Problems Intonation Floyd Rose "help"

[IKHOR22]

Hi, i have a Jackson kelly ke1 with original floyd rose, im using dave mustaine signature ghs strings 10-52 and tuning 1 tone down, the problem is on 3 and 6 strings, these are playing too sharp on 12th fret and the saddle its all the way back (far from the nut), the neck its straight and the bridge is parallel with the body, im using a strobostomp pedal. What can i do?

[Dreamland_Rebel]

have you checked to see what hole the saddle screw is in? can you move the saddle screw to the second hole to hold the saddle back farther?

[fett]

Springs? How does the trem set with meatier strings? Maybe parallel isn't correct.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

yeah, you could angle it slightly back (away from the nut).

[toejam]

Some guitars just can't be tuned down without running out of room to intonate, especially on the low E string. Tune back up to Eb or E and you should be okay. Also, try lowering the action a little bit to help.

[IKHOR22]

the screw is in the third hole and the saddle its all the way back, got 4springs and the floyd its perfectly parallel with the body, i will try lowering the action a bit and make the angle a little bit back. thx for your replys guys, i let you know my results.

How all this metal bands do tuning in (B) or other low tunes with conventional length guitars 25.5 or the problem its the floyd rose? or all of those guy are slightly gone off key.

[toejam]

Some guitars are just weird like that. My Fender Double Fat Strat I tune to Eb, and the only string that won't intonate exactly is the lowest string. The saddle is back as far as it will go (it's actually a hardtail bridge) and is still a tiny bit sharp. Maybe the bridge wasn't measured exact from the factory and put a little too far forward? I have no idea.
My Dinky is tuned to D with 11-50 gauge strings, also 25.5" scale, and it intonates perfectly.

Some people feel it's better to have a longer, baritone scale for tuning to C or B, but it works for others on the 25.5" with no problem.

[S-man]

No guitars intonate perfectly anyway. It's always a compromise...for the most part.

[toejam]

True, that's with any fretted instrument, but the saddles *should* have enough room either way. And now that I think of it, my Charvel Star has a Floyd (tuned to standard E), the low E saddle is as far back as possible and could stand to be moved back just a hair more.

[Powerglide350]

If it really, really drives you nuts....(It would drive me nuts) You could always take the bridge to a machine shop and have them drill and tap another hole behind the one you are using now. It will be pretty close to the sustain block though.

The only other thing you could try is to go to your local guitar shop and see if the tech has any extra saddles around. The licensed floyds arent exactly the same as originals.... you may luck out and find one that puts the string a little further back.

[Zerberus]

If it really, really drives you nuts....(It would drive me nuts) You could always take the bridge to a machine shop and have them drill and tap another hole behind the one you are using now. It will be pretty close to the sustain block though. ....

On an OFR or Schaller if the saddle is backed up to the max using the last hole, tapping a new hole would make zero difference because the saddle is already touching the "whale tail" and can´t be moved back any further anyway.

If of course you mill away part of the tail, this suggestion will work just fine

One relatively safe fix that should work fine would be to replace the OFR with a Schaller. THe schaller has a different baseplate goemetry which, when installed on an OFR rout results in the bridge being 1/16" farther back than it "should" be. Seeing as a Schaller will usually fit an OFR rout fine and your issue is that the bridge is too far forward for your use, this is a definite option.

The main drawbacks here would be: different, more "sluggish" trem feel; warmer tone; cost of a Schaller unit.

[jackson1]

In theory (I've never tried this) you could mill down the saddle(s) in question. Expand the already sloping part of the rear of the saddle - where it makes contact with the sloping part of the baseplate:



Part of the thread for the locking bolt will be milled away and I don't know if the intonation screw will grab hold of the saddle being so far back. This is pretty much a last resort kinda mod

[mjl927]

You could also look into getting one of those earvana or buzz feiten systems. I probably spelled them wrong but they are essentially nut setups that eliminate (or nearly eliminate) intonation problems. I'm not entirely sure if they work with floating bridges.....you'd have to check.

[IKHOR22]

[QUOTE=jackson1;937754]In theory (I've never tried this) you could mill down the saddle(s) in question. Expand the already sloping part of the rear of the saddle - where it makes contact with the sloping part of the baseplate:

funny thing i was thinking the same, but its kind of risky.