Adjusting String Action with a Floyd Rose

[Trent Lancaster]

Hey guys, does anyone know how to properly adjust string action on a guitar with a Floyd Rose? I was playing my guitar that has a Floyd Rose the other day, and I realized the string height is higher on my Floyd Rose guitar compared to my other guitar that doesn’t have a floating bride system. Those of us with a floating bride system know how much of a pain they are to maintain, so I googled how to adjust the action on it to find the proper way to do it. However, with every video I watched, people in the comment section said that it is vital to release the string tension before adjusting the action. Otherwise, you will ruin the “knife edges” on the bridge and the Floyd Rose will no longer stay in tune. I couldn’t find a video that showed how to properly do this, and I couldn’t find any articles that explained how to release the string tension. Some people did say to just detune the strings to relieve the tension, other people said to remove the bridge and adjust the bolts, then place the bridge back on again. If all I have to do is detune the guitar, that is pretty straight forward. If I have to remove the bridge, how do I go about doing that? Anyone know how to adjust the action on a Floyd Rose without ruining it?

 

[Ed Seith]

Quickest and easiest is to open the back cavity and remove the springs. Adjust height, put springs back how you found ’em, tune up, and check again.
Note that on some Floyds (notably my Ibanez floyds) there are smaller set screws within the two bridge-to-body screws. If you try to lower the bridge screws and they seem “bottomed out,” fish around in the allen-screw hole with a MUCH smaller allen wrench to see if there’s another screw buried in there. If so, loosen those first, then lower the bridge.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Like ed said, TAKE THE SPRINGS OFF! If you try to adjust the bridge pins while there is tension from the springs and strings, you can destroy the knife edges of your floyd and you will have permanent tuning problems. This is especially true with Floyd’s made with softer alloys. Also you dont wanna lower it too much or else the strings can fret out and you wont ne able to pull the bar about all the way with out choking off your strings.

 

[Trent Lancaster]

So if just take the springs off, I should be able to adjust the action without ruining the knife edges? Just want to be sure before I commit lol

 

[Ed Seith]

Correct.
Check bridge height with frets higher than 15. Check neck relief (truss rod) with frets lower than 12. Do bridge height first.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

The big thing is that you dont want to turn those bridge screws while there is pressure on the knife edges. It will dull the pivot points and cause those tuning problems.

 

[Trent Lancaster]

Ok, I detuned the strings and removed the springs to release tension, and the action didn’t seem to change much when I adjusted the knife edges. Did I not rotate the bolts enough? I’m actually quite nervous to do something darastic like this that requires me to take parts off the guitar and make adjustment, I don’t wanna ruin anything and then have to spend money to fix it. Does anyone know of any websites or videos that’ll help and show how it’s done? Thank you guys for your responses tho, nothing was broke or anything when I tried lol

 

[Christopher Lonski]

I didnt watch the whole thing, but the title says complete and its 45 minutes long, so give it a shot. Also there are tons of other youtube videos. Type in “floyd rose setup” and “floyd rose action”