NGD Les Paul Custom Axcess w/Floyd Rose

[hi13ts]

Hi all, I just want to share that I recently picked up a Les Paul Custom Axcess with Floyd from Dave's Guitar in Wisconsin. I was contemplating picking up a black Les Paul Custom during Christmas sales, but was recently seduced by the Floyd Rose after being reintroduced to Motley Crue after watching that movie. So I figured I'll wait to find a Traditional II w/Floyd on the used market or wait until holiday season to score a Les Paul Custom, whichever pops up first. Then by the grace of God, I stumbled onto this guitar the day it was posted on Dave's website. The price was right and within a week, I had it in my hands.

Overall, the guitar is a champ. The super hot pickup combo of 496R/498T was worrying at first, but I find out they clean up well, especially with the coil taps on the tone knobs, but when I need it, I have that extra gas and sustain with them. I had no problem adjusting to the thinner body and the neck carve really is helpful. I've had guitars with richlite boards before, so I knew what to expect. No complaints there, they do what ebony would. I've played two full gigs with it and it's been extremely versatile and dependable.

I have my Strat trem floating, so the restring/setup with the Floyd really wasn't a problem. Although it stays in tune better than most of my tremolo equipped guitars, I do find that it goes slightly flat after diving. Pulling up on the trem puts it back to pitch though. I'm not sure why that happens as my vintage Strat trem never had a problem even with gratuitous diving and abuse. String and spring tension are equal, the strings are locked tight on both ends, and I've greased it a bit on all points of friction, including the knife edges. It really isn't a problem as it isn't noticeable by ear, definitely not at all in a  live setting. Only when I check with a tuner do I see that it strayed a bit flat, mostly on the G string. Once again, a quick pull up rectifies the problem. I am using 10 - 46 strings. I'm hypothesizing that perhaps the stock springs I have (three of them) may be a hair weaker, so there may be some variation on them pulling back up to tension after a dive. I haven't tried new springs yet, but that may be a consideration for the future. As I said, though, this is such a marginal problem with no immediate discernible effects that I haven't thought too much of it, but I'd still appreciate any experience/feedback you may have on this.

Pic:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bwiw7NpBMdV1zSCg6

[Twang Gang]

Nice looking Access - congrats.  Glad you were able to gig it a couple times already and find that it does the job you wanted.

As to the Strat trem and tuning, I think it is a matter of the springs as you mention, not that they are weak necessarily, but have to be adjusted just perfect for the bridge to come back into perfect tune.  I have played with mine a lot lately as I changed string gauge and had to reset everything.  Mine returns to good tuning most of the time, but has a tendency to be just a little sharp across all six strings sometimes.  I believe a two point or six point knife trem is never going to be as stable as a Floyd Rose, just my opinion.

[hi13ts]

44 minutes ago, Twang Gang said:

Nice looking Access - congrats.  Glad you were able to gig it a couple times already and find that it does the job you wanted.

As to the Strat trem and tuning, I think it is a matter of the springs as you mention, not that they are weak necessarily, but have to be adjusted just perfect for the bridge to come back into perfect tune.  I have played with mine a lot lately as I changed string gauge and had to reset everything.  Mine returns to good tuning most of the time, but has a tendency to be just a little sharp across all six strings sometimes.  I believe a two point or six point knife trem is never going to be as stable as a Floyd Rose, just my opinion.

Thanks for the response. I apologize, I should have been clearer. The Floyd Rose is coming back a bit flat after diving, the Strat is rock solid. I used the Strat as the point of comparison. I made sure to equalize spring and string tension during setup with the Floyd, so I'm thinking perhaps it’s just the variation in the strength of the springs that is not returning it to perfect tension after usagw. I realize there are a lot of other little variables that could contribute to this, but this theory seems to hold water for me for now. I can certainly try new springs in the future and see what it yields. 

[hi13ts]

Didn’t think to do this earlier, but I called up tech support at Floyd Rose and described the issue. The cause is simple enough. The saddles on the Floyd are not individually adjustable for action as they are on a Strat, as the action is adjusted by moving the entire plate on the two posts. Because my action on the high E is a hair lower than the low E side, the plate is not sitting perfectly level, thus not returning to perfect pitch. I was advised to level the plate and shim the individual saddles for action preference if the tuning problem becomes noticeable, and I certainly can work that out, but as I mentioned, it’s a very marginal issue, so I think I’ll leave as is for now. Perhaps the next restring will find me experimenting a bit with that.