Floyd restringing/adjusting

mike_l

AS this came up on a semi-regular basis on MR, here the Mike.l way of restringing and setting up Floyds. In a few easy steps (I always clean my guitars when the strings are off) Restringing 1. turn the microtuners until they have no tension on the string (Ie fully loose) 2. undo the locking nut, and carefull remove the screw and clamp. Put these in a safe place, as they will be needed later. 3. slacken the strings right off. 4. Undo the locking screws on the bridge and remove the old strings. 5. Clean the entire guitar. Apply a little "Nut Sauce" on the knife-edges and bridge posts. 6. Using the card from the new string pack, tuck the card under the Floyd so it's level (In playing position) 7. Carefully snip the ballend off the new strings, one at a time. Put the new string into the bridge, and clamp it in place. There is no need to go stupid with the tightness, just nip it up. 8. Thread the string through the machinehead, and tune roughly to pitch. 9. Repeat 7/8 for all the strings. 10. When all the new strings are in position, and intune (to within a couple of cents on a tuner)put the locking clamps back on the nut. Do not clamp down hard yet. 11. Gently run fingers from bridge to nut to stretch the strings in. Retune the guitar after each run down the neck. This usually takes 3-4 stretches and retunes. Once the guitar is holding it's tuning (Ie not going flat/sharp when the strings are pulled), and the card has been removed, then the locking nut needs to be clamped down. Again, no need to go stupid, just nip them up. 12. Recheck your tuning, and adjust with the micro tuners until spot-on. Setting up. Assuming the neck relief and bridge height have been adjusted to your taste. You've put on fresh strings as outlined above. and the Floyd is sitting anywhere but parallel to the body. If the bridge is sat with the back close to the body. The springs have too much tension on them compared to the strings. Remember the spring pull should balance the string pull. IE The strings are pulling the Floyd towards the nut, the springs are pulling the Floyd away from the nut. First loosen the locking nut, then carefully remove the back cover, put the screws etc in a safe place, again this should be replaced later. Now using an appropriate sized reasonable quality screwdriver either loosen or tighten the tremclaw screws, one at a time, I do 1/4 turn on bass side, retune, and check how the Floyd is sitting. If further adjustment is needed, the next 1/4 turn will be on the treble side of things. Once the Floyd is sat almost right, with the guitar in tune, then only tiny amount of adjusting on the tremclaw screws. Making sure the guitar is in tune when the Floyd's position is checked. Once the Floyd is sat in the correct position, and the strings are tuned, lock the nut down, as above.   From @Viz I string them the wrong way round because it's much quicker: slide the string through the tuning peg right up to the ball. Then you can manually wind the string round the peg a couple of times (in the right direction lol) - this is where you get significant time saving if you're doing 6 strings (or 1. Then pull taut, semi-clamp the string(s) at the nut by hand, gauge what length you need, snip it, put it in the bridge, nip it, loosen the nut clamp by hand, tune up. From @Stonevibe The advantage of putting the 'ball end' at the tuning post end is that if you break a string at the bridge end, then you can un-do a bit of string and re lock the string end in the bridge clamp. I thread through the tuner, with ball end, just I leave a length of string looses for this reason.

Deijavoo

Cheers!

mike_l

you're welcome.

ThePrettyDamned

Makes great post, gets wisdom.