How to setup your new guitar + trem tips (floyd rose style).
The Tone King | Sep 01, 2009 | Comments 19
Floyd Rose Set-Up
1) If your guitar came w/ some allen keys – go get them. If not, ask your dad or your friend. If they don’t have them, don’t drop more than a few bucks for a standard and metric set at your local hardware store.
2) Loosen the locking nuts at the top (for those guitars equipmed w/ FR style trems that have locking nuts).
3) Set all of the fine tuners (on the trem) right in the middle.
4) Tune your guitar in the order to the right … (assuming 440).
5) Stretch your strings.
6) Tune again until in tune. (Then repeat 5 & 6 until your guitar stays in tune after a few stretches.)
7) Check the tilt of the trem. If it’s flush, perfect. Move onto step 8. If NOT flush, adjust w/ the screws on the back (tightening the screws will pull it back, loosening the screws will release it forward a bit). Then tune again. This may take a few tries, but you want your trem flush with the body.
Adjust the intonation.
9) Lock the locking nuts
10) Adjust the action. Then, like most great amps that go to 11 –
Step 11 is : ENJOY YOUR GUITAR !!! You just saved yourself about $50 – $75
on a quick set-up!
ORDER OF TUNING A FLOYD ROSE STYLE TREM :
CUT THIS OUT, KEEP A COPY IN YOUR GUITAR CASE :
1 – Low E (1st string)
2 – High E (6th string)
3 – B (5th string)
4 – A (2nd string)
5 – G (3rd string)
6 – D (4th string)
KEEP TUNING until the guitar is in tune. You may have to do a few times,
but trust me – your guitar WILL come into tune.
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Filed Under: The Gear
Nice Blog Bro, Thx.
P.S, every time i keep retuning, the bridge get higher!
i still need HELP! lol, I’m glad most have gotten it, but i try and it hopeless. i really don’t want to put my guitar away, but its so dang had…once more help! PLS & ThankU
I became so sick and tired of throwing $50 – $75 away on shit setups for my RR1 at a variety of guitar shops in several states that my favorite toy ended up gathering dust in the corner because it hasn’t played or sounded the way I’d like in ages. I’d pay the money and end up needing to take it for another setup somewhere else, really annoying. Thanks for setting me free from that cycle. These videos and another YouTube upload regarding truss rod adjustment have me loving my guitar again.
Many thanks!
after you use your guitar, do you need to loosen the strings?tnx 4 da reply
Thank you for your thoughtful post! Nice blog.
King,
I am not 15, I am 35, but I have always played straight acoustic and bought my first guitar today. Guitar Center had a Dean Custom 250 Tremolo reg 399 for 89. May be crappy, but its my first electric. Out of the box sounds bad. I searched for videos on set up, but most of them are directed at pros who understand the jargon. I greatly appreciate your video i found on youtube. I want to play more of a blues sound like SRV or Buddy Guy or John Mayer (live anyway) any advice for me while setting it up? you have my email above that says it wont be published. Can you email me some tips? Thanks again.
To TommyG
According to my Ibanez manual, string using 10, 13, 17, 30, 42, 52 gauge are for the ARTCORE models.
Artcore models are hollow and semi hollow body guitars.
-Leo
I got a b.c. rich warlock nj series warlock for Christmas and it sounded crap. I was looking through all your videos and thought it was worth a look and since i watched it i haven’t needed to take my guitar in to get setup since. thanks tone king
I recently had my Ibanez RG set to a full step down tuning with Ernie Ball Skinny Top/ Heavy Bottom (.10, .13, .17, .30, .42, .52) and I want to change it to standard tuning using D’Addario Medium Top/Heavy Bottom (.11, .14, .18, .30, .42, .52). What would be the best way to do that, because when I tried to get it into standard the bridge was way beyond being parallel..any help would be appreciated.
Hey man, this tutorial rules, really. I saved a lot of money doing it by myself and the guitar is just as I like. Respect.
Hey,thanks alot for the tips,they worked wonders!=)I finnaly understood how to keep my trem in proper tone.By the way,i own this jackson axe.the rem works fine but if i pull it back all the way like Alexi Laiho does……the tunings completely and totaly lost…is that normal?
Hey, I dig your way of tuning that’s shown, but am I wrong that the high E is known as the first string,B,the second string, etc?…That’s how I was taught… Maybe I’m mistaken…No biggie here,though;I understand the tuning method.
I tend to have trouble with for example on the Jackson RR3 Rhoads Pro…The Licensed Low Profile Floyd Rose Tremolo System..any tips?
hey can you guive me some tips on how to set the intonition and atction on my guitar? thanks.
hey good tips but idk how to set the action or intoniton on my guitar. got any tips? thanks. much appreciated.
Great work, webmaster, nice
Great site with useful tips.
I am having a problem tuning my floyd rose — the strings keep popping out of the blocks in the floyd rose. I got the guitar used so I also dont know which way to add the blocks correctly. (the blocks have holes in them… which way do those go? )
Thanks!
hey bro(: when i have problem with my guitar i will always refer to the tone king. But i would like to know how to i lower the string height? thanks(: