Hi guys! Here's a new episode of "Pillole di liuteria"
today we're gonna talk about doing a Floyd Rose set up.
From what we said in the last episode
we're going to make a little step forward.
Let's replace the strings on a Floyd Rose bridge.
The screw in the back, is going to lock the string in the saddle
take the string and cut it right after its over-wired part.
Like that!
Now, we can fill the string into the saddle
And tight the screw with its own key.
Once the string is locked down in the saddle
we can tune the guitar.
Try to keep your guitar in this position. As you do when you're playing!
Once the guitar is tuned, you need to block the "locking nut".
The "locking nut" is used to prevent the strings from moving
and maintain a perfect tuning.
Even when we push really hard on the whammy.
Once we've done that properly
we can refine our tuning adjusting those little screws.
The Floyd Rose is a really frail kind of bridge
and that's why, once set, must keep its balance.
Don't change your strings size or the action before another set up.
That's the view of the brigde after a proper set-up.
Don't set the bridge all the way up or down. Neither position is correct.
To adjust the slant of the brigde
work on the springs claw you find on the back of the guitar.
Always be careful and take your guitar back in tune after every little change.
To adjust the action on a Floyd Rose guitar
we can work on these two hinges, at one condition
before any changes we must loose the strings
And then put the guitar back in tune again, to verify the action.
We need to check the action very carefully.
Imagine the floyd rose as a blade, and my left hand as the hinge
when we push on the whammy bar, the bridge will move like that
if we move the hinge to adjust the height of our Floyd Rose
we create a hard friction
between the "blade" of the Floyd Rose and the hinge.
The "blade" will slowly use up the hinge exactly in its point of support
making the bridge move every time we use the tremolo bar
and losing its correct location.
Adjusting the intonation on a Floyd Rose kind of bridge, it's not easy
because, despite of every other kind of bridge,
the saddles are not blocked on the bridge
and if we loose down one of the clamp screws
The related saddle will lose its place, because of the tension of the string.
If we want to do a correct job, we need to check the note with the tuner,
then verify at the 12th fret if the note is falling or rising
and than adjust the position of the saddle.
Obviously, before any changes, we must always loose of the string.
Let's do it together:
First, loose the string, In our case the 6th.
Like that.
Then, unlock the screw that's blocking the saddle we need to adjust.
Once we've done that
we can move the saddle as we need to balance the diapason
forward... and backward.
We need to be careful and adjust it by little changes
according to how much we need to reach the perfect tune.
Now, lock down the saddle with the screw,
tune the string, and check the intonation.
You'll need to repeat this procedure for each string.
Once the Floyd Rose is set, with a proper action and intonation
we can finally close the clamp
and refine the tuning with those little knobs.
In the next episode: Trussrod adjustment.
It's time to end. Thanks for watching guys!
