How To Clean A Floyd Rose

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Stupid Floyd Rose Question: keeping them clean

Thread starter WordMan
Start date Dec 31, 2018

I'm a Tele guy. One pedal and a Tweed Deluxe. But I really love and respect great FR playing, starting with EVH to Brad Gillis and beyond.

So I'm not going to get a SStrat - I like the music but it's not what my hands do - but I sometimes think about what it would be like. The first thing that comes to mind is: how would I keep it clean?! I am a sweaty beast; I corrode the Allparts metal bridgeplate on my parts-o-Tele so need to consider stainless alternatives.

With my corrosive sweat, it feels like, with my hand resting on the FR, I'd have to commit to detailed cleaning every time I played it if I didn't want to corrode, or at least gunk up, the freakin pieces.

So: How do you guys maintain your FR guitar? I've read stories about EVH leaving his guitars lying around with no string changes for months. Can an FR take neglect and keep slogging?

Dunno, isn't a problem for me. I suppose you could use rubbing alcohol on a swab and then spray it down with a guitar cleaner from one of the popular brands. The FRs I have are chromed or plated so they're pretty robust. Corrosion will come from letting a corrosive material (your sweat apparently) sit too long. So yeah, you're going to have to wipe it down with a cleaner regularly.

Fairly well I would say but I do things a little differently then most around here. Wipe them down , every time I touch any guitar for one. I use Tri Flow as my go to guitar nut/saddle lubricant. I also take apart my Floyds and give them a spray over every surface and part disassembled with the screws outside . Been a few years since I did that last time might be time to clean them up again. The answer is yes you can treat them badly , but I just say why do that to a guitar ?

The answer is yes you can treat them badly , but I just say why do that to a guitar ?

Very much agree. Hence the question - I wipe down my Tele and my acoustics when I play them. It feels like, especially for my sweat, I'd have to invest in more careful maintenance of an FR's mechanism. Understood and thanks.

No problem , there is a bit of a learning curve but Floyds are pretty low maintenance and great bridges. My Jackson RR5 FR is the most stable guitar I own and it stays in tune for months at a time. Take it apart learn how it works , learn how to adjust it and do a good setup. A little time and effort is very worthwhile with any guitar.

I like to use a bit of spray car wax -sprayed onto the on a rag not the bridge directly to protect metal parts from corrosion. I particularly like Turtle wax "Ice" as its not so "waxy" ... I use a small handheld vacuum /brush to get the dust build up out of the crevices. Keeps them clean and protected to a degree.

When gigging I usually have a microfiber rag or two with me and just wipe em down quickly between sets. Nothing is happening in the way of cleaning at 2 am, lol so if Ive been sweating it would wait until the next day hopefully.

I have a client that uses rain-x once a month and just wipes it down. that puts a micro layer of protection on the part. he has hyperhidrosis bad. it seems to work very well for him. he has had his floyd for a few years and it shows no signs of corrosion on it. Sweat just beads off of it.

Last edited: Dec 31, 2018

I use an air compressor & air gun along with an old repurposed toothbrush to get bridges clean. They can and do act like a crud magnet whether you sweat excessively or not, especially Floyds with all the moving parts, though I've never had any issues with pitted or lost plating. Lubrication and protection agents that get applied to threads, friction points and other areas to eliminate corrosion is something I do as well, but I go easy on it.

Same as Guitarworks. I use a toothbrush and compressed air.

The new floyds are supposed to be more resistant to corrosion. I never had an issue myself and I've been using them since '85...

Floyds are practically bullet proof. Just give it a wipe every string change. The bolts & blocks rust over time, but they're easily replaced.

An FYI, if this is your first go with a DLT, here are a few tips. Get it set up with your choice strings {by a tech if you can & ask if you can watch him/her do it}. Use something to keep the bridge off the body before stringing & cleaning. Once the setup is done, changing strings is a breeze. Change them one at a time. If the guitar doesn't have locking tuners, string the ball end through the tuners {not Fender Bullet's though} & cut the string past the bridge locking bolt. Before tuning, set the low E fine tuner to it's highest point & the low E to it's lowest. Then find the middle & set them all to that. The nuts tend to go sharp & flat the direction the cap & nut turn. Meaning, low E will go flat & the A will go sharp, same with the other 2. To get them close, tune up or down past pitch, clamp, then repeat until close. Use the fine tuners to get it perfect. The idea is to keep as much fine tuning range as possible. Don't clamp the nut to tight, just a touch more than hand tight. Put Chap Stick on the bridge posts for lube. Don't use full tension to set bridge height. If you decide that you don't want it to float, use a scrap piece of wood between the block & the spring cavity. Also, take note of the allen sizes.

