My Korean Floyd returns sharp?

[rjohnstone]

listen, it is extremely rare to find a guitar that returns to pitch perfectly from a pull-up. almost always things are slightly sharp. you, nor I, would ever notice, and after a few bends or a dive things are perfectly back in tune again. a dive and a pull-up are completely different mechanisms and I promise you your 7 guitars aren't returning perfectly to pitch after a pull-up. you can claim all you want but you would literally have to show me on a peterson strobe the before and after of a pull-up on your guitars.

Good enough that there is no change when checked against a digital tuner.
Breaking out the Peterson is nit picking don't you think?
The average person couldn't hear a .10 change in pitch even if they were trying to hear it.

the answers in this thread are ridiculous. some people are smart when they say "stretch" the strings. always start simple! if the OP doesn't know how to set up a floyd then lord knows what the problem could be and a real OFR wouldn't help! the first response was "warranty, return it!". and then others have said the studs or knives were bad. that's just going too far, too fast.

If you read the thread, you would know that th OP knows how to setup a Floyd.

the only simple answer I can think of, that hasn't been mentioned, is that the springs aren't worn in. newer springs are stiff and tend to stay in the direction they were just pulled or pushed. this would make sense as he says it returns to pitch when diving only. advice: whammy like mad for a few days.

The first constructive portion of this post.

[rjohnstone]

people talk about not adjusting height under tension but it seriously is not a huge deal. it would take a lot a lot a lot of adjusting it to wear the knife edge out, especially on a real floyd. now the korean floyds are not made of the same metal, but a less than 1 year old guitar should not have any problems. you can try a few quick fixes, one is putting lube on the studs, that helps IMMENSELY when adjusting height under tension, the knife edges wont wear at all and it helps the guitar return to pitch very well. i recommend "big bends nut sauce". if you are lazy and dont care what lube you use, try some non-flavored chap stick.

Lubing the pivot point is great for protecting it from normal wear, but you should NEVER adjust the height while under full tension. Always drop the tuning down at least two full steps to take the pressure off the pivot points.
It WILL wear out the knife edges and can permanently damage them.
It's metal on metal and something has to give and in most cases it's the knife edge that gets flattened.

finally, the tremol-no might be causing problems and you should just buy a new clamp and see if that fixes the problem.

Again... try READING instead of typing.
He already said he REMOVED it.

[Foulacy]

Good enough that there is no change when checked against a digital tuner.
Breaking out the Peterson is nit picking don't you think?
The average person couldn't hear a .10 change in pitch even if they were trying to hear it.

If you read the thread, you would know that th OP knows how to setup a Floyd.

The first constructive portion of this post.

first of all, anyone who's actually been setting up floyds since '83 wouldn't have to post on some forum to figure out what was wrong when a pull up returns sharp and a dive returns flat... they could look at the floyd and figure it out, especially if it's the knife edges. TWENTY FIVE YEARS. but your explanation was great johnstone, just tell an expert that he has a year old guitar with worn down knife edges from action adjustment... gimmie a break. my first post actually elinimated a slew of posts allowing the OP to narrow down the realistic options. and finally, my explanation of stiff springs makes perfect sense, especially if a tremol-no was installed which could mean that the original owner didn't use the floyd much. maybe YOU should think before just throwing out a random explanation of a problem with a floyd, especially one that happens over very long periods of time, if at all.

[UFORocks]

The springs might be a good place to start. Maybe try two springs instead of three.

-Steve

[DHardmanJr]

Regarding adjusting the posts under string tension ... Dan Erlewine's book says it's ok - if anyone thinks he knows anything ... he might just. I've done it for years and never had a problem. Just adjust a little on each post at a time and there shouldn't be a problem with "wearing knife edges".

All that said .. in all the floyded guitars I've had over the years the only one that I had that wouldn't return to tune after whammy use was a licensed floyd with worn knife edges. It's easy enough to check for that by pulling out the floyd and eyeballing the the knife edges. Messed up knife edges are easy to see.

[DHardmanJr]

I did remove the Tremel-no from the trem block and the guitar still goes out of tune. The Tremel-no claw is still in there, locked down and everything. Maybe the springs are the culprit? Not taught enough?

I think that's a smart move to debug it without the Tremol-No in there.

[AndyK]

Q

first of all, anyone who's actually been setting up floyds since '83 wouldn't have to post on some forum to figure out what was wrong when a pull up returns sharp and a dive returns flat... they could look at the floyd and figure it out, especially if it's the knife edges. TWENTY FIVE YEARS. but your explanation was great johnstone, just tell an expert that he has a year old guitar with worn down knife edges from action adjustment... gimmie a break. my first post actually elinimated a slew of posts allowing the OP to narrow down the realistic options. and finally, my explanation of stiff springs makes perfect sense, especially if a tremol-no was installed which could mean that the original owner didn't use the floyd much. maybe YOU should think before just throwing out a random explanation of a problem with a floyd, especially one that happens over very long periods of time, if at all.

I said I have been setting up Floyds for that long. It doesn't mean I am a pro! And I haven't encountered many Floyds that didn't stay in tune once I set them up. So I will post to a forum once in a while, especially a forum full of Korean Floyd owners (I never had one).

I'm using 10's, and figured 3 springs were needed. I usually like using the triangle spring setup, but can't because of the Tremelno. I have to change the JB to a more balanced pickup, so while I'm there, I'll remove the Floyd and inspect the knife edges.

Between springs and knife edges, I should find most tuning snags. Although I had a guitar that didn't hold tune no matter what I did to the Floyd. Turned out the nut was loose!

[Robert Burns]

I'll call on that statement.

I have 7 guitars that will disagree with that statement.

Any Floyded guitar, properly setup with strings stretched and no defects in the knife edges, posts, springs or lock nut, will return to proper pitch after any dive of pull up.

Sounds too me like the previous owner was adjusting the trem height by turning the posts while the Floyd was under full tension.
Fastest way to ruin the posts and/or knife edges. The Floyd cannot return to zero if there are flat spots on the knife edges or pivot points.

** Shit! Your not supposed to do that? Ive done it a couple of times
on all my OFR's...i better stop that now.. ouch

[toejam]

Regarding adjusting the posts under string tension ... Dan Erlewine's book says it's ok - if anyone thinks he knows anything ... he might just. I've done it for years and never had a problem. Just adjust a little on each post at a time and there shouldn't be a problem with "wearing knife edges".

+1. I've done it plenty of times under tension, never had a problem.

Also, maybe the posts have some play in them? When the Floyd is off, touch the posts and see if they wobble. If they do, take them out, put some PTFE (plumber's tape) around the threads, reinsert them, they won't move any more.

[Foulacy]

+1. I've done it plenty of times under tension, never had a problem.

Also, maybe the posts have some play in them? When the Floyd is off, touch the posts and see if they wobble. If they do, take them out, put some PTFE (plumber's tape) around the threads, reinsert them, they won't move any more.

nice idea. ibanez used to put locking screws inside the posts on their edge and lo-pro's for this exact reason!