I am not a clever man - Floyd Rose

[A.JohnHayes]

A clever man would not have stripped the thread of one of the bridge screws when adjusting action. Now that I have established that, what can I do to sort the situation out? I haven't had a Floyd-equipped guitar since I was a teenager, so I'm very quickly learning how ignorant I am.

On another note, the truss rod can't be adjusted without taking the neck off the body. As you might imagine, the idea of doing this is terriying to me, but the neck has just a bit too much relief. How much of a nightmare is a fool like me in for with attempting to adjust it? I checked with a local repair shop, and he doesn't even like to work with Floyds, so there aren't too many options in terms of someone who knows their shit sorting this out for me.

 

[CanserDYI]

I'm no Floyd expert, so I won't comment on that, but don't worry about removing that neck or messing with the truss rod. It's really not rocket science, go slow, realize wood takes some time to move and settle, and when you're tightening the neck back on, go in a pattern of tightening all the screws down little by little until tight, don't tighten each one down all the way down individually. You'll be fine. I took a cheapo neck from eBay and cranked the truss rod one time just for shits and giggles, and my god it took a lot more effort than I thought to make that truss rod fuck up the neck.

 

[jaxadam]

You stripped an allen-style trem post? You can get a screw remover bit and pull it out and get a new post. It basically just reverse threads into it and you can back screw it out. Or can you just pull the bridge out and remove it with pliers?

 

[Matt08642]

For the bridge, just remove the springs from the back, lift the bridge out, and then the post should be able to be unscrewed from the body with your fingers - They aren't in there that tight. If it's a really old school one with woodscrews going right in to the body, just use pliers since the post is already stripped and ruined.

As for removing the neck to adjust the truss rod, just do it and take your time. It's really difficult to mess this up unless you're like fully removing the screws then putting them back in crooked with a power drill. You likely won't even need to fully remove the screws, just enough to tilt the neck and access it with a screwdriver. Shouldn't be a nightmare at all.

Also, I'd personally avoid any shop that outright says they don't work on Floyds or don't like to, reeks of ignorance to me.

 

[lost_horizon]

What kind of guitar? Is it a N4?

As others have said screws are replaceable. I adjust the floyd on mine at tension all the time, no ill effects.

 

[JimF]

Do you have a picture of the offending bridge part that's stripped please?

 

[odibrom]

With a properly set floyd rose and strings ON:
1 - dive bomb it (slack the hell out of those strings) and lock it in that position with something underneath it like a 9V battery
2 - unscrew the neck and remove it,
3 - adjust the neck relief as needed
4 - screw the neck back in
5 - release the floyd rose from the dive bomb position and behold!, the guitar's still in tune, give or take a few cents...

 

[A.JohnHayes]

I'm no Floyd expert, so I won't comment on that, but don't worry about removing that neck or messing with the truss rod. It's really not rocket science, go slow, realize wood takes some time to move and settle, and when you're tightening the neck back on, go in a pattern of tightening all the screws down little by little until tight, don't tighten each one down all the way down individually. You'll be fine. I took a cheapo neck from eBay and cranked the truss rod one time just for shits and giggles, and my god it took a lot more effort than I thought to make that truss rod fuck up the neck.

That's good to know! I usually don't mind working with truss rods, but I've not had to adjust one that was vintage style before, and it was a bit intimidating.

For the bridge, just remove the springs from the back, lift the bridge out, and then the post should be able to be unscrewed from the body with your fingers - They aren't in there that tight. If it's a really old school one with woodscrews going right in to the body, just use pliers since the post is already stripped and ruined.

As for removing the neck to adjust the truss rod, just do it and take your time. It's really difficult to mess this up unless you're like fully removing the screws then putting them back in crooked with a power drill. You likely won't even need to fully remove the screws, just enough to tilt the neck and access it with a screwdriver. Shouldn't be a nightmare at all.

Also, I'd personally avoid any shop that outright says they don't work on Floyds or don't like to, reeks of ignorance to me.

Thanks a tonne! I'll give that a go. That eases my mind. I'm okay with setups, but I haven't messed with a Floyd guitar in years, so it's a bit intimidating at first. On the shop - that was quite a red flag tbh. This guys does pretty intense repairs on all kinds of stringed instruments, and he just flat out said he doesn't like how much time it takes and getting everything set up and a customer can come back later and complain.

What kind of guitar? Is it a N4?

As others have said screws are replaceable. I adjust the floyd on mine at tension all the time, no ill effects.

It's a guitar made by an Irish luthier- a Menapia. It's a phenomenal guitar, I'm just too much of a noob for it right now.

Do you have a picture of the offending bridge part that's stripped please?

Will include this asap!

You stripped an allen-style trem post? You can get a screw remover bit and pull it out and get a new post. It basically just reverse threads into it and you can back screw it out. Or can you just pull the bridge out and remove it with pliers?

I did! I didn't even realise I was doing so at the time. I was a total caveman. I'll look into the screw remover bit.

With a properly set floyd rose and strings ON:
1 - dive bomb it (slack the hell out of those strings) and lock it in that position with something underneath it like a 9V battery
2 - unscrew the neck and remove it,
3 - adjust the neck relief as needed
4 - screw the neck back in
5 - release the floyd rose from the dive bomb position and behold!, the guitar's still in tune, give or take a few cents...

That's super helpful! I'll follow those steps once I've restrung it.