freakiest floyd failure

[Thoraby]

So my Kramer Nightswan has had mysterious tuning problems for quite some time now. The funny thing is it was impossible to get out of tune when I first got it, but it was setup with 9's. So I ripped the strings of and put on a nice set of 11's and gave her a thorough setup. She played like a wet dream, however the day after when I picked her up the low E was sharp, and the high E was flat, with the remaining strings all being either a tad high or flat. I tuned it again, but next time I picked it up, it had the same problem.

I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong with this axe, it was practically in mint condition and everything was TIGHT. I lubed all lube-needing parts and tried again, but to no avail. I switched to 10's, but that didin't help either, played great but wouldn't keep in tune. So I got mad frustrated and just put it away for a couple of months.

But a couple of days ago I decided to give it another go! I whipped it out of its case and noticed the the part of a spring that goes into the Floyd-block had raised a bit. I pressed it back in, performed a dive-bomb, and noticed the fucker had risen again. Then I poked at the spring-holding claw and noticed that the round part of the springs that go to the spring-holding-claw are easily shifted, and this causes the tuning-fiasco. Who could've guessed, eh?

Now all I have to do is change to new springs, and hopefully me problem will be solved.

*happy dance*

/Thoraby

[Carbuff]

Is it possible that when you did the setup and all you took apart the floyd and put the block on backwards? That will make them rise out of the hole every time. The edge trems have a plate that screws over the block end that keeps the springs locked in. Kind of a neat idea I think. Pretty easy to replicate too, I would think.

[Sunbane]

Hmm...how many springs do you use? I have three in mine, and they're all really tight - not much room for any shifts to occur there. The only time I had problems with springs popping out, it was simply because I had put the block on backwards during maintenance... =P

[Thoraby]

Hmm...how many springs do you use? I have three in mine, and they're all really tight - not much room for any shifts to occur there. The only time I had problems with springs popping out, it was simply because I had put the block on backwards during maintenance... =P

I have four springs, feels more stable that way. Have to check if the block is on backwards. Thanx for the tip guys

[Thoraby]

Which way is right and which way is backwards? I just checked the block on my nazicaster to compare, but the holes were centered on that one..?? weird...

Thanx

[zeegler]

Just stick something in one of the holes to see which way they are angled. Some people say the serial number, or whatever is always stamped on the back side, but that's not true. I've had some that were stamped on the front side. If you stick a small allen wrench, or tiny screwdriver or something in one of the holes, you can see which way it is angled.

[jackson1]

[MetalMedal II]

Just stick something in one of the holes to see which way they are angled. Some people say the serial number, or whatever is always stamped on the back side, but that's not true. I've had some that were stamped on the front side. If you stick a small allen wrench, or tiny screwdriver or something in one of the holes, you can see which way it is angled.

I've bought several OFRs/Schallers over the years and about 1/2 the time, I find the block to be mounted backwards. And I find the stamp on the block not to be consistently facing one way as well.

Why are these things mounted the wrong way so often, you may ask? It's actually pretty easy...When taking apart the trems for cleaning etc, once that last mounting bolt is removed the whole trem kinda collapses on itself, and figuring out which way the block is supposed to face is not totally apparent unless you're consciously thinking of it and have a spring handy to check.

[jacksonaxes]

You need a longer block, it's happened on a few guitars on me.

[Dave L]

I´ve had these troubles a couple of times... both with the block being the wrong way and with the stock block being too short, making the springs tilt toward the surface of the guitar.