I'm not sure of what you would call it, but I need the piece that is mounted on the base of the floyd that puts tension on the fine tuners. Its a flat piece of metal with 6 fingers that go up under the fine tuners. Is this piece necessary?
What is the purpose of this piece? Do I need it? I picked up a guitar yesterday and it is missing. It's a Gotoh Floyd (MIJ) that is on an EBMM Axis
Also, the string retainer bar had ben removed. These can be had for pretty cheap but Im wondering why someone would take it off? I was under the assumption that it needs to be on there so the strings could come off the nut at the proper angle
While I've never dissected an FR, I'd believe it is there to prevent the "string holder locking bolt" to move up and down... If the tremolo works without it, it's probably no problem. I can't understand that it could cause a problem in the future either
I'd replace the 'fine tuner adjustment spring' if it's missing. A big part of what makes a Floyd stay in tune so well is limiting the amount of movement any part has while using the bar. That spring keeps upward tension on the locking bolt to hold it securely against the end of the fine tuner.
With the trem at rest, not having it isn't a big deal because the tension from the strings is enough to keep the bolt held up snug to the fine tuner. When you depress the bar and slack the strings, that tension lowers. With exaggerated motion, the saddles may 'wiggle' just a little bit, allowing the possibility that everything won't end up quite where it started, which in turn throws off the tuning. That is the pitfall a lot of other locking trems have in common: Too much room for the strings to move across other surfaces, where friction may cause them to not return to the same spot. (The strings not being secured at both ends adds to this, as well.) The more of these points you have in a system, the less and less stable the tuning becomes with heavy trem use.
You may not have any problems, especially if you don't practice whammy bar abuse, but personally I'd want it back on there. You are also correct on the string retainer bar - It is designed to put the correct downward angle on the strings as they leave the nut. Without it, you can have a lot of 'fun' trying to compensate on your tuning before tightening the locking nut.
I was under the assumption that it needs to be on there so the strings could come off the nut at the proper angle
. Those guys are awesome out there! 