Technical issues...

[Lea Marcel]

Hi everyone! So I hope you'll understand my non existent guitar vocabulary in here I'll try my best.

So I just got my electric guitar, and it got a rose floyd. The guitar I initially wanted didn't have one, but got out of stock so they offered me this one instead. I've read (too late) that it was a pain to tune, and not ideal for beginners.

My issue is that on the second day, my G chord snapped by tuning the guitar from the top. I'm still able to play normally though, still tight. Afterwards, I've read that guitars with the FR needed to be tuned from the BOTTOM instead. Which I started to do.
But now, I've reached a point where I can't turn the "buttons?"(see picture, that'll make more sense ) anymore, they're at their max, so I just can't tune my guitar anymore.
I have no idea of what to do, I obviously would have brought it to a guitar shop but won't be before a while...
Thank you, I hope this kinda made sense..

 

[Ed Seith]

Okay, so the Floyd Rose has two main parts - the bridge part with the fine-tuners you circled in your first picture, and the locking nut, which is up at the "zero fret." The nut has three pads on it that are each secured with an allen (hex) screw. Each pad holds two strings firmly in place and in tune.

That locking nut is the reason you can still play the guitar even though the string broke at the tuning peg (probably because you tried to tune it from the tuning peg while the locking nut was locked.

The fine tuners are, you guessed it, for FINE TUNING, but as you say, one of yours has bottomed out. So you're left with the choice - undo the locking nut and have to replace the string, or deal with a guitar out of tune.

There is a third option, until you can get to a store for a replacement string or string set. It's tricky, and it's kinda cheating, but it sometimes works in a pinch.

First, loosen all the fine tuners all the way. Don't remove them from the bridge, but loosen them to where they stop changing the pitch of the string.

Then tune up from there, starting at the lowest/thickest string. Overtune the low E (make it sharp) by a bit, then tune the next string (A). Overtune a little bit less, and so on and so forth. Continue in that way until you've either bottomed a tuner out (in which case, it didn't work) or until you're in tune.

E
EA
EAD
EADG
EADGB
EADGBE

Then, check out some of the Floyd Rose videos on my Youtube channel, as well as a few others that offer tips and tricks for owning a floyd rose.

Cooking with Captain Ed

www.youtube.com

 

[David Deatherage]

You can't go wrong with Ed's advice, it's golden. Please don't beat yourself up and get frustrated with the Floyd Rose system, they're amazing but really complicated compared to fixed bridge guitars! I've been playing awhile and just got a guitar with a FR last year and man it took me 3 hours to get it set on my first string replacements! Now I can get it done quick! Check out this video over restringing and you'll also gain a lot of info over how the system works!
I know that sucks you broke a string but lesson learned! Good luck and best wishes!

 

[Lea Marcel]

Okay, so the Floyd Rose has two main parts - the bridge part with the fine-tuners you circled in your first picture, and the locking nut, which is up at the "zero fret." The nut has three pads on it that are each secured with an allen (hex) screw. Each pad holds two strings firmly in place and in tune.

That locking nut is the reason you can still play the guitar even though the string broke at the tuning peg (probably because you tried to tune it from the tuning peg while the locking nut was locked.

The fine tuners are, you guessed it, for FINE TUNING, but as you say, one of yours has bottomed out. So you're left with the choice - undo the locking nut and have to replace the string, or deal with a guitar out of tune.

There is a third option, until you can get to a store for a replacement string or string set. It's tricky, and it's kinda cheating, but it sometimes works in a pinch.

First, loosen all the fine tuners all the way. Don't remove them from the bridge, but loosen them to where they stop changing the pitch of the string.

Then tune up from there, starting at the lowest/thickest string. Overtune the low E (make it sharp) by a bit, then tune the next string (A). Overtune a little bit less, and so on and so forth. Continue in that way until you've either bottomed a tuner out (in which case, it didn't work) or until you're in tune.

E
EA
EAD
EADG
EADGB
EADGBE

Then, check out some of the Floyd Rose videos on my Youtube channel, as well as a few others that offer tips and tricks for owning a floyd rose.

Cooking with Captain Ed

www.youtube.com

Wow, Ed, thank you so much! I've learnt a new guitar term so definitely a productive day haha. That sounds tricky indeed, I will have a look at your videos first, I don't want to break it even more

 

[Lea Marcel]

You can't go wrong with Ed's advice, it's golden. Please don't beat yourself up and get frustrated with the Floyd Rose system, they're amazing but really complicated compared to fixed bridge guitars! I've been playing awhile and just got a guitar with a FR last year and man it took me 3 hours to get it set on my first string replacements! Now I can get it done quick! Check out this video over restringing and you'll also gain a lot of info over how the system works!
I know that sucks you broke a string but lesson learned! Good luck and best wishes!

I feel you here! Yes, I definitely have some homeworks to do. I know how I'm spending my evening

 

[Ed Seith]

A string is just a string. The more you play, the more you get comfortable changing them out on a schedule and finding your own secrets for managing the pitfalls of Floyd. When I was gigging and practicing heavily with a band, I'd change them all weekly. I do it a lot less frequently now, but I also play a lot less now. Good luck!

 

[idssdi]

What Ed said

 

[Ethan Keeling]

what Ed said. we should make that a trend lol

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Ed will help you figure it out.. it's all about balance. Once you figure it out you'll get it in minutes everytime.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Here's a pro tip video for you on tuning a floyd rose:


Also as far as the the order of strings to tune on ANY guitar but also especially on tremolo equipped guitars, there are a lot of theories on this but I believe you should always tune from the string with the highest tension to the string with the lowest tension. The reason for this, and particularly with floyd rose's is that the string with the highest tension will have a more dramatic effect on all of the other strings. So when you tune your low E up on a floyd rose, you will see that all of the other strings go pretty flat, but if you tune you high E up the other strings only go a little flat. So if you tune highest tension to lowest tension multiple times, you'll see all of the strings getting closer and closer to all being correct each time you tune.

So as far as the order goes for most standard string gauges and using standard or drop D tuning, the order is: A, D, Low E, G, High E, B.

This chart won't be exact for all strings because the different metal alloys will change the tension, but it gives a good general reference. These tensions will also change depending on the tuning and the string order may be different, but it *should* directly translate when dropping all of the strings down a half step, whole step, or more unless there is some variable that I'm not considering.

Guitar String Tension Chart

Guitar String Tension Chart

www.curtmangan.com

I hope this helps you guys like it's helped me, because I cant stand an out of tune instrument!

 

[Daniel Verde]

I have attached this link to help you with terminology.
The "fine tuners" which you circled in white, can only screw in to a certain point. And when you loosen them, eventually they will fall out of the "bridge."
When tuning with a floyd rose system, the "nut" must be loosened with a hex key. Then those fine tuners should be setup somewhere in the middle. So that after you tune the guitar with the "(machine heads/tuning machines)" you can then lock the "nut" using a hex key. At this point you do not want to adjust the "(machine heads/tuning machines)." It is the only time you should use the "fine tuners" to actually get the guitar in tune. And you want them in the middle so if you can raise or lower the pitch of each string as needed.