720 mod, shimming a neck with floyd rose

[krystalfire918]

Hi all, I prefer the neck angles on a Les Paul vs the flat plank feel of a Fender. I want to build a flat top soloist with a recessed Floyd Rose and get some kind of angle in there to help with comfort.

If I use stewmac angled shims how much neck angle and bridge height one could realistically achieve, as too much would put a strain on the tremolo posts.

Would a 720 mod would help in this situation, I'm thinking it'd give me more room to play with angled shims before the bridge gets too high?

If it works, then I could use angled pickup rings and shave them down whatever angle it becomes?

Thanks

 

[bruzanhd]

Funny you should ask, I’ve got a body with this exact option arriving on Monday. I’m using a non recessed Floyd though. I’ll get back to you or make my own build thread once I’ve gotten to that point in my assembly.

 

[stratamania]

@krystalfire918 welcome to the forum.

Per your question a recessed rout achieves the opposite of what you are looking to do. What the recessed rout does is place the bridge lower so that the neck can be fitted without having to angle the neck, which will result in what you describe as a Fender flat plank feel.

When a Floyd rout is done without a recess that it is recommended an angle pocket is used to provide an angle see https://warmoth.com/guitar-body-neck-pockets

The Warmoth angled pocket is probably around 1.5 degrees as I recall versus the 4 degrees approximately of a Les Paul.

If you started with a 720 mod and then shimmed it to create an angle you would still have in all likelihood problems balancing the height of the bridge with a recessed Floyd.

My suggestion would be to avoid a potential headache either go with the flat neck pocket with a recessed rout or an angled pocket with a non-recessed rout.

 

[krystalfire918]

@krystalfire918 welcome to the forum.

Per your question a recessed rout achieves the opposite of what you are looking to do. What the recessed rout does is place the bridge lower so that the neck can be fitted without having to angle the neck, which will result in what you describe as a Fender flat plank feel.

When a Floyd rout is done without a recess that it is recommended an angle pocket is used to provide an angle see https://warmoth.com/guitar-body-neck-pockets

The Warmoth angled pocket is probably around 1.5 degrees as I recall versus the 4 degrees approximately of a Les Paul.

If you started with a 720 mod and then shimmed it to create an angle you would still have in all likelihood problems balancing the height of the bridge with a recessed Floyd.

My suggestion would be to avoid a potential headache either go with the flat neck pocket with a recessed rout or an angled pocket with a non-recessed rout.

Thanks a lot, so it seems with a recessed floyd it's not feasible to do any kind of shim without messing the geometry? or is it that you can only do such a small adjustment it wouldn't make much difference and is not worth the potential problems?

I remember I had an ESP super strat with a recessed floyd, the bridge was so low that a full pullup would grind the underside of the collar screw against the cavity, and it still couldn't get low enough for ESP's recommended action height. I always thought a shim would help that one.

Looks like I'll just go with the flat top, perhaps the 720 mod would relax my fretting hand by a few mm

 

[stratamania]

Thanks a lot, so it seems with a recessed floyd it's not feasible to do any kind of shim without messing the geometry? or is it that you can only do such a small adjustment it wouldn't make much difference and is not worth the potential problems?

Yes, I would say any adjustment you might make if everything is to spec would be very small and not worth the potential problems of messing up the needed geometry for no real gain of what you were thinking of achieving.

 

[bruzanhd]

Check this out:

Natural ash soloist.

My build this year was functionally meant to be the MK 2 of my build from last year, I wanted to perfect all the details I learned along the way and I think I’ve achieved that. Also picked some slightly different shapes and colours just to have something with a different vibe. Spec list: Body...

unofficialwarmoth.com

I have a picture that shows how high the bridge sits with a neck angle and the 720 mod together in my new build thread. Hopefully that can help you a bit.

 

[Gkelm]

Hey krystalfire-
Did you end up ordered a body?

Seems like the guy up there had good success with both the 720 and angled pocket.

FWIW, I ordered a body with a recessed Floyd, and regret not getting the 720.

 

[krystalfire918]

Hey krystalfire-
Did you end up ordered a body?

Seems like the guy up there had good success with both the 720 and angled pocket.

FWIW, I ordered a body with a recessed Floyd, and regret not getting the 720.

Hi no I didn't buy it yet. The current build times are too long for me so I'll hold off for now

That guy's build seems like the way to go if a recess is not needed, and without the recess he can have the superior GE1996 trem as well.

You already received this body and wish you gotten the 720 mod?

From the posts above, the whole idea has minimal gain and potential trouble. I think if one were to keep it simple I'd follow stratamania's advice.
In the future I might ask a few luthiers for more opinions.

 

[bruzanhd]

Another option to consider would be the carved top bodies. You could get a carved top soloist with the recessed Floyd and that would have more of a Les Paul feel.