floyd question

[loki: god of chaos]

is there a way to smoothen up the movement of a jt580lp to lets say a jt590. as in easier to push down the bar etc.?

[toejam]

Use less springs.

[loki: god of chaos]

how bad would that affect the tuning?

[vklobucar]

Spring tension has nothing to do with tuning a guitar to pitch. It simply changes the tension of the Floyd in regards to movement.

[toejam]

Spring tension has nothing to do with tuning a guitar to pitch. It simply changes the tension of the Floyd in regards to movement.

Exactly. I usually prefer 4 or 5 springs in my Floyded guitars, because I like the stiffer feel and having to push down the bar harder. Just the spring claw will have to be adjusted a little when adding or removing springs.

[Tmoran]

Lighter strings and less springs.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Spring tension has a lot to do with getting a guitar tuned to pitch and keeping it level. You increase the string gauge you have to increase the spring tension. Or the bridge will pull up when tuned to pitch.If it goes into pitch at all. By removing springs you will loosen the feel of the pitch bend but you will also loosen the tension of the counter tension. So you will need to adjust the claw accordingly to compensate for the looser tension.
Just saying.
Gil

[Tommie]

Exactly right. If you go from e.g. three springs to two, then the two need to be stretched farther, by screwing the claw into the body, than the 3 were. With heavier strings (like 10-52 or heavier) it's possible that the claw would not have enough travel to do that, you just have to try it and see.

Also, there's a built in factor that you can't adjust, and that's the placement of the bridge. Let me explain - if the bridge posts are placed so that the saddles need to be quite far forward towards the nut to intonate correctly, then the bridge will be very sensitive to movement and therefore feel lighter than if the saddles are way back at the rear. There's nothing you can do about that if your guitar is one way vs the other, but it does affect things and places a limit on how tight or loose you can get the feel.

Also, a bridge with the saddles back towards the rear of the bridge has a bigger effect on string height when the bridge moves, and may e.g. fret out or cause the strings to hit the pickups on big pullups.