Floyd Rose experts come hither!

[ThrottleJunkie]

Just got my first guitar with a Floyd Rose. Pretty happy with it so far. The only thing I can't figure out is the whammy bar. When a guy like Joe Satriani, for lack of a better term, pulls on it, it makes this crazy squeal. I gave it a whirl earlier and I didn't get close to that. The bridge bottomed out well before that point.

Do I have to adjust the bridge or is it fine and it's user error? Kinda confused.

FWIW the guitar came with an extra spring but I'm not sure that would help any.

 

[FX4 SAPPER]

lol, Many many people try to imitate Satch man, there are tricks to playing with a tremolo that you will learn over time. Dont worry about that extra spring, unless you are playing with some really fat gauged strings, i wouldnt worry. I have 3 on my Jackson KV2, and i use 9's. MORE than enough. Im assuming you mean pulling on the tremolo (whammy) increasing the tension on the strings right? If so, you need to make sure for starters that your bridge is even with the body of your guitar, A lot of guys will have too much tension on their bridges which will not only cause decreased range of the tremolo, it can cause intonation problems. I cant tell you how many guys have not enough tension on their bridges either. That will cause your action to be very high, decrease fretting efficiency and can also cause intonation issues.

To adjust.

For starters, remove your whammy bar. It should unscrew from your bridge with a sleeve nut. It will only get in the way for this. If your tremolo is low, (below the guitars body) take 2-3 credit cards, place them together and shove them underneath the fine tuning machines on your FLoyd Rose to bring it up to even with the guitars body. Remove locking nut and retune

Second Take the back plate off your guitar. should be the bigger of the two in the middle. There should be a block with 2-3 springs attached to it which is attached to the underside of your tremolo. There is two screws that mount the spring saddle plate to the guitars body. If your tremolo was low, unscrew the screws 1/4 turn at a time to release tension on your bridge. If your bridge was too high, add tension. remember, ALWAYS 1/4 turn on BOTH screws. Since i have 3 springs (i only have to adjust these two screw not more than 2 full turns when changing string gauges, or changing tuning I.E. E to C# etc.) Never do one and not the other. It will cause your bridge to be uneven.

once you adjust the springs, the credit cards should be able to be removed fairly easily without raising your tremolo at all so long as you retuned at the headstock. fine tune with those two screw as needed. I will usually let my bridge be just a hair below even, as there will be more tension on the strings which will bring it up to level. once your bridge is even with your guitars body, tune at the headstock, it doesnt have to be exact, i leave mine a little flat as when you shut the lock nuts it will increase the pitch and bring the strings up to par. Fine tune with the fine tuning pegs on the saddle. Hope this helps. Floyd's can be tricky. Also, when changing stings, do one at a time. NOT all at once. Some guys say its not a big deal, but it puts unnecessary tension on your bridge and the guitar, plus it will change the geometry of your neck. Try to start out with the high E and work down. Happy Shredding.

 

[ThrottleJunkie]

lol, Many many people try to imitate Satch man, there are tricks to playing with a tremolo that you will learn over time. Dont worry about that extra spring, unless you are playing with some really fat gauged strings, i wouldnt worry. I have 3 on my Jackson KV2, and i use 9's. MORE than enough. Im assuming you mean pulling on the tremolo (whammy) increasing the tension on the strings right? If so, you need to make sure for starters that your bridge is even with the body of your guitar, A lot of guys will have too much tension on their bridges which will not only cause decreased range of the tremolo, it can cause intonation problems. I cant tell you how many guys have not enough tension on their bridges either. That will cause your action to be very high, decrease fretting efficiency and can also cause intonation issues.

To adjust.

For starters, remove your whammy bar. It should unscrew from your bridge with a sleeve nut. It will only get in the way for this. If your tremolo is low, (below the guitars body) take 2-3 credit cards, place them together and shove them underneath the fine tuning machines on your FLoyd Rose to bring it up to even with the guitars body. Remove locking nut and retune

Second Take the back plate off your guitar. should be the bigger of the two in the middle. There should be a block with 2-3 springs attached to it which is attached to the underside of your tremolo. There is two screws that mount the spring saddle plate to the guitars body. If your tremolo was low, unscrew the screws 1/4 turn at a time to release tension on your bridge. If your bridge was too high, add tension. remember, ALWAYS 1/4 turn on BOTH screws. Since i have 3 springs (i only have to adjust these two screw not more than 2 full turns when changing string gauges, or changing tuning I.E. E to C# etc.) Never do one and not the other. It will cause your bridge to be uneven.

once you adjust the springs, the credit cards should be able to be removed fairly easily without raising your tremolo at all so long as you retuned at the headstock. fine tune with those two screw as needed. I will usually let my bridge be just a hair below even, as there will be more tension on the strings which will bring it up to level. once your bridge is even with your guitars body, tune at the headstock, it doesnt have to be exact, i leave mine a little flat as when you shut the lock nuts it will increase the pitch and bring the strings up to par. Fine tune with the fine tuning pegs on the saddle. Hope this helps. Floyd's can be tricky. Also, when changing stings, do one at a time. NOT all at once. Some guys say its not a big deal, but it puts unnecessary tension on your bridge and the guitar, plus it will change the geometry of your neck. Try to start out with the high E and work down. Happy Shredding.

Wow thanks for all the information. I have a lot to learn about Floyds. I'm gonna hop on their website and do some reading. I appreciate the help though.

