Frankie Relic - Floyd/Pick up question

**UpForBreakfast5150** · 04.06.21, 11:27 AM

Hello,

Loooooooong time visitor, first time poster. Thanks to all of you for all the great posts over the years. You guys seem to all be guitar aficionado's, especially all things EVH so I though I'd give it a shot here. My Frankie Relic just came in and I just had a few questions:

1. What Floyd comes on this? It just doesn't want to stay in tune. I almost find myself tuning it more than playing. I own a Wolfgang Stealth USA and it stays in tune for days. On that note, I also noticed that on my WG USA the fine tuner tension spring/plate is off where the D-tuna is but on the Relic it is not. Which leaves me wondering if they are the same Floyd?

2. I have an EVH Frankenstein humbucker. Seeing that I have the wolfgang pickups already in the USA model, would you suggest swapping out the relic's wolfgang PUP with the Frankenstein? Wondering your thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

**nobozos** · 04.06.21, 12:28 PM

I had the same problem with tuning stability on mine, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what was wrong. I checked the nut screws first. Then had to properly adjust the string tree. Was still going out of tune. What it ended up being was the Pivot bolts on the Floyd were screwed slightly too far down into the body. This was causing the Knife Edge of the Floyd not to properly seat into the pivot point on the bolts, but to ride slightly above it. I backed the pivot bolts out of the body a bit to properly set the knife edges, and it started performing properly.

As far as swapping out the stock pickup for a Frankenstein, I'd say that's just up to personal preference. To my ear, the pickup they put in it doesn't quite sound like a Wolfgang pickup. I don't know if they voiced this one differently, or if it is just because of the wood and shape of the guitar, but it just sounds different from the Wolfgangs or even the other Striped Series guitars. I confirmed it with my buddy who has a YB striped series, and they do sound slightly different.

**speates** · 04.06.21, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by nobozos

To my ear, the pickup they put in it doesn't quite sound like a Wolfgang pickup.

That probably is due more to the position of the pickup than anything else. It is slanted vs straight (parallel with the edge of the bridge), and is also probably not in the same position relative to the bridge as it is on the striped series guitars.

**nobozos** · 04.07.21, 09:48 AM

Yeah, that was my first thought too. It has the same basic characteristics of the other Striped guitars, but seems cut through the mix a little better, like it has slightly boosted high mids.

**KS 5150** · 04.08.21, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by nobozos

Yeah, that was my first thought too. It has the same basic characteristics of the other Striped guitars, but seems cut through the mix a little better, like it has slightly boosted high mids.

I agree with this. I had one of the original R/B/W Striped Series, and the pickup was good, but not great imo. With the Frankie, it definitely cuts through a lot better. I was thinking when I got it that I may swap the pickup out, but am really happy with it, so it isn't going anywhere.

**UpForBreakfast5150** · 04.09.21, 12:02 PM

nobozos - thanks for the reply. After reading that I remembered that you had posted a pretty detailed post about your Frankie(Congrats!) and went back and read it. Believe it or not the pivot bolt seems to have done the trick! Thanks again as I don't think I would have ever figured that one out. Also, I had the EXACT same issue with the Floyd fine tuner threads and tremlo threads but same as your experience, they seem to have worked themselves out. Other than that, couldn't be happier with this guitar. Exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for the pickup replies as well. Appreciate it. Going to leave for now and maybe change later on down the road.

nobozos/ks5150 congrats on yours! And congrats on those who have one on order, they're well worth the wait. I might still be in the honeymoon phase but every time I walk around the corner and see that thing it brings a huge smile to my face

#godblesstheking

**KS 5150** · 04.09.21, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by UpForBreakfast5150

nobozos - thanks for the reply. After reading that I remembered that you had posted a pretty detailed post about your Frankie(Congrats!) and went back and read it. Believe it or not the pivot bolt seems to have done the trick! Thanks again as I don't think I would have ever figured that one out. Also, I had the EXACT same issue with the Floyd fine tuner threads and tremlo threads but same as your experience, they seem to have worked themselves out. Other than that, couldn't be happier with this guitar. Exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for the pickup replies as well. Appreciate it. Going to leave for now and maybe change later on down the road.

nobozos/ks5150 congrats on yours! And congrats on those who have one on order, they're well worth the wait. I might still be in the honeymoon phase but every time I walk around the corner and see that thing it brings a huge smile to my face

#godblesstheking

Congrats on yours as well...drive it like you stole it!

**nobozos** · 04.12.21, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by UpForBreakfast5150

nobozos - thanks for the reply. After reading that I remembered that you had posted a pretty detailed post about your Frankie(Congrats!) and went back and read it. Believe it or not the pivot bolt seems to have done the trick! Thanks again as I don't think I would have ever figured that one out. Also, I had the EXACT same issue with the Floyd fine tuner threads and tremlo threads but same as your experience, they seem to have worked themselves out. Other than that, couldn't be happier with this guitar. Exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for the pickup replies as well. Appreciate it. Going to leave for now and maybe change later on down the road.

nobozos/ks5150 congrats on yours! And congrats on those who have one on order, they're well worth the wait. I might still be in the honeymoon phase but every time I walk around the corner and see that thing it brings a huge smile to my face

#godblesstheking

You're very welcome. I'm by no means an expert, but I have a lot of experience. I'm just happy if anything I post is helpful to someone.

**nobozos** · 04.14.21, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by UpForBreakfast5150

Believe it or not the pivot bolt seems to have done the trick! Thanks again as I don't think I would have ever figured that one out. #godblesstheking

FWIW, it had me confused for a bit. What was happening to me was that I would play it for a while, and all my strings would go SHARP. I hadn't had that experience before, as most of the time strings will go flat when you have a tuning instability. Just for insight, I'll walk you through my troubleshooting thought process:

Whatever was causing the problem was common to all the strings. It had to shift all of the strings from in tune to sharp. First thought was that the screws holding the locking nut down was loose, and shifting somehow toward the headstock? Didn't make sense, but I checked it. After having the same problem, I thought possibly the strings might slipping through the locking due to the string tree not being adjusted properly? It needed to be adjusted, but that wasn't the problem. I would tune it, play it, check it, SHARP! Time to put the thinking cap on. The problem had to be at the bridge. I thought, "What is the only component that would effect all 6 strings the same way?" The only thing common to all 6 strings would be the pivot bolts. A casual inspection didn't look bad, but upon closer inspection, I could see the knife edges floating above the pocket on the pivot bolts, not seated securely in the "v", and it all made sense. There was no "zero point" while tuning. You tune, the bridge shifts and the strings go sharp. Hit the trem, and they go flat. Check it again in a few minutes, sharp again.

Once I seated the knife edges, tuning stability was achieved.