with that you are guessing because it is so much less leverage. You can buy a small strong magnet to hold a regular key. Steve Vai has a neodymium magnet stuck on the back of most of his stage guitar headstocks to hold regular keys.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Glad you got it working. I have one of those hex hider keys and don't use it because I've spent years with a regular key and can feel the torque but with that you are guessing because it is so much less leverage. You can buy a small strong magnet to hold a regular key. Steve Vai has a neodymium magnet stuck on the back of most of his stage guitar headstocks to hold regular keys.
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This. With a low-leverage key, you have to really crank it to get it tight enough. A regular hex key is so much easier to control.
 
I removed the Gotoh 1996 from my Fender Player Strat yesterday. It had after a short while developed the same problem of not going back to zero point after even small wiggling. It has the same pitting at the knife edge as the FR Special now. I blame it on the posts now, which indeed seemed to be pretty rough in the groove, visibly and poking a fingernail in there.

I think I'll put a German FR Original in there now, which I assume (?) has the same post thread and can be put into the bushings of the FR Special. Chrome or Satin Pearl, any of those more wear-resistant? @Andy Eagle . Thanks!
 
Henry said:
I removed the Gotoh 1996 from my Fender Player Strat yesterday. It had after a short while developed the same problem of not going back to zero point after even small wiggling. It has the same pitting at the knife edge as the FR Special now. I blame it on the posts now, which indeed seemed to be pretty rough in the groove, visibly and poking a fingernail in there.

I think I'll put a German FR Original in there now, which I assume (?) has the same post thread and can be put into the bushings of the FR Special. Chrome or Satin Pearl, any of those more wear-resistant? @Andy Eagle . Thanks!
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Not sure if it’s worth it, but titanium posts are available. It seems like the gotoh really should be fine with good posts. You might consider only replacing the posts and the baseplate.
 
Henry said:
I removed the Gotoh 1996 from my Fender Player Strat yesterday. It had after a short while developed the same problem of not going back to zero point after even small wiggling. It has the same pitting at the knife edge as the FR Special now. I blame it on the posts now, which indeed seemed to be pretty rough in the groove, visibly and poking a fingernail in there.

I think I'll put a German FR Original in there now, which I assume (?) has the same post thread and can be put into the bushings of the FR Special. Chrome or Satin Pearl, any of those more wear-resistant? @Andy Eagle . Thanks!
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Post close up pictures. The 1996 can be fixed easily and is harder than the others. The posts you have sound like they have an issue. This will be an easy fix. Also is the bridge touching even slightly anywhere?
State of Epicicity said:
Not sure if it’s worth it, but titanium posts are available. It seems like the gotoh really should be fine with good posts. You might consider only replacing the posts and the baseplate.
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Ti posts are softer and actually some of the worst available. The Gotoh may have a been damaged from a bad post but this it still an easy fix . I wish I had it in front of me.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Post close up pictures. The 1996 can be fixed easily and is harder than the others. The posts you have sound like they have an issue. This will be an easy fix. Also is the bridge touching even slightly anywhere?

Ti posts are softer and actually some of the worst available. The Gotoh may have a been damaged from a bad post but this it still an easy fix . I wish I had it in front of me.
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Thanks for chiming in, Andy! The trem is moving without touching anything, I checked that carefully.

Here some close-ups of the pitting on the Gotoh:

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Andy Eagle said:
My guess is there is rubbing somewhere (very slight ) and the chrome is damaged by the posts. Clean up the knife edges with a needle file and examined the posts . Does it always go flat by the same amount if you end with a down and vice versa?
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It goes flat by about the same amount, and I can short term bring it back to tune by by pulling up a bit.
 
It's the posts. For a test you can swap them over, then they will likely come to rest in a different orientation (at your action ) and may work. The other trick that Joe Satriani does is lube the contact with chapstick. Make sure all the other things are still true, squeaky tight locknut and the nut fixed solidly with no sighn of movement and I hope you got rid of the useless hex hider.
 
Henry said:
I would have thought the increased friction by that pitting would hinder it to go back to zero point.
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True but that is nothing like enough to hold it's own against the string tension/ spring equilibrium . The knife edges have to be pretty chewed up to cause an issue as long as the studs are clean. You may have some flakes of chrome in the post cutouts. clean them out and lube the contact.
 
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Sorenspete said:
Did you buy this trem new? Why all the pitting?
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Yes, the Gotoh was new and developed similar pitting to the FR Special that came with the Strat. I assume in both it was just the chrome that came off. Possibly from the post that wasn't smooth enough.
 
Henry said:
Yes, the Gotoh was new and developed similar pitting to the FR Special that came with the Strat. I assume in both it was just the chrome that came off. Possibly from the post that wasn't smooth enough.
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This is basically correct and just a few seconds clean up with a needle file. That is no damage bar the plating and not an issue, in fact with the plating off the contact point it is probably going to work better.
 
Andy Eagle said:
This is basically correct and just a few seconds clean up with a needle file. That is no damage bar the plating and not an issue, in fact with the plating off the contact point it is probably going to work better.
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I swear I posted an update on what I ended up doing, but technology failed me and I can't find it anymore. So:

I ended up going back to the FR Special and fixed it up as @Andy Eagle had suggested. I did the clean-up with just sandpaper though. Also smoothed over the posts, and put some chapstick in the post grooves. Going back to zero is pretty good now even on the FR Special, not 100% but acceptable in my book.

Thanks @Andy Eagle for your gracious help as always, much appreciated!
 
Quick question regarding Floyds or Ibanez Edge trems.

Why not many people use the ball end of the string at the tuners instead of cutting the ball end of the string?. It will work more like locking tuners you basically are locking the string with the ball end, and probably you won't need wraps around the posts...

I only have an Ibanez RG752 with a Lo-Pro Edge bridge, it is a fairly new guitar and because it is a 7th string don't use it much. Now the time to change strings is coming so I was wondering about this approach.

It seems at least to reduce the time needed to change strings...

Thomas Nordeg (S. Vai's tech) recommended this approach on some videos that I watched.
 
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