LTD MH-350FR Floyd Rose Tuning Issue

serven

Hi Again All,

Just a quick question: my favourite guitar is an ESP LTD MH-350FR. This came brand new equipped with a Floyd Rose Special tremolo bridge. I am not sure if it is an authentic one - in fact I doubt it, I think this is Licensed.

I rarely use it, but whenever I do, the guitar goes out of tune with the first use. You can "recover" from this without re-tuning by pulling the tremolo bar up a little if it is too flat, or down a little if the tuning is too sharp.

I am finding this quite annoying and would like to know if this is normal? What is my options to sort this out if not?

Already at the last-setup 2 springs was added to stabilise the thing and it's better, but still noticeably problematic. I primarily got this guitar for the Floyd Rose and I am planning to buy something else more appropriate for what I am playing now however I would like to get this issue sorted out first. I love the guitar otherwise, it's just this one really very insanely annoying problem.

I am not above replacing the bridge with a Floyd Rose Original if I would know that it would solve the problem (provided I can find someone locally to do this for me). Am I just being too nitpicky or can something be done about this?

Gearhead

If the springs weren't strong enough to pull back the string tension to pitch, you would not even be able to get to pitch in the first place. In other words, it's not springs.
You say that after a little pull on the tremolo, the tuning is fine. This means that there is too much friction on the system, causing it to have more than one balancing point. Rather than immediately replacing it, I would want to find out where this friction is. There should only be two points for the bridge assembly to touch the rest of the guitar: at the pivots. If these pivots are not razor sharp, you have friction. If there is another touch point, remove it because that means friction. If the strings touch the cavity walls, there's friction. Kill all friction points and it will be fine.
You say the guit is new; if you bought it not too long ago the shop will take a look for free. Even if it has been a while since you bought it, if you are not using the whammy too much I doubt the pivots will be worn.

arjunmenon

+1 with what Gearhead said.

Look for burrs on the 2 pivot posts and likewise on the knife edge of the bridge.
If it's just one or two strings going out of tune, check if the strings are slipping at the nut (i.e loose or overtight nut locks).

serven

Thank you for the replies.

I've now stripped all of the strings off, looked carefully at the entire assembly and I don't see any points where there are any touching which can cause friction. The friction thing does make logical sense to me though.

With "the guitar is new" I meant I bought it brand new from box to me so it hasn't been in anyone else's hands who could've done something they shouldn't have. I've had it for about a year and it's been doing it since day-1 (but I thought in the past "it's just me being pedantic" but now it is officially starting to annoy me and it seems it isn't normal for it to be like that).

The two things that I have noticed that I think might contribute to the problem are these:

1. The two posts pivot posts of the bridge seems to be stepped. They are definitely not smooth. VERY not smooth. I almost find this hard to believe that it wasn't machined with this intention. Can this be it?

You can see a picture of that here:

2. The bridge is parallel to the body of the guitar but it seems that on the upper strings (pitch-wise) it is resting slightly deeper into the body than the lower strings (pitch wise). Is this normal?

Thanks for all the help

arjunmenon

That pivot post does not look good at all. I'm not sure if trying to smooth that out will fix the issue.
If it were me, i'd be looking for new posts.

Re Q # 2, that might be a preference thing related to action/feel.

Years back (when i still had FR type guitars) i checked out this:

http://www.jemsite.com/articles-menu/tech-setup-step-1-bridge-floating-tremolo-angle/