Floyd Rose Tension Plate is Weak?

[CodePoet]

Calling Floyd Rose experts. I put a Floyd Rose 1984 bridge in my MM Axis and it's been good but I have struggled getting the D-Tuna working with it and I think I've discovered why. The tension plate (pictured below) seems very weak on the low A and E strings and thus isn't putting enough pressure on the saddle piece to push it up against the fine tuners. I'll disassemble and check it out in more detail, but has anyone come across this before? Do I just need to replace the tension plate?

Calling @Andy Eagle

 

[dpeterson]

Yeah pretty cheap, could try taking off and bending up slightly one the a and e, and then re-assemble.

 

[mr_fender]

I'd suspect the pivot point for the saddles are possibly gunked up with sweat and hand schmutz. String tension alone should be enough to pull the saddle back up. The tension plate is more for keeping a bit of tension on the saddles when you slack the strings with a big dive bomb. Some folks remove them entirely.

Maybe try a drop of penetrating oil on the saddle pivot and working it back and forth a few times with the string off.

 

[darkknight91]

Didn’t Ed’s Kramer 5150 not have one on his Floyd? I’ve never removed mine but I wouldn’t think it would make any difference on the performance of the bridge.

 

[Andy Eagle]

A few people have said it already but string tension alone should be enough . You need to disassemble the trem and thoroughly clean it so as all the hinged sections in the saddles move freely. They should fall to the limit of their travel just with gravity. If they work when removed but bind when bolted down it gets more complicated so let's clean them first and go from there.

 

[CodePoet]

Thanks for the ideas @mr_fender and @Andy Eagle - I disassembled the trem and found that the saddle hinges for the low E and A strings were fairly well fused into position. Took some work with Ballistol and PTFE dry lube and I was able to get them moving again. I also bent the tension plate a bit to make sure it's pressing up as it should. So the D-Tuna is working better than ever now. Thanks for the ideas!

I have another Floyd tuning question forthcoming for another thread...

 

[Andy Eagle]

The D tuna was designed for the Gotoh 1988 so it's a bit snug in the OFR. It does work perfectly if you have the fine tuner backed almost entirely out for the D position. Eds trem had the spring cut off for this string which is a bad idea because it can rotate in use and come back sharp.
Here is the back of Ed's ;


Don't do it.
And in situe:

 

[CodePoet]

The D tuna was designed for the Gotoh 1988 so it's a bit snug in the OFR. It dose work perfectly if you have the fine tuner backed almost entirely out for the D position. Eds trem had the spring cut off for this string which is a bad idea because it can rotate in use and come back sharp.

Cool photos! I won't do that.

Due to tuning issues (another new thread I started), I often have to use the fine tuner on the E string which makes the D-Tuna hard to operate. Any usability hacks or better options out there?