This is driving me nuts.

[Riffmeister]

I have my floyd blocked with a nice piece of hard wood. When I tune my low E to drop D, all the rest of the strings go flat a few cents. I would have thought if anything they would go a few cents sharp, if the block had any give to it, but they go flat.

Anyone know why this is?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

How is it blocked? Blocked from diving, or blocked so it is dive-only?

Yeah, that does not make sense to me off the top of my head. Overall tension is lowering, so if anything the strings should be going sharp a tiny bit.

[Riffmeister]

It's blocked so that it can dive only.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

OK... That is just weird. :think:

I can see why this is driving you nuts.

Now, you're just loosening the fine tuner to drop to D, right? Not using a D-tuner or unlocking the nut?

If so, that makes no freaking sense to me at all. Less tension on the 6th string should not result in less tension on the other 5 strings under any circumstance I can think of.

[Riffmeister]

Yea, just turning the little finetuner. I would like to think that it is a stupid issue with the boss tuner, other than something"Weird and Unexplainable" happening with the guitar

[JAMESAK51]

I have the same thing with one of my charvels. The only thing I can figure is that by drop tuning the low E it's giving the neck just a tick more relief(because of less string tension on the neck) and causes the other 5 strings to go slightly flat. I've never really checked it to test my theory, but that's the only answer I've been able come up with. I just retune all 6 when I drop tune the low E.
My charvel that does this has a thinner neck than the rest of mine that don't do it. Just my theory guys.
Jim

[Riffmeister]

At least that theory makes sense.

[Tommie]

Nah, that theory is the wrong way round - if you reduce string tension, the neck would surely straighten and tighten the remaining strings, causing them to go sharp. Could still be neck related, though, and try checking all the various points things could move while you detune (bridge, nut, saddles etc).

Do it by tightening the low E way and and way down to exaggerate the effect. This'll allow you to gather more obvious evidence of movements as you go. Could the whale tail section of the bridge baseplate be getting flexed upwards as you release the low E saddle, this moving all the saddles up a tiny bit, making them all go flat?

[JAMESAK51]

You're right Tommie,they would go sharp, I was thinking backwards. Will have to keep searching for the problem.

[Riffmeister]

Just when I thought there was a logical explanation , LOL I will check and see about the Whale Tail section, it is a Jackson Trem, the 580LP I think and it seems pretty flimsy to begin with.

[darnoc]

This is from my past experience...I blocked my 95 San Dimas re-issue, and it would do the same thing, I finally discovered that the route and the trem block weren't parallel, which was creating uneven tension, throwing things out of whack. So I made a new piece and that fixed the problem. Hope you find the problem.

[Hellbat]

Loose posts? Next time you change strings, pull the trem and check for play in the posts. If they rattle around inside the inserts, put some teflon pluming tape on the threads and screw them back in, that will get rid of that as a possible cause...