Floyds are practically bullet proof. Just give it a wipe every string change. The bolts & blocks rust over time, but they're easily replaced.
An FYI, if this is your first go with a DLT, here are a few tips. Get it set up with your choice strings {by a tech if you can & ask if you can watch him/her do it}. Use something to keep the bridge off the body before stringing & cleaning. Once the setup is done, changing strings is a breeze. Change them one at a time. If the guitar doesn't have locking tuners, string the ball end through the tuners {not Fender Bullet's though} & cut the string past the bridge locking bolt. Before tuning, set the low E fine tuner to it's highest point & the low E to it's lowest. Then find the middle & set them all to that. The nuts tend to go sharp & flat the direction the cap & nut turn. Meaning, low E will go flat & the A will go sharp, same with the other 2. To get them close, tune up or down past pitch, clamp, then repeat until close. Use the fine tuners to get it perfect. The idea is to keep as much fine tuning range as possible. Don't clamp the nut to tight, just a touch more than hand tight. Put Chap Stick on the bridge posts for lube. Don't use full tension to set bridge height. If you decide that you don't want it to float, use a scrap piece of wood between the block & the spring cavity. Also, take note of the allen sizes.

Wow, good stuff! I am not looking to buy an SS - this is more about wondering how you FR folk manage your craft. Kinda like me asking an archtop jazzcat how they use palm muting for jazz given an archtop's ergonomics vs how I use muting for Rock on a Tele ashtray. I really appreciate the posts so far.

All of my guitars have Floyds on them. I sweat like crazy when playing live. I just make sure to wipe them down after playing and all has been great. I replace all of the screws with stainless and put titanium string blocks in each one so there will be little to no corrosion issues. It all works great!

I don't subscribe to the one string method at all. When I change strings on any guitar I clean it very well , oil the fretboard and polish frets. Learn all the ins and outs on the bridge and you will be able to take it off and replace it easily and quickly. Tri flow lubricant on the knife edges , studs and nut slots. I usually update some of the parts on them to stainless steel like all of the screws and string blocks from FU Upgrades and I install the big brass sustain blocks . Seems to make a difference to me and they aren't very expensive. Do the research , watch some videos look at the assembly sheet.

Floyds are practically bullet proof. Just give it a wipe every string change. The bolts & blocks rust over time, but they're easily replaced.
An FYI, if this is your first go with a DLT, here are a few tips. Get it set up with your choice strings {by a tech if you can & ask if you can watch him/her do it}. Use something to keep the bridge off the body before stringing & cleaning. Once the setup is done, changing strings is a breeze. Change them one at a time. If the guitar doesn't have locking tuners, string the ball end through the tuners {not Fender Bullet's though} & cut the string past the bridge locking bolt. Before tuning, set the low E fine tuner to it's highest point & the low E to it's lowest. Then find the middle & set them all to that. The nuts tend to go sharp & flat the direction the cap & nut turn. Meaning, low E will go flat & the A will go sharp, same with the other 2. To get them close, tune up or down past pitch, clamp, then repeat until close. Use the fine tuners to get it perfect. The idea is to keep as much fine tuning range as possible. Don't clamp the nut to tight, just a touch more than hand tight. Put Chap Stick on the bridge posts for lube. Don't use full tension to set bridge height. If you decide that you don't want it to float, use a scrap piece of wood between the block & the spring cavity. Also, take note of the allen sizes.

Good trick to find the mid point of the fine tuning screws. I change all my strings at once though so I can clean and oil the fretboard and clean around the pickups. Just put a cloth wrapped paint stick under the bridge to keep it roughly in position. Rough tune the strings, remove the paint stick. Stretch the strings, tune, repeat then lock the nut.