Why is setting up a Floyd Rose so hard for some people ?

I can see not “getting it” back in the day. But now, with youtube you can damn near build a hovercraft as long as you have an internet connection.
 
Just echo’ing… 3 hours to set up a Floyd?!? Did you have to cast it as well? Usually takes about 20-30 minutes unless you’re intonating as well… Hard for some I guess. It used to mystify me, but then one day, it just clicked. Easy peezy…
 
It's not that it's hard or difficult.

It's that it's obnoxious, time consuming, and more trouble than it needs to be.
 
Just echo’ing… 3 hours to set up a Floyd?!? Did you have to cast it as well? Usually takes about 20-30 minutes unless you’re intonating as well… Hard for some I guess. It used to mystify me, but then one day, it just clicked. Easy peezy…
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No not 3 hrs for the FR alone. 3 hours total guitar setup from top to bottom. Had never even been tweaked at or from the factory or store. Everything was way outta whack.
It took me an hour with 2 polishes and a cleaner just to get the nicotine off the guitar & electronics. Last time i do a setup as a favor.
Setup around here yer looking at $100 bucks. I didn't charge an old band member.
The Floyd was a bout an hour to intonate and restring from .008's to .009's.
It was a Jackson made in a far off land, P.I.T.A.
My how guitars change.
Normally a worse case Floyd setup for my gear is about 20 minutes max.
Gives me perspective on how well i maintain my own gear.
 
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No not 3 hrs for the FR alone. 3 hours total guitar setup from top to bottom. Had never even been tweaked at or from the factory or store. Everything was way outta whack.
It took me an hour with 2 polishes and a cleaner just to get the nicotine off the guitar & electronics. Last time i do a setup as a favor.
Setup around here yer looking at $100 bucks. I didn't charge an old band member.
The Floyd was a bout an hour to intonate and restring from .008's to .009's.
It was a Jackson made in a far off land, P.I.T.A.
My how guitars change.
Normally a worse case Floyd setup for my gear is about 20 minutes max.
Gives me perspective on how well i maintain my own gear.


THANK YOU. people who set their own floyds up once, generally don't have to do it again for a while, especially if all of the little pieces involved are all good. with old used stuff, it can be a crap shoot, that can cost you all kinds of time, and frustration. just not worth the trouble to do all the cool tremolo tricks to me... i'd love to do the alexi laiho reverse dive bomb all the time in between songs, or at the end of an important run, but if it means dealing with all those goddamn parts, i'll stick with hard tails and just do the finger bend behind the bridge like john sykes did all the time.
 
There are a lot of how-to's/videos now that help, but a lot of us learned at a time when we had to figure it all out on our own, and in the process we probably developed some insight and proficiency that you don't necessary get otherwise.
 
There are a lot of how-to's/videos now that help, but a lot of us learned at a time when we had to figure it all out on our own, and in the process we probably developed some insight and proficiency that you don't necessary get otherwise.
For sure.
 
Ya first time I did one. Took all the strings off. It slammed forward. I was like ‘now what!?’
I was early teen. Just kept messing with it
Now it’s pretty easy. Barely mess with mine.
 
I had them starting back around 1984 when I got my Kramer Focus 4000. I always decked the bridge flat against the body (because EVH did) and adjusted the neck straight prior to stringing and never had any problems. It's a little time consuming loosening and tightening during the intonation adjustments but so what? It's a very simple design.
 
I am an idiot with tools and used to struggle with Floyds, but once the basic concept was figured out in my brain, I can set one up super fast now. I think it is just wrapping your head around the concept of tension.
 
One of the main things to do when doing a complete restring and setup is to tune the 1st and 6th together, then 2nd and 5th and 3rd and 4rth and then go back again and do it again until you get the correct tension.
You then adjust the springs to get the bridge level if floating it and re-tune using that method until everything stabilizes.

If you are decking it or using a trem stop, then much simpler.

Intonation is a breeze with this easy to use tool: (Their push in trem arms are the best out there!)
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