Lowering string action on FR loaded guitar

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peterc52

peterc52

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Do you loosen strings and springs before lowering string action? Or with pressure on?

Does it matter?

It's an original FR on a ESP CS
 
peterc52 said:
Do you loosen strings and springs before lowering string action? Or with pressure on?

Does it matter?

It's an original FR on a ESP CS
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I loosen enough to prevent the trem edges from really digging into the posts, but not floppy. I usually use l a winder tool and do a set amount of turns, so that I can wind back that same amount of turns and be in the ballpark from a tuning/tension standpoint
 
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I´m not sure if you really have to detune on a OFR, but back in the 80s and 90s you would straight up destroy a lot of the licensed junk if you didn´t. Stuff like that sticks with you, and it´s not a big deal to stay on the safe side :giggle:
 
I slack the strings and remove the springs. It’s most time consuming during the initial assembly / set up. But once you get the guitar dialed in, raising or lowering action at the posts should be maybe 1/2 turn in either direction based on seasonal temperature and/or humidity changes. At that point, figure I might save maximum 15 minutes total slacking the strings and springs, making 1/4 turn, and tuning her back up. I just don’t want to run the risk of grinding out the knife edges to save 15 minutes.
 
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Consider how much abuse the knife edge goes thru when you really get on it and then consider that it was made for a lifetime of that. I really don't think it's an issue if you have a good smooth post and a good knife edge. My original from the mid eighties on the Kramer in my sig has never had the strings loosened for adjustments and stays in tune great.
 
Yeah, like Dave mentioned if it's a cheap licensed Floyd you can definitely run in to problems if you just raise or lower the posts. On a quality piece you can get away with just turning them suckers, but it's definitely best practice to always slack em regardless.
 
Devin said:
Yeah, like Dave mentioned if it's a cheap licensed Floyd you can definitely run in to problems if you just raise or lower the posts. On a quality piece you can get away with just turning them suckers, but it's definitely best practice to always slack em regardless.
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Good point. I had a Double Eagle ripoff way back when and that thing practically disintegrated on the guitar.
 
I put the springs just tight enough that the bridge doesn't lift when I bend a note.
 
I've extensively used Floyd guitars consistently forever and I just raise or lower the thing with the strings to pitch.
 
I have a little bit of damage on the knife edges of my OFR on my ESP George Lynch and the trem won't return to the same position. When I pull it goes sharp after returning and when just diving it goes flat after returning to zero point.
And the damage is just a little bit. You could also damage the 2 trem posts.
And a little damage could get
you severe tuning problems.
I am posting this because almost everybody here says it's no problem to lower the trem posts with strings up to pitch. Unfortunately I experienced it the other way.
 
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I am just thinking out loud here. Everyone has posted solid replies. I’m wondering if its a quality control thing? Seems like the folks who have zero problems adjusting their Floyd baseplates for string height have been doing it ‘forever’ … like starting back with a completely different (and higher quality?) generation production run of base plates and posts?

I also do see a mechanical difference between the knife edge of the baseplate seated correctly in the fulcrum point of the post and then pivoting as intended as opposed to rotating and dragging that fulcrum point across the knife edge by turning the post under tension.

It may be that the OG hardened steel base plates and posts can survive 1/8 - 1/4 turns in either direction a couple of times a year as needed. But also, those short turns ends up fatiguing the exact same spot on both the post and the baseplate for those back and forth seasonal adjustments.
 
SpiderWars said:
Good point. I had a Double Eagle ripoff way back when and that thing practically disintegrated on the guitar.
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DOUBLE EAGLE!!! Sh*t!! What a memory - I saved every penny I had to buy one out of an ad in a guitar magazine when I was in HS and slapped it on my Hondo Strat. I knew NOTHING about intonation or string length and used a hand drill to sink two holes in the body in line with the holes for the 6-screw trem. By the time I got the base plate down enough so that the action was just ‘uncomfortably’ high (as opposed to ‘impossibly’ high) the baseplate was smashed solid against the body and she wouldn’t tilt forward at all. So I had to get a chisel and dig out a little ‘furrow’ into the body directly under the leading edge of the base plate so it could tip forward a teeny tiny bit. (At the time, it never DAWNED on me to shim the neck to get it to tilt up - which would have allowed me to get the base plate off the body and bring the strings down closer to the frets. Nope - just grab a chisel and pound away!!)

I absolutely ruined my very first ultra cheap guitar thinking I could make it better - and that started a life time of tinkering, modifying and building my own guitars.

I hadn’t even thought about ‘Double Eagle’ til this thread - God I love this forum.
 
I actually saw an ad for a lot of boxed Double Eagle hardware just a while back, heaven knows what drawer that stuff sat in for the last 35 years and mercy on the poor soul that buys it. I think those were some of the very first Floyd knock-offs.
 
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Just pop the springs off, make your adjustment and reinstall the springs. If you leave everything else untouched it should snap right back to pitch.
 
Never had an issue with slight adjustments on my first Floyd.
Had to do heavy mods to the low E saddle to get it to intonate.
I did wear that fucker out,tho. It was abused like a mofo.
It was shiny silver when it was new. By the time I retired it, it was so sad looking...like a hobo on heroin.
 
I just loosen the nut and lower/raise; retune, tighten nut, check tuning.
No issues ever in 30+ yrs.
 
I put the bar on and dive bomb it all the way down when I lower the bridge. It relieves the tension, studs turn easier.
 
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PDC said:
I am just thinking out loud here. Everyone has posted solid replies. I’m wondering if its a quality control thing? Seems like the folks who have zero problems adjusting their Floyd baseplates for string height have been doing it ‘forever’ … like starting back with a completely different (and higher quality?) generation production run of base plates and posts?

My guitar that doesn't stay in tune anymore is a 1990 ESP, not some new guitar. And it's not that I adjusted the bridge just one time but maybe 6 or 7 times under tension. The damage is little but that seems enough to not return to the same point. And for the guys who want to ask "maybe it's the nut? "... No it isn't.
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