How in the world do you get this thing to stay right.  Last night I changed the strings on a guitar I just bought.  Played it for about 30 an hour and did a lot of string bending to stretch the strings and retuned it 4 times.  Hung it up and it was in tune picked it up a little while ago just about every string was off by 2. Tried to tune it and the bridge is constantly just a going up.  Know that you're supposed to mess with the springs every now and then.  So is there any certain way to do it?  Would really like to be able to use my tremolo and not just block it.

 

I feel your pain. I got an Ibanez with a Floyd Rose "licensed" trem about a decade ago.



After I learned how to use the damn thing, I went in to a shop to get some work done on it. The guitar tech looks at all the stripped out allen bolts like "WTF WERE YOU DOING???"



The worst part is popping a string and sending the whole damn thing out of tune instantly.

Floating trems SUCK!!!

I swore them off many years ago. But on the occasion I do buy a guitar with a trem, I always block it any more. Piece of wood glued in the trem cavity between the trem block and the body wood. I learned on the road many years ago that broken strings on Floyd Roses were FUBAR once you broke a string. So I'd have to put the guitar down that very instant and grab another. With a block in the trem, you can finish the song.

I still think that Floyds and other floating trems suck, but I recently bought a Les Paul with a Floyd because one of my guitar heros (Alex Lifeson of Rush) has a signature LP in that configuration. Doesn't get played though... not when there are four other regular LPs to choose from.

Thanks guys.  I just put a medicine bottle cap in there to temporary block it.  I'll play with the screws when I get home in 11 days.  Rather spend what little down time I have playing.  Got lucky and had enough time to hit a pawn shop that had a brand new Jackson with EMG HZ pickups and a case.  Didn't think it was a bad deal for 250.  Had to have some thing since the bridge popped off my beater acoustic and my amp is here at the company housing. That and I left both electrics at the house, or at lest that's my excuse.

It's all a out the proper tension. A properly set up Floyd should not need much adjustment.

When I install new strings I get them all fairly tight during installation (tight enough that the tremendous leans back but isn't resting in the cavity) and then start tuning. Once the strings are tuned I play the guitar, do some tremendous dive bombs and super bends. Obviously the stings will set in and stretch. Here is the key; some strings will stretch and become looser than others. Some will actually be tighter (higher tuned) than is proper. DO NOT tune the ones that are tighter, only tune those that are looser, as they are throwing off the balance of the system, once the loose ones are at the proper tension the tighter ones should relieve themselves to roughly the correct tension.

It can take a good 20-40 minutes of balancing, but once it's set and reliable against dive bombs and heavy tremolo use only tune using the bridge. I have a Carvin with no lock nut and I don't have tuning issues once I get the balancing act correct. The only times I screw it up is when I engage my tremol-no and detune. That can fuck up the balance at times.

I put a block in my floyd rose to essentially fix it after many hours of frustration.

I've owned many floating trems over the years and have come to the realization that they all truely suck.

I must agree. I do not have the trem blocked on my strat but I have it set on the deck with the springs

 

What are these "trems" of which you speak?

There is also a dramatic difference in the quality of a genuine Floyd Rose trem made in Germany vs the "Floyd Rose licensed." I have a Floyd Rose Original on one of my Strats (marked "Made in West Germany" on the bottom) and it took a lot of adjustment to balance the springs but it was worth it because no matter what it keeps its tune ridiculously well. The knife edges on a genuine FR are case-hardened vs the licensed copies which are not. The licensed copies don't hold their tuning worth a crap after the first string bend, let alone dive bombs.

I've also found that DR strings don't stretch as much as some other brands so they're all I use. And frankly I only have a Floyd Rose on one of my Strats because I'm a huge EVH fan but on my other two Strats the trems are blocked. Floating the trem seems to sap some of the sustain.

I have a Kahler and have no such issues.
 

I've learned a few tricks to make stringing them easier.  It's not rocket science.  I never remove all the strings unless I absolutely have to for things such as guitar maintenance.  When I have all the strings off I always tune each one significantly sharp before adding the next and then allow each added string to pull the last one into tune.  Then I tune all the strings sharp again before adding another string and repeat reducing the amount of sharpness on each individual string as more strings are added.  If you do it enough it goes fairly fast though certainly not as quickly as a hardtail guitar.

Floating trems are awesome.



PROTIP When changing strings do not remove all old strings at the same time - remove them one by one as you put on new strings





even if you take off all of the strings it still isn't that much harder. There are tons of youtube vids showing how to do it but for real in depth instruction check out this link.





http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

I've practiced all of these tricks for years. But as you said, it's just SO much easier/quicker with a hard tail or non-locking/non-floating trem. And my biggest complaint all these years has been the tuning nightmare after string breakage.

I have a Floyd Rose on my 86 strat, once you get it right it's cake. Just always use the same string gauges every time.
I clip the strings and replace them one at a time. I use super slinkys and the strat has a locking nut.
I also pull up and stretch the new strings pretty energetically and tune and repeat before I lock it all down.

You probably need an additional spring and some adjustment of spring tension. Floating terms are so worth it.

Full limp string dives and 2 step up bends are so much fun. Throw in a little delay. Sweet.

ETA: by pulling up, I mean pull the strings away from the body of the guitar at 4 or 5 different places along the length
Like 3 or 4 inches. Significantly reduces the time needed to get the guitar stable.

Since this has turned into a Floyd vs fixed debate, I'll throw in my two cents.
I like both, I own both, therefore I recommend to get both.
YMMV


 

I can roll with that



 

Get both......so typical of ARFCOM.

I agree...  I love my fixed bridge, but I always find myself looking at trem equipped guitars...