First ever string change and clean. Kramer Striker SC211 Floyd Rose.

[Axkoa]

Hey everyone! I just went through one of the coolest things as a guitarist so far at the start of this week. I changed the strings and cleaned up my guitar. Now, I know what you're thinking "That isn't even that cool." But believe me, I really enjoyed it because it was something completely different to what I have ever done. Here is the process that I went through.

First off, starting pictures.



Here is the body before I took the guitar apart and cleaned it up. It was definitely not the cleanest when I first got it and I just haven't gotten around to cleaning it before now.



Headstock. Not the clearest of photos but you can still see how dusty it is.



Close up of the bridge. I'm starting to really hate this bridge, I regret getting a Floyd Rose in my first guitar. I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to block it off sometime in the future, possibly when I get a new bridge pickup in around a month or so. It's an absolute menace to keep in tune.



Nut and first fret. Super dirty and ugly. Ew...



So now I took all the strings off after placing a towel underneath the bridge. You can just see how much damn grime was underneath these strings.



Now I taped off the fretboard with some dodgy masking tape, it was a real pain trying to tape this up. Definitely learned that next time I'll need better tape.



Pre-steel-wooling frets. I think next time I might try using normal steel wool. I tried out synthetic steel wool this time and the frets didn't come out too shiny, though that could entirely be because of the frets themselves. Thoughts?



I had dismantled the bridge fully and scrubbed it with some Shellite (lighter fluid), seems like it cleaned it up a little bit. You can see the marks on the first two fine tuning screws that I had a bit of difficulty with these, it should be a lot better eventually if I block the trem.



Wiped off the headstock, looks so much better. I also took off the masking tape off the neck. Starting to look really clean.

Cleaned off fretboard, it's amazing what a little bit of warm water and scrubbing can do. This looks so much better and also feels so much better than what it was previously.



A close-up of the frets. All that grime that was there before just gone. Looks beautiful.

Scrubbed the body with a rag and some warm water as well. A lot shinier now.



Starting to string up the body after putting all the parts back in. Looks a lot better than it did before.



Contemplating leaving it like this...  :laughing7:, just kidding. :toothy12:



This is the last photo I have of it.

These new strings on it sound amazing compared to the last old dead ones. Very twangy tone and very loud acoustically. The only problem, like a mentioned before, is that I'm having tuning issues because of the seizure of the fine tuning screws and the nature of a FR. I was just wondering if anyone can give me some hints on how to tune a Floyd Rose.

Thanks everyone for reading this, it just felt like a monumental occasion for me in the guitar building/setup and luthiery world. So I wanted to share with you guys.

Thank you!  :blob7:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

She cleaned up nice!

 

[Logrinn]

Good work. Well done!

About the Floyd ...
The markings on the two first fine tuner screws suggest that they are stuck and force has been applied to them. They should not cause any problems screwing them up or down. You might want to remove them, clean them and maybe dab a tiny amount of oil so they run smoothly.
A Floyd should also not cause any tuning problems. They can be a pain to tune up to pitch, especially if you have a floating system, but once that is done, they should be rock solid.
You might want to consider adjusting the springs underneath so that you have a non floating system and a trem that can only be made to go down in pitch. It's easier to tune the strings up to pitch.

Just my 2 cents.

Anyway, good luck.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Axkoa]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, Logrinn. I'll try that. I managed to get the first fine tuner out while doing the cleaning previously but I had no idea how to clean it so I just put it back in. Would soaking it in Shellite work?

 

[DaveT]

Buy an ultrasonic cleaner. Very useful for cleaning up all types of small things from bits of carburettor to bits of guitar.

 

[Logrinn]

I managed to get the first fine tuner out while doing the cleaning previously but I had no idea how to clean it so I just put it back in. Would soaking it in Shellite work?

That might work. And maybe scrub them with an old toothbrush to get rid of small microscopic particles that might have gotten stuck in the threads. And finish off with a little oil to make them run smooth in the tremblock.

 

[Axkoa]

I managed to get the first fine tuner out while doing the cleaning previously but I had no idea how to clean it so I just put it back in. Would soaking it in Shellite work?

That might work. And maybe scrub them with an old toothbrush to get rid of small microscopic particles that might have gotten stuck in the threads. And finish off with a little oil to make them run smooth in the tremblock.

Alright, awesome. I'll try that out tomorrow when I have some time.

 

[stratamania]

WD40 is worth a try for the fine tuners. Of course if some previous person messed up the threads you might need to replace it.

Floyds will stay in tune very well but you need to learn how to work with them.

 

[Cagey]

WD-40 is a penetrating oil, not a lubricant, even though it says it's a lubricant. It's most useful for the purpose its name stands for: Water Displacement formula #40. It has very little shear strength, and it's very thin. Kerosene would work as well (which is to say, not), since that's almost what it is.

For most kinds of gears, you want something like lithium grease. Super-slick, high shear strength, high environmental tolerance to temperature/humidity, excellent adherence, etc. Easiest place to find it is an automotive parts store, where it's often labelled as "Assembly Lube".

 

[Axkoa]

WD-40 is a penetrating oil, not a lubricant, even though it says it's a lubricant. It's most useful for the purpose its name stands for: Water Displacement formula #40. It has very little shear strength, and it's very thin. Kerosene would work as well (which is to say, not), since that's almost what it is.

For most kinds of gears, you want something like lithium grease. Super-slick, high shear strength, high environmental tolerance to temperature/humidity, excellent adherence, etc. Easiest place to find it is an automotive parts store, where it's often labelled as "Assembly Lube".

I think my dad might have something like that around for cleaning and servicing his road bike. I think he called it Silicon Spray? How about that?

 

[Cagey]

That would work better than WD-40, but with silicone spray you have to be careful what you use it around. It's easy to get it on things you don't want it on, and it's difficult to get off. The lithium grease can be had in small, controllable tubes that make using it very easy.

It also sometimes contains some molybdenum and graphite to make it even slipperier. Good thing to use for lubing nut slots on guitars with vibrato bridges.

 

[Axkoa]

Awesome, thanks Cagey. I'll check around to see if I have any, and if not I'll see if I can go get a small tube.

 

[stratamania]

WD-40 is a penetrating oil, not a lubricant, even though it says it's a lubricant. It's most useful for the purpose its name stands for: Water Displacement formula #40. It has very little shear strength, and it's very thin. Kerosene would work as well (which is to say, not), since that's almost what it is.

For most kinds of gears, you want something like lithium grease. Super-slick, high shear strength, high environmental tolerance to temperature/humidity, excellent adherence, etc. Easiest place to find it is an automotive parts store, where it's often labelled as "Assembly Lube".

I'm fully aware of what it is. It's very useful for freeing up something that's stuck which seems to be implied by the earlier posts in the thread.

Once freed up if the threads are still intact then you need lubricants as suggested.

Sometimes Cagey, I think you are just contrarian for the sake of it.

 

[Cagey]

I'm sorry; I don't mean to be. It's just that so many use WD-40 for the wrong thing and end up sorry for it that I thought I'd pass along some info about the stuff. Prevents heartache. Plus, sometimes intent isn't clear so I make assumptions, as in this case. You're right - he did say the tuners were seized/tight, and you meant to help unseize/loosen them while I thought you were suggesting lubricating them. Hence my comment. Not trying to be contrarian - it's a help forum; we were both trying to be helpful.

 

[stratamania]

Ok Cagey, let's keep on helping. It's all good.