Restringing A Floyd Rose Tremolo System On The Guitar

How many people have used a Floyd Rose tremelo system on their guitar? They are common on Ibanez Guitar and Jacksons as well as many others. But restringing can be a nightmare for a newbie.

Satriani and Vai use these systems as well as many other resepected players.

The idea is that the bridge pivots on 2 pins which allows you to use the whammy bar in both directions. The bridge stays in position via a fine balance between the springs on the back of the guitar and the tension of the strings.

The first time I tried to string up one of these it was a disaster. As soon as you manage to get something in tune it puts a diferent string out. I spent many hours trying to succeed. Exxtremely time consuming and stressful!.

It now takes me about 10 minutes to totally restring a guitar and have it in perfect tune - and stays in perfect tune.

Here is how I now go about this. Hope it helps someone.

The first important step is to put an object or some item under the Floyd Rose bridge to stop is moving back once you have loosened the strings. I usually use a folded piece of card or even my empty string packet to do this.

Next remove all the strings and attach the new ones to the bridge. Tighten the strings so they feel almost fully tensioned.

Now take away whatever you had holding the bridge up. With any luck the bridge should now be sitting in pretty much it's usual place.

Check that none of the strings are excessively tensioned. IIf they are, remembering it is all about the balaance, there has to be another string that is excessively loose. Tighten up the loose one first then take the tension off the the tight string.

Now here is the most important part - before starting to tune you should stretch the strings. If you do not do this they be constantly going out of tune. To do this rest the palm of your hand on the string by the bridge. Put your index finger under the string and raise the string up. Hold for 5 seconds or so and release. It's important not to overstretch the string here so don't pull on it overly hard.

Go through each seperate string and carry this out . Once you have done this then you should bring your guitar pretty much in tune. This should be quite easy now. Don't accurately tune any of the strings, just get them all so they are within one or 2 notes of being tuned. You will find as you adjust some others will go out of tune. This is completely normal.

Once tyou have completed this you need to go though the stretching procedure once more on each of the strings.

Now tune your guitar so it is accurately in tune. Again, do not concentrate on one string. bring them all to pretty much in tune then tune them individually.

Finally one last stretch of the strings. Hopefully by now you will only have some of the stings ever so slightly out of tune. Tune those back up and and you are done. Perfect.

Olly is the founder of Olly's Guitar World - Supplier of Cheap Guitars and Instruments. Visit the easy to follow Guitar Lessons and come and join the community in the Guitar Forums

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