Floating floyd question in regards to my model 6

[Model 6 Matt]

Ok, here's my problem!

I have 1 guitar, its needs and does everything i need basicly, but 1 problem!

The floating floyd. I dont dive bomb, much......... its fun but i suck at it.

Only problem is i tend to rest my hand on the bridge, which bends all the strings sharp.

I am now trying to not rest my hand on the bridge, but support with my pinky opn the guitar and its working ok, actually i think my picking could be a bit quicker, but im wondering if anyone else uses floyd's and how they get around this problem?

Also i like to tune to D a bit, and then back to E, this i guess throws out all the tuning, any tips for this? or should i just have a metal drop D guitar with floyd and buy a stop tail or hard tail strat for standard tuning stuff? I guess my budget doesnt really cover that at the moment though.

Thanks all!

[RobRR]

90% of my guitars are Floyds including my Model 6... my hands rest solely on the bridge and it never effects pitch. I would say either block the floyd, or try to modify your technique to balance your picking had a bit better. Try "choking up" on the bridge... ie resting your hand as close to the pivot points as possible.

I usually dont tune my floyd guitars to other tunings. If I want a different tuning, I use another guitar. Its too much of a PITA to detune floyds on the fly, and blocking them defeats their whole purpose!

[scotty]

Is your baseplate level to your body?

[Bengal]

How hard are you pushing your pick hand down on the bridge? It's either that or your hand is back on the fine tuners...

I rest my hand square on the bridge and have never had any problems with it going sharp. But I don't put a lot of pressure there either. I just let it rest there. I don't push down on it...

So I would say don't push down on it. If your hand is lightly resting on the bridge and it still goes sharp, well then you are screwed...

A guitar with a floyd will only handle 1 tuning. To change it will take a while. At least 30 minutes. So if you want a guitar to be able to change tunings on the fly you are going to have to block that trem or get a hardtail...

Pretty much what Rob said...

[necrotechno]

Hipshot Tremsetter. Can't sing its praises enough.

[Model 6 Matt]

i have heard of the tremsetter, i hear u can set it for full floating, dive only or blocked

might be the go

If i block it off, could i then go down to D without the others getting messed up?

Oh and as a side note, the trem was set up by charles cilia, guitarist in jerk and his new band, and a great guitarmaker, so its me and not the setup lol

[Sunbane]

I wouldn't call a bridge with a tremsetter "fully floating", because you'd lose some of the "float" with it. But nevertheless it's a great invention, and will let you pull the trem both down and up.

The tremsetter should be able to handle a "drop D" tuning change (dropping the low E string to D), but I'm unsure if it would handle a downtuning of the whole guitar. You may have to block the trem for that. But - I think it would be a lot more practical to have a separate guitar for a totally different tuning - especially if you're going to switch tunings live.

[slash-ed]

How hard are you pushing your pick hand down on the bridge? It's either that or your hand is back on the fine tuners...

I rest my hand square on the bridge and have never had any problems with it going sharp. But I don't put a lot of pressure there either. I just let it rest there. I don't push down on it...

So I would say don't push down on it. If your hand is lightly resting on the bridge and it still goes sharp, well then you are screwed...

A guitar with a floyd will only handle 1 tuning. To change it will take a while. At least 30 minutes. So if you want a guitar to be able to change tunings on the fly you are going to have to block that trem or get a hardtail...

Pretty much what Rob said...

About that last bit, I dunno... I once had a MIK BCR Mock with your standard licensed floyd, was mucking around and decided to tune it to Open D5, surprisingly it didn't take more than 10 - 15 mins to balance everything out. On the other hand I don't usually touch alternate tunings, so maybe I just got lucky once!

FWIW I rest my palm on the bridge at all times, and it's never messed up the tuning of the Floyd.

[Bengal]

You can do it that fast, I'm more of a slow, methodical kind of guy. Twist the screws, set the guitar down, grab some Diet Coke, see what Judge Judy is taking about, pick up the guitar again. That kind of thing...

But yeah, if you are flying you can have it done in 10 minutes...

About the Tremsetter and Tremol-No. Nice inventions but I hate them. They mess up the feel of a floating trem and make everything way too stiff. I'm a flutter guy so anything that kills flutter sucks in my book...