 

[Ry_Trapp0]

are you talking about the dimebag style squeals?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TpYcA9bSaU"]YouTube - Dimebag Squealing Lesson[/ame]

 

[chinchilla]

pinch harmonics and then whammy bar, I think thats what your going after, if your not doing harmonics it wont really "squeal"

 

[ThrottleJunkie]

pinch harmonics and then whammy bar, I think thats what your going after, if your not doing harmonics it wont really "squeal"

I thought about trying it with pinch harmonics but I didn't feel like putting that much time into it and played something that will actually make me better. I'm going to pick up my ValveKing half stack today so I'll give it a whirl when I get that set up.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

Some are done with pick harmonics, some are done with regular harmonics.

My favorite is 2nd or 3rd frets on the G string.

3rd fret most can hit, 2d fret normally requires a Good guitar and pickups.

 

[chinchilla]

2nd fret with whammy bar is awesome, i use a paf pro and super distortion, comes out singing. not to hijack but what gear do you guys use?
me: custom built warmoth maple neck, floyd rose, and pups mentioned earlier
Laney aor pro tube 100 1987

 

[ThrottleJunkie]

Guitar: Schecter Damien 6 FR with passive EMG hz pups
Amp: Peavey Valveking half
Pedal: Boss GT8

Anyways, I didn't know you could do it with a regular harmonic. I guess that makes sense. I know not everyone thinks Synyster Gates is a good guitarist and I'm not here to debate his talent but you watch him live and you see him hit a string then lift the guitar near his head by the whammy without using his left hand and he gets that sound. I'm gonna experiment with that when I get home from work.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

I just sold my Jem777vdy a while back, just sold last week my Peavey Ultra 120 head and 5150 Cab.
Now for amp I have my Johnson Marquis 120 modeling amp, all I have left for guitars is my 1991 Ibanez RG770DX and a RG350DX I hot rodded a little with George Lynch Screamon Deamon pickups.

 

[16kOrBust]

Yeah, those squeals are harmonics. You should be very happy with that Valveking half stack for the price. I've A/Bed them a ton with various other amps and although they don't quite stackup to the higher end amps, they do amazingly well for the price against amps up to twice their price (at least in my opinion).

I've got a lot of equipment:

GUITARS
Two Ibanez S2170SE Prestiges
Fender American Strat
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus Premium
Gibson The Paul II
Ibanez RG570
Epiphone Sheraton
1947 Gibson J45
Fender American Jazz Bass
A few others I don't play much

AMPS
Peavey 6505+
Peavey XXX 4x12 cab
Music Man 265 Combo
Fender Frontman 25R

Sold my Valveking 112 combo and am looking to pickup an Orange Rockerverb 50 head with an Orange 4x12 slant cab to eventually replace the 6505+ and XXX. It sucks that Orange doesn't make a 30-watt Rockerverb or I'd be picking that up instead. Or they could have put a damn effects loop on the Rocker 30 head. Those bastards.

 

[FX4 SAPPER]

Yeah, those squeals are harmonics. You should be very happy with that Valveking half stack for the price. I've A/Bed them a ton with various other amps and although they don't quite stackup to the higher end amps, they do amazingly well for the price against amps up to twice their price (at least in my opinion).

I've got a lot of equipment:

GUITARS
Two Ibanez S2170SE Prestiges
Fender American Strat
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus Premium
Gibson The Paul II
Ibanez RG570
Epiphone Sheraton
1947 Gibson J45
Fender American Jazz Bass
A few others I don't play much

AMPS
Peavey 6505+
Peavey XXX 4x12 cab
Music Man 265 Combo
Fender Frontman 25R

Sold my Valveking 112 combo and am looking to pickup an Orange Rockerverb 50 head with an Orange 4x12 slant cab to eventually replace the 6505+ and XXX. It sucks that Orange doesn't make a 30-watt Rockerverb or I'd be picking that up instead. Or they could have put a damn effects loop on the Rocker 30 head. Those bastards.

How do you like that 6505+? im looking to buy one right now. I think they are one of the best amps ive ever played through personally.

 

[lxfiveoh]

It's a harmonic over the neck pick up. Not much involved, play said harmonic and pull up or down on tremolo/whammy bar. If done right should produce a nice squeal. There's a you tube video of him demonstrating it(satriani).

 

[ThrottleJunkie]

Yeah, those squeals are harmonics. You should be very happy with that Valveking half stack for the price. I've A/Bed them a ton with various other amps and although they don't quite stackup to the higher end amps, they do amazingly well for the price against amps up to twice their price (at least in my opinion).

I've got a lot of equipment:

GUITARS
Two Ibanez S2170SE Prestiges
Fender American Strat
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus Premium
Gibson The Paul II
Ibanez RG570
Epiphone Sheraton
1947 Gibson J45
Fender American Jazz Bass
A few others I don't play much

AMPS
Peavey 6505+
Peavey XXX 4x12 cab
Music Man 265 Combo
Fender Frontman 25R

Sold my Valveking 112 combo and am looking to pickup an Orange Rockerverb 50 head with an Orange 4x12 slant cab to eventually replace the 6505+ and XXX. It sucks that Orange doesn't make a 30-watt Rockerverb or I'd be picking that up instead. Or they could have put a damn effects loop on the Rocker 30 head. Those bastards.

I actually got a hell of a deal on it. Local Guitar Center took one in on trade and I picked it up for $500 with pro coverage out the door.

I WISH I had the money for the 6505. A buddy I used to jam with had the 5150 and I almost shit myself when I heard it.

 

[Matts00GT]

Schecter Damien 6
Strat knockoff
Wechter Pathmaker Elite Acoustic/Electric

Line 6 Spider III 120
Line 6 Uber Metal pedal

Used to own a Line 6 FBV foot controller as well but sold it.