LTD/ESP MH-1000 FR downtune question?

Updated
stonedmental
Hey guys.. I own a LTD Mh1000 with floyd rose. I've had it set up for drop D since I got the guitar and would like to drop it down to drop C.. Now I have heard a lot of talk about the floyd rose and tuning... that I'll have to reset intonation and all this. If anyone has an outline of what to do or a general guideline for me I'd appreciate it. First time setting it up myself just looking for tips.. Would appreciate it lots:)
diadorastriker

search youtube theres a lot of tutorials

stonedmental

lol just incase anyone else reads this wondering about FR downtuning....... Don't let all the people that say it's hard make you scared and bring it into a music store. It's easy, just takes some patience and a bit of spring adjustment. Common sense and reading the instruction manual did the trick for me.

skinnyb82

Don't forget to tighten the truss rod. The first time I downtuned a non-baritone (22 fret) guitar, I didn't adjust the truss rod and the tension of the thicker strings cracked the joint where the neck meets the body. I'm not even gonna mention what guitar I did it to because everyone will think I'm a HUGE moron haha. I just went and bought a VB-400, which I hardly even play anymore.

Beaten Beyond

Don't forget to tighten the truss rod. The first time I downtuned a non-baritone (22 fret) guitar, I didn't adjust the truss rod and the tension of the thicker strings cracked the joint where the neck meets the body. I'm not even gonna mention what guitar I did it to because everyone will think I'm a HUGE moron haha. I just went and bought a VB-400, which I hardly even play anymore.

Wow, that sounds crazy. A lot of the time, the increased tension of heavier gauge strings are offset by the lower tuning....and not a lot of truss rod adjustment is needed. For that to happen, you must have been using MASSIVE strings (bass?) and not detuned that much. SRV, Dick Dale, and others have used rather heavy gauges and not deviated far from standard tuning. I ran 13s on a Strat in standard tuning for awhile. Absolutely no problems with the guitar.

BTW, what do you mean by "the joint where the neck meets the body"? Was it a bolt-on neck guitar? If it was stress cracks around the neck pocket, that can happen for lots of reasons.

stonedmental

Holy, I had no problems like that.. and nah man at least you had the balls to try it right? I did lots of research first and made sure I knew what I was doing, also I used feeler guages for measuring the neck bow. I think measuring a .3-.5mm area by eye or with ruler is insane, but I don't have great eyes.

When did the crack happen? When you put the strings on and started tuning?

Must have been a huge difference of guage?

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