Uneven Radius on Floyd Rose fix?

Hydra19

I bought a Jackson a few months ago but was slowly getting familiar with it before checking the setup. I have found that my A string is about .5mm lower than the E or D and the B is similarly below the E and G. I have checked and there don't seem to be any shims under the saddles. Also some of the saddles sit higher, as if the fine tuner is out, but it's not, I keep the fine tuners at the same height but some of the saddles seems to be sitting at an angle so higher than others. 

I read about buying shims, is there anything else that could raise or lower a saddle so much? Thank you

StormshadowGuitars

Sounds like someones had the saddles off and not put them back in the correct order.
E & E Lowest
A & B Medium
D & G Highest

That gives you the standard 10" or 12" radius with or without the shim fitted under the middle for saddles.

Hydra19

Thank you.
To do this...would I need to remove the string, unlock the bolt holding the saddle in place, then lift saddle to see shim, and then just put it all back the way it was? Hopefully leaving the springs attached won't be a problem, I'd be doing one at a time anyway.

Alnico

Hydra19 said:

Thank you.
To do this...would I need to remove the string, unlock the bolt holding the saddle in place, then lift saddle to see shim, and then just put it all back the way it was? Hopefully leaving the springs attached won't be a problem, I'd be doing one at a time anyway.

Yes, exactly that...

Except take all 6 off and organise them first. The world will not end if you take all 6 off, just stick something in front of the sustain block to stop the unit tilting back in its cavity.

Slacken the fine tuners all the way out/up/down in pitch to reduce the downward force on the string clamp locking bolt.

Take a photo from above of the saddles (and a ruler if you can rig that up) before you start so you've got a rough position to start again with for intonation.

Funkfingers

Strip the ****er right down and give it a really though service. 

Hydra19 said:

is there anything else that could raise or lower a saddle so much?

Are the saddles machined from steel or cast in zinc? Some budget conscious FR-licensed double locking vibrato bridges seem to employ a material with all the wear resistance of Stilton cheese. 

mudslide73

Funkfingers said:

Strip the ****er right down and give it a really though service. 

Hydra19 said:

is there anything else that could raise or lower a saddle so much?

Are the saddles machined from steel or cast in zinc? Some budget conscious FR-licensed double locking vibrato bridges seem to employ a material with all the wear resistance of Stilton cheese. 

Strip it down and figure out how it works with your eyes. Great bit of design the Floyd. 

Funkfingers

I thoroughly detested any maintenance task involving a Floyd Rose type vibrato until, of necessity, I had to dismantle a German-made example. Once I examined a properly made one, it all made sense. 

Having said that, my personal preference is still for Kahler, six-screw fulcrum and the Fender Floating Tremolo vibrato à la Jazzmaster and Jaguar - albeit with Staytrem upgrades.

mbe

Somebody will come along shortly and mention the Bigsby. 

Philtre

Check your shims are correct. Actually, are there any shims there?

Maynehead

I used pieces cut out of a coke can to shim my Jackson. 2 layers under the E’s and 1 layer under the A and B.

This is after you get them in the correct order first

stonevibe

You can mark the saddle intonation positions with a Sharpie before you remove them.

axisus

I used some card for shims. Worked fine, although the coke can idea above is probably better

fretmeister

All parts sell shims quite cheaply.

They are really thin so they can be stacked if you need them.

Hydra19

Thank you for the replies. I've looked carefully but could not see any shims, the saddles all look to be the same height on the bottom, but I have not taken anything apart to check so there could be some thin ones. I'm worried about taking it apart and not being able to put it back how it was, but I'll get there with the next string change I think. 

Funkfingers

It's already farked. You cannot possibly make it any worse.

Maynehead

Hydra19 said:

Thank you for the replies. I've looked carefully but could not see any shims, the saddles all look to be the same height on the bottom, but I have not taken anything apart to check so there could be some thin ones. I'm worried about taking it apart and not being able to put it back how it was, but I'll get there with the next string change I think. 

When you do take it apart, in all likelihood the saddles will have numbers on the bottom pertaining to their height. The higher the number, the higher the saddle (the lowest saddles sometimes do not have a number). So all you need to do is make sure the 2 lowest numbers go on the edges, the 2 highest numbers go in the middle, and the other 2 in between.