Guitar: How to tune down a step with a floating bridge?

[duragezic]

I really tried to avoid a floating bridge when I bought my guitar in the summer. Though there is nothing necessarily wrong with that, I just simply do not need what if offers/don't use the whammy at all. It seems it's a bit harder to tune and re-string with a floating so I wanted a hardtail but after all of the guitars I played, the ones I liked the most had floating bridges so I ended up with one.


Anywho, the bridge is an Ibanez SAT Pro IIRC. I've been trying to play some CKY and they use a lot of half-step or full-step drop tuning for songs. When I've used a tuner in the past to tune this guitar down a half/full step, I remembered the other strings not staying in tune and each string didnt stayed evenly tuned down right. I have a tuner and plus it just didn't sound right at all. And then saying screw it it took a while to get it back to correct, standard tuning.

So is there anything special I need to do with the floating bridge when tuning it down a step? Or for drop D for example? For some reason just doing it isn't working too good for me. And the Ibanez maintenance/support page has been mysteriously down for a while now (the rest of the site works).

 

[Biggerhammer]

I assume that the neck of the guitar is original and straight? The frets on my first guitar weren't quite 'on' because the neck was an amateur replacement, I had similar problems.

 

[Fritzo]

Is it a Floyd Rose type of bridge? You might have to loosen the screws that hold the trem in place.

I hate Floyd Rose bridges (I do Bigsby trems- yeah, I'm old fashioned ), but a couple of friends have these installed for easy D tuning goodness:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--EVHDTUNA

 

[0]

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/tuner.php

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: 0
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/tuner.php

He knows how to tune his guitar, it's not staying in tune when he does it.

The floating bridge needs to be adjusted because there's less tension on the strings. Floating bridges suck if you need to lower the tuning for this reason.

 

[0]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: 0
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/tuner.php

He knows how to tune his guitar, it's not staying in tune when he does it.

The floating bridge needs to be adjusted because there's less tension on the strings. Floating bridges suck if you need to lower the tuning for this reason.

Well Sor..ry.

 

[EarthwormJim]

You could try adjusting your bridge so that its tensioned such that its always as far back as possible. So rather than floating it'll always bent back.

 

[misle]

If you change the tuning with a floating bridge, you really need to re-set up the entire trem system to work at that tuning. This is one of the many reasons all of my guitars, save one semi-hollowbody with a bigsby, are hard-tails.

Short answer: You will not be able to change between tunings easily with a floating trem. Sorry.

edit: Since you don't use the trem, you could block the trem to keep it stable at all tunings.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

When I tune down my axe, I usually start by detuning the lower strings a little more than they should be. That way, as I detune the higher strings, thus releasing tension on the tremolo's fulcrum, it will bring those lower strings back up to pitch. There's always some fine tuning that must be done, but that helps get me closer to the proper tuning quicker.

I also have a locking nut, which helps a bit. It makes replacing a broken string a pain in the ass tho.

 

[widefault]

If you don't use the vibrato, you could always block it or otherwise disable it.

Easiest method would be to take off the backplate and tighten the screws until the bridge is flush with the body. Then when you tune down the bridge shouldn't move, keeping the other strings in tune. This method also lets you still dive the bridge a bit.

Other option is to wedge a block of wood between the vibrato's block and the back side of the cavity. That completely disables it.

 

[duragezic]

So basically the only way really is to cut a block of wood?

 

[duragezic]

bump

 

[biggestmuff]

heavier gauge strings.

 

[widefault]

Originally posted by: duragezic
So basically the only way really is to cut a block of wood?

Well, there's also the tremsetter.

 

[hellokeith]

Floating bridges like a Floyd are pretty much meant to be in one tuning all the time. The only way I've seen professionals get around this is to setup the guitar to the lowest tuning needed (usually a full step down to D or in rare cases C#), and then capo the first or second fret to bring everything back up. IMO, you'd be better off getting a second guitar with a standard static bridge. I had a Gibson SG that was perfect for fast downtuning.