A little help

[VanHalenFan5150]

I've been wanting to adjust the action on my Kramer guitar, which has a Floyd Rose. I took the strings off and i'm cleaning it and stuff. But i'm wondering, what can I do to lower the action a bit?

[Diamondjimi]

Lower the 2 pivot post's by tightening to the right....

[VanHalenFan5150]

Alright, i'll try that out, thanks. I also have a recessed rout for my bridge, the FR. Should I screw the saddles in the back peg or the front peg? (I.e the one closest to the fine tuners or the ones closest to the pickup)

[Diamondjimi]

Alright, i'll try that out, thanks. I also have a recessed rout for my bridge, the FR. Should I screw the saddles in the back peg or the front peg? (I.e the one closest to the fine tuners or the ones closest to the pickup)

Dude, those are to adjust your intonation.

[VanHalenFan5150]

Thanks, i'm gonna put strings on now. I use D'Addarios mediums, how 'bout you?

[Diamondjimi]

Same here.... 10-52's

[VanHalenFan5150]

I like the tone I get out of them. They're the best strings i've ever used. Besides DR's, really. DR's Tens are incredible.

[VAiN]

I used 10's for years until about 2 or 3 years ago when I switched back to 9's... I figure why make it harder then I have to on myself? I guess I'm lazy

[chefcraig]

I used 10's for years until about 2 or 3 years ago when I switched back to 9's... I figure why make it harder then I have to on myself? I guess I'm lazy

Remember those Dean Markley 10s that we had to drive all the way to Musician's Exchange on Sunrise to get? I loved those things, and each pack came with a free sticker. For a while there in the late seventies/early eighties, very musician in S. Florida had covered (and in some instances held together) their guitar cases with them.

[jhale667]

10-52's

Hey, me too!

[Diamondjimi]

I used 10's for years until about 2 or 3 years ago when I switched back to 9's... I figure why make it harder then I have to on myself? I guess I'm lazy

I could never go back to 9's. They feel like thread to me now after all these years of 10's.
I find 10's ring better than 9's when you strike a chord. Plus the temperament of the gauge suits my hand/finger strength perfectly.
Started to find with 9's I was over bending too often and needed a bit more resistance...

[GAR]

I started on 9's then discovered 8s two years later.

I've worked up to 11's and saw no benefit, then went straight back down to 8's an went "whoa" because all the rubber was back, and all the cast-iron-skillet tone was gone.

I liked a little klank back, so I went back up to 9's. In an 8 I love the GHS Boomers. In the 9's I like Dean Markley cryo's, Fender or EB 9-42's and have been that way the last 26 years.

[GAR]

I've been wanting to adjust the action on my Kramer guitar, which has a Floyd Rose. I took the strings off and i'm cleaning it and stuff. But i'm wondering, what can I do to lower the action a bit?

Play with the spring claw by using a number 2 phillips screwdriver, brand new, that you from now on keep in your case.

Back out the screws so some common object you choose to fit between the body and the claw bracket will fit: such as a dine, two Crayolas, your chicks lipstick cover, or your coch.

Then tighten each screw so they are exactly the same distance, then tune up your strings watching how the trem floats on the body in relation to height of strings off the end of the fingerboard.

Then bring the action down by counting quarter-turns off each trem claw till it floats right - THEN use the height-adjust screws to compensate.

You can also use a fresh Bastard Cut file to remove wood beneath the nut: remove both nutblock screws - detune - remove nutblock - file fiver or ten strokes flatly and evenly - replace block - retune - check action and repeat until the first fret barely buzzes. If you have spark plug feeler gauge strips, you can do this safely by checking the height above first fret on each low and high e strings by using .022" or .023" thousandths strips for clearance. Then you know that's about as far as you go without topping the frets.

Lastly but firstly before you top the frets, adjust the truss rod by using the 4 or 5mm allen and inserted, rotate it clockwise in quarter turns while sighting down the neck like a gunbarrel. You are watching for the hump in the neck's curvature to backbow out and this will give you some beginnings of buzzing situation mid-neck. So you keep going untill you hear that buzz, plucking with one hand while pulling the Allen in the other in quarter turns. Once you hear the buzz, back the wrench off a half-quarter turn then stop. Play holding the guitar to see if the backbow changes from playing it belly-up as you did while tightening the truss rod.. if the hump came back a little, thats okay its supposed to do that. If it doesn't, hold it back on the bench and back off another half-quarter turn and it should be there again.

Once all that's dialed in, you can file the frets with a specially modified double-cut flat mill file to top the frets. And to remove the scratches left by the file, you sand with a rubber block using 180 then 280 grey dry-cut sandpaper, folowed by buffing with green Scotch-Brite or 4-0 steel wool (if your fingerboard's rosewood, if it's maple, you have to use masking tape to tape off the finish or maple cuz it stains really quickly).

That's a simplified setup. What you're really asking is how to setup a Floyd mounted guitar and for a beginner to understand it, that's the whole process. It's not just "well lets try a #3 flatblade screwdriver on those pivot screws" I wish it were that simple.

[Hardrock69]

You can also use a fresh Bastard Cut file to remove the wood from between your ears. It will give your skull room to breathe, and might even increase your IQ by half a point or so, bringing you up to the intelligence level of balsa wood.

[Igosplut]

If you have spark plug feeler gauge strips, you can do this safely by checking the height above first fret on each low and high e strings by using .022" or .023" thousandths strips for clearance

No such thing as a spark plug gap of 22-23 thousandths coward, hence there are no gap tools that go down that low. 0.25" is the lowest and they don't make them in strips, they are like this.....



Or this



I cherry pick (and you're famous for this) because you always try to be so descriptive in your advise, showcasing your vast knowledge on these subjects, and it's fun to see you fall on your nose over stupid bullshit lies that prove you little of what you talk about, because you don't know enough to know what you should, or shouldn't copy and paste.....