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Ed's Shed: How to Balance Your Guitars

Vibrato, Part 2
Posted 10/15/2012 at 10:10am | by Ed Mitchell

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Last time we looked at how to get your guitars

vibrato into line. Before I move onto the next
juicy guitar maintenance task, I thought I would
give you some additional balancing tips.
You may need to balance your vibrato
whenever you change your guitars strings; it
might just take a subtle tweak to get it back in
line. Changing the strings one at a time can help
maintain the balance of your Floyd or nonlocking vibrato. You simply detune one string,
remove it, fit a new one, tune it up, all the while
keeping the other five strings as in-tune as
possible.

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Ed's Shed: How to Balance Your Guitars Vibrato
Ed's Shed: How to Adjust Your Guitar's Truss Rod
Ed's Shed: How to Tell If Your Guitars Neck Needs
to be Adjusted

Changing strings one at a time doesnt help if

you need to clean your guitars fingerboard,
replace the pickups or carry out any major
repairs. In those scenarios, you need to remove
all the strings, so try stuffing a rag or duster

Ed's Shed: The Correct Way to Use Glue on Your

Guitar

under the vibrato to keep some tension on the

springs. That could help the vibrato balance
naturally when you tune up.

Here are some other tips:

Following on from last time, you might find that the two big vibrato screws you turn to increase and
decrease spring tension are adjusted as far as they can go, but your vibrato still isnt balanced
correctly. In that case, you could consider adding or removing a spring.
If the screws are screwed into the guitars wood as far as theyll go, but your vibrato is still angled
away from the body, youll need to add an extra spring (See photo 1 in the photo gallery below). Put
some safety goggles on (See photo 2).
Youre dealing a spring under tension. If it slips from your grasp it could hit you in the face. Ive done
that; it hurts big time. If youre nervous about dealing with springs under tension, detune the guitar.
This will make it easier to get the spring into position. Just make sure its seated securely in the claw
and vibrato block before you retune the guitar.
To fit a new spring, attach its looped end to the claw. Next, using a pair of pliers, stretch the spring
to the vibrato block and slip its pin into the hole in the block (See photo 3). The added tension
caused by the new spring should finally pull the vibrato into line. You may find you have to release a
little tension by turning the screws anti-clockwise. Just adjust and retune, natch (See photo 4). Itll
eventually settle down.
If you dont have a spare spring you can increase the tension on the strings by angling one of the
existing springs (See photo 5). It might just be enough to level that pesky vibrato once and for all.
Its worth a try. In some cases, you might find that youve loosened the two big screws as far as you
dare but your vibrato is still angled towards the body. No problem. Just remove one of the springs. If
that leaves the vibrato sitting too high, tighten the screws a bit to compensate.
When all is balanced you can tighten the locking top nut bolts. Dont tighten em too hard; just
enough to keep the strings in check (See photo 6). By the way, when it comes to fine tuners, I set
them with the same amount of adjustment for flat and sharp. That pretty much covers the whole
vibrato balancing thing. You should be an expert by now!
By the way, someone asked why I always used the term "vibrato" and not "tremolo" or "whammy
bar." Well, I use it because vibrato is the correct term for the wiggly stick on a guitar. Its dear old
Leo Fenders fault that many players incorrectly refer to a guitars vibrato as a tremolo. While

developing the Fender Stratocaster, Leo or one of his guys christened his new babys vibrato unit
the "synchronized tremolo" before naming the tremolo effect on his amplifiers "vibrato." The names

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stuck and weve used them ever since.

To be honest, it doesnt really matter what term you use to describe your vibrato. As for my hero,
Leo Fender ... well, the guy was too busy making rock guitar history to care about correct
terminology. Lets cut him some slack. See you next time.
If you simply can't get enough of Ed and his Shed, click here!

Ed's Shed: How to Balance Your

Guitars Vibrato, Part 2

1 of 6
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and Jimi ...
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If the screws are screwed into the guitars wood as far as theyll go, but your vibrato is still

See what's inside

angled away from the body, youll need to add an extra spring.

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Ed's Shed: How to

Balance Your Guitars
Vibrato

Ed's Shed: How to Tell If

Your Guitars Neck
Needs to be Adjusted

Ed's Shed: How to

Adjust Your Guitar's
Truss Rod

Ed's Shed: How to

Restring an Acoustic
Guitar

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