Compound 10/16" Radius and an Original Floyd Rose

[JSG]

Hello everyone.  This is the first forum I've ever joined in my life, but you guys are so awesome that I'm glad to be a part of it.  My first post is in regard to a build I'm looking at doing very soon.  I really like the idea behind the 10/16" radius that Warmoth makes standard on their necks.  I'm just very hesitant to do that instead of something like a 14 or 15" radius all the way through since I'm so used to the 14/16" radius on the Jackson.  I know that's a compound radius too, but it's not as drastic as 10/16.  My main cause for concern is the fact that this guitar will have a Floyd on it.  This is to be my shredder guitar (replacing my Jackson Rhoads), so I'm afraid of this strange radius.  I've heard that people have trouble with the middle strings being higher than the others because of the difference in the neck radius and the radius of the locking nut.  So, I'm wondering if a straight radius more closely matched with whatever the locking nut radius would be best.  Can anyone offer any advice on this?

 

[simple]

Hello JSG,

First of all, Welcome to the Board! 

The locking nut Warmoth sells has a 10" radius. It matches up to the Warmoth compound radius perfectly. With a straight 16" radius board, you would feel the middle strings riding kind of high the nut unless you ground down 2 or 3 of the metal nut slots. (An Original Floyd bridge has a 10" radius and a Schaller Floyd bridge has a 14" radius, same 10" radius nut though).

I wouldn't be too afraid of the compound radius. 95%+ of the necks Warmoth sells are compounds and that's an amazing number of necks out there gigging in the world.

 

[willyk]

Looking at those numbers it would appear the Schaller Floyd would work better than the original, on a compound warmoth neck.. :dontknow:

 

[dudesweet157]

Dude, you have nothing to worry about.  You can easily set it up to work for you.  I know guys who've done the saddle grinding thing, and others that have shimmed the guitar to the proper radius with shims made from feeler gauges.  On my VIP, I used a Gotoh 501 bridge that has an unadjustable 12" radius.  All I did was carefully cut the slots deeper until they were all balanced.  If it's not something you're comfortable doing, take it to a tech and get them to. 

Trust me, the 10"-16" radius will NOT hinder your playing.  If anything, it will make you play better.

-Rose

 

[dudesweet157]

BTW, the radius when the strings touch the bridge is NOT 16 inches.  By that time the conical radius has fanned out to about 18.5 inches.

Cheers,
Rose

 

[JSG]

Thanks guys.  I really appreciate the help.  The reason I'm sort of stuck on the idea of using the Floyd is because I already have an original that I've had in my closet since about 1989.  And I remember it being a really great tremelo.  Surely I kept it around for nearly 20 years for some reason.  I will really consider the 10/16" radius then.   

 

[JSG]

Dude, you have nothing to worry about.  You can easily set it up to work for you.  I know guys who've done the saddle grinding thing, and others that have shimmed the guitar to the proper radius with shims made from feeler gauges.  On my VIP, I used a Gotoh 501 bridge that has an unadjustable 12" radius.  All I did was carefully cut the slots deeper until they were all balanced.  If it's not something you're comfortable doing, take it to a tech and get them to. 

Trust me, the 10"-16" radius will NOT hinder your playing.  If anything, it will make you play better.

-Rose

Honestly, I'm more worried about the strings feeling weird with the combination of the Floyd and that radius than I am the feel of the neck.  As I said before, I want this to be my main lead machine (Vinnie Moore and all that shredder crap--I just love it!).  Does anyone see foresee any real problems with that setup?  I will have a musiclander body and a warmoth neck (made like a Wizard neck) it that helps any. 

 

[Shmoopie]

if you didn't already have a bridge, i would've suggested a kahler bridge, it has hight adjustments

 

[dudesweet157]

Really dude, all you need to do is buy some Floyd Rose shims (see link below).  You put them under the outside saddles  (E, A, B, e) until the radius is at the desired height.  You can also make your own out of spark plug feeler gauges if you feel so inclined.  Check out the shims at the bottom of this page linked.  They're not really that expensive and they WILL set up the radius the way you want it.

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/guitar_frsaddles.htm

 

[ibob74]

Wouldn't you want to shim the D and G more, i.e. convex radius?

 

[simple]

if you didn't already have a bridge, i would've suggested a kahler bridge, it has hight adjustments

You know when you shake someone's hand and it's like a dead fish? That's what the Kahler flat mount trem always felt like to me; kind of loose and spongy. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks this though...
Ooops...didn't mean to change topics.  :toothy11:

 

[JSG]

I did have a Kahler once, and I have to agree with you Gregg.  It felt really alien to me and I could never warm up to it.  But anyway, I have the Floyd and I'd like to use it.  Does it matter whether I use the wood screws that came with the Floyd to mount it or should I get some new mounting studs?  Seems like all the newer ones use the mounting studs instead of the screws, but I don't know which is better, or if it matters.  I'm not even sure if they're interchangeable.  Just looking at it I would think either would work. 

 

[dudesweet157]

Wouldn't you want to shim the D and G more, i.e. convex radius?

Nope, you'd want to shim the outside strings to raise them higher, and therefore make the circle larger.  Raising the middle saddles would create an even tighter radius.

 

[ibob74]

Wouldn't you want to shim the D and G more, i.e. convex radius?

Nope, you'd want to shim the outside strings to raise them higher, and therefore make the circle larger.  Raising the middle saddles would create an even tighter radius.

Yeah that is correct, I was thinking backwards, again.

 

[JSG]

Thanks everyone for all your help.  I just have one more question and then I will let this thread die.  I have to choose R3 or R4 for the locking nut.  I know that R3 is for a narrower string spread and the R4 is for a wider string spread.  I've had Floyds with locking nuts forever, but they always just came with the guitar.  I never had to specify R3 or R4, so  I don't know what I'm used to playing.  I've had an Ibanez 540 and several Jacksons with tremelos and locking nuts.  With that info can anyone tell me which R # I have most likely been using? 

 

[dudesweet157]

R3 is for a guitar with the 1-11/16" nut width and binding.  The string spread is a little narrower to avoid the outside strings from sitting in the binding.  R4 is for a guitar with the 1-11/16" nut width WITHOUT binding.  The string spread is a little bit wider because you don't have to worry about messing up the binding.

-Rose

 

[JSG]

Perfect!  Thanks Rose.  Now I'm all set.