First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Problem

[toejam]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

You should look down from the headstock... right is towards low e (clockwise), left is towards high e (counterclockwise).

[pott]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Ok... so which one is tightening then? Do the previous adjustments matter?

[toejam]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Right, tight. Left, loose.
Here's a tip that might help. Hold down the low e string on the last fret, then hold the low e down on the first fret... see how much of a gap is in between the string and the top of the frets 5- 9. It varies and is a preference thing from person to person, but if there's less than, say, .10 of a gap (the thickness of a high e string from a set of 10 gauge strings) between the string and the fret, then you should loosen the rod a tiny bit to put some curvature in the neck to help get rid of buzz. If there's more than .10- .15 of a gap, you should tighten it and bring the gap down a little to make the neck straighter. A little buzz is actually normal and you shouldn't worry about it unless you can actually hear it through the amp. Hope this helps. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[pott]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

I don't have a capo nor an elastic band so I cannot check :'( I will do this before tightening or losening though, thanks a lot!

[toejam]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

No problem. I just usually hold down with both hands and check it by eye, then adjust accordingly. A capo is good, and you can always pick up a feeler gauge to be totally precise on the measurement.

[Soap]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Be very careful guys when given instruction...your dealing with an individual who has no experience at doing this. Because of that, not completely understabding what you share with them, they can easily make their guitar worse. Just a freindly word of caution.
Theres already a discrepancy regarding which way to turn the truss rod, this can cause uncertainy and potential confusion...be careful.

[pott]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Well I have been told to do it to the left, and I thought it was while looking up (neck) the guitar but it seems to be while looking towards the body. I won't do it until I get more info for sure...

[jgcable]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

When you put the truss rod wrench in just make sure you turn it towards the high E side.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Yeah you wanna turn the truss rod to the high E side to loosen it. A Jackson dealer should have the rightr wrench for your needs just go ask for one or bring your guitar to them to do it for ya. Also the Ernie Ball strings area lower tension than the D'addario's (thats why they're called slinkys). so the trem coould be pulling sharp. The bass of the trem plate should be at the same angle as the body of the guitar. Not necasarily at the same hight but it should be parallel and level. If its not loosen the screws in the back where the springs are about a 1/4 turn a a piece to start. Tune and check the level of the bridge and see if it still buzzes or not. If its level and no buzz your good.
Gil

[xenophobe]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

I can't believe some of the BS in this thread...

You've only been playing 3 months?!?! This is your first string change ever and you mention trying to intonate your guitar and doing a fret level?

Umm... You put on new strings, new strings buzz more than old dead ones ESPECIALLY with super-low actions. Take the guitar to a tech and have him set the guitar up again, but tell him to leave the action a hair higher than it's lowest point (to minimize the buzzing), and have him look at the g-string buzz and have him deal with it.

I can't believe that you're trying to do a truss adjustment and you don't even know what it really does, which means you probably won't be able to visually or audibly notice what the fuck each small increment is REALLY doing.

[img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

Recap:

3 months of playing
1st string change
adjusting truss, intonating, leveling frets...

Yeah. Good advice guys. [img]/images/graemlins/sick.gif[/img]

[pott]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

I do know what it does. Maybe not as much as I'd like to but I know. And we all have to learn one day right? I want to be able to take care of my guitar without the help of a tech. How does it matter how long I have been playing? I knew how to take care of a Floyd before getting my guitar so I knew what I was signing up to. I'm on another forum where experienced player constantly whine about 'Floyd problems' while they just are natural things about them and they just don't know about. I even wrote an article on how to tune them.
What do you consider low action? Mine right now is about 3 millimeter.
And I didn't chose to do a fret job, the tech looked at the guitar and told me it needed one.
Also I'm a student with no more cash to spend to bring it to that tech. Last time I asked him to put .10s on it and he kept .09s saying that .10s wouldn't fit. The guy in Amsterdam put .10s heavy bottom and eliminated the buzz, for cheaper.
Also, the trem plate is parralel to the body and everything on that side aside from the intonation (you mentioned it, well i just like to have things in tune I guess) is set up fine.
The older strings were not totally dead, they were about a month and a half old, but I wanted to try new ones (yeah I'm stupid like that). Many people told me that EB strings feel and usually sound better so I wanted to give them a try. I had no troubles changing the strings, I lemon oiled the neck and polished the guitar while I was at it. I didn't know about new strings buzzing more though. I stretched them like I hell and I thought that after a day of resting they would have settled [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] How long does it take for them to settle properly you think?
Basically what I did was leave the locking nut (well... behind the nut) unlocked and not play her for a day and a half or so, then I locked it, tuned again, checked the stretching and everything was fine, except some buzz (though less than before, only good news). You think it'll vanish in a few days?

[jgcable]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

[ QUOTE ]
I can't believe some of the BS in this thread...

You've only been playing 3 months?!?! This is your first string change ever and you mention trying to intonate your guitar and doing a fret level?

