What is a Floyd Rose & How Does it Work?

How Does a Floyd Rose Work?

A Floyd Rose functions in a similar way to a vintage-style tremolo (like the one pictured below). This familiar design has been featured on Fender Stratocasters since the ’50s, and the vintage screw-in tremolo remains a popular choice today. The Floyd Rose simply pushed the boundaries of what a floating bridge could achieve.

A Floyd Rose system locks the strings in place at two points on the guitar, at the bridge and at the nut. The strings are inserted into the bridge and held by locking saddles. These are then fixed into place via tightening bolts on the back of the bridge, which are adjustable with an allen key. The bridge also features “fine tuners” – one for each string. These let players perform small tuning adjustments if the strings sharpen or flatten from extensive tremolo use or if the guitar is affected by temperature changes. You likely won’t be able to tune half-steps with this as it’s more for minor tweaking.

The locking nut, which is used in place of a traditional bone or synthetic nut, has a similar locking design at the other end of the fretboard. Using three metal plates, these lock down two strings each and are also tightened with an allen key. This prevents the strings from sliding over the nut and going out of tune when using the whammy bar.

The advantage of this design meant that players such as Eddie Van Halen could perform wild divebomb effects. These techniques dramatically affected the pitch of his guitar to achieve extreme sounds. Although the track was recorded with a vintage six-screw tremolo fitted to his guitar, Eddie Van Halen initiated the whammy craze in his epic guitar solo, Eruption. This was the second hair-raising track on the debut Van Halen I (1978) record.

How Was The Floyd Rose Invented?

Floyd’s light bulb moment occurred when he was rehearsing with his band. His playing was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore: two guitar icons who famously used the tremolos on their Stratocasters. Frustrated with constantly knocking his instrument out of tune when using the traditional Fender-style vibrato on his ’57 Strat, Rose decided to develop his own tremolo system that could keep his guitar in tune.

Using his metal and crafting skills from making jewellery, Rose developed early prototypes. This included a system that locked the strings at the bridge and nut, but lacked fine tuners. The problem with this primitive design was that you would have to tune your guitar perfectly before locking the strings down. If a string sharpened or flattened, you would have to unlock it at the nut and re-tune.

Funnily enough, a similar design to this early version has recently made a comeback. Brought back to like on Guthrie Govan’s signature Charvel guitar (without the locking nut), the Floyd Rose Non-Fine Tuner tremolo has been seen on a bunch of other production electric guitars since. According to Govan, he prefers the lower maintenance of this system and believes it offers him stable enough tuning.

The Floyd Rose ‘Original’ Tremolo

After experimenting with different metals, including brass (which wore down too quickly), Rose settled on hardened steel to form the two main components of the system. His iconic Floyd Rose ‘Original’ tremolo, which has remained largely unchanged, features the legendary double-locking design. This has the addition of fine tuners at the bridge, to allow players to tune after locking the strings in place.

After first appearing on Kramer guitars in the ’80s, demand grew for the Floyd Rose trem following the hair metal craze that dominated the decade. In this period, playing a guitar without the system was somewhat unusual. To cope with the popularity, Rose licensed his design to companies such as Schaller, who mass-produced his Original Floyd Rose system. Today, this is still considered the best version in terms of tuning stability and longevity.

The Original Floyd Rose is usually seen fitted to high-end guitars. However, many affordable instruments feature licensed copies made from cheaper materials. Some of these, such as the 1000 Series Floyd Rose, still offer great performance at a lower cost by utilising zinc alloys.

You’ll find guitars from the likes of ESP, Jackson, Schecter and of course, EVH all fit their instruments with both the Original tremolo and the 1000 Series Floyd Rose.

Floyd Rose Alternatives

Ibanez Edge Tremolos

There are alternatives to the Floyd Rose. The other most well-known manufacturer of double-locking tremolos is Ibanez who produce the renowned ‘Edge’ series systems. More or less the same as a Floyd Rose in terms of design, Ibanez have many different iterations of the Edge tremolo. They have also produced ergonomic low-profile versions, in which the fine tuners sit lower down to the guitar body and are certain to be out of the way of the picking hand. The quality of these tremolos is excellent with many Ibanez players complementing their stability and smooth feel.

Kahler Tremolos

Kahler also produce double-locking tremolo bridges. However, they followed a slightly different design philosophy and the physical differences between their systems and Floyd’s are quite noticeable. Kahler were a main competitor to Floyd Rose in the 1980s, and a bitter lawsuit between the two companies ensued from Kahler supposedly copying Rose’s idea. Nevertheless, their systems have also been popular with some guitarists, including Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) and Kerry King (Slayer).

These companies have also catered for extended range players, manufacturing 7 and 8-string versions of their tremolo systems. Following the same design essentially, these bridges have extra saddles and slots in their locking nuts to accommodate the extra strings.

 

Floyd Rose – Routed vs. Non-Routed

Guitars that featured Floyd Rose tremolo systems in the early days mostly had ‘non-routed’ cavities. This meant that the bar could only be used to lower the pitch. Some players had experimented with the idea, but it was Steve Vai who popularised the ‘routed’ (pictured below) design, with his iconic Ibanez JEM guitar. This is where a chunk of wood behind the bridge is carved out, allowing you to pull up on the bar so that you can raise the pitch and achieve flutter effects.

Others followed suit: most notably Dimebag Darrell of Pantera, who used the Floyd Rose to develop his signature sound. Darrell popularised using pinched harmonics in conjunction with the whammy bar, to achieve dramatic-sounding “squealies”. Joe Satriani was one of the first players to employ this extreme technique. This can be heard prominently in his renowned instrumental Surfing With The Alien.

