Members Sparky Coldfire Posted February 2, 2011 Members Share Posted February 2, 2011 Hi all, I have a licensed FR on one of my guitars, and would like to occasionally tune down to drop D. I know this wont work with the floating bridge because when you lower the tension in E, the other strings get pulled sharp by the springs. I have a Tremol-no which I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elovercast Posted February 2, 2011 Members Share Posted February 2, 2011 I had this very problem. What I did was to remove the saddle and grind away some of the bottom of the saddle to increase the travel. Worked like a charm. ' alt='>'> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tubefox Posted February 3, 2011 Members Share Posted February 3, 2011 They make something exactly for people like you. It's called a D-tuna, google it. Basically it you can push it and the string drops to D, pull it and it goes back up to E. Pull it when it's in E, and your guitar blows the {censored} up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sparky Coldfire Posted February 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 3, 2011 elovercast, that looks like a good solution. I see now when I look at the saddle, that it's the bottom corner that is inhibiting the motion, and grinding it off like you did should work. Thanks a bunch. Tubefox, I already know about the d-tuna and it's not for me. If I were to pull back on the trem the d-tuna would contact the body. It only works on guitars where the FR sits on the body and you only dive bomb. I want to keep my trem fully floating. Besides, I would rather give a few twists on the fine tuner than spend $40 on a screw and a spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted February 3, 2011 Members Share Posted February 3, 2011 I've got a d-tuna on my Axis and it works well. But you're right, it's for dive only not only because of the tuning issues with full floating, but because you can't raise without a cutaway for it. I've also got a tremol-no in my N4 for the exact reason you are talking about. If you haven't installed it yet make absolutely certain that the slider bar is as close to perfectly straight as humanly possible when you are done or it will drift on you when it's full floating. I spent about 3 days trying to figure out wtf was wrong with it thinking that it was good. Don't go by the video where they are all like "I can't hear anything" because it will hang up just a touch and you'll either be sharp or flat depending on which way you pulled the bar last. Best way I found to do it was to get it locked to the trem block (the little allen key sucks total ass by the way) and get it to where it looks like the travel is straight. Then when you adjust the spring tension fine tune the angle of the slider bar going through the locking mechanism by using the screws to change the angle of the bar. Saved me a ton of time doing it this way. And also be prepared for the spring tension to shift when you lock down the the two little allen keys inside the spring claw. It's not horrible, but don't expect it to be perfect until you are completely tightened down everywhere. After all of that it works very well. I wouldn't go ape{censored} with the drop c in place though. You can dive like a madman, but if you let it slam back in place on the way up it's a lot of force and the drop c clamp will move just enough to be out of tune. And don't pull on the bar. Last word of warning, the little allen screw that tightens the clamp where the pin goes into the block; don't overtighten it because you can bend or break the pin. I put about 2 fingers on it torque wise. ...OK, really the last word of warning. ...there are some little shims in the bag, they are for between the pin clamp and the trem block itself. Just read the direction and use them if you need to. I skipped it and had some alignment issues with that too. I had installed one on a Soloist a while back and it took no time, no shims and was perfect in about 20 minutes. The N4 was not even close to that kind of experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elovercast Posted February 3, 2011 Members Share Posted February 3, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sparky Coldfire Posted February 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 3, 2011 ashasha Thanks for weighing in. Those are great tips and I will follow them when I install it. I'm pretty picky, but luckily mechanically inclined, so I should be able to get it nice and smooth if I work at it enough. Also, thanks for the warning on the drop C. I can see where that might be an issue if you let the the force of the trem springs slam the block into the drop c. I may just avoid that mode all together and go either full lock (changing strings, songs with lots of bending, or the drop D tuning) or full float in standard tuning. Thanks, and I'll let you know how I make out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sparky Coldfire Posted February 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 elovercast, your solution worked perfectly. I ground off a little of that bottom back edge like you did using my handy dandy dremel sanding drum, and then enured it's overall flatness using some sandpaper, and now I can go the full travel of the thumb screw which gets me to drop d with a turn or so extra on either end for fine tuning. No downsides at all to this mod. Thanks again for the tip. Now to install the Tremol-No to keep the other strings in tune when I decide to switch tunings. I love it when a plan comes together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 ashasha Thanks for weighing in. Those are great tips and I will follow them when I install it. I'm pretty picky, but luckily mechanically inclined, so I should be able to get it nice and smooth if I work at it enough. Also, thanks for the warning on the drop C. I can see where that might be an issue if you let the the force of the trem springs slam the block into the drop c. I may just avoid that mode all together and go either full lock (changing strings, songs with lots of bending, or the drop D tuning) or full float in standard tuning. Thanks, and I'll let you know how I make out. It's a good system and if you're mechanically inclined it'll be a piece of cake. Not bashing anyone here, but not everyone can turn a wrench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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