What Did I Do To My Guitar?! HELP!!

[Jak Angelescu]

Hey everyone! I’m SO glad this site got back up because I’m so worried I screwed up one of my guitars.
Earlier this year I left my ESP Horizon II out in the studio leaning against a wall (I know, shame on me) but I didn’t have a guitar stand or anything and I had to leave in a frenzy. We got a MASSIVE cold rush that night, I didn’t turn the heat on, and the following day (as Missouri weather would have it) it spiked up to 90 degrees and I wasn’t home to turn the AC on.
When I went to play my guitar, the strings buzzed so badly that obviously the neck got all screwy. Just yesterday I attempted to adjust the truss rod. It has a Floyd Rose locking system so I unlocked the guitar, loosened the strings and began adjusting the truss rod. I DIDN’T wedge anything underneath the bridge like you do when changing strings because I didn’t think it mattered.
Now, no matter WHICH WAY I turn the truss rod, the buzzing is WORSE than before and nothing plays accurately on it. And now it looks like the tremolo bridge is sinking backwards into the cavity. I never payed attention to it before as I’m a newbie with locking systems but I checked the photos of my guitar online and it definitely doesn’t look the same. What did I do? Is it something I can fix on my own? It’s a $2,000 guitar so I really don’t want to risk anything.
Thank you SOOO much!!

 

[idssdi]

As far as my knowledge goes this sounds like something you want to let a luthier take a look at instead of trying or do it yourself.

 

[Ed Seith]

Guitars are made to go from cold to hot and back again, but some handle it better than others. Let’s start here:
1. It buzzes with open strings. If you fret the string between the 12th and 15th frets, does it still buzz? If yes, you need to raise the bridge (Mr. Floyd!). If it doesn’t, you need to loosen the truss rod.
OK, so the truss rod. Basic rule of thumb, at least until you REALLY know what you’re doing, is whenever you turn it, only do it a 1/4 turn, then wait 24 hours. This is less important if you’re tightening it, but you’re not – if you’ve got buzzing, you need to loosen it, and then the wood needs 24 hours to relax and get to the next position the truss will hold it back from bowing more.
Let’s start there. Give me an update from that, and we’ll figure out where to go next.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Yeah id take that in. Before it gets worse. Even if its a simple fix they will show you how to do it yourself next time

 

[Ed Seith]

PS: The bridge doesn’t change anything about neck adjustment, except it will take longer to re-tune up after each adjustment, but you HAVE to do that to accurately guage how much the truss adjustment did – you have to be in tune. Adjust, tune, wait 24 hours, tune, try. Repeat.
And remember, if it’s buzzing, you need to loosen. Looking straight at the fretboard, from above it, that’s rotating the Allen wrench from the thick low E to the thin High E.

 

[Bellah83]

If your bridge looks sunken into the cavity, pop the back panel off and loosen the screws connecting the tremolo springs to the body, it should relax that tension until its flush again.
I’d throw new strings on it first too.

 

[Noah Berends]

Ed nailed it. I had this exact same problem but it happened a bit more slowly so I could fight it a bit better. Floyd’s are a real PitA when it comes to getting just right because it takes longer, and you gotta generally adjust it simultaneously with the neck/truss.

 

[Chris Robertson]

Having owned floating Floyd guitars for 30 years, and with four of them currently in my stable, I’d say Ed has it right. I’ll add one additional thing: when adjusting anything on the guitar (truss rod, bridge height, tuning of strings, etc.), make sure you do it from the playing position rather than laying flat on a workbench or table. Even the small change of gravity on the bridge has effects on the Floyd (try playing a string with a really accurate tuner with the guitar in playing position, then again with it laying on it’s back, and note the difference in string pitch). Take your time and make minor adjustments. It also really helps to have a good metal ruler or some other gauge to know the measurements before and after the changes, so you can revert if needed.

 

[Dylan Burley]

I have no idea how to help. I have never had this happen. Take it in somewhere and have them look at it. Or take it to an experienced guitar tech.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Thank you all so very much! You all were helpful. I’m going to take everyone’s advice. @Ed all strings buzz on every fret

 

[Ed Seith]

On every fret, all the way up the neck? Even, say, the 20th? If that’s the case, raise the bridge until there’s no buzz from around 12-15 and higher, then loosen the truss as covered above.

 

[Hiroshi Nakauye]

Hello! I am excited to be on this forum and this will be my first post I hope I can help.
The thing that helped me the best was trying to isolate the issue.
1.when it gets hot where you live it is humid or dry? Dryness tends to cause forward bow and humidity causes back bow. Did you check your neck relief before adjusting the neck? (Buzzing everywhere usually means too much back bow)
2. Is there any indication of damage from being stored? Cracks around the neck joint?
3. Was the floyd rose in any strange positions when you first encountered the issue ie too far forward or back? Generally to far back will lower the action somewhat.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I’m sorry I haven’t responded properly to this yet. I’ve been really busy! I’ll check out all this stuff on my guitar when I get home you all are so awesome!