Umm... You put on new strings, new strings buzz more than old dead ones ESPECIALLY with super-low actions. Take the guitar to a tech and have him set the guitar up again, but tell him to leave the action a hair higher than it's lowest point (to minimize the buzzing), and have him look at the g-string buzz and have him deal with it.

I can't believe that you're trying to do a truss adjustment and you don't even know what it really does, which means you probably won't be able to visually or audibly notice what the fuck each small increment is REALLY doing.

[img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

Recap:

3 months of playing
1st string change
adjusting truss, intonating, leveling frets...

Yeah. Good advice guys. [img]/images/graemlins/sick.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point Xeno. I am one of the offenders. I even gave him the wrong advise to start with (that backwards thinking problem I sometimes have!). I agree 100% with you. A first time string changer should NOT be messing around with a truss rod. Thanks for a piece of GOOD advise! John G

[xlr8]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Dude, pott, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!! There is some good advice in this thread, but I think people are assuming that you have already done a few steps that you may not have done. The very first thing you do after changing string guage, brand, or anything with a Floyd is:

1.Block the trem, make sure it is level.
2.Tune the guitar, make sure you stretch the strings.
3. You may want to play it, let it sit, or whatever until the strings stop stretching.
4.Retune
5.Un-block the trem.
6.Adjust the springs until the trem is level again.
7. you should be in tune now.
8. then if you still buzz, take it to a tech.
9. once you find a set of strings and a tuning you like, stick with it and keep your strings fresh.

Give this a shot and then try the rest of the advice in this thread. If your bridge is not level, it will throw off your action. If it still buzzes when this is done, the bridge may have been tilted forward before you pulled the old set of strings. I hope I didn't confuse you, you sound like you are knowledgable. You can also raise the trem at the posts, as well as the nut (with shims) if you need to. I actually have found that I just can't use some brands of strings with the set up that I like.

[pott]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

I changed the strings a few days ago and spent half an hour stretching, until they didn't detune anymore. I let it rest a day, then tuned it again, made sure the trem was level and it still was. I increased the action to see if it'd change anything, it didn't (I kept the trem levelled).
And yeah you may be right about the brands. I'll get a set a D'addarios like I had before and see what it gives. I may also get the trem blocked, I don't use it anyway. But I don't have the necessary tools myself, nor do I have the money.

[xenophobe]

Re: First time restrining a Floyd. Guess what? Pro

Pott, I'm not trying to diss you. Sure you understand what a truss rod does. A mere changing of strings isn't going to change your guitar enough to warrant a truss adjustment unless you change string gauges/tuning AND if your neck is very sensitive, or if you left the strings off your neck for an extended period, like a week or more.

Adjusting the truss is pointless if you don't know how those truss adjustments affect the strings. It's not very plain and simple. Buzzing can be caused by any number of problems... Buzzing with open strings, buzzing high on the neck, buzzing on the first few frets, buzzing around the 12th fret. These are all buzzing conditions that have VERY different remedies. Adjusting to eliminate one buzz, may end up bringing out a whole bunch more.

It's not just one adjustment that fixes one problem, it's a cascading series of events... With the standard bow in your neck... if you tighten your truss, you'll probably neeed to raise your trem (although the actual action of the guitar will go down) which may bring out a 0 fret buzz problem that needs to be shimmed at the nut. Loosen it, and you might be able to lower the action, but you'll start getting some higher register buzzing and you might get some 1-3 fret buzzing, etc... Strings at different gauges resonate differently at different tunings, and if your action is super low, you'll actually need to compensate for that by adjusting the neckbow shape a little. There are a lot of factors, and the truss is definitely the LAST adjustment you should ever consider making unless you can look at the neck and see what needs to be adjusted.

If you've only been playing 3 months, and don't have any experience doing actual setup work, you can fiddle with this crap for hours and just make your situation worse or even damage your guitar.

3mm action is super high. Obviously if your action is above 2mm anywhere past the 12th fret, and you're having string buzzing problems, something is really out of adjustment. I do know, as any guitar with fresh frets and a straight and true neck should be able to get 1.5mm or less at the 12th fret, 2.5mm or less at the 22/24th and not have any real buzzing issues. All of my Jacksons sit at < 1.1mm at the 12th fret (putting a Tortex Blue in between and having it raise the string). I do have some buzzing, but it's consistent over the length of the fretboard, and it's at an acceptable level for me playing mostly distorted for fast paced metal where sustain isn't a real concern.

You should take your guitar to a tech and pay him the $20 or whatever and ask if you can watch and have him explain what he's doing.

As for intonating your guitar, if you haven't changed tuning, string gauges or experienced a really hard drop or bad weather, you won't need to intonate your guitar, probably ever. If you don't have a strobe tuner, all you'll do is throw it off even worse, but if you have started to make all the adjustments that people have suggested, your intonation is probably off as well. Good luck in having it all sorted out. I am just trying to save you some time and grief. Nothing more.