Floyd 'aint all Roses

Recent post exchange on Guitar Dr. Might help other folks planning similar things…

Your Strat copy Tansen’s nut should be able to accommodate the Floyd Top Lock Nut, but if you’ve seen a Floyd TopLock before, you’ll know that it needs expert woodwork to fit in. For prices and models, I suggest you look up these sites:

Sorry for the delayed response.

http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?LNG=en-US&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Floyd-Rose-Tremolos
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar_tremolos/1/Floyd_Rose_Locking_Tremolo_and_Parts.html – this site even provides templates for routing (cutting into your guitar)

They’re reliable folks, and I’ve ordered several items from them before, all of which were shipped here with no trouble. Prices vary – and if you look at the Licensed Floyd section at Guitarpartsdepot, you might find some that are cheaper and still fairly good.

I would not recommend installing it yourself unless you’ve done it before – you’ll need the right tools (a good router, for one, and the right templates) and some experience to do it right. You could try this local Bangalore luthier, his name is Bobby, this is his no.: 98454 61484. I think he lives a little far out, somewhere Yelahanka side. Call and check with him. If you’re traveling Pondy side, you could contact a luthier I’ve worked with several times – he’s built the guitars I currently play. His name’s Erisa and his no. is 0 94432 63087.

It is not really ‘hard’ to tune a Floyd bridge – it just takes time. You’ll have to understand that a two-way trem ‘floats’, held in balance by the strings on one side and the springs on the other. When you put on a new set of strings, and tune them up to pitch, you’ll have to keep tuning till the balance is reached. Then you’ll have to stretch the strings out (either by gently tugging on them, repeatedly, or simply bending as much as you can on each string) and tune up again. Once the strings are all stretched out and holding tuning with the way you play, you can lock up and fine tune. If everything is fitted right, the guitar should then stay in tune for a good while, even with extreme whammy usage or bends. The problems? – if you break a string, the guitar is pretty much useless to even finish the song, as the springs will pull the bridge down (lacking the tension of the broken string) and all the other strings will go sharp. Changing a string mid-gig is also pretty much pointless, as it could take anywhere between 5 – 10 min depending on how fast you work. Those are the issues with Floyds. But there’s no beating their stability and the whammy bashing you can do with them when they work! Carry a spare guitar to gig!

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Bruce