Floyd Tremolo Stiffness

[CarvinAbuser]

Hello friends at the Kiesel forum,

Would like to know how I can reduce the stiff action of the Floyd trem on my DC127C. Thank you

[spudmunkey]

How many springs are installed currently?

[CarvinAbuser]

Thanks for the response. It came with 3 springs installed from the factory.

[spudmunkey]

My first suggestion would be to go with a lighter string gauge, because then you can also reduce the spring tension...but beyond that, there are numerous ways people have "loosened up" their trems, from lowering the action, to stretching out the springs, to screwing their spring claw it on an angle, etc. I can't speak to anything beyond lowering string gauge, and lowering your action (which changes the geometry of the direction of the string pull, so believe it or not can have an effect on trem feel.

[CarvinAbuser]

Thank you for the info. So it wouldn't be as simple as just removing the center spring?

[spudmunkey]

Thank you for the info. So it wouldn't be as simple as just removing the center spring?

You could, but I don't think you'd be able to move the claw far enough to be able to pull with enough tension to balance the tension of the strings again...and even if you did, I don't think 2 springs would be stable enough...I don't know why I think that as I have no empirical data, but my brain won't let me believe it would be stable enough.

[tbonesullivan]

Maybe try some lighter springs? Or you can put two springs at an angle and then screw the claw into the body.

The general rule is if you want stiffer, more strings stretched less.

If you want it looser, less springs with more stretching.

[CarvinAbuser]

Seems like springs are difficult to find and not a lot of tension options. A Floyd Rose tech advised me to use 2 springs, so I tried removing the center spring. This didn't give me enough adjustment to level out the trem, so I bought a trem from Seismic Audio and used two of the springs that came with it. This gave me enough adjustment, but now the strings are creaking a lot, seems to be coming from the nut. Also the guitar goes out of tune easily, but seems to be getting better with use. I'm wondering if I should give the springs more time to "break-in". Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[spudmunkey]

Creaking at the nut? Is it a locking nut? If not. there's friction there. Add lubricant.

[CarvinAbuser]

It's not a locking nut. I have a Carvin guitar that is basically the same and it doesn't creak. I noticed that the Kiesel nut is slotted differently, the slots are tapered. Could this be causing the creaking?