How Do I Restring a Floyd Rose?

 

Let’s look at how to restring a Floyd Rose. Ibanez owners listen up too – this next part is relevant to your tremolos as well. Double-locking tremolo systems have many advantages in the creative department, however restringing isn’t exactly one of them. The process becomes easier after a few times, but restringing a Floyd requires more steps than a traditional Tune-o-matic or fixed bridge. There are different ways of doing this, but here’s my preferred method…

1. What You’ll Need

• A fresh pack of strings. I’m going to assume that you’re replacing the strings with a set of the same gauges. If not, then there’s no need to worry. We’ll get to that later.
• A couple of allen wrenches/hex keys. Most Floyd Rose-equipped guitars would have included these when you made your purchase, with the right sizes provided for your tremolo. If not you can easily purchase a set of allen wrenches at your local DIY shop. They are necessary to loosen certain components, allowing you to release the old strings.
• A string winder. This will speed up the process significantly.
• Wire cutters will be needed to cut off the excess string, including the ball ends of each replacement string.
• A Phillips-style screwdriver to remove the back-plate from your guitar and make adjustments to the tremolo springs and their tension. This may not be necessary unless you’re changing to heavier/lighter gauge strings.

If you’re missing any of the tools specified above, make sure to browse our Tools & Maintenance range.

2. Remove the Old Strings

Start by removing the locking nut plates. Put them somewhere safe in the meantime, as they’re easy to lose. This will take pressure off the strings, meaning that they are free to unwind and remove.

3a. Fitting a New String

This should be fairly easy. Basically, do almost the complete opposite of the previous step.

Take out the replacement string from the new pack. Unwrap the string and use a pair of wire cutters to snip off the ball end, including the section where it is tightly twisted.

Insert the string into the saddle at the bridge, and tighten it using the correct-sized allen wrench. Do not over-tighten.

Now that the new string is secured at the bridge, you can insert the other end of the string into the tuning post hole, ensuring that it’s placed correctly over the nut slot. Ensure there is some slack, so that the string will wrap nicely around the post a couple of times. Wind the string up to the pitch it needs to be, so that the tension is kept balanced like before.

If you’re using the same string gauges as your previous set, the bridge should sit parallel to the surface of the guitar body. This is easier to notice with a floating bridge system, however if you have a non-routed guitar, you can check by gently pressing down on the bar and feeling whether the response is the same as before.

3b. If you’re changing to a new String Gauge

If you are changing to a thicker set of strings or a lighter gauge, things will look different. A heavier string set will generate more tension, therefore causing more strain on the springs that counter-balance the Floyd Rose. If you don’t make any adjustments, then the bridge will appear to lean forward towards the guitar.

This is something you absolutely want to avoid, as the action (string height from the fretboard) and intonation (the tuning balance across the fretboard) will be badly affected. This could make your instrument almost unplayable, so listen up.

If you’re changing string gauge, then you will need to open up the back of your guitar to get to the springs. Grab your screwdriver, and tighten the claw that holds the springs to the inside of the guitar body. Make a quarter-turn at a time – check – and turn until the bridge is level again.

4. Repeat the Process

Once you’ve changed the first string, repeat the same steps for the rest of them. You might find the process will become more fiddly with the 3 higher strings, however the same method will work.

Once you’ve changed every string, tune up to pitch and double-check that the bridge is balanced. Like with any string change, “break” (not literally) the new strings in by playing them for a while and gently stretching them. The strings are at their most tense when they’re new, so once they’ve been played in, tune up and fit the locking nut plates back on and tighten them. Job done!

5. Leave the Headstock Tuners alone

The most important thing now is to not go anywhere near the headstock tuners. If you try and tune from there then nothing will happen and you’ll probably end up snapping your string. This is why fine tuners are on the bridge, so that you can adjust the tuning without unlocking anything at either side.

6. If You’re a Visual Learner

You may prefer to see the process rather than be told how to do it. That’s why I’ve included this helpful video from ESP Guitars on restringing your Floyd Rose guitar.

This video details a different method to ours, whereby all the strings are removed first and a block is placed under the rear of the tremolo to maintain tension and balance. You get the same result after all, and some of you may end up liking this method more.

How Easy Is It To Install An Aftermarket Floyd Rose?

Upgrading your Floyd Rose, say, from a 1000 Series to an Original, can be surprisingly simple if you are handy at DIY. Because the guitar body is cut to hold a Floyd Rose, it will be a matter of swapping out the system, screwing the new one in place, reattaching the springs and re-stringing. Performing an upgrade like this with a guitar that has a fixed bridge or a vintage tremolo is a more complex task that should only be reserved for those with woodwork experience, as you’ll need to install the nut, and gut out the guitar body to fit in the Floyd Rose, which is not recommended.

If you need any help with an upgrade, contact our guitar workshop and our team will do the job for you.

Should you get a Floyd Rose guitar?

Whether or not you should choose to get a Floyd Rose-equipped guitar comes down to how much you’d actually use it. If you’re inspired to pursue those huge solos and lead melodies, and enjoy the sound of extreme vibrato, from Vai to John Petrucci, Synster Gates to Plini and Tom Morello to Jason Richardson, then it’s probably for you. If you’re not fussed about being able to access the same slinky sounds of a Floyd Rose, then opt for a hardtail or classic tremolo bridge. You’ll save yourself those extra steps in the re-stringing process. Find out more about the differences between the types of guitar bridges.

Want To Learn More?

If you’re curious about how long it should take to re-string a Floyd Rose or Bigsby bridge, check out our article comparing the two tremolos. Interested in finding out more about music gear and expanding your knowledge? Click to view all of our Learn articles.