Changing strings on a Floyd Rose is actually easy

I hadn’t owned a super-strat style guitar until recently. So, while I’d changed the strings on a guitar many times before, I’d never tried changing them on a guitar with a Floyd Rose style locking-trem system.

I’d posted on the Guitar Nutrition TikTok account that I was going to give it a go and got so many people replied telling me how hard it was.

A nightmare even.

Theoretically, I knew how to do it. But, I had my doubts that it was actually as hard as people were making it out to be.

Spoiler alert - it wasn’t any harder than changing the strings on a normal guitar.

As a side note: setting up a guitar with a floating trem is a lot more difficult than setting up a guitar with a fixed bridge. But, changing the strings doesn’t have to be.

Tips for changing strings on a locking trem

Here are some tips that will help make changing the strings on your locking trem easy (possibly even enjoyable):

1. Make sure you have the right tools - you’ll need an allen key to unlock the locking nut and the saddles

2. Change the strings one at a time - this will keep the bridge level by maintaining the tension across the bridge

3. Make sure the fine tuners are set somewhere in the middle - so you have room to make the appropriate adjustments after you’ve locked the nut again

4. Stretch the strings before locking the nut again - otherwise the strings will be stretched on one side of the nut but not the other, which will cause all kinds of tuning problems the next time you unlock the nut

That’s it!

Changing the strings on your locking trem doesn’t have to be scary. 

There are a couple of things you have to do differently due to the nature of how a locking trem works. But, as long as you keep these in mind, it’s no harder than changing the strings on any other electric guitar!