Floyd Fears

cdub

Junior Member
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I’ve tried five vibrato bridges on my builds so far, exclusively Strats and soloists. The bar is in my hand constantly. Nothing stays in tune perfectly, but some setups are darn close with fresh strings.

Vintage wide 6 screw.

Gotoh/Wilkinson VS100 with Graph Tech saddles.

Super-Vee Bladerunner.

Hipshot US Contour.

Gotoh EVO510T.

While the only one I cannot recommend is the one that is poorly adjusted or maintained, I am wanting to try the non-fine tuner Floyd rose with the LSR roller nut and my preferred Hipshot locking tuners. Guitar will be a 7/8 S-style 24-fret job. Bridge will preferrably recessed and set to float with 11-48 power slinkys.

I’m finding a lack of specific NFT Floyd info. Saddle radius with factory shims, and saddle radius all shims removed, is what I’m wanting. I see some heresay out there about the OFR/Schaller and Gotoh versions but I need the actual specs and not a ‘Googled guess.’

I’ve searched this topic, fruitlessly, so anyone who can give shim thickness, count, and placement to properly radius the saddles on a NFT Floyd for the 10-16” neck would be, like, some kind of hero. Or, I could just go straight 10” on the neck radius... Any pointers on making this work right the first time would be appreciated.

Note: I have NEVER owned a Floyd due to bias from my teens when everything was tuned to dropped D or 1/2 step flat... The 90’s... But as a post-rock, fusion-leaning adult, it’s time.
 
If you can wait for a little I will be able at some point to verify what the NFT looks like when taken apart and shims that may or may not be needed. (Note I am not sure when I am going to get to this)

If it is used with a 10 -16" compound about 18" bridge radius is what needs to be achieved.

In the meantime Don't Fear the Floyd. It will just need some shims to adjust it in a similar manner to most Floyds.

EDIT (It could be Easter possibly before I get to this)
 
Gotta say, all my searches produced posts by you which were the best source I could find for firsthand experience. I’m sitting on a fat Christmas bonus (for me anyway) and some W gift certificates, and I’m seriously planning a 7/8 s-style build. Thinking I may order a roasted flame handle with clearcoat (gasp) and a gloss trans turquoise body, but cosmetics aside, I know the rub lies in the setup and compatibility of all components involved, so I want to plan ahead and nix any possible hiccups or late game engineering change orders!

So thanks Stratamania.

As long as the NFTFR can meet the needs of a 10-16” comp rad neck, I’m sold, although nothing can top the silky bearing edge tech on the Hipshot Contour. It’s that 100% stable tuning experience I’m looking for and if LSR+NFTFR doesn’t get me there, locking nut here i come.
 
OK, thanks.

Sorry, I may not be able to get to it sooner. From what I can see of the NFT Floyd it should be possible to shim or not shim in a similar manner as the OFR with fine tuners.  There are other dimensional differences (which I won't bore anyone with the details) but the post width and saddles apart from the fine tuners seem reasonably consistent.  I will take a closer look tomorrow as I just got in from almost eleven hours on the road.

When ordering, do make sure you get in contact with Warmoth sales as the NFR rout is off menu and if using a pickguard that also is a custom cut.

Non-Fine Tuner Floyd Rose Tremolo (stud mount only, and requires a Warmoth pickguard with custom bridge cut)

See bottom of page http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/BridgeRoutingOptions.aspx

Best to get everything lined up and use your bonus on something you know will work for you.

I am unable to comment on the Hipshot contour as I have never used or tried one. I am very impressed with their tuners so I am sure it is a good part.

Locking nuts and lighter strings like 9s get too much bad press on forums. Worth considering a normal Floyd also.



 
OK as I do have the NFT Floyd in a box here. I took a look this morning.

There are no shims under the saddles. The radius of the saddles is 10".

The NFT Floyd does not ship with inserts but only screws, so when you order a body from Warmoth, ask them to install some Floyd Rose inserts for you. I can verify that the NFT fits fine onto the inserts and provided posts. Warmoth only offers the rout to work with the insert type of posts in any case.

For shims, if using a compound 10 - 16" radius you will need to shim to somewhere around 18" (remember a compound radius is actually a progressive radius like a cross-section of a cone and this continues to increase towards the bridge)

Shims can be obtained from Allparts for example. I have put a link for the UK and US sites. (I also need to order some.

2 shims under both E strings and 1 under the B and A strings would be a good starting point to make the adjustments needed.


https://www.allparts.uk.com/products/shim-set-for-locking-saddles

https://www.allparts.com/BP-2214-001-Bridge-Shim-Set_p_1061.html

 
Agree completely with stratamania on the suggested shims.  I went through this when using 10-16 Compound Radius Warmoth Necks on a couple of builds.  I ended up ordering a couple extra ‘A’ and ‘B’ saddles directly from Floyd Rose and used those in place of the ‘D’ and ‘G’ saddles.  I then went with one shim under the two ‘E’ saddles and one shim under the ‘A’ and ‘B’ saddles that I was using for my ‘D’ and ‘G’ strings.  Sounds much more confusing than it really is.  But it provided a very nice flattened radius
 
I quite like that idea PDC on changing out some saddles to use fewer shims.  Were you able to measure the radius you obtained?

Either way will work of course as you described or using the shims as I mentioned.
 
Ok, I had a birthday and my wonderful wife got me an item from my Amazon Christmas wish list, as my birthday is hot on Santa’s heels. I have in my posession a chrome non-fine-tuner Floyd Rose vibrato bridge, hereafter referred to as NFTFRT.

I used my set of understring radius gauges and the factory radius on the unshimmed saddles would appear to be 16”, but I am e-mailing Floyd Rose for an official answer.

I have already replaced the screw-in arm socket for the pop-in assembly. The factory socket had some white thread locker under the nut, and the nut basically exploded at the first turn, and I almost didn’t get the thing off... The baseplate hole had to be reamed out a bit to accept the pop-in arm socket. That’s some really hard steel!

I also swapped out the factory block with a 37mm Fat Brass “L” block. Maybe it will fit ok?

I am tempted to forgo the process and added expense of shipping an off-menu bridge to Warmoth for the NFT recessed route, and simply select “floyd with angled neck pocket” from the bridge menu.

I can’t find any pics of NFT floyds surface mounted, and very few of them in the recess.  What do I want here? I’m not using a .720 mod neck pocket. Will a surface mount allow pitch raising?
 
Following up on this thread.

The dimensions of an NFT Floyd are different to the OFR.

The saddles used on the NFT are not interchangeable with those that fit an OFR.

I am not sure where you are measuring the radius but it does not look like 16". What you do need to measure is the radius formed by the bottom of the string slots. The radius formed at the top of the saddles is not relevant.

It will in all likelihood work on a Floyd with an angled pocket. But if it is surface mounted you will not be able to raise the pitch. If you float the bridge you will be able to but to a lesser degree than a recessed rout.

If you order the NFT recessed rout it already has been prototyped and tested you will not need to send the bridge in. You will be able to raise and lower pitch.

I cannot comment on how well or not an L block might fit. I went with a standard shape brass block.

 
FR customer service confirmed 10” saddle radius on NFTFRT. I WAS reading the tops of the saddles and assuming all the grooves would be same depth on all saddles, nope. Might order a 10” straight radius neck...
 
Glad you have confirmation that it is a 10" radius.

Either a 10" radius neck will work or a compound with some shims as previously mentioned.

Another thing to consider is a compound radius will allow bends on the upper part of the neck without the risk of choking out.
 
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