So I've got a second hand guitar which has a Floyd Rose tremolo system, and I've heard now how notorious they are for going out of tune. Well, I have a problem too, and I couldn't really find any helpful solution anywhere else so I decided to post it.

I tune my guitar to standard E and then tighten the nut screws and then when I push down on the whammy, it makes the strings go down in tune and when I pull it back up, it either restores the tuning or makes it higher.

As this is my first floyd rose bridge (and yes, it is becoming a nightmare, I'm getting the feeling now that my money has been spent on something that wasn't worth it), please help me out with this!

there is a learning curve to tuning a floyd
bad strings can be a factor
your locking not has to be tightened enough but not over tightened
your springs must not be warn out

Sadly your lock nuts might be stripped. Take it to a guitar shiop asap and have them check iit out.

Hopefully they just need to tightened a bit more. If not then it will need to be repaired.

Todd

If you restrung your guitar with brand new strings, they will do that quite a bit until you get them stretched to out a bit. Mine always do that right after restringing so I will tune, tighten, stretch and repeat a few times. Afterward if your floyd is in fit condition then it's really nice that it rarely goes out of tune, at least that's been my experience.

I'm not sure what kind of guitar it is, but some of the cheaper licensed floyds can have issues because the edges that they pivot on get worn and can cause them to not stay in tune, because they are not hardened like the originals........Or so I have read. I had one that I could not get to stay in tune on a guitar I loved and tried blocking it, and ended up replacing it with a hardtail bridge.

Thanks everyone, here's an update.

The thing I forgot to mention was that there was a problem with the locking screws too at the nut of the head.

My dad has his own workshop and he has loads of screws, so I went to him and asked for screws like the guitar's locking system has. He found some and gave them to me and they fit perfectly. I loosened the locking nuts (they were REALLY tight). Now when I pull back the whammy (one semitone higher) when I release it, the strings go back in standard tuning.

But the tuning goes flat (not too much, maybe just a semitone) when I push down on it.

Also, I've had just one string changed, I have a whole new set of 6 strings but I wanted to see if I can make something of the old strings.

So I guess I'll put in the new strings. So yeah, I gotta do something about the tuning when I push the whammy down.

This post has been edited by sammetal92: Jan 31 2013, 07:31 AM

Alright, I spent the whole morning on taking off the old strings (well, some of them at least) and putting in new ones, then tuning it, then adjusting the tilt of the bridge, then tuning it again, then adjusting, then tuning and then adjusted the intonation (which was WAY OFF) and then I was too scared to put on the whammy bar and try using it. But I did put it on now and just tried it and voila, it doesn't go off tune anymore. Goes off just a wee bit, but it gets fixed if I wank the whammy just a bit

If you guys can give any tips on keeping it in tune without the last wank on the whammy, please do!

With new strings, they drift out of tune a bit until you stretch them in so play / bend / yank the wammy (sounds somehow perverse) and such.

After a few days of that the strings will be good. Lock your nuts down (again sounds bad, I know) and see if it stays in tune. Make sure you used an alan wrench on the lock nuts and tighten but don't over tighten.

Todd

But anyway, yeah I'll do that, and I watched a video on setting up a floyd rose. What's your take on this?

Well after spending another whole day changing the remaining strings to new ones, stretching them, tuning them, then straightening the bridge and making peace with the whammy bar, I've got another problem. The action. I've to cover a mile before the string touches the fretboard. And when I loosened the strings and tried to make it low, one of the sides of the bridge gave a cracking sound and suddenly went down a whole lot and the strings got attracted by the pickups' magnets.

I loosened the screw again and with a cracking sound it came back into its original place. Then I slowly tightened it until it was too hard to tighten it anymore. Same for the other screw, just without the cracking and suddenly going down. I think I should do something with the truss rod to make the action right? What do you say?

This post has been edited by sammetal92: Feb 1 2013, 11:11 AM

Definitely not, unless you are seeing some bowing in the neck. Then be sure to only tweak it a bit each time and check.... sometimes best to wait a day or so with tweaking the truss rod to give the guitar time to adjust properly.

Can you lower the tremolo itself any at the posts where the trem blade meets? You may also need to lower your pickups down a bit to compensate. Just don't into a hurry mate... better safe than sorry..

The tremolo is at the lowest possible level, can't make it go down any more :/ at least using the whammy bar now doesn't make it go out of tune

Have PM'd you the continuation of our convo!