String Change Question

jvh

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
326
Oh no not another one of these!!! I've seen people do this, but it seems crazy to me so I have to ask. Can you leave your springs on full tension when you take off all the strings or with this put too much pressure on the wood? I know the pressure will keep the bridge from coming off, but I'm afraid that may just be too much pressure for a dive only guitar? Look forward to the responses on this one :D Thanks in advance!
 
I did and do that when I'm in the process to clean the neck. No issues here. All my guitars are with std trem, no Floyd
 
You could always place something underneath the bridge before taking off the strings? A small stack of Playing cards, business cards, a block of post-it notes is a personal favourite.
 
Well guys I did it on one of my floyd guitars with a dtuna. It has a cavity routed for the floyd and the floyd went so far down that the bridge actually sat on the top with the dtuna(leaving an impression.) It's not noticeable by any means and nothing was damaged other than this area. The bridge was set for dive only and I figured it would not come back far enough after releasing the string tension... what a huge mistake. From now i'm going to block from the cavity as well as put something underneath it on top. We are talking about a 1/8" drop(guess) when the strings were removed. Is that typical even if it sits on the top? I would hate to change strings on my axis and have that kind of drop(force) on something that is already sitting on the top of the wood. I would be concerned with it messing the finish.
 
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With anything under tension once you relieve it the springs are naturally going to pull. I always block the trem when doing a string change. That's me though.
 
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